Network system, topology management method, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11431575-B2
Application number	US-201916975299-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 21, 2019
Priority date	Feb 26, 2018
Publication date	Aug 30, 2022
Grant date	Aug 30, 2022

Abstract

A network system includes a storage unit that stores topology information in a graph database in chronological order, the topology information including end point information and connection information of logical resources of the virtual network, end point information and connection information of physical resources of the physical network, and correspondence information between the logical resources and the physical resources; a setting information acquirer that acquires setting information of the virtual network from the orchestrator using a change notification from the orchestrator as a trigger; and a topology information management unit that updates the topology information stored in the graph database of the storage unit on the basis of the acquired setting information.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A topology management method for a network system, the network system comprising a virtual network formed on a physical network and an orchestrator configured to perform setting control with respect to an environmental change of the virtual network, the topology management method comprising:
storing topology information in a storage medium in chronological order, the topology information comprising end point information and connection information of logical resources of the virtual network, end point information and connection information of physical resources of the physical network, and correspondence information between the logical resources and the physical resources;
acquiring setting information of the virtual network from the orchestrator in response to receiving a change notification from the orchestrator, wherein the change notification indicates a failure on the virtual network;
updating the topology information stored in the storage medium based on the acquired setting information only at a change point corresponding to the failure on the virtual network;
receiving a reference request that requests topology information in a period from a user device;
determining whether the topology information of the period is included in the storage medium;
in response to determining that the topology information of the period is included in the storage medium, obtaining topology information in the period from the storage medium, and returning the topology information to the user device; and in response to determining that the topology information of the period is not included in the storage medium, obtaining configuration information of individual devices of the physical network in the period from the storage medium, performing a topology calculation to obtain a calculated topology for the period based on the configuration information of the individual devices of the physical network, and returning topology information of the calculated topology to the user device.

2. The topology management method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
storing the configuration information of the individual devices of the physical network in the storage medium, and
calculating a topology based on the configuration information stored in the storage medium when the topology information does not comprise data of the period to be referred to.

3. The topology management method according to claim 2 , further comprising:
outputting the topology information referred to by the reference request or the topology calculated when the topology information does not comprise data of the period to be referred to.

4. The topology management method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
discarding, from the storage medium, the topology information that has a probability of being referred to of equal to or less than a predetermined value and/or the topology information that is older than a predetermined time.

5. The topology management method according to claim 1 , wherein:
a network topology of the virtual network changes over time, and
the topology information returned to the user device enables isolation of the failure on the virtual network.

6. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing one or more instructions for causing a computer, which is a server device comprising a virtual network formed on a physical network and an orchestrator configured to perform setting control with respect to an environmental change of the virtual network, to function as:
a storage procedure configured to store topology information in a storage medium in chronological order, the topology information comprising end point information and connection information of logical resources of the virtual network, end point information and connection information of physical resources of the physical network, and correspondence information between the logical resources and the physical resources;
a setting information acquisition procedure configured to acquire setting information of the virtual network from the orchestrator in response to receiving a change notification from the orchestrator, wherein the change notification indicates a failure on the virtual network;
a topology information management procedure configured to update the topology information stored in the storage procedure based on the acquired setting information only at a change point corresponding to the failure on the virtual network; and
a topology reference procedure configured to: receive a reference request that requests topology information in a period from a user device;
determine whether the topology information of the period is included in the storage medium;
in response to determining that the topology information of the period is included in the storage medium, obtain topology information in the period from the storage medium, and return the topology information to the user device; and in response to determining that the topology information of the period is not included in the storage medium, obtain configuration information of individual devices of the physical network in the period from the storage medium, perform a topology calculation to obtain a calculated topology for the period based on the configuration information of the individual devices of the physical network, and return topology information of the calculated topology to the user device.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 6 , wherein the storage procedure is configured to store the configuration information of the individual devices of the physical network in the storage medium, and
the topology reference procedure comprises a topology calculator configured to calculate a topology based on the configuration information stored in the storage procedure when the topology information does not comprise data of the period to be referred to.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 7 , further comprising an output procedure configured to output the topology information referred to by the topology reference procedure or the topology calculated by the topology calculator.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 6 , wherein the topology information management procedure is configured to discard, from the storage medium, the topology information that has a probability of being referred to of equal to or less than a predetermined value and/or the topology information that is older than a predetermined time.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 6 , wherein:
a network topology of the virtual network changes over time, and
the topology information returned to the user device enables isolation of the failure on the virtual network.

11. A network system comprising a virtual network formed on a physical network and an orchestrator configured to perform setting control with respect to an environmental change of the virtual network, the network system further comprising:
a storage medium configured to store topology information in a database in chronological order, the topology information comprising end point information and connection information of logical resources of the virtual network, end point information and connection information of physical resources of the physical network, and correspondence information between the logical resources and the physical resources;
a setting information acquirer, including one or more processors, configured to acquire setting information of the virtual network from the orchestrator in response to receiving a change notification from the orchestrator, wherein the change notification indicates a failure on the virtual network;
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Assignees

• Nippon Telegraph & Telephone

Inventors

• Nakamura Mizuto
• Otani Miwaka

Classifications

• H04L45/02

  Topology update or discovery · CPC title

• H04L47/765

  triggered by the end-points · CPC title

• H04L45/42

  Centralised routing · CPC title

• H04L41/122 Primary

  of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV] · CPC title

• H04L12/4641

  Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] (LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272) · CPC title