Composite Network Service Policy Management via NFVO Proxy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current NFV MANO policy management technologies are inadequate for managing policies across multiple management domains, leading to inconsistencies and conflicts between Life Cycle Management (LCM) policies of composite and nested Network Services, which hinders the provision of seamless network services.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that manage LCM policies of composite and nested Network Services by designating an NFVO in the composite management domain as a proxy for policy operations, ensuring consistency through coordinated policy management across domains, allowing a single policy decision entity to perform operations on both composite and nested NSs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If separate policy management is performed for composite NS and nested NS, then individual policy control is achieved, but policy inconsistency and conflict occur between composite NS and nested NS
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the management of composite NS policies and nested NS policies into a unified policy group. The NFVO in the composite management domain aggregates policies from multiple management domains into a single policy group, enabling coordinated management. This merging ensures that when policies are updated or modified, both composite NS and nested NS policies are synchronized, eliminating inconsistencies while maintaining individual control capabilities through the structured policy group organization.
Solution Approach 2:
The NFVO in the composite management domain acts as an intermediary between the policy decision entity and multiple NFVOs in different management domains. It receives policy management requests, creates or updates policy groups containing both composite NS and nested NS policies, and distributes them to appropriate NFVOs. This intermediary role ensures policy consistency across domains while allowing individual policy control through the structured policy group mechanism.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple NFVOs manage policies in different management domains, then domain autonomy is maintained, but policy management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments policy management into two distinct layers: (1) Local NFVOs in each management domain that maintain domain autonomy and manage nested NS policies, and (2) The NFVO in the composite management domain that manages policy groups spanning multiple domains. This segmentation allows each NFVO to operate independently within its domain while the policy group mechanism coordinates across domains, reducing overall complexity by avoiding the need for direct multi-point coordination.
Solution Approach 2:
The NFVO in the composite management domain performs multiple functions: it acts as a policy decision entity for composite NS, serves as a policy execution entity for nested NS policies, and functions as a coordinator between multiple management domains. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate specialized entities, simplifying the overall system architecture while maintaining domain autonomy through the universal policy group mechanism.
3Reliability
If policy decision entity directly manages all nested NS policies, then centralized control is achieved, but workload on policy decision entity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the workload of managing nested NS policies from the policy decision entity by introducing the NFVO in the composite management domain as an intermediate executor. The policy decision entity creates policy groups and sends them to the NFVO, which then distributes and manages the actual policy implementation across multiple NFVOs in different domains. This extraction significantly reduces the policy decision entity's workload while maintaining centralized control through the policy group structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The NFVO in the composite management domain serves as an intermediary that handles the heavy workload of policy distribution and coordination. It receives policy management requests from the policy decision entity, creates policy groups, and distributes them to appropriate NFVOs. This intermediary role protects the policy decision entity from being overwhelmed by multiple direct management relationships, improving overall policy management efficiency while maintaining centralized control authority.
Data Source
AI summary
This application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a policy management method and system, and an apparatus. The method includes: requesting, by a policy decision entity, an NFVO in a management domain of a composite NS to perform a management operation on a policy group. According to the solution provided in this application, consistency between the LCM policy of the composite NS and the LCM policy of the nested NS forming the composite NS is ensured, and policy management execution efficiency is improved in a scenario of providing a composite NS across management domains.