Network telemetry method and apparatus

Abstract

Disclosed in the embodiments of the present application are a network telemetry method and an apparatus, which are used for reducing the bandwidth consumption of network telemetry. The method in the embodiments of the present application comprises: a publisher receives a subscription request sent by a subscriber, the subscription request being used for requesting sending subscription data within each subscription period, the subscription request comprising a suppression parameter, and the suppression parameter being used for instructing to detect a change condition of the subscription data; according to the suppression parameter, the publisher verifies the subscription data after each subscription period ends, so as to obtain a verification result, the verification result being used for indicating a change condition of the subscription data; and, when the verification result of the publisher indicates that the subscription data has changed, the publisher sends to the receiver the changed subscription data within the subscription period corresponding to the verification result.

Description

Network telemetry method and device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on February 4, 2024, with application number 202410158824.5 and application name “A Network Telemetry Method and Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications, and in particular to a network telemetry method and apparatus. Background Art

[0003] With the development of network communication technology, network telemetry technology has been widely used. Network telemetry technology is a data collection technology that can remotely transmit data to other network devices or management systems through subscription and publication mechanisms.

[0004] In network telemetry, YANG-PUSH is a YANG-model-driven subscription and publishing mechanism defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). This mechanism enables data subscribers to continuously receive user-defined event streams from data publishers, along with configuration and status data stored in device datasets.

[0005] Periodic subscription is a subscription method in the current YANG-PUSH mechanism. In this method, the data publisher needs to send subscription data to the data subscriber at fixed time intervals. However, if the subscription data does not change within a subscription cycle, the data publisher still needs to send the unchanged subscription data to the data subscriber. However, sending these unchanged subscription data is repeated, resulting in a waste of network bandwidth resources.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] Embodiments of the present application provide a network telemetry method. In this method, in periodic subscriptions using network telemetry technology, a subscription request sent by a subscriber to a publisher carries a suppression parameter. The publisher can monitor changes in subscription data based on the suppression parameter, thereby avoiding sending duplicate subscription data and improving the efficiency of network resource utilization during the network telemetry process. Embodiments of the present application also provide a network telemetry device, network equipment, network telemetry system, computer-readable storage medium, and computer program product corresponding to the network telemetry method.

[0008] In the first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network telemetry method, which can be executed by a network device, or by a component of the network device, such as a processor, chip or chip system of the network device, or by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the network device functions. The method provided in the first aspect includes: a publisher receives a subscription request sent by a subscriber, the subscription request is used to request the publisher to send subscription data to the receiver within each subscription cycle, the subscription request includes a suppression parameter, and the suppression parameter is used to instruct the publisher to detect changes in the subscription data. The publisher verifies the subscription data after the end of each subscription cycle according to the suppression parameter to obtain a verification result, and the verification result is used to indicate changes in the subscription data, and the verification result includes changes in the subscription data and no changes in the subscription data. If the publisher determines that the verification result indicates that the subscription data has changed, the publisher sends the changed subscription data to the receiver within the subscription cycle corresponding to the verification result.

[0009] In the embodiment of the present application, the subscriber of the network telemetry system carries a suppression parameter in the subscription request. The publisher can detect the subscription data based on the information indicated by the suppression parameter and suppress the sending of subscription data according to the detection result. Compared with the existing periodic subscription scheme, the publisher sends subscription data to the receiver in each subscription period. In the embodiment of the present application, the publisher can only send the changed subscription data according to the detection result, thereby avoiding the publisher from sending duplicate subscription data to the receiver, saving network transmission resources between the publisher and the receiver, and improving the network resource utilization efficiency in the network telemetry process.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the publisher determines that the verification result indicates that the subscription data has not changed, that is, the subscription data in the current cycle has not changed compared to the subscription data in the previous cycle. The publisher then suspends sending subscription data to the receiver during the subscription cycle corresponding to the verification result, that is, the publisher refrains from sending subscription data to the receiver. Specifically, when the suppression parameter indicates that the publisher needs to detect changes in the subscription data, the publisher verifies the subscription data according to the suppression parameter after each subscription cycle to obtain a verification result. If the verification result shows that the subscription data has not changed, the publisher suspends sending duplicate subscription data to the receiver during that subscription cycle.

[0011] In the embodiment of the present application, the publisher can detect the subscription data based on the information indicated by the suppression parameter. When it is detected that the subscription data has not changed, the publisher suppresses sending the subscription data, thereby saving network resources and improving the efficiency of network resource utilization.

[0012] In one possible implementation, the publisher receives a modification request for subscription sent by the subscriber, and the modification request for subscription is used to request modification of one or more of the following: suppression parameters, subscription objects, and subscription periods. Specifically, after the publisher receives the modification request for subscription sent by the subscriber, when the modification request for subscription indicates modification of the suppression parameters, the publisher redetermines whether it is necessary to detect changes in the subscription data based on the modified suppression parameters in the modification request for subscription. When the modification request for subscription indicates modification of the subscription period, the publisher re-sends the subscription data to the receiver based on the modified subscription period in the modification request for subscription. When the modification request for subscription indicates modification of the subscription object, the publisher redetermines the subscription data based on the modified subscription object in the modification request for subscription.

[0013] In the embodiment of the present application, the subscriber can send a modification subscription request to the publisher, and the publisher can modify the suppression parameters, subscription objects, subscription period, etc. based on the modification subscription request, thereby improving the subscription flexibility of the network telemetry system.

