Network Controller Orchestrating VNF Migration for Meteorological Resilience
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Solution Overview
Problem
Communication networks face disruptions and outages during meteorological events due to the vulnerability of network resources to environmental conditions, leading to service disruptions and failures.
Innovation Solution
A network-management system that uses an electronic network controller with an API to receive indications of potential failures, orchestrates the re-hosting of virtual network functions (VNFs) and performs Software Defined Networking (SDN)-based reconfiguration of switches to adapt traffic flows, leveraging NFV and SDN technologies to minimize service disruptions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If network resources are deployed in fixed geographical locations to provide stable network services, then service coverage and accessibility are improved, but vulnerability to meteorological events and environmental conditions increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic network resource allocation by enabling the network controller to migrate VNFs between different physical hosts based on real-time environmental conditions. This dynamic adaptation allows the network to respond to meteorological threats by relocating vulnerable VNFs to safer locations, thereby reducing vulnerability while maintaining service stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary risk assessment by evaluating meteorological forecasts and environmental conditions before disasters occur. Based on this advance assessment, the network controller proactively migrates VNFs from high-risk locations to safe locations before the meteorological event impacts the network, preventing service disruptions rather than responding to failures after they occur.
2Reliability
If network resources are distributed across multiple locations to reduce vulnerability, then resilience to meteorological events is improved, but network complexity and management difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intelligent network controller as an intermediary that automatically manages the complexity of distributed network resources. This controller consolidates the management of multiple VNFs across different hosts by providing centralized orchestration, automated risk assessment, and intelligent migration decisions, thereby achieving network resilience without proportionally increasing management complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements self-service capabilities through automated risk assessment and self-healing mechanisms. The network controller automatically monitors environmental conditions, assesses risks to VNFs, and performs migrations without human intervention. This automation reduces the operational burden on network administrators while maintaining resilience across distributed locations.
3Reliability
If VNFs are migrated in real-time during meteorological events to maintain service continuity, then service disruption is reduced, but network control complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs VNF migration in advance based on predicted meteorological risks rather than reacting to actual service failures. By assessing environmental conditions and proactively migrating VNFs before disasters occur, the system maintains service continuity while avoiding the complexity of real-time emergency migrations during active events.
Solution Approach 2:
The network controller implements continuous feedback monitoring of environmental conditions, VNF performance, and host status. This feedback mechanism enables the controller to make informed migration decisions based on actual system state and evolving meteorological conditions, optimizing the balance between service continuity and control complexity through data-driven automation.
Data Source
AI summary
A network-management system capable of reducing negative impacts of natural disasters on network services. In an example embodiment, in response to an indication of potential failure of one or more network resources in a meteorological event, the network controller operates to orchestrate re-hosting of affected VNFs and perform SDN-based reconfiguration of switches to adapt the traffic flows to the re-hosted VNFs. The indication of potential failure can be provided, e.g., by a specialized application capable of estimating the probabilities of failure for individual network resources based on a plurality of inputs, such as digital weather forecasts for the corresponding geographical area, geographical locations of individual network resources, tolerances of different network resources to specific environmental conditions, previous history of network damage in the same geographical area, alerts from power suppliers, etc. Upon reconfiguration, the network may beneficially have a lower likelihood of service disruptions and/or outages during the meteorological event.