The invention provides a communication method and device, belongs to the technical field of communication, and is used for discovering a manager of an EDI (
Electronic Data Interchange) under the condition that an SMF (
System Management Function) is unknown to the EDI. In the method, after a first
network element receives a first request message, the first
network element can request a second
network element to inquire a local
session management function network element corresponding to an edge
application server identified by first information according to the first information in the first request message, or the second network element can inquire the local
session management function network element corresponding to the edge
application server identified by the first information. And managing a local
session management function network element of the edge
application server. Therefore, under the condition that the deployment information of the edge application
server identified by the first information is not known by the first network element, a manager of the deployment information of the edge application
server identified by the first information, namely a local session management function network element for managing the deployment information of the edge application
server, can be found; communication between the
terminal equipment and the edge application server is supported, and the communication efficiency is improved.