Method and system for distributing data traffic in a network

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method and system for distributing data traffic in a network The present disclosure encompasses: receiving, at load balance (LB) unit [300a], a request for routing data traffic associated with a policy execution engine (PEEGN) module; receiving, at the LB unit [300a], a health status information of a plurality of microservice instances connected with the LB unit [300a], wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of microservice instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance; identifying, at the LB unit [300a] one or more healthy microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances based on the health status information; and distribute, via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the PEEGN module among the one or more healthy microservice instances.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTING DATA TRAFFIC IN A NETWORKFIELD OF INVENTION

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of wireless communication systems. More particularly, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods and systems for distributing data traffic in a network.BACKGROUND

[0002] The following description of related art is intended to provide background information pertaining to the field of the disclosure. This section may include certain aspects of the art that may be related to various features of the present disclosure. However, it should be appreciated that this section be used only to enhance the understanding of the reader with respect to the present disclosure, and not as admissions of prior art.

[0003] Wireless communication technology has rapidly evolved over the past few decades, with each generation bringing significant improvements and advancements. The first generation of wireless communication technology was based on analog technology and offered only voice services. However, with the advent of the second-generation (2G) technology, digital communication and data services became possible, and text messaging was introduced. The third generation (3G) technology marked the introduction of high-speed internet access, mobile video calling, and location-based services. The fourth generation (4G) technology revolutionized wireless communication with faster data speeds, better network coverage, and improved security. Currently, the fifth generation (5G) technology is being deployed, promising even faster data speeds, low latency, and the ability to connect multiple devices simultaneously. With each generation, wireless communication technology has become more advanced, sophisticated, and capable of delivering more services to its users.

[0004] Over the last few years, microservices architecture has gained popularity due to its flexibility and scalability. Microservices architecture involves breaking down a monolithic application into smaller, self-contained services, often referred to as "microservices." Each microservice is responsible for a specific functional aspect of the application and can be developed, deployed, and managed independently. This modular approach to software design offers severaladvantages such as scalability, flexibility, continuous deployment, resilience, and parallel development.

[0005] In a microservices architecture, the system can fail due to high data traffic on a particular instance or unhealthy instance requests might get failed results. In order to avoid such a situation and to ensure that no server is overworked, a solution is required through which incoming / outgoing requests can be easily distributed among all inventory instances.

[0006] Further, over the period of time various solutions have been developed to address the above-mentioned problems associated with the microservices architecture. However, ensuring high availability and data consistency across distributed microservices instances always remains a challenge.

[0007] Thus, there exists an imperative need in the art to provide an efficient system and method for distributing data traffic in a network, which the present disclosure aims to address.SUMMARY

[0008] This section is provided to introduce certain aspects of the present disclosure in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify the key features or the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0009] An aspect of the present disclosure may relate to a method for distributing data traffic in a network. The method includes receiving, by a processing unit at a load balancer (LB) unit, a request for routing data traffic associated with a policy execution engine (PEEGN) module. Next, the method includes receiving, by the processing unit at the LB unit, a health status information of a plurality of microservice instances connected with the LB unit, wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of microservice instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance. Next, the method includes identifying, by the processing unit at the LB unit, one or more healthy microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances based on the health status information. Thereafter, the method includes distributing, by the processing unit via the LB unit, the data traffic from the PEEGN module among the one or more healthy microservice instances.

[0010] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, wherein the LB unit and the PEEGN module are in communication via an interface.

[0011] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the method comprises distributing, by processing unit, the data traffic among the one or more healthy microservice instances in a round robin manner.

[0012] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the method comprises storing, by each of the plurality of microservice instances, the corresponding health status information in at least one of a local cache associated with each of the plurality of microservice instances, and an elastic search database.

[0013] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, wherein, in response to a healthy microservice instance becoming a malfunctioning microservice instance, the method comprises redirecting, by the processing unit via the LB unit, the data traffic from the malfunctioning microservice instance to a healthy microservice instance.

[0014] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, wherein the health status information of the plurality of microservice instances is received by the processing unit via an orchestration manager.

[0015] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the method further comprises redistributing a data traffic associated with one or more malfunctioning microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances to the one or more healthy microservice instances, wherein the one or more malfunctioning microservice instances are identified based on the corresponding health status information associated with each of the plurality of microservice instances.

[0016] Another aspect of the present disclosure may relate to a system for distributing network data traffic in a network environment. The system comprising: a processing unit configured to: receive, at a load balancer (LB) unit, a request for routing data traffic associated with a policy execution engine (PEEGN) module; receive, at the LB unit, health status information of a plurality of microservice instances connected with the LB unit, wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of microservice instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and amalfunctioning instance; identify, at the LB unit, one or more healthy microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances based on the health status information; and distribute, via the LB unit, the data traffic from the PEEGN module among the one or more healthy microservice instances.