[0014] In one possible implementation, when the publisher verifies the subscription data based on a suppression parameter after each subscription period, if the publisher determines that the suppression parameter indicates that the subscription data needs to be suppressed, the publisher verifies changes to the subscription data after each subscription period. For example, when the suppression parameter is a Boolean value, such as when the suppression parameter is true, the publisher needs to detect changes to the subscription data after each subscription period. When the suppression parameter is a binary number, such as when the suppression parameter is 1, the publisher also needs to detect changes to the subscription data after each subscription period.

[0015] In the embodiment of the present application, when the publisher determines that subscription data needs to be suppressed based on the information indicated by the suppression parameter, the publisher verifies changes in the subscription data in each subscription cycle, thereby improving the accuracy of the detection result.

[0016] In one possible implementation, if the publisher determines that a suppression parameter indicates that subscription data suppression is not necessary, the publisher sends the subscription data to the recipient during each subscription period based on the subscription request. For example, when the suppression parameter is a Boolean value, such as false, the publisher does not need to detect changes to the subscription data and sends the subscription data to the recipient during each subscription period. When the suppression parameter is a binary number, such as 0, the publisher does not need to detect changes to the subscription data during each subscription period and sends the subscription data to the recipient during each subscription period.

[0017] In an embodiment of the present application, when the publisher determines that the subscription data does not need to be suppressed based on the information indicated by the suppression parameter, the publisher does not need to check the changes in the subscription data in each subscription cycle and directly sends the subscription data to the receiver, thereby improving the efficiency of sending the subscription data.

[0018] In one possible implementation, during the process of a subscriber sending a subscription request to a publisher, the subscriber sends the subscription request based on a network protocol, the network protocol including one or more of the following: the NETCONF protocol for network configuration or the RESTCONF protocol for presentation state transfer configuration, and the subscription request includes one or more of the following remote procedure call (RPC) instructions: a setup subscription instruction and a configuration edit instruction. The setup subscription instruction is used to send suppression parameters in a dynamic subscription scenario, and the configuration edit instruction is used to configure suppression parameters in a configuration subscription scenario.

[0019] In the embodiment of the present application, the subscriber can send a subscription request to the publisher based on the network protocol and instructions, thereby improving the feasibility of the solution.

[0020] In one possible implementation, the subscriber and receiver can be the same device, such as a collector. When the subscriber and receiver are the same device, the network telemetry method can be applied in a dynamic subscription scenario. The subscriber and receiver can also be different devices, such as a controller and a collector. When the subscriber and receiver are the controller and collector, respectively, the network telemetry method can be applied in a configured subscription scenario.

[0021] In the embodiment of the present application, the publisher and the receiver can be the same device or different devices in different application scenarios, thereby improving the richness of the solution.

[0022] In one possible implementation, the subscription request is a dynamic subscription request. The subscriber can send the dynamic subscription request to the publisher in real time. After the publisher and the receiver establish a dynamic subscription relationship, if the transmission session between the publisher and the receiver is lost, when the publisher and the receiver re-establish the transmission session, the publisher stops sending the subscription data corresponding to the dynamic subscription request to the receiver. The subscriber needs to re-send the dynamic subscription request to the publisher before the publisher starts sending the subscription data to the receiver.

[0023] In the dynamic subscription scenario in the embodiment of the present application, the subscriber can send a dynamic subscription request to the publisher in real time. At the same time, if the transmission session between the publisher and the receiver is lost, the subscriber needs to resend the dynamic subscription request to the publisher after the transmission session is reestablished, thereby improving the subscription flexibility of the network telemetry system.

[0024] In one possible implementation, the subscription request is a configuration subscription request. After the subscriber configures the subscription on the publisher, if the transmission session between the publisher and the receiver is lost, when the session between the publisher and the receiver is reestablished, the publisher continues to send the subscription data corresponding to the configuration subscription request to the receiver without the need for the subscriber to reconfigure.

[0025] In the configuration subscription scenario in the embodiment of the present application, after the subscriber sends a configuration subscription request to the publisher, if the transmission session between the publisher and the receiver is lost, the subscriber does not need to resend the configuration subscription request to the publisher after the transmission session is reestablished, thereby improving the subscription stability of the network telemetry system.

[0026] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network telemetry device, which includes a transceiver unit and a processing unit. The transceiver unit is used to receive a subscription request sent by a subscriber, and the subscription request is used to request that subscription data be sent to the recipient within each subscription period. The subscription request includes a suppression parameter, and the suppression parameter is used to instruct the publisher to detect changes in the subscription data. The processing unit is used to verify the subscription data after each subscription period according to the suppression parameter to obtain a verification result, and the verification result is used to indicate changes in the subscription data. The processing unit is also used to determine that the verification result indicates that the subscription data has changed, and the transceiver unit is also used to send the changed subscription data to the recipient within the subscription period corresponding to the verification result.

[0027] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to, when determining that the verification result indicates that the subscription data has not changed, suspend sending the subscription data to the receiver within a subscription period corresponding to the verification result.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a subscription modification request sent by the subscriber, where the subscription modification request is used to request modification of one or more of the following: a suppression parameter and a subscription period.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the processing unit is specifically configured to determine that the suppression parameter indicates that the subscription data needs to be suppressed, and to verify changes in the subscription data after each subscription period ends.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit is further configured to determine that the suppression parameter indicates that the subscription data does not need to be suppressed, and send the subscription data to the receiver in each subscription period based on the subscription request.

