System, method, and computer program for augmenting a physical system utilizing a network function virtualization orchestrator (nfv-o)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016043944-A1
Application number	US-201414561126-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 4, 2014
Priority date	Aug 5, 2014
Publication date	Feb 11, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for augmenting a physical network system utilizing a network function virtualization orchestrator (NFV-O). In use, data traffic is monitored utilizing a Network Function Virtualization Orchestrator (NFV-O) module associated with at least a portion of a physical network system, the NFV-O module being operable to manage data flow associated with one or more Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) and one or more physical elements of the physical network system. Additionally, it is determined whether flow of the data traffic should be modified based on at least one of a traffic load or a traffic type utilizing the NFV-O module integrated in the physical network system. Further, at least a portion of the data traffic is directed from at least one of the physical elements to at least one of the VNFs when it is determined that the flow of the data traffic should be modified.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
monitoring data traffic utilizing a Network Function Virtualization Orchestrator (NFV-O) module associated with at least a portion of a physical network system, the NFV-O module being operable to manage data flow associated with one or more Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) and one or more physical elements of the physical network system; determining whether flow of the data traffic should be modified based on at least one of a traffic load or a traffic type utilizing the NFV-O module integrated in the physical network system; and directing at least a portion of the data traffic from at least one of the physical elements to at least one of the VNFs when it is determined that the flow of the data traffic should be modified.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising monitoring an amount of the at least a portion of the data traffic directed to the at least one of the VNFs.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising charging for the amount of the at least a portion of the data traffic directed to the at least one of the VNFs.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the flow of the data traffic should be modified is based on the traffic load.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein determining whether the flow of the data traffic should be modified is based on whether the at least one of the physical elements can handle the traffic load.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the flow of the data traffic should be modified is based on the traffic type.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the flow of the data traffic should be modified is based both the traffic load and the traffic type.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the flow of the data traffic should be modified is further based on a time of day.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining to modify the flow of the data traffic to avoid overloading the at least one of the physical elements.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein directing the at least a portion of the data traffic from the at least one of the physical elements to the at least one of the VNFs when it is determined that the flow of the data traffic should be modified includes directing the data traffic to specific virtual elements based on the traffic load.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein directing the at least a portion of the data traffic from the at least one of the physical elements to the at least one of the VNFs when it is determined that the flow of the data traffic should be modified includes directing the data traffic to specific virtual elements based on a range of the traffic load.

12 . A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:
computer code for monitoring data traffic utilizing a Network Function Virtualization Orchestrator (NFV-O) module associated with at least a portion of a physical network system, the NFV-O module being operable to manage data flow associated with one or more Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) and one or more physical elements of the physical network system; computer code for determining whether flow of the data traffic should be modified based on at least one of a traffic load or a traffic type utilizing the NFV-O module integrated in the physical network system; and computer code for directing at least a portion of the data traffic from at least one of the physical elements to at least one of the VNFs when it is determined that the flow of the data traffic should be modified.

13 . The computer program product of claim 12 , further comprising computer code for monitoring an amount of the at least a portion of the data traffic directed to the at least one of the VNFs.

14 . The computer program product of claim 13 , further comprising computer code for charging for the amount of the at least a portion of the data traffic directed to the at least one of the VNFs.

15 . The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the computer program product is operable such that determining whether the flow of the data traffic should be modified is based on the traffic load.

16 . The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the computer program product is operable such that determining whether the flow of the data traffic should be modified is based on whether the at least one of the physical elements can handle the traffic load.

17 . The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the computer program product is operable such that determining whether the flow of the data traffic should be modified is based on the traffic type.

18 . The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the computer program product is operable such that determining whether the flow of the data traffic should be modified is based both the traffic load and the traffic type.

19 . The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the computer program product is operable such that determining whether the flow of the data traffic should be modified is further based on a time of day.

20 . A system comprising:
a memory system; and one or more processing cores coupled to the memory system and that are each configured to: monitor data traffic utilizing a Network Function Virtualization Orchestrator (NFV-O) module associated with at least a portion of a physical network system, the NFV-O module being operable to manage data flow associated with one or more Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) and one or more physical elements of the physical network system; determine whether flow of the data traffic should be modified based on at least one of a traffic load or a traffic type utilizing the NFV-O module integrated in the physical network system; and direct at least a portion of the data traffic from at least one of the physical elements to at least one of the VNFs when it is determined that the flow of the data traffic should be modified.

Assignees

• Amdocs Software Systems Ltd

Inventors

• Felstaine Eyal
• Kitroser Itzik
• Hermoni Ofer
• Ur Shmuel

Classifications

• H04L45/70 Primary

  Routing based on monitoring results · CPC title

• H04L41/0897

  by horizontal or vertical scaling of resources, or by migrating entities, e.g. virtual resources or entities · CPC title

• H04L47/10

  Flow control; Congestion control · CPC title

• H04L41/40 Primary

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

• H04L43/12

  Network monitoring probes · CPC title