[0017] Yet another aspect of the present disclosure may relate to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for distributing network data traffic in a network environment, the instructions include executable code which, when executed by one or more units of a system, causes: a processing unit of the system to receive, at a load balancer (LB) unit, a request for routing data traffic associated with a policy execution engine (PEEGN) module; receive, at the LB unit, health status information of a plurality of microservice instances connected with the LB unit, wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of microservice instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance; identify, at the LB unit, one or more healthy microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances based on the health status information; and distribute, via the LB unit, the data traffic from the PEEGN module among the one or more healthy microservice instances.OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0018] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment disclosed herein satisfies are listed herein below.

[0019] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method to ensure proper resource inventory management by various operations (e.g., create, update, get, and delete) for all the interfaces for all the operations.

[0020] It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a system and method to handle HTTP, HTTP2 and HTTPS requests in parallel.

[0021] It is yet another object of the present disclosure to provide a solution to route client requests across all the servers in a manner that maximizes speed and capacity utilization.

[0022] It is yet another object of the present disclosure to provide a solution that provides header-based routing that saves time and database hits.

[0023] It is yet another object of the present disclosure to serve published events for only those instances where the requests are raised.DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosed methods and systems in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the different drawings. Components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Also, the embodiments shown in the figures are not to be construed as limiting the disclosure, but the possible variants of the method and system according to the disclosure are illustrated herein to highlight the advantages of the disclosure. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that disclosure of such drawings includes disclosure of electrical components or circuitry commonly used to implement such components.

[0025] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a management and orchestration (MANO) architecture.

[0026] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a computing device upon which the features of the present disclosure may be implemented in accordance with exemplary implementation of the present disclosure.

[0027] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a system for distributing data traffic in a network environment, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure.

[0028] FIG. 4 illustrates a method flow diagram for distributing data traffic in a network, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure.

[0029] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary system architecture for distributing data traffic in a network environment, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure.

[0030] The foregoing shall be more apparent from the following more detailed description of the disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, that embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. Several features described hereafter may each be used independently of one another or with any combination of other features. An individual feature may not address any of the problems discussed above or might address only some of the problems discussed above.

[0032] The ensuing description provides exemplary embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the exemplary embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing an exemplary embodiment. It should be understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth.

[0033] Specific details are given in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, circuits, systems, processes, and other components may be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail.

[0034] Also, it is noted that individual embodiments may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations may be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminated when its operations are completed but could have additional steps not included in a figure.

[0035] The word “exemplary” and / or “demonstrative” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In addition, any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” and / or “demonstrative” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent exemplary structures and techniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and other similar words are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive — in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transition word — without precluding any additional or other elements.

[0036] As used herein, a “processing unit” or “processor” or “operating processor” includes one or more processors, wherein processor refers to any logic circuitry for processing instructions. A processor may be a general-purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a (Digital Signal Processing) DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits, Field Programmable Gate Array circuits, any other type of integrated circuits, etc. The processor may perform signal coding data processing, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the working of the system according to the present disclosure. More specifically, the processor or processing unit is a hardware processor.

[0037] As used herein, “a user equipment”, “a user device”, “a smart-user-device”, “a smartdevice”, “an electronic device”, “a mobile device”, “a handheld device”, “a wireless communication device”, “a mobile communication device”, “a communication device” may be any electrical, electronic and / or computing device or equipment, capable of implementing the features of the present disclosure. The user equipment / device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, smart phone, laptop, a general-purpose computer, desktop, personal digital assistant, tablet computer, wearable device or any other computing device which is capable of implementing the features of the present disclosure. Also, the user device may contain at least one input means configured to receive an input from at least one of a transceiver unit, a processing unit, a storage unit, a detection unit and any other such unit(s) which are required to implement the features of the present disclosure.

[0038] As used herein, “storage unit” or “memory unit” refers to a machine or computer- readable medium including any mechanism for storing information in a form readable by acomputer or similar machine. For example, a computer-readable medium includes read-only memory (“ROM”), random access memory (“RAM”), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices or other types of machine-accessible storage media. The storage unit stores at least the data that may be required by one or more units of the system to perform their respective functions.

[0039] As used herein “interface” or “user interface” refers to a shared boundary across which two or more separate components of a system exchange information or data. The interface may also refer to a set of rules or protocols that define communication or interaction of one or more modules or one or more units with each other, which also includes the methods, functions, or procedures that may be called.

[0040] All modules, units, components used herein, unless explicitly excluded herein, may be software modules or hardware processors, the processors being a general-purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Array circuits (FPGA), any other type of integrated circuits, etc.

