Cloud Native Template Mapping for Predictable VNF Orchestration
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Solution Overview
Problem
The NFV-MANO standard lacks specifications on how the VNFM can use VNFD and dynamically provided instance and lifecycle-management specific information to derive operations requests and map resource information to VIM APIs, leading to unpredictable deployment results and challenges in translating between TOSCA and cloud native templates.
Innovation Solution
A method and node are provided to use Cloud Native templates alongside TOSCA VNFD, utilizing a script or mapping table to handle parameter mappings and a name correlation scheme for resource translations, ensuring efficient and predictable VNF deployment without requiring specific enhancements to TOSCA or cloud native templates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a new message format is defined for each type of information to be exchanged between network elements, then the information can be transmitted accurately, but the number of protocols and their complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by creating a single generic information structure that can carry multiple types of information (performance data, fault data, configuration data, etc.) through standardized attributes. Instead of defining separate message formats for each information type, one universal structure handles all types by varying the attribute content, thereby reducing protocol complexity while maintaining transmission accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter changes by allowing the generic information structure to adapt its meaning through different attribute definitions. The same structural framework can represent different information types by changing the values and interpretations of its attributes (e.g., attribute type, attribute value, attribute units), enabling flexible information encoding without requiring separate protocols.
2Device complexity
If a generic information structure is used to reduce protocol complexity, then the number of protocols decreases, but ensuring the structure can represent all specific information types becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the generic information structure adaptable through configurable attributes. The structure can dynamically represent different information types based on attribute definitions (such as attribute type identifiers, value formats, and units), allowing the same static structure to serve multiple dynamic purposes without losing versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses segmentation by dividing the information representation into standardized attribute components (attribute type, attribute value, attribute units, optional attributes). This segmentation allows the generic structure to be composed of modular elements that can be configured to represent specific information types, maintaining both simplicity and adaptability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If performance data is collected from multiple network elements with different vendors and types, then network monitoring coverage increases, but data heterogeneity and processing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by using a vendor-neutral, type-agnostic generic information structure that can accommodate performance data from any network element regardless of vendor or type. The standardized attribute framework enables uniform processing of heterogeneous data sources, reducing data processing complexity while expanding monitoring coverage across diverse network infrastructure.
Data Source
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AI summary
Embodiments herein relate to e.g. a method performed by a node for handling a management operation. The node receives from an orchestration node, a request for an operation related to virtual network function operation. The node maps a first parameter associated with the request to a second parameter related to a cloud native template; and invokes an orchestration command comprising the mapped second parameter related to the cloud native template.