[0031] In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit is also used to receive a subscription request sent by the subscriber based on a network protocol, where the network protocol includes one or more of the following: a network configuration NETCONF protocol or a presentation layer state transfer configuration RESTCONF protocol, and the subscription request includes one or more of the following remote procedure call RPC instructions: an establishment subscription instruction and a configuration editing instruction.

[0032] In a possible implementation, the subscriber and the publisher are the same device, and the device includes a collector.

[0033] In a possible implementation, the subscription request is a dynamic subscription request, and the transceiver unit is further configured to stop sending subscription data corresponding to the dynamic subscription request to the receiver when the transmission session between the publisher and the receiver is lost and reestablished.

[0034] In a possible implementation, the subscription request is a configuration subscription request, and the transceiver unit is further configured to continue sending subscription data corresponding to the configuration subscription request to the receiver when the transmission session between the publisher and the receiver is lost and reestablished.

[0035] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network device, which includes a processor coupled to a memory, and the processor is used to store instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor, the network device executes the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation method of the first aspect.

[0036] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network telemetry system, which includes one or more network devices, and the network device includes a processor, which is coupled to a memory, and the processor is used to store instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor, the network telemetry system executes the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation method of the first aspect.

[0037] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon. When the instructions are executed, the computer executes the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation method of the first aspect.

[0038] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, which includes instructions. When the instructions are executed, the computer implements the method described in the first aspect or any possible implementation method of the first aspect.

[0039] It can be understood that the beneficial effects that can be achieved by any of the network telemetry devices, network equipment, network telemetry systems, computer-readable media or computer program products provided above can be referred to the beneficial effects in the corresponding methods and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0040] FIG1a is a schematic diagram of the system architecture of a network telemetry system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] FIG1b is a schematic diagram of the system architecture of another network telemetry system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] FIG1c is a schematic diagram of the system architecture of another network telemetry system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] FIG2 is a flow chart of a network telemetry method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] FIG3 is a flow chart of a network telemetry method for a dynamic subscription scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] FIG4 is a flow chart of a network telemetry method for configuring another subscription scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] FIG5 is a schematic structural diagram of a network telemetry device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] FIG7 is a schematic structural diagram of a network telemetry system provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] The embodiments of the present application provide a network telemetry method and apparatus for improving the utilization efficiency of network bandwidth resources during network telemetry.

[0050] The terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and the like (if any) in the specification and claims of this application and in the accompanying drawings are used to distinguish similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a particular order or sequential sequence. It should be understood that the terms used in this manner are interchangeable where appropriate so that the embodiments described herein can be implemented in an order other than that illustrated or described herein. In addition, the terms "including" and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, e.g., a process, method, system, product, or apparatus comprising a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units explicitly listed, but may include other steps or units not explicitly listed or inherent to such processes, methods, products, or apparatus.

[0051] In the embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of this application should not be interpreted as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0052] First, some terms involved in the embodiments of the present application are introduced to facilitate those skilled in the art to understand the technical solutions.

[0053] Network telemetry is a technology that remotely collects data from physical or virtual devices at high speed. In this technology, publishers can periodically and proactively send data to subscribers through a push model, including data such as the sending device's interface traffic statistics, CPU usage, or memory usage. Compared to a pull model, where subscribers continuously poll publishers for data, network telemetry provides more real-time and high-speed data collection.

[0054] The YANG-PUSH mechanism is a YANG-model-driven subscription and publishing mechanism defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The YANG model is a structured data modeling language used to describe and define network devices, protocols, and services. The YANG model provides a unified way to describe information such as the configuration, status, and operation of network devices.

[0055] The Network Configuration (NETCONF) protocol is a network device management protocol that allows users to configure and manage network devices. NETCONF is an XML-based network configuration and management protocol modeled using YANG. It uses remote procedure calls (RPCs) to enable communication between clients and network devices.

[0056] Extensible Markup Language Path (XML Path) is a query language for locating and selecting nodes in XML documents. XML Path uses path expressions to address parts of XML, similar to file paths in file management systems. XML Path expressions can be used as query conditions for specific nodes in YANG. An example of an XML Path expression is / acl / aclGroups / aclGroup.

[0057] In order to make the technical solution of the present application clearer and easier to understand, the system architecture of the present application is introduced below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0058] Please refer to Figure 1a, which is a schematic diagram of the system architecture of a network telemetry system provided as an example in this application. In the example shown in Figure 1a, network telemetry system 10 includes a subscriber 101, a publisher 102, and a receiver 103. Subscriber 101 and receiver 103 can be deployed on the same device or on different devices. When subscriber 101 and receiver 103 are deployed on the same device, the device serves as both a subscriber and a receiver. The following describes in detail the specific functions of each component of network telemetry system 10.

[0059] Subscriber 101 sends a subscription request to publisher 102. This request requests or configures publisher 102 to send subscription data to receiver 103. Specifically, subscriber 101 can subscribe to relevant data items from publisher 102 based on the YANG-PUSH mechanism. For example, subscriber 101 first establishes a connection with publisher 102, creates a subscription request based on the YANG model, and sends it to publisher 102, thereby subscribing to a specific data item or data stream.

[0060] It is understandable that the subscriber 101 can be a hardware component of the network telemetry system 10, such as a data collector or a data controller, etc., and the subscriber 101 can also be a software component in the network telemetry system 10, such as a user interface or an application, without specific limitation.

[0061] Publisher 102 receives a subscription request from subscriber 101 and generates subscription data based on the subscription request. Publisher 102 pushes the subscription data to receiver 103. Specifically, publisher 102 generates the subscription data based on a predefined YANG model and sends the subscription data to receiver 103 using the YANG-PUSH mechanism. The YANG model may specify information such as the format of the subscription data and operational constraints on the subscription data.