[0041] As used herein the transceiver unit includes at least one receiver and at least one transmitter configured respectively for receiving and transmitting data, signals, information or a combination thereof between units / components within the system and / or connected with the system.

[0042] As used herein, Policy Execution Engine (PEEGN) module provides a network function virtualisation (NFV) software defined network (SDN) platform functionality to support dynamic requirements of resource management and network service orchestration in the virtualized network. Further, the PEEGN is involved during CNF instantiation flow to check for CNF policy and to reserve resources required to instantiate CNF at PVIM. PEEGN supports scaling policy for CNFC.

[0043] As discussed in the background section, the current known solutions have several shortcomings. The present disclosure aims to overcome the above-mentioned and other existingproblems in this field of technology by providing a method and a system for distributing data traffic in a network environment.

[0044] The foregoing shall be more apparent from the following more detailed description of the disclosure.

[0045] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0046] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary block diagram representation of a management and orchestration (MANO) architecture / platform

[0100] , in accordance with exemplary implementation of the present disclosure. The MANO architecture

[0100] may be developed for managing telecom cloud infrastructure automatically, managing design or deployment design, managing instantiation of network node(s) / service(s) etc. The MANO architecture

[0100] deploys the network node(s) in the form of Virtual Network Function (VNF) and Cloud-native / Container Network Function (CNF). The system as provided by the present disclosure may comprise one or more components of the MANO architecture

[0100] , The MANO architecture

[0100] may be used to auto-instantiate the VNFs into the corresponding environment of the present disclosure so that it could help in onboarding other vendor(s) CNFs and VNFs to the platform.

[0047] As shown in FIG. 1, the MANO architecture

[0100] comprises a user interface layer

[0102] , a network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined network (SDN) design function module

[0104] , a platform foundation services module

[0106] , a Platform Schedulers and Cron Jobs module

[0108] and a platform resource adapters and utilities module

[0112] , All the components are assumed to be connected to each other in a manner as obvious to the person skilled in the art for implementing features of the present disclosure.

[0048] The NFV and SDN design function module

[0104] comprises a VNF lifecycle manager (compute)

[1042] , a VNF catalogue

[1044] , a network services catalogue

[1046] , a network slicing and service chaining manager

[1048] , a physical and virtual resource manager

[1050] and a CNF lifecycle manager

[1052] , The VNF lifecycle manager (compute)

[1042] may be responsible for deciding on which server of the communication network, and the microservice will be instantiated. The VNF lifecycle manager (compute)

[1042] may manage the overall flow of incoming / outgoing requests during interaction with the user. The VNF lifecycle manager (compute)

[1042] may beresponsible for determining which sequence to be followed for executing the process. For e.g., in an AMF network function of the communication network (such as a 5G network), sequence for execution of processes Pl and P2 etc. The VNF catalogue

[1044] stores the metadata of all the VNFs (also CNFs in some cases). The network services catalogue

[1046] stores the information of the services that need to be run. The network slicing and service chaining manager

[1048] manages the slicing (an ordered and connected sequence of network service / network functions (NFs)) that must be applied to a specific networked data packet. The physical and virtual resource manager

[1050] stores the logical and physical inventory of the VNFs. Just like the VNF lifecycle manager (compute)

[1042] , the CNF lifecycle manager

[1052] may be used for the CNFs lifecycle management.

[0049] The platforms foundation services module

[0106] comprises a microservices elastic load balancer

[1062] , an identity and access manager

[1064] , a command line interface (CLI)

[1066] , a central logging manager

[1068] , and an event routing manager

[1070] , The microservices elastic load balancer

[1062] may be used for maintaining the load balancing of the request for the services. The identity and access manager

[1064] may be used for logging purposes. The command line interface (CLI)

[1066] may be used to provide commands to execute certain processes which requires changes during the run time. The central logging manager

[1068] may be responsible for keeping the logs of every service. These logs are generated by the MANO platform

[0100] , These logs are used for debugging purposes. The event routing manager

[1070] may be responsible for routing the events i.e., the application programming interface (API) hits to the corresponding services.

