Method and system for implementing virtual network function performance monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10320649-B2
Application number	US-201515545516-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 26, 2015
Priority date	Jan 21, 2015
Publication date	Jun 11, 2019
Grant date	Jun 11, 2019

Abstract

A method and corresponding system for implementing Virtual Network Function (VNF) performance monitoring is provided. The method includes that: an Element Management (EM) receives a threshold policy of a VNF performance monitoring threshold sent by a Network Management (NM) or an Operation Support System (OSS); the EM acquires related information about virtual resources after the VNF is scaled up/down; and the EM sets a new performance monitoring threshold for the VNF according to the threshold policy and the related information about virtual resources after the VNF is scaled up/down, and the performance monitoring threshold includes at least one of a scale up/down threshold and a performance warning threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for implementing Virtual Network Function (VNF) performance monitoring, comprising:
receiving, by an Element Management (EM), a threshold policy of a VNF performance monitoring threshold sent by a Network Management (NM) or an Operation Support System (OSS);
acquiring, by the EM, related information about virtual resources after the VNF is scaled up/down; and
setting, by the EM, a new performance monitoring threshold for the VNF according to the threshold policy and the related information about virtual resources after the VNF is scaled up/down, wherein the performance monitoring threshold comprises at least one of a scale up/down threshold and a performance warning threshold.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein before setting, by the EM, the new performance monitoring threshold for the VNF, further comprising:
receiving, by the EM, an initial VNF performance monitoring threshold sent by the NM or the OSS; after setting, by the EM, the new performance monitoring threshold for the VNF, the method further comprises:
notifying, by the EM, a new VNF performance monitoring threshold to the NM or the OSS;
or acquiring, by the EM, the related information about virtual resources after the VNF is scaled up/down comprises: receiving, by the EM, the related information about virtual resources after the VNF is scaled up/down which is sent by a VNF Manager (VNFM); or, receiving, by the EM, the related information about virtual resources after the VNF is scaled up/down which is sent by the VNF.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein before receiving, by the EM, the related information about virtual resources after the VNF is scaled up/down which is sent by the VNF, further comprising:
receiving, by the EM, an information change notification which is sent by the VNF after the VNF is scaled up/down; and
requesting, by the EM, the VNF for the related information about virtual resources after the VNF is scaled up/down;
or the performance monitoring threshold comprises the scale up/down threshold, and before acquiring, by the EM, the related information about virtual resources after the VNF is scaled up/down, further comprising: receiving, by the EM, a monitored performance measurement of the VNF sent by the NM or the OSS, and indicating, by the EM, the VNF to measure the monitored performance measurement and obtain a measured value; comparing, by the EM, the measured value with a current scale up/down threshold of the VNF, and when determining to scale up or scale down the VNF, sending, by the EM, a request message to the VNFM, so as to request the VNFM to perform a scale up operation or a scale down operation to the virtual resources of the VNF;
or the threshold policy received by the EM comprises a threshold policy of a performance warning threshold; and the new performance monitoring threshold that the EM sets for the VFN comprises a performance warning threshold; before receiving, by the EM, the related information about virtual resources after the VNF is scaled up/down which is sent by the VNFM, the method further comprises: obtaining, by the VNFM, a measured value of the monitored performance measurement of the VNF; comparing, by the VNFM, the measured value with a current scale up/down threshold of the VNF, and when determining to scale up or scale down the VNF, performing, by the VNFM, the scale up operation or the scale down operation to the virtual resources of the VNF.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein obtaining, by the VNFM, the measured value of the monitored performance measurement of the VNF comprises: receiving, by the VNFM, the monitored performance measurement of the VNF which is sent by the NM or the OSS through a Network Function Virtualization Orchestrator (NFVO), and indicating, by the VNFM, a Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM) to measure the monitored performance measurement of the VNF and obtain the measured value; or,
receiving, by the VNFM, a measured value of the monitored performance measurement of the VNF sent by the EM;
or before performing, by the VNFM, the scale up operation or the scale down operation to the virtual resources of the VNF, further comprising: receiving, by the VNFM, a threshold policy of a scale up/down threshold of the VNF which is sent by the NM or the OSS through the NFVO; after performing, by the VNFM, the scale up operation or the scale down operation to the virtual resources of the VNF, the method further comprises: performing, by the VNFM, the scale up operation or the scale down operation successfully, and setting, by the VNFM, a new scale up/down threshold for the VNF according to the related information about virtual resources after the VNF is scaled up/down and the threshold policy of the scale up/down threshold.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein before determining, by the VNFM, to scale up or scale down the VNF, further comprising:
receiving, by the VNFM, an initial scale up/down threshold of the VNF which is sent by the NM or the OSS through the NFVO;
after setting, by the VNFM, the new scale up/down threshold for the VNF, the method further comprises:
notifying, by the VNFM, the new scale up/down threshold of the VNF to the NM or the OSS through the NFVO.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the related information about virtual resources comprises at least one of information about virtual resource capacity and information about the maximum processing capacity corresponding to a monitored performance measurement.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the threshold policy is set with a ratio value required between a performance monitoring threshold and a value of a virtual resource capacity or the maximum processing capacity corresponding to the monitored performance measurement.

8. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the scale up/down threshold comprises at least one of a scale up threshold and a scale down threshold; comparing, by the EM, the measured value with the current scale up/down threshold of the VNF to determine whether to scale up or scale down the VNF comprises:
for the monitored performance measurement which requires more resources when a value of the monitored performance measurement is greater, when the measured value is greater than the scale up threshold, determining, by the EM, to scale up the VNF; and/or, when the measured value is less than the scale down threshold, determining, by the EM, to scale down the VNF;
for the monitored performance measurement which requires more resources when the value of the monitored performance measurement is smaller, when the measured value is less than the scale up threshold, determining, by the EM, to scale up the VNF; and/or, when the measured value is greater than the scale down threshold, determining, by the EM, to scale down the VNF;
or the threshold policy received by the EM comprises a threshold policy of a performance warning threshold; and a new performance monitoring threshold that the EM sets for the VFN comprises a performance warning threshold; after performing, by the VNFM, the scale up operation to the virtual resources of the VNF, the method further comprises: failing, by the VNFM, to perform the scale up operation; receiving, by the EM, a notification about failing to scale up the VNF which is sent by the VNFM or the VNF, comparing, by the EM, the measured value with the current performance warning threshold of the VNF, and when determining, by the EM, to warn, sending, by the EM, a VNF performance warning notification to the NM or the OSS;
or after performing, by the VNFM, the scale up operation or the scale down operation to the virtual resources of the VNF, the method further comprises: when the VNFM fails to perform the scale up op

Assignees

• Zte Corp

Inventors

• Chen Liping

Classifications

• H04L43/16 Primary

  Threshold monitoring · CPC title

• H04W24/02

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• H04W24/04 Primary

  Arrangements for maintaining operational condition · CPC title

• H04L41/0686

  Additional information in the notification, e.g. enhancement of specific meta-data · CPC title