NFV Shared VNF Component Descriptor Management
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In network function virtualization (NFV) environments, the distribution of virtual network function (VNF) components across multiple physical and geographic locations is challenging due to issues with load balancing, service consistency, and redundant development among providers, particularly when managing stateful services and handling component malfunctions.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for network function virtualization that generates and manages descriptors containing attribute information of shared VNF components, allowing for secure and efficient sharing of VNF components between instances, including setting access authorities and updating policies in real-time to ensure service consistency and reduce the need for separate load balancers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If VNF components are distributed across multiple physical and geographic locations, then service availability and reliability are improved, but system complexity and difficulty of management increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments VNF components into shareable and non-shareable units, allowing selective distribution across multiple physical and geographic locations. This segmentation enables service availability improvement through distribution while managing complexity by organizing components into manageable units that can be independently deployed and monitored.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces descriptors as intermediary data structures that manage access to shared VNF components. These descriptors contain access authority information and enable coordinated access control across distributed locations, reducing management complexity while maintaining service availability through the intermediary coordination layer.
2Reliability
If load balancers are deployed for each VNF instance, then service consistency and reliability are improved, but investment costs and device complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges load balancing functionality into the shared VNF component access mechanism itself. Instead of deploying separate load balancers for each VNF instance, the system combines access control and load distribution functions into the descriptor-based access authority framework, reducing device complexity while maintaining service consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal descriptor-based access authority system that serves multiple functions simultaneously: access control, load balancing, and service coordination. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for dedicated load balancers, reducing device complexity while maintaining service consistency across all VNF instances.
3Productivity
If VNF components are shared among multiple instances, then resource utilization and productivity are improved, but access control and service consistency become more difficult to manage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces descriptors as intermediary data structures that manage access to shared VNF components. These descriptors contain access authority information and enable coordinated access control across distributed locations, reducing management complexity while maintaining service availability through the intermediary coordination layer.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter-based access authorities within descriptors to dynamically control sharing behavior. By changing access parameters in descriptors, the system can flexibly manage which VNF instances can access shared components and under what conditions, enabling efficient resource utilization while maintaining manageable access control through parameter adjustment rather than structural complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and an apparatus for network function virtualization, which may allow services of VNF components logically and physically distributed in a VNF instance to be shared with another VNF instance in a NFV environment without any separate component such as a load balancer. The method for network function virtualization includes: configuring one or plural virtual network function (VNF) instances including one or plural shared virtual network function (VNF) components and one or plural VNF instances including one or plural non-shared VNF components, generating a descriptor including attribute information of the one or plural shared VNF components, and providing the descriptor to a VNF instance which is to use the shared VNF component.