[0050] The platforms core services module

[0108] comprises NFV infrastructure monitoring manager

[1082] , an assure manager

[1084] , a performance manager

[1086] , a policy execution engine

[1088] , a capacity monitoring manager

[1090] , a release management (mgmt.) repository

[1092] , a configuration manager and GCT

[1094] , an NFV platform decision analytics

[1096] , a platform NoSQL DB

[1098] ; a platform schedulers and cron jobs

[1100] , a VNF backup and upgrade manager

[1102] , a microservice auditor

[1104] , and a platform operations, administration and maintenance manager

[1106] , The NFV infrastructure monitoring manager

[1082] monitors the infrastructure part of the NFs. For e.g., any metrics such as CPU utilization by the VNF. The assure manager

[1084] may be responsible for supervising the alarms the vendor may be generating. The performance manager

[1086] may be responsible for managing the performance counters. The policy execution engine (PEGN)

[1088] may be responsible for managing all of the policies. The capacity monitoring manager (CMM)

[1090] may be responsible for sending therequest to the PEGN

[1090] , The release management (mgmt.) repository (RMR)

[1092] may be responsible for managing the releases and the images of all of the vendor's network nodes. The configuration manager and GCT

[1094] manages the configuration and GCT of all the vendors. The NFV platform decision analytics (NPDA)

[1096] helps in deciding the priority of using the network resources. It may be further noted that the policy execution engine (PEGN)

[1088] , the configuration manager and GCT

[1094] and the NPDA

[1096] work together. The platform NoSQL DB

[1098] may be a database for storing all the inventory (both physical and logical) as well as the metadata of the VNFs and CNF. The platform schedulers and cron jobs

[1100] schedules the task such as but not limited to triggering of an event, traverse the network graph etc. The VNF backup and upgrade manager

[1102] takes backup of the images, binaries of the VNFs and the CNFs and produces those backups on demand in case of server failure. The microservice auditor

[1104] audits the microservices. For e.g., in a hypothetical case, instances not being instantiated by the MANO architecture

[0100] may be using the network resources. In such case, the microservice auditor

[1104] audits and informs the same so that resources can be released for services running in the MANO architecture

[0100] , The audit assures that the services only run on the MANO platform

[0100] , The platform operations, administration and maintenance manager

[1106] may be used for newer instances that are spawning.

[0051] The platform resource adapters and utilities module

[0112] further comprises a platform external API adapter and gateway

[1122] , a generic decoder and indexer (XML, CSV, JSON)

[1124] , a docker service adapter

[1126] , an API adapter

[1128] , and a NFV gateway

[1130] , The platform external API adapter and gateway

[1122] may be responsible for handling the external services (to the MANO platform

[0100] ) that require the network resources. The generic decoder and indexer (XML, CSV, JSON)

[1124] gets directly the data of the vendor system in the XML, CSV, JSON format. The docker service adapter

[1126] may be the interface provided between the telecom cloud and the MANO architecture

[0100] for communication. The API adapter

[1128] may be used to connect with the virtual machines (VMs). The NFV gateway

[1130] may be responsible for providing the path to each service going to / incoming from the MANO architecture

[0100] ,

[0052] The docker service adapter (DSA)

[1126] is a microservices-based system designed to deploy and manage Container Network Functions (CNFs) and their components (CNFCs) across Docker nodes. The DSA

[1126] offers REST endpoints for key operations, including uploading container images to a Docker registry, terminating CNFC instances, and creating Docker volumes and networks. CNFs, which are network functions packaged as containers, may consist of multiple CNFCs. The DSA

[1126] facilitates the deployment, configuration, and management of thesecomponents by interacting with Docker's API, ensuring proper setup and scalability within a containerized environment. This approach provides a modular and flexible framework for handling network functions in a virtualized network setup.

[0053] Referring to FIG. 2, an exemplary block diagram of a computing device

[0200] upon which the features of the present disclosure may be implemented in accordance with exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, is shown. In an implementation, the computing device

[0200] may also implement a method for distributing data traffic in a network environment utilising the system. In another implementation, the computing device

[0200] itself implements the method for distributing data traffic in a network environment using one or more units configured within the computing device

[0200] , wherein said one or more units are capable of implementing the features as disclosed in the present disclosure.

[0054] The computing device

[0200] may include a bus

[0202] or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a hardware processor

[0204] coupled with bus

[0202] for processing information. The hardware processor

[0204] may be, for example, a general- purpose microprocessor. The computing device

[0200] may also include a main memory

[0206] , such as a random-access memory (RAM), or other dynamic storage device, coupled to the bus

[0202] for storing information and instructions to be executed by the processor

[0204] , The main memory

[0206] also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of the instructions to be executed by the processor

[0204] , Such instructions, when stored in non-transitory storage media accessible to the processor

[0204] , render the computing device

[0200] into a special-purpose machine that is customized to perform the operations specified in the instructions. The computing device

[0200] further includes a read only memory (ROM)

[0208] or other static storage device coupled to the bus

[0202] for storing static information and instructions for the processor

[0204] ,

[0055] A storage device

[0210] , such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, or solid-state drive is provided and coupled to the bus

[0202] for storing information and instructions. The computing device

[0200] may be coupled via the bus

[0202] to a display

[0212] , such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), Liquid crystal Display (LCD), Light Emitting Diode (LED) display, Organic LED (OLED) display, etc. for displaying information to a computer user. An input device

[0214] , including alphanumeric and other keys, touch screen input means, etc. may be coupled to the bus

[0202] for communicating information and command selections to the processor

[0204] , Another type of userinput device may be a cursor controller

[0216] , such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys, for communicating direction information and command selections to the processor

[0204] , and for controlling cursor movement on the display

[0212] , The input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allow the device to specify positions in a plane.

