Cross-Domain NSD Onboarding via Primary NFVO Coordination

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing Network Function Virtualization (NFV) systems are limited in on-boarding network service descriptors (NSD) across multiple NFVO management domains, making it difficult to deploy network services consistently and reliably across different management domains.

Innovation Solution

A method and apparatus that enable a primary orchestrator to receive a cross-domain NSD on-boarding command, determine the necessary NSD and VNF packet identifiers for secondary orchestrators, and send on-boarding commands to instruct secondary orchestrators to on-board the NSD, ensuring consistency and reliability across different management domains.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If the prior art method for on-boarding NSD is used, then the NSD can be onboarded in a single NFVO management domain, but it cannot be onboarded across multiple NFVO management domains

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecross-domain NSD on-boarding capabilityVSAvoidorchestration system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the NSD on-boarding process by introducing domain-specific NSD identifiers and VNF package identifiers that are scoped to specific management domains. The primary NFVO parses the cross-domain NSD on-boarding command to extract domain-specific identifiers for each management domain, enabling targeted on-boarding operations in each domain without requiring a completely new architecture.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The primary NFVO acts as an intermediary that receives the cross-domain NSD on-boarding command, parses it to extract domain-specific information, and then forwards appropriate on-boarding commands to secondary NFVOs in different management domains. This intermediary role enables cross-domain on-boarding while maintaining the simplicity of individual domain operations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Adaptability or versatility

If cross-domain NSD on-boarding is implemented, then NS deployment across multiple management domains is enabled, but the coordination complexity between primary and secondary orchestrators increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemulti-domain NS deployment capabilityVSAvoidorchestrator coordination complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by having the primary NFVO pre-parse the cross-domain NSD on-boarding command to extract domain-specific NSD identifiers and VNF package identifiers before forwarding commands to secondary NFVOs. This preliminary processing simplifies the coordination task for secondary NFVOs, as they receive already-processed, domain-specific on-boarding commands rather than needing to interpret complex cross-domain configurations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Reliability

If NSD on-boarding is performed in each management domain separately, then domain-specific control is maintained, but the consistency of NS deployment across domains becomes difficult to ensure

Engineering Contradiction:
ImproveNS deployment consistencyVSAvoidon-boarding process complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements feedback mechanisms where secondary NFVOs send on-boarding status information back to the primary NFVO. The primary NFVO collects status information from all secondary NFVOs and sends a complete on-boarding status indication to the sender. This feedback loop ensures that NSD on-boarding consistency across multiple domains can be verified and reported, maintaining reliability while managing process complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentEP3334089B1Method and device for onboarding network service descriptor
Publication Date: 2019.10.09 HUAWEI TECH CO LTD
  • EP3334089B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3334089B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3334089B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4

AI summary

The present invention discloses a method and an apparatus for on-boarding network service descriptor. The method includes: receiving, by a primary orchestrator, a cross-domain network service descriptor NSD on-boarding command from a sender; determining, by the primary orchestrator according to the cross-domain NSD on-boarding command, that a secondary orchestrator needs to on-board an NSD corresponding to a management domain of the secondary orchestrator; and sending, by the primary orchestrator, an NSD on-boarding command to the secondary orchestrator, where the NSD on-boarding command is used to instruct the secondary orchestrator to on-board the NSD corresponding to the management domain of the secondary orchestrator, and a management domain of the primary orchestrator is different from the management domain of the secondary orchestrator. The method or the apparatus of the present invention can be applied to NS deployment across NFVO management domains, so as to ensure consistency and reliability of an NSD on-boarding process in a scenario of NS deployment across NFVO management domains.