[0062] Publisher 102 can also monitor device status in real time, collect indicator data, and package the data into messages or packets, sending them to subscriber 101 via network protocols such as the NETCONF protocol for network configuration and the RESTCONF protocol for presentation state transfer. The NETCONF protocol uses Extensible Markup Language (XML) or JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) to exchange configuration and status information.

[0063] Receiver 103 is configured to receive subscription data sent by publisher 102. Receiver 103 is also configured to process the received subscription data or send it to other devices for further processing. Processing operations may include data analysis, storage, or visualization. For example, receiver 103 may send the received subscription data to an analyzer for data analysis. Receiver 103 may also store the subscription data in a local database or memory for user query. Receiver 103 may also create charts or reports based on the subscription data for visualization.

[0064] It should be noted that the subscriber 101 and the receiver 103 in the network telemetry system 10 can be deployed on the same device, that is, the same device is responsible for sending subscription requests and receiving subscription data at the same time. The subscriber 101 and the receiver 103 can also be different devices, that is, different devices are responsible for sending subscription requests and receiving subscription data respectively. There is no specific limitation.

[0065] Please refer to Figure 1b, which is a schematic diagram of the system architecture of another network telemetry system provided in the example of this application. In the example shown in Figure 1b, the network telemetry system 20 includes a collector 201 and a network element device 202, where the collector 201 is both a subscriber and a receiver, and the network element device 202 is a publisher.

[0066] The network telemetry system 20 shown in Figure 1b is typically used in a dynamic subscription scenario. Dynamic subscription means that during operation, collector 201 can dynamically subscribe to the data stream of network element device 202. Examples of dynamic subscription applications include network security monitoring, power system monitoring, and IoT device management. In this application scenario, collector 201 dynamically subscribes to network security log data from network element device 202, enabling real-time monitoring and analysis of network security events.

[0067] For example, in a power system monitoring scenario, collector 201 dynamically subscribes to voltage and current data from network element device 202 to manage power system energy consumption and diagnose faults. For another example, in an IoT device management scenario, collector 201 dynamically subscribes to sensor data from network element device 202 to monitor device status in real time.

[0068] Please refer to Figure 1c, which is a schematic diagram of the system architecture of another network telemetry system provided in the example of this application. In the example shown in Figure 1c, the network telemetry system 30 includes a controller 301, a collector 303, and a network element device 302, where the controller 301 is the subscriber, the collector 303 is the receiver, and the network element device 302 is the publisher.

[0069] The network telemetry system 30 shown in Figure 1c is typically used in a subscription configuration scenario. In this configuration, a controller 301 configures a subscription in a network element 302. The network element 302 obtains subscription data based on the configured subscription object and sends the subscription data to a collector 303. Examples of subscription configuration scenarios include periodic network data collection and long-term network behavior analysis.

[0070] Based on the network telemetry system 10 shown in Figure 1a, the present application further provides a network telemetry method. The network telemetry method provided by the embodiment of the present application is introduced below in conjunction with the embodiment.

[0071] Please refer to Figure 2, which is a flow chart of a network telemetry method provided in an embodiment of the present application. In the example shown in Figure 2, the method includes the following steps:

[0072] S201. The publisher receives a subscription request from the subscriber. The subscription request is used to request the publisher to send subscription data to the subscriber in each subscription cycle. The subscription request includes a suppression parameter. The suppression parameter is used to instruct the publisher to detect changes in the subscription data.

[0073] Subscriber 101 sends a subscription request to publisher 102, requesting publisher 102 to send subscription data to receiver 103 within each subscription period. Subscription data may include device performance indicator data, device status data, and network link status data. Device performance indicator data may include CPU utilization and memory utilization of the device, device status data may include device connection status and power status, and network link status data may include network topology data and traffic statistics between devices.

[0074] The subscription request in this embodiment includes two methods: dynamic subscription and configured subscription. Dynamic subscription refers to a subscription method where subscriber 101 dynamically initiates a dynamic subscription request in real time. Dynamic subscription automatically creates and updates subscription requests as subscription data changes. Dynamic subscription can be applied to scenarios such as real-time monitoring and anomaly detection.

[0075] A configured subscription is a subscription method that is pre-configured by subscriber 101. In a configured subscription, subscriber 101 can pre-configure subscription-related information, such as the data source, data type, and subscription period, through a configured subscription request. Once configured, subscriber 101's subscription behavior remains unchanged unless reconfigured. This can be used in scenarios such as periodic network data collection and long-term network behavior analysis.

[0076] In the embodiment of the present application, the subscription request includes a suppression parameter, which is a field added to the subscription request for periodic subscriptions, such as the suppress-unchange field. The suppression parameter can instruct publisher 102 to detect changes in subscription data. That is, publisher 102 can determine whether to detect changes in subscription data based on the information indicated by the suppression parameter, and determine whether to suppress sending subscription data to recipient 103 based on the detection result.

[0077] It should be noted that the content of the suppression parameter field is not limited in the implementation of this application. For example, the content of this field can be a Boolean value, including true or false, where true indicates that publisher 102 needs to detect changes to subscription data, and false indicates that publisher 102 does not need to detect changes to subscription data. The content of this field can also be a binary number, including 1 or 0, where 1 indicates that publisher 102 needs to detect changes to subscription data, and 0 indicates that publisher 102 does not need to detect changes to subscription data.

