Method for fast slicing of carrier network

Abstract

The present invention relates to the technical field of network management, and disclosed is a method for the fast slicing of a carrier network, comprising the following steps: S1, planning a carrier slice service, entering a slice type and service UNI node pair information, and generating a service UNI node pair information list; S2, according to the slice type, generating a tunnel layer topology in a regional topology range; S3, according to the service UNI node pair information, cyclically performing multipath pathfinding between service UNI node pairs; and S4, comprehensively calculating a virtual node and a virtual link produced by multipath calculation so as to generate a recommended slice. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for quickly creating carrier network slices. The automated creation of carrier network slices may be achieved, and compared with the manual creation means in the prior art, operation and maintenance efficiency is greatly improved.

Description

A method for fast slicing of bearer networks Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of network management technology, specifically to a method for rapid slicing of a bearer network. Background Technology

[0002] The 5G transport network is part of the 5G end-to-end service path and must meet the diverse service requirements across multiple scenarios. Furthermore, 5G is an open network that can provide applications for vertical industries and leased services. In this scenario, the transport network is required to support the service isolation and independent operation and maintenance needs of 5G slicing networks, allocating different types of transport network slices to different types of services. In practical applications, building a dedicated network for each service would be prohibitively expensive. Network slicing technology allows operators to divide a single hardware infrastructure into multiple virtual end-to-end networks. Each network slice achieves logical isolation across the forwarding plane, control plane, and management plane, adapting to various service types and meeting different user needs.

[0003] With the rapid development of 5G network technology, according to the standards of the 3GPP organization, 5G networks need to provide end-to-end network slicing for vertical application industries. This requirement, specifically, means that the 5G bearer network must provide 5G bearer network slicing functionality. 5G bearer network slicing is a new function for the bearer network and is not explicitly defined in the relevant protocols.

[0004] There are many ways to implement network slicing in the existing solutions, such as control plane slicing based on SDN and forwarding plane slicing technology based on FlexE. However, the implementation of the relevant network slicing methods in the existing technologies depends on the manual creation by technical personnel, which results in low operation and maintenance efficiency and difficulty in practical application.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, the present invention aims to provide a method for rapid slicing of bearer networks, which can realize the automated creation of bearer network slices, greatly improving operation and maintenance efficiency compared with the manual creation method in existing technologies.

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is as follows:

[0008] A method for fast slicing of a bearer network includes the following steps:

[0009] S1. Plan the slice services to be carried, input the slice type and service UNI node pair information, and generate a list of service UNI node pair information; S2. Generate the tunnel layer topology within the regional topology range according to the slice type; S3. Perform multi-path routing between service UNI node pairs in a loop according to the service UNI node pair information; S4. Calculate the virtual nodes and virtual links generated by the multi-path calculation to generate recommended slices.

[0010] Based on the above technical solution, when planning the bearer slice service, if the network scale is large, the topology range of the bearer slice is estimated, and a topology region larger than the estimated topology range of the bearer slice is specified in the network topology map; if the network scale is small, the entire network managed by the network management system is used as the network topology of the region.

[0011] Based on the above technical solutions, the slice types in step S1 include FlexE tunnel slices, SR tunnel slices, L2VPN slices, L3VPN slices, and enhanced VPN slices.

[0012] Based on the above technical solution, the service UNI node pair information mentioned in step S1 includes service UNI node pair information, source node, source UNI port, destination node, destination UNI port, bandwidth, maximum latency, and protection level.

[0013] Based on the above technical solution, step S3 specifically includes:

[0014] Based on the service UNI node pair information list, a routing algorithm is used to find multiple paths that meet the bandwidth and latency requirements; a reserved path is selected based on the total number of paths; all node and link information on the reserved path is saved to the MAP mapping table, which records keywords including the service UNI node pair sequence number; multi-path routing is performed iteratively for all service UNI node pairs.

[0015] Based on the above technical solution, when selecting the retained path according to the total number of paths, if the total number of paths is >3 and the protection level is lower than permanent protection, the 3 optimal paths are retained; if the protection level is permanent protection or the total number of paths is ≤3, all paths are retained.

[0016] Based on the above technical solution, step S3 specifically includes:

[0017] The MAP mapping table generated in step S3 is compared cyclically to remove duplicate virtual node and virtual link information, generating a virtual link table without duplicate information; the bandwidth of duplicate virtual links is refreshed and calculated; and a recommended bearer slice is generated based on the virtual link table without duplicate information and the bandwidth sum.

[0018] Based on the above technical solution, after step S4, the following step is also included: S5, manually adjusting virtual nodes and virtual links to complete the creation of bearer slices.

[0019] Based on the above technical solution, step S5 specifically includes:

[0020] S51. Determine if a manual modification switch instruction has been received. If yes, proceed to step S52; otherwise, proceed to step S53. S52. Manually add or delete virtual nodes and virtual links. S53. Generate a table of virtual nodes and virtual links for the bearer slice and associate it with tenant information to complete the creation of the bearer slice.

