VNF Placement and Redundancy for Network Service Availability

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for designing and deploying network services (NS) in Network Function Virtualization (NFV) do not adequately consider the impact of VNF instance placement, anti-affinity rules, and scaling on availability and failure rates, which limits their applicability in dynamically changing systems like clouds.

Innovation Solution

A method and apparatus to calculate the availability and failure rates of VNF instances by considering their constituents' placement and scaling, using anti-affinity rules to ensure the NS meets availability requirements.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If VNF instances are deployed without considering availability calculations, then deployment complexity is reduced, but the reliability of meeting availability requirements deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedeployment complexityVSAvoidavailability requirement fulfillment

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent calculates availability and failure rates of VNF instances before deployment, using these pre-computed metrics to determine appropriate redundancy levels and placement strategies. This preliminary analysis ensures availability requirements are met while simplifying the actual deployment process, as the complex calculations are performed in advance rather than during deployment.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If redundancy is increased to meet availability requirements, then reliability improves, but device complexity and resource consumption increase

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveavailabilityVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent uses computed availability and failure rate parameters to dynamically determine the optimal number of redundant VNF instances required. By changing the redundancy parameter based on calculated metrics rather than using fixed overhead, the system achieves required availability levels while minimizing unnecessary complexity and resource consumption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

3Ease of manufacture

If static deployment methods are used, then design simplicity is maintained, but adaptability to dynamic scaling deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedesign simplicityVSAvoiddynamic scaling adaptability

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extends availability calculations to cover multiple scaling levels of VNF instances, enabling the system to adapt to dynamic scaling requirements. By computing availability metrics across different scaling scenarios, the method maintains design simplicity while providing the adaptability needed for dynamic cloud environments where VNF instances may be scaled up or down.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentUS12627579B2Availability and failure rate of virtual network functions

Publication Date: 2026.05.12 TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)

AI summary

There is provided a method, apparatus and non-transitory computer readable media for designing and deploying a network service (NS) meeting availability requirements. The method comprises computing availabilities and failure rates of virtual network functions (VNFs) instances available for deploying the NS. The method comprises designing the NS by defining redundancy and placement of constituents of VNFs instances, using the computed availabilities and failure rates of the VNFs instances. The method comprises deploying the NS.