[0078] In one possible implementation, the subscriber 101 may send a subscription modification request to the publisher 102, where the subscription modification request is used to request modification of one or more of the following: suppression parameters, subscription period, and subscription object. For example, after the publisher 102 receives the subscription modification request sent by the subscriber 101, when the subscription modification request indicates modification of the suppression parameters, the publisher 102 redetermines whether it is necessary to detect changes in the subscription data based on the modified suppression parameters in the subscription modification request. When the subscription modification request indicates modification of the subscription period, the publisher 102 re-sends the subscription data to the receiver 103 based on the modified subscription period in the subscription modification request. When the subscription modification request indicates modification of the subscription object, the publisher 102 redetermines the subscription data based on the modified subscribed object in the subscription modification request.

[0079] Due to the addition of suppression parameters in the implementation of this application, the YANG model defined in the request for comment document RFC8639 can be expanded. For example, suppression parameter definitions can be added in the dynamic subscription and configuration subscription scenarios. The following details the YANG model provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0080] The example code of a YANG model provided in the embodiment of this application is as follows:

[0081] In the YANG model example code above, the network telemetry system first defines a YANG model named "ietf-suppress-telemetry" and specifies the YANG model version number as 1.1. It also specifies the YANG model namespace as "urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:ietf-suppress-telemetry", the prefix as "suppresstel", the version date as 2023-10-18, and the version description as initial version.

[0082] The network telemetry system then imports two external modules: the ietf-subscribed-notifications module and the ietf-yang-types module. The ietf-subscribed-notifications module references the RFC 8639 request for comments for subscribing to YANG notifications. The ietf-yang-types module references the RFC 8639 request for comments for importing YANG model data type definitions.

[0083] In this example, after defining a YANG model, the network telemetry system defines a parameter group corresponding to a suppression parameter. This parameter group is named "suppress-unchange-parameter." In YANG syntax, this parameter group is a set of reusable nodes, where the suppression parameter is a leaf node. The following is the sample code for this parameter group. In this example, the suppression parameter is of Boolean type:

[0084] After the network telemetry system defines a parameter group corresponding to a suppression parameter, it extends the parameter group to other nodes of the YANG model. For example, the parameter group is extended to the "subscription" subtree to support periodic suppression of subscription data in the configuration subscription. For another example, the network telemetry system extends the parameter group to the "establish-subscription RPC" to support periodic suppression of subscription data in dynamic subscription. For another example, the network telemetry system can also extend the parameter group to the "modify-subscription RPC" to support modifying whether to perform periodic suppression during the dynamic subscription process through "modify-subscription". The sample code for the network telemetry system extending the parameter group to other nodes of the YANG model is as follows:

[0085] S202. The publisher verifies the subscription data according to the suppression parameter after each subscription period and obtains a verification result, which is used to indicate changes in the subscription data.

[0086] After publisher 102 receives the subscription request sent by subscriber 101, it verifies the subscription data after each subscription cycle according to the suppression parameters in the subscription request to obtain a verification result. The verification result is used to indicate the change of the subscription data, that is, the verification result includes two situations: the subscription data changes and the subscription data does not change.

[0087] Specifically, if publisher 102 determines that the suppression parameter indicates that subscription data needs to be suppressed, publisher 102 checks the subscription data for changes after each subscription period. For example, if the suppression parameter received by publisher 102 is true, publisher 102 needs to check the subscription data for changes after each subscription period.

[0088] In one possible implementation, if the publisher determines that the suppression parameter indicates that the subscription data does not need to be suppressed, the publisher sends the subscription data to the receiver 103 after each subscription period without verifying changes to the subscription data. For example, if the suppression parameter received by the publisher 102 is false, the publisher 102 does not need to verify changes to the subscription data during each subscription period.

[0089] S203. The publisher determines that the verification result indicates that the subscription data has changed, and then the publisher sends the changed subscription data to the receiver within the subscription period corresponding to the verification result.

[0090] After publisher 102 obtains the verification result, publisher 102 determines that the verification result indicates that the subscription data has changed, that is, the subscription data of this cycle has changed compared with the subscription data of the previous cycle. Then publisher 102 sends the changed subscription data to receiver 103 within the subscription cycle corresponding to the verification result.

[0091] The publisher 102 determines that the verification result indicates that the subscription data has not changed, that is, the subscription data in this cycle has not changed compared with the subscription data in the previous cycle. The publisher 102 suspends sending subscription data to the receiver 103 during the subscription cycle corresponding to the verification result.

[0092] In one possible implementation, during the process of a subscriber sending a subscription request to a publisher, the subscriber sends the subscription request based on a network protocol, the network protocol including one or more of the following: the NETCONF protocol for network configuration or the RESTCONF protocol for presentation state transfer configuration, and the subscription request includes one or more of the following remote procedure call (RPC) instructions: an establish subscription instruction and a configuration edit instruction. The establish subscription instruction may include the "establish-subscription" instruction in a dynamic subscription scenario, and the configuration edit instruction may include the "edit-config" instruction in a configuration subscription scenario.

[0093] In one possible implementation, when the subscription request is a dynamic subscription request, the subscriber 101 can send the dynamic subscription request to the publisher in real time. When the transmission session between the publisher 102 and the subscriber 101 or the receiver 103 is lost, the publisher 102 stops sending the subscription data corresponding to the dynamic subscription request to the receiver 103. When the transmission session is established again, the publisher 102 continues to stop sending the subscription data corresponding to the dynamic subscription request to the receiver 103. The subscriber 101 needs to re-send the dynamic subscription request to the publisher 102 before the publisher 102 starts sending the subscription data to the receiver 103.

