Onboarding VNFs with Multiple VNFCs in Single VDU
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current NFV architectures are limited by the resource overhead of each virtual machine or container, which becomes problematic when deploying Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) on hardware platforms with minimal resources, and require managing multiple VMs/containers, making it challenging to onboard VNFs with multiple Virtual Network Function Components (VNFCs) efficiently.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves implementing a method for onboarding a VNF that includes multiple VNFCs within a single Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU), allowing these VNFCs to share resources and be managed more efficiently, using a VNF package that includes VNFD and VNFC descriptors, lifecycle management scripts, and software loads, enabling deployment in a Virtualized Container (VC) and supporting resource sharing and management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If each VNFC is mapped one-to-one with a virtual machine or container, then resource isolation and security are improved, but resource overhead increases and scalability deteriorates on hardware platforms with minimal resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple VNFCs into a single VDU, allowing multiple virtual network function components to share a common virtual machine or container. This consolidation reduces the number of separate VMs/containers needed while maintaining resource isolation through virtualization, thereby improving scalability on resource-constrained hardware platforms without completely sacrificing security boundaries.
Solution Approach 2:
The VDU is designed as a universal container that can host multiple different VNFCs simultaneously. This multi-functional approach allows a single VM/container infrastructure to serve multiple network functions, reducing overall resource overhead and improving deployment efficiency compared to dedicated one-to-one mappings.
2Reliability
If multiple VMs/containers are used to deploy VNFs with multiple VNFCs, then resource isolation is maintained, but management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
By combining multiple VNFCs into a single VDU that runs on one VM or container, the patent reduces the total number of virtual entities that need to be managed. This consolidation simplifies lifecycle management operations such as deployment, scaling, and monitoring while maintaining the resource isolation benefits of virtualization through the VDU abstraction layer.
3Ease of operation
If a VDU contains only a single VNFC, then resource allocation is simplified, but resource utilization efficiency deteriorates on hardware platforms with minimal resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple VNFCs within a single VDU, enabling better resource utilization by allowing multiple network functions to share common infrastructure resources such as compute, memory, and storage. This improves efficiency on resource-constrained platforms while the VDU abstraction maintains simplified resource allocation management.
Solution Approach 2:
The VDU provides dynamic resource allocation capabilities, allowing the system to adjust resource distribution among multiple VNFCs based on actual workload demands. This dynamic approach optimizes resource utilization efficiency while maintaining ease of operation through centralized management of the VDU.
Data Source
AI summary
The instant solution includes at least one element or action described or depicted herein.