Cloud Agent for 3GPP Network Service Registration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cloud platforms lack awareness of 3GPP networks, leading to inadequate registration of load balancers and NF instances, which hampers load balancing and fault tolerance in 5G networks, and requires changes to network services and load balancers upon updates.
Innovation Solution
An agent in the cloud environment registers network services with or without load balancer addresses to a core network node, enabling discovery and utilization of 3GPP-related services without altering existing network service specifications or cloud environments, and allowing dynamic updates to load balancer policies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If cloud platforms are used to deploy network services, then service deployment flexibility is improved, but awareness of 3GPP networks is lost leading to inadequate registration of load balancers and NF instances
Solution Approach 1:
An agent is introduced as an intermediary component deployed in the cloud environment. This agent monitors cloud platform events (such as service instantiation, deployment, and termination) and translates them into appropriate 3GPP network service registrations. The agent bridges the information gap between cloud platforms and 3GPP networks by capturing event data from the cloud environment and submitting it to the 3GPP network service registry, ensuring that load balancer and NF instance information is properly registered without requiring changes to either the cloud platform or 3GPP network specifications.
2Productivity
If network services are registered with load balancer addresses, then load balancing capability is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional registration parameters
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service by having the agent automatically extract load balancer address information from cloud platform events and include it in 3GPP network service registrations. The agent autonomously determines when and how to register services based on cloud event data, eliminating the need for manual configuration or complex registration procedures. The registration process becomes simpler because the agent handles the complexity of gathering and formatting registration information, including load balancer addresses, from the cloud environment automatically.
3Reliability
If cloud environments are tailored to support 3GPP networks, then network service registration is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to required changes to existing infrastructure
Solution Approach 1:
The solution segments the 3GPP network service registration function from the cloud platform infrastructure by introducing a separate agent component. This agent handles all interactions between the cloud environment and 3GPP networks, isolating the registration logic from both the cloud platform and 3GPP network core. This segmentation allows the cloud platform to operate unchanged while the agent translates cloud events into 3GPP-compatible registration data, ensuring reliable service registration without requiring any tailoring or modification of the cloud environment itself.
Data Source
AI summary
A method performed by an agent for handling an event of a network service deployed in a cloud environment is provided. The agent is capable to access to a server in the cloud environment. The agent obtains information from the server. The information is about an event of the network service. When the network service relates to a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network, the agent decides whether to register network service with or without an associated address of a load balancer of the network service. The agent then registers in a core network node operating in the 3GPP network, the network service with or without an associated address of a load balancer of the network service according to the event and according to the outcome of the deciding.