[0021] Based on the above technical solution, the step of manually adding virtual nodes and virtual links includes: providing all virtual nodes and virtual links in the regional topology; manually selecting virtual nodes and virtual links in batches on the regional topology and adding them to the virtual node and virtual link table generated in step S4;

[0022] The manual deletion of virtual nodes and virtual links includes: displaying the virtual node and virtual link table generated in S4; and manually removing virtual nodes and virtual links from the slice.

[0023] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention are as follows:

[0024] (1) The method for fast slicing of the bearer network in this invention provides a specific and implementable automated method for fast slice creation. The regional network topology can be specified before the calculation, avoiding large-scale irrelevant calculations and improving calculation efficiency. At the same time, it realizes fully automated calculation of virtual node and virtual link information of the bearer slice, and quickly completes the creation of the bearer slice.

[0025] (2) The method of fast slicing of bearer network of the present invention can support multiple constraints such as slice type, bandwidth, latency, protection level and other quality requirements, meet the tenant’s requirements for bearer slices, and plan the slice services before creating the bearer slice, which can avoid frequent adjustments after the slice is generated.

[0026] (3) The method of rapid slicing of bearer network of the present invention provides the opportunity to automatically create slices and manually adjust virtual nodes and virtual links, which can meet more flexible user needs. At the same time, this step can be adjusted as an optional step in actual operation, which can take into account both the efficiency of automatic creation of bearer slices and the flexibility of users. Attached Figure Description

[0027] Figure 1 is a flowchart of the method for fast slicing of the bearer network in an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0028] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0029] Referring to Figure 1, this embodiment of the invention provides a method for fast slicing of a bearer network, which includes the following steps:

[0030] S1. Plan the slice services to be carried, enter the slice type and service UNI node pair information, and generate a list of service UNI node pair information.

[0031] S2. Generate tunnel layer topology within the region topology range based on slice type;

[0032] S3. Based on the business UNI node pair information, perform multi-path routing between business UNI node pairs in a loop;

[0033] S4. Calculate the virtual nodes and virtual links generated by multi-path calculation to generate recommended slices.

[0034] This solution provides a concrete and implementable automated method for rapidly creating slices. It allows specifying the regional network topology before computation, avoiding large-scale irrelevant calculations, improving computational efficiency, and simultaneously achieving fully automated calculation of virtual node and virtual link information for carrying slices, thus quickly completing the creation of carrying slices.

[0035] In one embodiment, when planning the bearer slice service in step S1, the range of the bearer slice can be estimated based on the network size to avoid large-scale irrelevant calculations and improve computational efficiency. If the network size is large (in a specific embodiment, if the number of physical nodes is greater than or equal to 1000 or the number of physical connections is greater than or equal to 5000, then the network is considered a large-scale network management scenario; otherwise, it is a small-scale network scenario), then the topology range of the bearer slice is estimated, and a topology region larger than the estimated topology range of the bearer slice is specified in the network topology map by manual delineation or other means. If the network size is small, then the entire network managed by the network management system is automatically used as the network topology of the region.

[0036] In one embodiment, the content of the service UNI node pair information list generated by entering the slice type and service UNI node pair information specifically includes:

[0037] The types of slices that can be entered include FlexE tunnel slices, SR tunnel slices, L2VPN slices, L3VPN slices, and enhanced VPN slices, which users can select from according to their needs.

[0038] The entered service UNI node pair information includes service UNI node pair information, source node, source UNI port, destination node, destination UNI port, bandwidth, maximum latency, and quality requirements such as protection level.

[0039] The specific business UNI node pair information entered is shown in the table below:

[0040]

[0041]

[0042] Subsequently, a list of business UNI node pairs can be generated and stored based on the information in the table above.

[0043] In one embodiment, after generating the list of service UNI node pairs, the user can select a tenant from the existing tenant list in the network management system as the tenant manager for the slice, thus completing the setting of tenant information and specifying the slice tenant information.

[0044] In one embodiment, step S3 specifically includes:

[0045] Based on the service UNI node pair information list, a routing algorithm is used to find multiple paths that meet the bandwidth and latency requirements; a reserved path is selected based on the total number of paths; all node and link information on the reserved path is saved to a MAP mapping table with the service UNI node pair sequence number as the key; multi-path routing is performed iteratively for all service UNI node pairs. The routing algorithm used in this invention can be specifically executed using algorithms such as the A-Star algorithm.

[0046] Specifically, when selecting retained paths based on the total number of paths, if the total number of paths is greater than 3 and the protection level is lower than permanent protection, 3 optimal paths are retained; if the protection level is permanent protection or the total number of paths is less than or equal to 3, all paths are retained. In a preferred embodiment, when the protection level is permanent protection but the total number of paths is greater than 10, a maximum of 10 paths are retained.

[0047] In another embodiment, step S4 may specifically include:

[0048] The MAP mapping table generated in step S3 is compared cyclically to remove duplicate virtual nodes and virtual link information, generating a virtual link table without duplicate information. The bandwidth of duplicate virtual links is then refreshed and calculated. This step is performed regardless of whether the virtual link is duplicated, mainly because although duplicate virtual nodes and link objects have been removed, the bandwidth requirement still exists, so these bandwidths need to be accumulated to calculate the total bandwidth. For example, in a certain embodiment, the virtual link appears on the path of service UNI node number 1 and also on the path of service UNI node number 2. The bandwidth requirement for each service UNI node is 500M, so the calculated bandwidth of the virtual link is 1000M.