[0056] The computing device

[0200] may implement the techniques described herein using customized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmware and / or program logic which in combination with the computing device

[0200] causes or programs the computing device

[0200] to be a special-purpose machine. According to one implementation, the techniques herein are performed by the computing device

[0200] in response to the processor

[0204] executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in the main memory

[0206] , Such instructions may be read into the main memory

[0206] from another storage medium, such as the storage device

[0210] , Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the main memory

[0206] causes the processor

[0204] to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative implementations of the present disclosure, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions.

[0057] The computing device

[0200] also may include a communication interface

[0218] coupled to the bus

[0202] , The communication interface

[0218] provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link

[0220] that is connected to a local network

[0222] , For example, the communication interface

[0218] may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card, cable modem, satellite modem, or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, the communication interface

[0218] may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any such implementation, the communication interface

[0218] sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.

[0058] The computing device

[0200] can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the network(s), the network link

[0220] and the communication interface

[0218] , In the Internet example, a server

[0230] might transmit a requested code for an application program through the Internet

[0228] , the ISP

[0226] , the local network

[0222] , a host

[0224] and thecommunication interface

[0218] , The received code may be executed by the processor

[0204] as it is received, and / or stored in the storage device

[0210] , or other non-volatile storage for later execution.

[0059] Referring to FIG. 3, an exemplary block diagram of a system

[0300] for distributing data traffic in a network environment is shown, in accordance with the exemplary implementations of the present disclosure. The system

[0300] comprises at least one load balancer unit [300a], The load balancer unit [300a] may comprise at least one processing unit

[0302] and at least one storing unit

[0304] , Also, all of the components / units of the system

[0300] are assumed to be connected to each other unless otherwise indicated below. Also, in FIG. 3 only a few units are shown, however, the system

[0300] may comprise multiple such units or the system

[0300] may comprise any such numbers of said units, as required to implement the features of the present disclosure. In an implementation, the system

[0300] may reside in a server or a network entity. In yet another implementation, the system

[0300] may reside partly in the server / network entity.

[0060] The system

[0300] is configured for distributing data traffic in a network, with the help of the interconnection between the components / units of the system

[0300] ,

[0061] The system

[0300] comprises a processing unit

[0302] , The processing unit

[0302] is configured to receive, at a load balancer (LB) unit [300a], a request for routing data traffic associated with comprising a policy execution engine (PEEGN) module. In a network, the PEEGN module may receive a resource management for bulk data traffic during the operation. In response to this, PEEGN module may communicate with LB unit [300a] over an interface such as PE LB interface. The LB unit [300a] is configured to receive the request for routing data traffic.

[0062] The PE LB interface may connect the PEEGN module and the LB unit [300a], The PE LB interface allows for bidirectional communication between the PEEGN module, and the LB unit [300a], In an embodiment, the PE LB interface is configured to facilitate exchange of information using hypertext transfer protocol (http) rest application programming interface (API). In an embodiment, the http rest API is used in conjunction with JSON and / or XML communication media. In another embodiment, the PE LB interface is configured to facilitate exchange of information by establishing a web-socket connection between the PEEGN module, and the LB unit [300a], A web-socket connection may involve establishing a persistent connectivity between the PEEGN module, and the LB unit [300a], An example of the web-socket based communication includes, without limitation, a transmission control protocol (TCP) connection. In such aconnection, information, such as operational status, health, etc. of different components may be exchanged through the interface using a ping-pong-based communication.

[0063] The processing unit

[0302] of the system

[0300] is further configured to receive, at the LB unit [300a], a health status information of a plurality of microservice instances connected with the LB unit [300a], The health status information of each of the plurality of microservice instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance. The health status information may be associated with performance, operational efficiency, low latency and high throughput of the plurality of microservice instances. In an exemplary implementation, the health status information may be one of in-service, and out of service. In an exemplary implementation, the health status information may be good, moderate or poor. In an implementation, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to store, by each of the plurality of microservice instances, the corresponding health status information in at least one of a local cache associated with each of the plurality of microservice instances, and an elastic search database. In an exemplary implementation, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to provide, via an orchestration manager, to the LB unit [300a], health status information of one or more microservice instances. The orchestration manager is configured to store and provide details of health status of the one or more microservice instances, such as, but not limited to, microservice instances to the LB unit [300a], The processing unit

[0302] is configured to store health status information of the plurality of the microservice instances into a storage unit

[0304] ,

[0064] The processing unit

[0302] is further configured to identify, at the LB unit [300a], one or more healthy microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances based on the health status information. In an implementation, after receiving the health status of the plurality of microservice instances, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to identify at the LB unit [300a] one or more healthy microservice instances based on the health status information. In an implementation, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to identify healthy microservice instances using a selection algorithm.