[0094] Please refer to Figure 3, which is a flowchart illustrating a network telemetry method for a dynamic subscription scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application. In the example shown in Figure 3, collector 201 is both a subscriber and a receiver, and network element device 202 is a publisher. In step a of the example shown in Figure 3, collector 201 can send a dynamic subscription request to network element device 202 in real time, where the dynamic subscription request carries a suppression parameter that instructs network element device 202 to detect the subscription data.

[0095] In the example steps b to d shown in Figure 3, the network element device 202 detects changes in the subscription data based on the suppression parameters in the dynamic subscription request. If the subscription data has not changed within the subscription period, the network element device 202 suppresses sending the subscription data to the collector 201 during the subscription period, that is, suspends sending the subscription data. If the subscription data changes during the subscription period, the network element device 202 sends the subscription data to the collector 201 during the subscription period.

[0096] In step e of the example shown in Figure 3, when the collector 201 is disconnected from the network element device 202, the network element device 202 stops sending subscription data to the collector 201. After the transmission session between the collector 201 and the network element device 202 is re-established, the network element device 202 is still unable to resume sending subscription data to the collector 201. The collector 201 needs to resend the subscription request, and the network element device 202 sends subscription data to the collector 201 based on the new subscription request.

[0097] In another example of a dynamic subscription scenario, subscriber 101 can send a dynamic subscription request to publisher 102 in real time using a protocol such as NETCONF. For example, subscriber 101 sends a dynamic subscription request named "establish-subscription" to publisher 102. Part of the sample code for the dynamic subscription request is as follows:

[0098] In the above example code of the dynamic subscription request, after the subscriber 101 establishes a dynamic subscription named "establish-subscription", the dataset requested by the dynamic subscription request is "operational", that is, the subscriber 101 requires the subscription data sent by the publisher 102 to be obtained from the "operational" dataset.

[0099] Furthermore, in this example of a dynamic subscription scenario, the dynamic subscription request indicates the path for obtaining subscription data via an Extensible Markup Language (XML) path. The dynamic subscription request may also specify the subscription object, subscription period, and suppression parameter. For example, the subscription object may be a list of users under the above path, the subscription period may be 500ms, and the suppression parameter "suppress-unchange" may be set to true. Setting the suppression parameter to true indicates that if the user list does not change during each subscription period, publisher 102 does not need to send subscription data. The example code for this dynamic subscription request is as follows:

[0100] In one possible implementation, when the subscription request is a configuration subscription request, after the subscriber 101 sends the configuration subscription request to the publisher 102, when the transmission session between the publisher 102 and the receiver 103 is lost and the transmission session is reestablished, the publisher 102 can continue to send the subscription data corresponding to the configuration subscription request to the receiver 103 without the subscriber 101 resending the configuration subscription request.

[0101] Please refer to Figure 4, which is a flowchart of a network telemetry method for configuring a subscription scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application. In the example shown in Figure 4, controller 301 is a subscriber device, network element device 302 is a publisher device, and collector 303 is a receiver device. In step a of the example shown in Figure 4, controller 301 pre-sends a configuration subscription request to network element device 302. The configuration subscription request can be a configuration file or a configuration statement, wherein the configuration subscription request carries a suppression parameter that can instruct network element device 302 to detect the subscription data.

[0102] In the example steps b to d shown in Figure 4, the network element device 302 can also detect changes in the subscription data based on the suppression parameters in the configured subscription request. If the subscription data has not changed within the subscription period, the network element device 302 suppresses sending the subscription data to the collector 303 during the subscription period, that is, suspends sending the subscription data. If the subscription data changes within the subscription period, the network element device 302 sends the subscription data to the collector 303 during the subscription period.

[0103] In steps e to f of the example shown in Figure 4, when the collector 303 is disconnected from the network element device 302, the network element device 302 stops sending subscription data to the collector 201. When the transmission session between the collector 303 and the network element device 302 is re-established, the network element device 302 can load the configuration of the subscription data, so that the network element device 302 can resume sending subscription data to the collector 303. If the subscription data changes during the subscription period, the network element device 302 continues to send subscription data to the collector 203.

[0104] In an example of a configuration subscription scenario, subscriber 101 can pre-send a configuration subscription request to the publisher using a configuration file. For example, subscriber 101 subscribes to the configuration of publisher 102 using the "edit-config" operation. The target dataset for configuration editing is the "running" dataset, and the configuration subscription number is 2. The "edit-config" operation is a remote procedure call operation for configuration editing defined by the NETCONF protocol. A sample code of the configuration subscription request is as follows:

[0105] In the example of configuring a subscription scenario, the subscription request can specify the subscription object, the data set where the subscription object is located, the subscription period, and the suppression parameter. For example, the subscription object is the interface-related statistics information of the network card named "eth0", the data set where the subscription object is located is "operational", the subscription period is 500ms, and the suppression parameter "suppress-unchange" field is true. The suppression parameter is set to true, which means that if the statistics information of the interface "eth0" does not change in each subscription period, the subscription data does not need to be sent. The example code of the subscription request is as follows:

[0106] It can be seen from the above embodiments that the subscriber of the network telemetry system in the embodiments of the present application can carry a suppression parameter in the subscription request, and the publisher can detect the subscription data based on the information indicated by the suppression parameter, and suppress the sending according to the detection result, thereby avoiding the publisher from sending duplicate subscription data to the receiver, saving network transmission resources between the publisher and the receiver, and improving the network resource utilization efficiency in the network telemetry process.

