Defining interdependent virtualized network functions for service level orchestration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10057109-B2
Application number	US-201414246992-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 7, 2014
Priority date	Apr 22, 2013
Publication date	Aug 21, 2018
Grant date	Aug 21, 2018

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method comprises identifying, by an orchestrator executed by a physical machine, a plurality of virtualized network functions required for implementation of a virtualized network service for a customer, each virtualized network function having a corresponding and distinct virtualized container specifying attributes for defining execution of the corresponding virtualized network function within one or more physical machines; and setting by the orchestrator an interdependency indicator within each virtualized container based on association with the virtualized network service, enabling identification of each of the virtualized network functions as interdependent for coordinated execution of the virtualized network service.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
identifying, by an orchestrator executed by a physical machine, a plurality of virtualized network functions required for implementation of a virtualized network service for a customer, each virtualized network function having a corresponding and distinct virtualized container specifying attributes for defining execution of the corresponding virtualized network function within one or more physical machines; and
setting by the orchestrator an interdependency indicator within each virtualized container based on association with the virtualized network service, the setting of the interdependency indicator enabling identification of each of the virtualized network functions as interdependent and causing coordinated execution, of each of the virtualized network functions associated with the virtualized network service, across different virtualization domains having respective different administrative controls and the different virtualization domains executed on different physical machines, and causing the implementation of the virtualized network service among the different physical machines.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the setting includes selectively setting the interdependency indicator in said each virtualized container on a per-attribute basis, enabling identification that a prescribed attribute for execution of a first of the virtualized network functions is interdependent on the corresponding prescribed attribute for execution of a second of the virtualized network functions.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the attributes in any one virtualized container includes an identification of any one of available hardware resource capacity in the one or more physical machines, hardware requirements for the corresponding virtualized network function, location information for the customer, location information for the one or more physical machines, Quality of Service (QoS) requirements for the corresponding virtualized network function, or an elasticity requirement identifying one or more auto-scaling requirements for the corresponding virtualized network function.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a requirement for more resources for one of the virtualized network functions; and
increasing the requirement for more resources in the other virtualized network functions, based on the interdependency indicator in the corresponding virtualized container of the one virtualized network function and in the respective virtualized containers of the other virtualized network functions, enabling coordinated increase for more resources among the interdependent virtualized network functions.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting an additional execution instantiation of one of the virtualized network functions; and
initiating a corresponding additional execution instantiation for each of the other virtualized network functions, based on the interdependency indicator in the corresponding virtualized container of the one virtualized network function and in the respective virtualized containers of the other virtualized network functions, enabling coordinated increase of execution instantiations among the interdependent virtualized network functions.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the orchestrator creating a service chain of the virtualized network functions for the virtualized network service based on the interdependency indicator in each of the virtualized containers.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising the orchestrator managing the execution of any one of the virtualized network functions relative to execution of the service chain.

8. An apparatus implemented as a physical machine, the apparatus comprising:
non-transitory machine readable media configured for storing executable machine readable code; and
a processor circuit configured for executing the machine readable code, and when executing the machine readable code operable for:
identifying, by an orchestrator, a plurality of virtualized network functions required for implementation of a virtualized network service for a customer, each virtualized network function having a corresponding and distinct virtualized container specifying attributes for defining execution of the corresponding virtualized network function within one or more physical machines, and
setting by the orchestrator an interdependency indicator within each virtualized container based on association with the virtualized network service, the setting of the interdependency indicator enabling identification of each of the virtualized network functions as interdependent and causing coordinated execution, of each of the virtualized network functions associated with the virtualized network service, across different virtualization domains having respective different administrative controls and the different virtualization domains executed on different physical machines, and causing the implementation of the virtualized network service among the different physical machines.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the setting includes selectively setting the interdependency indicator in said each virtualized container on a per-attribute basis, enabling identification that a prescribed attribute for execution of a first of the virtualized network functions is interdependent on the corresponding prescribed attribute for execution of a second of the virtualized network functions.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the attributes in any one virtualized container includes an identification of any one of available hardware resource capacity in the one or more physical machines, hardware requirements for the corresponding virtualized network function, location information for the customer, location information for the one or more physical machines, Quality of Service (QoS) requirements for the corresponding virtualized network function, or an elasticity requirement identifying one or more auto-scaling requirements for the corresponding virtualized network function.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , further operable for:
detecting a requirement for more resources for one of the virtualized network functions; and
increasing the requirement for more resources in the other virtualized network functions, based on the interdependency indicator in the corresponding virtualized container of the one virtualized network function and in the respective virtualized containers of the other virtualized network functions, enabling coordinated increase for more resources among the interdependent virtualized network functions.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , further operable for:
detecting an additional execution instantiation of one of the virtualized network functions; and
initiating a corresponding additional execution instantiation for each of the other virtualized network functions, based on the interdependency indicator in the corresponding virtualized container of the one virtualized network function and in the respective virtualized containers of the other virtualized network functions, enabling coordinated increase of execution instantiations among the interdependent virtualized network functions.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , further operable for the orchestrator creating a service chain of the virtualized network functions for the virtualized network service based on the interdependency indicator in each of the virtualized containers.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , further operable for the orchestrator managing the execution of any one of the virtualized network functions relative to execution of the service chain.

15. Logi

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Shatzkamer Kevin
• Lake David
• Dodd-Noble Aeneas Sean
• Bosch Peter

Classifications

• G06F2009/45595

  Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances · CPC title

• H04L41/5096

  wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications · CPC title

• G06F9/455

  Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines · CPC title

• H04L41/5054

  Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components · CPC title

• H04L41/40

  using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities · CPC title