[0065] The processing unit

[0302] of the system

[0300] is further configured to distribute, via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the PEEGN module among the one or more healthy microservice instances. In an implementation, the distribution is based on receiving, from one or more of the healthy microservice instances, an indication corresponding to taking an ownership of at least a part of the data traffic. After receiving a response from the one or more healthymicroservice instances, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to distribute via the LB unit [300a] the requested data traffic from the PEEGN module among the one or more healthy microservice instances. The processing unit

[0302] is configured to distribute the data traffic among the one or more healthy microservice instances in a round robin manner.

[0066] In an implementation, during an operation, in response to a healthy microservice instance becoming a malfunctioning microservice instance, the processing unit

[0302] is further configured to redirect, via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the malfunctioning microservice instance to a healthy microservice instance. Further, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to update status of the malfunctioning microservice instance such as, not-in-service into the storage unit

[0304] , The processing unit

[0302] is configured to store the information of the microservice instances, which are managing the distribution of the data traffic in the storage unit

[0304] ,

[0067] Further, in accordance with the present disclosure, it is to be acknowledged that the functionality described for the various components / units can be implemented interchangeably. While specific embodiments may disclose a particular functionality of these units for clarity, it is recognized that various configurations and combinations thereof are within the scope of the disclosure. The functionality of specific units as disclosed in the disclosure should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Consequently, alternative arrangements and substitutions of units, provided they achieve the intended functionality described herein, are considered to be encompassed within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0068] Referring to FIG. 4, an exemplary method flow diagram

[0400] , for distributing data traffic in a network, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure is shown. In an implementation the method

[0400] is performed by the system

[0300] , As shown in FIG. 4, the method

[0400] starts at step

[0402] ,

[0069] At step

[0404] , the method

[0400] comprises receiving, by a processing unit

[0302] at a load balancer (LB) unit [300a], a request for routing data traffic associated with comprising a policy execution engine (PEEGN) module. In a network, the PEEGN module may receive a resource management for bulk data traffic during the operation. In response to this, PEEGN module may communicate with LB unit [300a] over an interface such as PE LB interface. The LB unit [300a] may receive the request for routing data traffic.

[0070] Next, at step

[0406] , the method

[0400] comprises receiving, by the processing unit

[0302] at the LB unit [300a], a health status information of a plurality of microservice instances connected with the LB unit [300a], wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of microservice instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance. The health status information may be associated with performance, operational efficiency, low latency and high throughput of the plurality of microservice instances. In an exemplary implementation, the health status information may be one of in-service, and out of service. In an exemplary implementation, the health status information may be good, moderate or poor. In an implementation, the processing unit

[0302] may store, by each of the plurality of microservice instances, the corresponding health status information in at least one of a local cache associated with each of the plurality of microservice instances, and an elastic search database. In an exemplary implementation, the processing unit

[0302] may provide, via an orchestration manager, to the LB unit [300a], health status information of one or more microservice instances. The orchestration manager may store and provide details of health status of the one or more microservice instances, such as, but not limited to, microservice instances to the LB unit [300a], The processing unit

[0302] may store health status information of the plurality of the microservice instances into a storage unit

[0304] ,

[0071] Next, at step

[0408] , the method

[0400] comprises identifying, by the processing unit

[0302] at the LB unit [300a], one or more healthy microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances based on the health status information. After receiving the health status information, the processing unit

[0302] at the LB unit [300a] may identify the one or more healthy microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances based on health status information. In an implementation, the processing unit

[0302] may identify healthy microservice instances using a selection algorithm.

[0072] Next, at step

[0410] , the method

[0400] comprises distributing, by the processing unit

[0302] via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the PEEGN module among the one or more healthy microservice instances. In an implementation, the distribution is based on receiving, from one or more of the healthy microservice instances, an indication corresponding to taking an ownership of at least a part of the data traffic. After receiving a response from the one or more healthy microservice instances, the processing unit

[0302] may distribute via the LB unit [300a] the requested data traffic from the PEEGN module among the one or more healthy microservice instances. The processing unit

[0302] may distribute the data traffic among the one or more healthy microservice instances in a round robin manner.