[0107] Based on the above method embodiment, the embodiment of the present application also provides a network telemetry device. The network telemetry device provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below.

[0108] Please refer to Figure 5, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network telemetry device provided in an embodiment of the present application. In the example shown in Figure 5, network telemetry device 500 is used to implement each step performed by the network device in each of the above embodiments. The network telemetry device 500 includes a transceiver unit 501 and a processing unit 502.

[0109] Among them, the transceiver unit 501 is used to receive a subscription request sent by a subscriber. The subscription request is used to request the publisher to send subscription data to the receiver within each subscription cycle. The subscription request includes a suppression parameter, which is used to indicate the detection of changes in the subscription data. The processing unit 502 is used to verify the subscription data after each subscription cycle based on the suppression parameter to obtain a verification result, which is used to indicate changes in the subscription data. The processing unit 502 is also used to determine that the verification result indicates that the subscription data has changed. The transceiver unit 501 is also used to send the changed subscription data to the receiver within the subscription cycle corresponding to the verification result.

[0110] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 502 is further configured to determine that the verification result indicates that the subscription data has changed, and the sending unit 501 suspends sending the subscription data to the receiver during the subscription period corresponding to the verification result.

[0111] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit 501 is further configured to receive a subscription modification request sent by a subscriber, where the subscription modification request is used to request modification of one or more of the following: a suppression parameter and a subscription period.

[0112] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 502 is specifically configured to determine that the suppression parameter indicates that the subscription data needs to be suppressed, and to verify changes in the subscription data after each subscription period ends.

[0113] In a possible implementation, the transceiver unit 501 is further configured to determine that the suppression parameter indicates that the subscription data does not need to be suppressed, and send the subscription data to the receiver in each subscription period based on the subscription request.

[0114] In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 501 is also used to receive a subscription request sent by the subscriber based on a network protocol, where the network protocol includes one or more of the following: a network configuration NETCONF protocol or a presentation layer state transfer configuration RESTCONF protocol, and the subscription request includes one or more of the following remote procedure call RPC instructions: an establishment subscription instruction and a configuration editing instruction.

[0115] In a possible implementation, the subscriber and the publisher are the same device, and the device includes a collector.

[0116] In a possible implementation, the subscription request is a dynamic subscription request, and the transceiver unit 501 is further configured to stop sending subscription data corresponding to the dynamic subscription request to the receiver when the transmission session between the publisher and the receiver is lost and reestablished.

[0117] In a possible implementation, the subscription request is a configuration subscription request, and the transceiver unit 501 is further configured to continue sending subscription data corresponding to the configuration subscription request to the receiver when the transmission session between the publisher and the receiver is lost and reestablished.

[0118] It is understandable that the transceiver unit 501 and the processing unit 502 in the network telemetry device 500 can be mapped as functional modules to various parts of the network telemetry system 10 in Figure 1a, thereby realizing the functions of various modules in the network telemetry system 10.

[0119] It should be understood that the division of units in the above device is merely a division of logical functions. In actual implementation, they can be fully or partially integrated into one physical entity, or they can be physically separated. Moreover, the units in the device can all be implemented in the form of software called through processing elements; or they can all be implemented in the form of hardware; or some units can be implemented in the form of software called through processing elements, and some units can be implemented in the form of hardware. For example, each unit can be a separately established processing element, or it can be integrated into a certain chip of the device. In addition, it can also be stored in the memory in the form of a program, called by a certain processing element of the device and perform the function of the unit. In addition, all or part of these units can be integrated together, or they can be implemented independently. The processing element described here can also be a processor, which can be an integrated circuit with signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, each step of the above method or each unit above can be implemented by the integrated logic circuit of the hardware in the processor element or in the form of software called through the processing element.

[0120] It is worth noting that, for the sake of simplicity of description, the above method embodiments are all expressed as a series of action combinations. However, those skilled in the art should know that this application is not limited to the order of the actions described. Secondly, those skilled in the art should also know that the embodiments described in the specification are all preferred embodiments, and the actions involved are not necessarily required for this application.

[0121] Other reasonable step combinations that can be thought of by those skilled in the art based on the above description also fall within the scope of protection of this application. Secondly, those skilled in the art should also be familiar with that the embodiments described in the specification are all preferred embodiments, and the actions involved are not necessarily required by this application.

[0122] Please refer to Figure 6, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 6, the network device 600 includes: a processor 601, a memory 602, a communication interface 603, and a bus 604. The processor 601, memory 602, and communication interface 603 are coupled via a bus (not labeled in the figure). The memory 602 stores instructions. When the execution instructions in the memory 602 are executed, the network device 600 performs the method performed by the network device in the above method embodiment.

[0123] The network device 600 may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above method, such as one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. For example, when a unit in the device can be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, the processing element can be a general-purpose processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU) or other processor that can call a program. For example, these units can be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

[0124] The processor 601 may be a central processing unit (CPU), other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0125] Memory 602 may be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. Non-volatile memory may be read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory may be random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0126] The memory 602 stores executable program codes, and the processor 601 executes the executable program codes to respectively implement the functions of the aforementioned units or modules, thereby implementing the aforementioned network telemetry method.

[0127] The communication interface 603 uses a transceiver module such as, but not limited to, a network interface card or a transceiver to implement communication between the network device 600 and other devices or communication networks.