[0049] Finally, based on the virtual link table with no duplicate information and the bandwidth, a recommended bearer slice is generated.

[0050] In another embodiment, after step S1, the user manually selects whether the automatically created slice needs to be manually modified. Specifically, a optional drop-down list can be provided to the user in the network management system, allowing the user to manually select whether the automatically created slice needs to be manually modified. Initially, the options "Modifiable" and "Not Modifiable" can be set, with the default value set to "Modifiable". When it is selected in this step that the automatically created slice needs to be manually modified, step S4 is followed by: S5, manually adjusting virtual nodes and virtual links to complete the creation of the bearer slice.

[0051] Specifically, step S5 may include:

[0052] S51. Determine whether a manual modification switch command has been received. If yes, proceed to step S52; otherwise, proceed to step S53.

[0053] S52. Manually add or delete virtual nodes and virtual links; wherein, the steps of manually adding virtual nodes and virtual links include: providing all virtual nodes and virtual links in the area topology; the user manually selects virtual nodes and virtual links in batches on the area topology and adds them to the virtual node and virtual link table generated in step S4; the steps of manually deleting virtual nodes and virtual links include: displaying the virtual node and virtual link table generated in S4; the user manually removes virtual nodes and virtual links from the slice.

[0054] S53. Generate the virtual node and virtual link table for the bearer slice, and associate it with tenant information to complete the creation of the bearer slice.

[0055] This invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. Those skilled in the art can make various improvements and modifications without departing from the principles of this invention, and these improvements and modifications are also considered within the scope of protection of this invention. Contents not described in detail in this specification are prior art known to those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A method for rapid slicing of a bearer network, characterized in that, It includes the following steps: S1. Plan to carry slice services, input slice types and service UNI node pair information, and generate a service UNI node pair information list; S2. Generate a tunnel layer topology within the regional topology scope according to the slice type; S3. According to the service UNI node pair information, perform multi-path routing between service UNI node pairs in a loop; S4. Comprehensively calculate the virtual nodes and virtual links generated by the multi-path calculation to generate a recommended slice.

2. The method for rapid slicing of a bearer network according to claim 1, characterized in that: When planning to carry slice services, if the network scale is large, estimate the topology scope of the carried slice, and specify a topology area in the network topology diagram that is larger than the estimated topology scope of the carried slice; If the network scale is small, use the entire network managed by the network management system as the regional network topology.

3. The method for rapid slicing of a bearer network according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step S1, the slice types include FlexE tunnel slices, SR tunnel slices, L2 VPN slices, L3 VPN slices, and enhanced VPN slices.

4. The method for rapid slicing of a bearer network according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step S1, the service UNI node pair information includes service UNI node pair information, source node, source UNI port, destination node, destination UNI port, bandwidth, maximum delay, and protection level.

5. The method for rapid slicing of a bearer network according to claim 1, characterized in that, Step S3 specifically includes: According to the service UNI node pair information list, use a routing algorithm to find multiple paths that meet the bandwidth and delay requirements; Select and retain paths according to the total number of paths; Save all node and link information on the retained paths to the MAP mapping table, and the MAP mapping table records keywords including service UNI node pair serial numbers; Complete multi-path routing in a loop for all service UNI node pairs.

6. The method for rapid slicing of a bearer network according to claim 5, characterized in that, When selecting and retaining paths according to the total number of paths, if the total number of paths > 3 and the protection level is lower than permanent protection, retain 3 optimal paths; if the protection level is permanent protection or the total number of paths ≤ 3, retain all paths.

7. The method for rapid slicing of a bearer network according to claim 5, characterized in that, Step S3 specifically includes: Perform a loop comparison on the MAP mapping table generated in step S3, remove duplicate virtual node and virtual link information, and generate a virtual link table without duplicate information; Refresh and calculate the sum of the bandwidths of the duplicate virtual links; Generate a recommended carried slice according to the virtual link table without duplicate information and the sum of the bandwidths.

8. The method for rapid slicing of a bearer network according to claim 1, characterized in that, After step S4, it further includes: S5. Manually adjust virtual nodes and virtual links to complete the creation of the carried slice.

9. The method for rapid slicing of a bearer network according to claim 8, characterized in that, Step S5 specifically includes: S51. Determine whether a manual modification switch instruction is received. If so, go to step S52; if not, go to step S53; S52. Manually add or delete virtual nodes and virtual links; S53. Generate a virtual node and virtual link table for the carried slice and associate tenant information to complete the creation of the carried slice.

10. The method for rapid slicing of a bearer network according to claim 9, characterized in that: The step of manually adding virtual nodes and virtual links includes: providing all virtual nodes and virtual links in the regional topology; manually batch-selecting virtual nodes and virtual links on the regional topology and adding them to the virtual node and virtual link table generated in step S4; The step of manually deleting virtual nodes and virtual links includes: displaying the virtual node and virtual link table generated in S4; manually operating to remove virtual nodes and virtual links from the slice.