[0073] In an implementation, during an operation, in response to a healthy microservice instance becoming a malfunctioning microservice instance, the processing unit

[0302] is further may redirect, via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the malfunctioning microservice instance to a healthy microservice instance. In an implementation, the processing unit

[0302] may further redistribute the data traffic associated with one or more malfunctioning microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances to the one or more healthy microservice instances. The one or more malfunctioning microservice instances are identified based on the corresponding health status information associated with each of the plurality of the microservice instances. Further, the processing unit

[0302] may update status of the malfunctioning microservice instance such as, not-in-service into the storage unit

[0304] , The processing unit

[0302] may store the information of the microservice instances, which are managing the distribution of the data traffic in the storage unit

[0304] ,

[0074] Thereafter, the method

[0400] terminates at step

[0412] ,

[0075] Referring to FIG. 5, an exemplary system architecture

[0500] for distributing data traffic in a network environment, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, is shown. As shown in FIG. 5, the system

[0500] may comprises a User Interface (UI / UX)

[0502] , an Identity Access Management (IAM)

[0504] , an Elastic Load Balancer (ELB1) [506a] node, an ELB2 [506b], an Event Routing Management (ERM)

[0508] , ELB [510a, 510b] and Micro Service (MS) instances [516a, 516b ...516n] such as microservice instances, Operations and Management Service (0AM)

[0512] , Central Log management System (CLMS)

[0514] and Elastic Search Cluster

[0518] ,

[0076] As used herein, orchestrator manager

[0512] refers to a unit, a node, a service and / or a server, which manages service operations of different microservices in the network. Orchestrator manager maintains records details of the operational microservices and shares details of the microservices with other microservices for the operational communication.

[0077] As used herein, Identity Access Management (IAM)

[0504] refers to a service, a unit, and / or a platform for providing defence against malicious or unauthorised login activity and safeguards credentials by enabling risk-based access controls, ensuring identity protection and authentication processes.

[0078] As used herein, Elastic Load Balancer (ELB)

[0506] refers to a service, a unit, and / or a platform for managing and distributing incoming data traffic efficiently across a group of supported servers, microservices and units in a manner that may increase speed and performance of the network.

[0079] As used herein, Event Routing Management (ERM)

[0508] refers to a node, a server, a service and / or a platform for monitoring and triggering various actions or responses within the system based on detected events. For example, for any microservice instance down, the ERM may trigger any alert for taking an action to overcome the service breakdown condition in the network.

[0080] As used herein, Central Log management System (CLMS)

[0514] refers to a service or a platform which may collect log data from multiple sources and may consolidate the collected data. This consolidated data is then presented on a central interface which may be accessed by a user such as network administrator or authorised person.

[0081] As used herein, Elastic Search Cluster (ESC)

[0518] refers to a group of servers, or nodes that work together and form a cluster for distributing tasks, searching and indexing across all the nodes in the cluster.

[0082] In an implementation, microservices (MS) instances [516a, 516b...516n] runs in n- way active mode. Each MS instance [516a-516n] is being served with a pair of Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) [510a, 510b...51 On], The ELB distributes the load on MS instances in a round robin manner. The ELB ensures that the event acknowledgement against any event that is sent by MS instance to the subscribed MS is returned to the same MS instance which has published the event. Further, all microservices do not only maintain the state information in their local cache, but also persist it in Elastic Search cluster or database

[0518] , In case one of the MS instances goes down, Operations and Management Service (0AM)

[0512] detects it and broadcasts the status to other running MS instances and also the ELB serving the MS. The ELB as such distributes the ingress data traffic on the remaining available instances. The n-way active model for deployment of MS instances, ensures the availability of a microservice to serve the data traffic even if any instance goes down. In an implementation, one of the available MS instances takes the ownership of the instance which has gone down. It fetches the state information of the incomplete transaction being served by the instance gone down from the elastic search database and re-executes them. Incase any transaction has not been persisted, there may be a timeout, and the publisher MS of that event will re-transmit the same event for execution.

[0083] In an implementation, the input request may be received from UI / UX

[0502] or Command Line Interface (CLI) for accessing microservice instances.

[0084] In another implementation, the present system and method enable such that the north bound interface (NBI) sends HTTP requests to Load Balancer. Load Balancer monitors the instances health and sends request to healthy instances on the basis of algorithm selection. Further, using the PE LB interface request leads to the selected microservice instances. Next, Orchestrator Manager alerts the LB for any addition or removal of any application instances from cluster.