[0128] In addition to the data bus, bus 604 may also include a power bus, a control bus, and a status signal bus. The bus may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) bus, an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, a unified bus (Ubus or UB), a Compute Express Link (CXL), or a Cache Coherent Interconnect for Accelerators (CCIX). Buses can be categorized as address buses, data buses, and control buses.

[0129] Please refer to FIG7 , which is a schematic diagram of a network telemetry system provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG7 , the network telemetry system 700 includes at least one network device 600 .

[0130] As shown in Figure 7, the network telemetry system 700 includes at least one network device 600. The memory 602 in one or more network devices 600 in the network telemetry system 700 may store the same instructions for executing the above-mentioned network telemetry method.

[0131] In some possible implementations, the memory 602 of one or more network devices 600 in the network telemetry system 700 may also store some instructions for executing the aforementioned network telemetry method. In other words, a combination of one or more network devices 600 may jointly execute the instructions for executing the aforementioned network telemetry method.

[0132] It should be noted that the memory 602 in different network devices 600 in the network telemetry system 700 can store different instructions, each for executing a portion of the functions of the aforementioned network telemetry apparatus. In other words, the instructions stored in the memory 602 in different network devices 600 can implement the functions of one or more modules in the transceiver unit and the processing unit.

[0133] In some possible implementations, one or more network devices 600 in the network device cluster 700 may be connected via a network, which may be a wide area network or a local area network.

[0134] In another embodiment of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which computer-executable instructions are stored. When the processor of the device executes the computer-executable instructions, the device executes the method executed by the network device in the above method embodiment.

[0135] In another embodiment of the present application, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product including computer-executable instructions stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When a processor of a device executes the computer-executable instructions, the device executes the method executed by the network device in the above method embodiment.

[0136] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0137] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0138] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0139] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated into a single processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into a single unit. The aforementioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional units.

[0140] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

Claims

1. A network telemetry method, characterized in that: The method comprises: The publisher receives a subscription request sent by the subscriber, wherein the subscription request is used to request to send subscription data in each subscription period, and the subscription request includes a suppression parameter, and the suppression parameter is used to instruct to detect changes in the subscription data; The publisher verifies the subscription data according to the suppression parameter after each subscription period to obtain a verification result, where the verification result is used to indicate a change in the subscription data; The publisher determines that the verification result indicates that the subscription data has changed, and sends the changed subscription data to the receiver within a subscription period corresponding to the verification result.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: The publisher determines that the verification result indicates that the subscription data has not changed, and suspends sending the subscription data to the receiver during the subscription period corresponding to the verification result.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The method further comprises: The publisher receives a subscription modification request sent by the subscriber, where the subscription modification request is used to request modification of one or more of the following: the suppression parameter and the subscription period.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The publisher verifies the subscription data according to the suppression parameter after each subscription period ends, including: The publisher determines that the suppression parameter indicates that the subscription data needs to be suppressed, and checks changes in the subscription data after each subscription period ends.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The method further comprises: The publisher determines that the suppression parameter indicates that the subscription data does not need to be suppressed, and sends the subscription data to the receiver within each subscription period based on the subscription request.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The publisher receiving the subscription request sent by the subscriber includes: The publisher receives a subscription request sent by the subscriber based on a network protocol, where the network protocol includes one or more of the following: a network configuration NETCONF protocol or a presentation layer state transfer configuration RESTCONF protocol, and the subscription request includes one or more of the following remote procedure call RPC instructions: an establishment subscription instruction and a configuration editing instruction.

7. A network telemetry device, characterized in that: The device comprises: a transceiver unit, configured to receive a subscription request sent by a subscriber, wherein the subscription request is used to request sending subscription data within each subscription period, and the subscription request includes a suppression parameter, wherein the suppression parameter is used to instruct detection of changes in the subscription data; a processing unit, configured to verify the subscription data after each subscription period ends according to the suppression parameter, and obtain a verification result, wherein the verification result is used to indicate a change in the subscription data; The processing unit is further configured to determine that the verification result indicates that the subscription data has changed, and the transceiver unit is further configured to send the changed subscription data to the recipient within a subscription period corresponding to the verification result.

8. The device according to claim 7, characterized in that The processing unit is further configured to: Determining that the verification result indicates that the subscription data has not changed, suspending sending the subscription data to the recipient during a subscription period corresponding to the verification result.

9. The device according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that The transceiver unit is further configured to: A subscription modification request sent by the subscriber is received, where the subscription modification request is used to request modification of one or more of the following: the suppression parameter and the subscription period.

10. The device according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that The processing unit is specifically configured to: It is determined that the suppression parameter indicates that the subscription data needs to be suppressed, and changes in the subscription data are checked after each subscription period ends.

11. The device according to any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that The transceiver unit is further configured to: Determining that the suppression parameter indicates that the subscription data does not need to be suppressed, and sending the subscription data to the recipient within each subscription period based on the subscription request.

12. The device according to any one of claims 7 to 11, characterized in that The transceiver unit is specifically used for: Receive a subscription request sent by the subscriber based on a network protocol, where the network protocol includes one or more of the following: a network configuration NETCONF protocol or a presentation layer state transfer configuration RESTCONF protocol, and the subscription request includes one or more of the following remote procedure call RPC instructions: an establishment subscription instruction and a configuration editing instruction.

13. A network telemetry system, characterized in that: The invention comprises at least one network device, wherein the network device comprises a processor, wherein the processor is coupled to a memory, and wherein the processor is configured to store instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor, the network telemetry system is enabled to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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