Edge Service Redirection via User Plane Function Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
In mobile edge computing (MEC) architectures, when an edge application is abnormal, the increased data traffic puts significant pressure on the central application, leading to inefficiencies and potential service disruptions due to the inability to effectively redirect service requests to alternative edge applications.
Innovation Solution
A service redirection method that identifies and redirects service requests from an unavailable edge application to a nearby edge application within the same resource group, ensuring that the central application does not handle the request, thereby reducing its workload and maintaining service continuity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If service requests are redirected to the center APP when edge APP is abnormal, then service continuity is maintained, but the load on center APP increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-establishes a mapping relationship between edge applications and alternative edge applications before failure occurs. When an edge application becomes abnormal, the user plane function can immediately redirect service requests to a pre-identified alternative edge application without needing to query the center APP, thus maintaining service continuity while avoiding increased center APP load.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism where the user plane function acts as a mediator between terminal devices and edge applications. Instead of directly forwarding all abnormal edge application requests to the center APP, the user plane function redirects them to alternative edge applications through a pre-configured mapping, thereby relieving the center APP from handling excessive traffic.
2Reliability
If service requests are handled by center APP when edge APP is abnormal, then service availability is maintained, but latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mapping relationship between edge applications and alternative edge applications is established in advance. When an edge application fails, service requests are immediately redirected to the pre-identified alternative edge application through the user plane function, avoiding the time-consuming process of querying the center APP and reducing service latency while maintaining availability.
3Reliability
If all service requests are routed through center APP when edge APP is abnormal, then service reliability is ensured, but network efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The user plane function serves as an intermediary that intelligently redirects service requests to alternative edge applications using pre-established mapping relationships. This approach ensures service reliability by providing fallback options while maintaining high network efficiency by avoiding unnecessary routing through the center APP.
Solution Approach 2:
By pre-establishing mapping relationships between edge applications and alternatives, the system enables rapid redirection at the user plane function level without involving the center APP in normal redirection operations, thus ensuring reliability while preserving network efficiency.
Data Source
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AI summary
This application discloses a service redirection method and apparatus, to reduce pressure on a center APP. The service redirection method includes: receiving, by a first network device, a service request from a terminal device, where the service request is used to request a service related to a first edge application APP; and when the first edge APP is unavailable and a second edge APP is available, redirecting, by the first network device, the service request to the second edge APP, where the first edge APP corresponds to a first DNAI, the second edge APP corresponds to a second DNAI, the first DNAI can represent a deployment location of the first edge APP, the second DNAI can represent a deployment location of the second edge APP, the deployment locations represented by the first DNAI and the second DNAI meet a preset condition, and the second edge APP is in edge APPs corresponding to the second DNAI, and has a same service provider and a same function as the first edge APP. This application relates to the field of communications technologies.