[0085] The present disclosure may relate to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for distributing data traffic in a network, the instructions include executable code which, when executed by one or more units of a system

[0300] , causes: a processing unit

[0302] of the system

[0300] to receive, at a load balancer (LB) unit [300a], a request for routing data traffic associated with comprising a policy execution engine (PEEGN) module; receive, at the LB unit [300a], a health status information of a plurality of microservice instances connected with the LB unit [300a], wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of microservice instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance; identify, at the LB unit [300a], one or more healthy microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances based on the health status information; and distribute, via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the PEEGN module among the one or more healthy microservice instances.

[0086] In one implementation, the LB unit is in communication with an Orchestrator manager (OM). The OM informs the LB interface about the health of the running instances. Based on the information about the health of the running instances, the LB interface routes the requests only through the healthy instances.

[0087] As is evident from the above, the present disclosure provides a technically advanced solution for performing load balancing in microservices architecture. The present invention provides an async event-based implementation to utilize the interface efficiently. In addition, the present invention provides fault tolerance for any event failure. The interface provided by the present disclosure works in a high availability mode and if one inventory instance goes downduring request processing, then the next available instance takes care of the request. While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the disclosed embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles of the present disclosure. These and other changes in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, whereby it is to be understood that the foregoing descriptive matter to be implemented is illustrative and nonlimiting.

[0088] While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the disclosed embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles of the present disclosure. These and other changes in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, whereby it is to be understood that the foregoing descriptive matter to be implemented is illustrative and non-limiting.

Claims

We Claim:

1. A method for distributing data traffic in a network, the method comprising:- receiving, by a processing unit [302] at a load balancer (LB) unit [300a], a request for routing data traffic associated with a policy execution engine (PEEGN) module;- receiving, by the processing unit [302] at the LB unit [300a], a health status information of a plurality of microservice instances connected with the LB unit [300a], wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of microservice instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance;- identifying, by the processing unit [302] at the LB unit [300a], one or more healthy microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances based on the health status information; and- distributing, by the processing unit [302] via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the PEEGN module among the one or more healthy microservice instances.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the LB unit [300a] and the PEEGN module are in communication via an interface.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method comprises distributing, by processing unit [302], the data traffic among the one or more healthy microservice instances in a round robin manner.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method comprises storing, by each of the plurality of microservice instances, the corresponding health status information in at least one of a local cache associated with each of the plurality of microservice instances, and an elastic search database.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in response to a healthy microservice instance becoming a malfunctioning microservice instance, the method comprises redirecting, by the processing unit [302] via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the malfunctioning microservice instance to a healthy microservice instance.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the health status information of the plurality of microservice instances is received by the processing unit [302] via an orchestration manager.

7. The method as claim in claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises redistributing a data traffic associated with one or more malfunctioning microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances to the one or more healthy microservice instances, wherein the one or more malfunctioning microservice instances are identified based on the corresponding health status information associated with each of the plurality of microservice instances.

8. A system for distributing data traffic in a network, the system comprising:- a processing unit [302] is configured to:- receive, at a load balancer (LB) unit [300a], a request for routing data traffic associated with a policy execution engine (PEEGN) module;- receive, at the LB unit [300a], a health status information of a plurality of microservice instances connected with the LB unit [300a], wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of microservice instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance;- identify, at the LB unit [300a], one or more healthy microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances based on the health status information; and- distribute, via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the PEEGN module among the one or more healthy microservice instances.

9. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the LB unit [300a] and the PEEGN module are in communication via an interface.

10. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the processing unit [302] is configured to distribute the data traffic among the one or more healthy microservice instances in a round robin manner.

11. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the processing unit [302] is configured to store, by each of the plurality of microservice instances, the corresponding health statusinformation in at least one of a local cache associated with each of the plurality of microservice instances, and an elastic search database.

12. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein, in response to a healthy microservice instance becoming a malfunctioning microservice instance, the the processing unit [302] is configured to redirect, via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the malfunctioning microservice instance to a healthy microservice instance.

13. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the health status information of the plurality of microservice instances is received by the processing unit [302] via an orchestration manager.

14. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the processing unit [302] is configured to redistribute a data traffic associated with one or more malfunctioning microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances to the one or more healthy microservice instances, wherein the one or more malfunctioning microservice instances are identified based on the corresponding health status information associated with each of the plurality of microservice instances.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, storing instructions for distributing data traffic in a network, the instructions comprising executable code which, when executed by one or more units of a system, causes:- a processing unit [302] to:- receive, at a load balancer (LB) unit [300a], a request for routing data traffic associated with a policy execution engine (PEEGN) module;- receive, at the LB unit [300a], a health status information of a plurality of microservice instances connected with the LB unit [300a], wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of microservice instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance;- identify, at the LB unit [300a], one or more healthy microservice instances from the plurality of microservice instances based on the health status information; and- distribute, via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the PEEGN module among the one or more healthy microservice instances.

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