System and Method for Modifying a Service-Specific Data Plane Configuration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016150421-A1
Application number	US-201514948035-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 20, 2015
Priority date	Nov 21, 2014
Publication date	May 26, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for network adaptation includes receiving, by an adaptation coordinator of a virtual network, a performance measurement generated at a performance checkpoint located in the virtual network. The method also includes generating, by the adaptation coordinator, a first update of a service-specific configuration of the virtual network. The first update includes at least one of a modification of a performance checkpoint configuration, a modification of a Virtual Network Function (VNF) configuration, a modification of a protocol configuration, a modification of a resource allocation input, or a modification of a logical graph. The service-specific configuration includes a configuration of a plurality of logical nodes and a plurality of logical links of the virtual network in accordance with a service-specific data plane logical topology.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for network adaptation, comprising:
receiving, by an adaptation coordinator of a virtual network, a performance measurement generated at a performance checkpoint located in the virtual network; and generating, by the adaptation coordinator, a first update of a service-specific configuration of the virtual network,
the first update comprising at least one of a modification of a performance checkpoint configuration, a modification of a virtual network function (VNF) configuration, a modification of a protocol configuration, a modification of a resource allocation input, or a modification of a logical graph, and
the service-specific configuration comprising a configuration of a plurality of logical nodes and a plurality of logical links of the virtual network in accordance with a service-specific data plane logical topology.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing the first update to a first controller of the virtual network, wherein:
the first controller comprises at least one of a software defined topology (SDT) controller, a software defined protocol (SDP) controller, or a software defined resource allocation (SDRA) controller;
the modification of the performance checkpoint configuration comprises at least one of a modification of a performance checkpoint location, a deletion of a performance checkpoint, or an instantiation of a performance checkpoint;
the modification of the VNF configuration comprises at least one of a modification of a VNF location, a deactivation of a VNF instance, a deletion of a VNF instance, an activation of a VNF instance, or an instantiation of a VNF instance;
the modification of the protocol configuration comprises at least one of a modification of a protocol definition, a deactivation of a protocol instance, a deletion of a protocol instance, an activation of a protocol instance, an instantiation of a protocol instance, or a reordering of protocol execution;
the modification of the logical graph comprises at least one of a modification of a logical node location, a deletion of a logical node, an addition of a logical node, a modification of a traffic capacity of a logical node, a modification of a logical link location, a deletion of a logical link, or an addition of a logical link; and
a data plane of the virtual network comprises the plurality of logical nodes and the plurality of logical links

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the performance measurement comprises at least one of delay, delay jitter, throughput, or a router queue status.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein a network service associated with the service-specific configuration comprises a machine-to-machine service.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the first controller comprises a portion of the adaptation coordinator.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the modification of the resource allocation input comprises at least one of
a modification to prevent a flow allocation from exceeding a first capacity limit comprising one of a capacity limit of a first logical link of the plurality of logical links of the data plane, a capacity limit of a router, or a capacity limit of a physical link, a modification to permit the flow allocation to avoid overloading the first logical link, a modification to permit the flow allocation to avoid overloading the router, a modification to permit the flow allocation to avoid overloading the physical link, or a modification in a quantity of physical paths to be allocated for the first logical link.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the modification of the VNF configuration comprises at least one of a modification of adaptive packet aggregation of the first logical link, a modification of a traffic shaping configuration of the first logical link, or a modification of traffic prioritization of the first logical link.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein:
the performance measurement indicates traffic congestion is present at an input queue of a router associated with the first logical link; the modification of traffic prioritization comprises an increase in traffic prioritization of the first logical link; and the modification of the protocol configuration comprises at least one of a reordering of protocol execution for the first logical link, a modification of a definition of a first protocol previously instantiated on the first logical link, an activation of the first protocol, a deactivation of the first protocol, or a deletion of the first protocol.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein
the first capacity limit further comprises a safety margin for accommodating traffic variation, and the modification of the protocol configuration comprises a reduction of a packet header size of the first logical link.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein:
the performance measurement indicates traffic congestion is present at the first logical link and the traffic congestion is not present at an input queue of a router associated with the first logical link; the modification of the traffic shaping configuration comprises at least one of an instantiation of a traffic shaping VNF to shape background traffic of the first logical link, or an activation of a traffic shaping VNF to shape background traffic of the first logical link; and the modification in the quantity of physical paths comprises an increase in the quantity of physical paths to be allocated for the first logical link.

11 . A method for network adaptation, comprising:
receiving a performance measurement generated at a performance checkpoint located in a virtual network; and modifying a service-specific configuration of the virtual network in accordance with the performance measurement during a first configuration update that does not include modifying a logical graph of the virtual network,
the modifying the service-specific configuration comprising at least one of modifying a performance checkpoint configuration, modifying a virtual network function (VNF) configuration, modifying a protocol configuration, or modifying a resource allocation input, and
the service-specific configuration comprising a configuration of a plurality of logical nodes and a plurality of logical links of the virtual network.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the modifying the performance checkpoint configuration comprises at least one of modifying a performance checkpoint location, deleting a performance checkpoint, or adding a performance checkpoint; the modifying the VNF configuration comprises at least one of modifying a VNF location, deactivating a VNF instance, deleting a VNF instance, activating a VNF instance, or adding a VNF instance; the modifying the protocol configuration comprises at least one of modifying a protocol definition, deleting a protocol instance, adding a protocol, or modifying a protocol stack; the logical graph consists of all logical locations of the plurality of logical nodes, all logical locations of the plurality of logical links, and all traffic flow capacities of the plurality of logical nodes; and a data plane of the virtual network comprises the plurality of logical nodes and the plurality of logical links.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the performance measurement comprises at least one of delay, delay jitter, throughput, or a router queue status.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein a network service associated with the service-specific configuration comprises a machine-to-machine service.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein modifying the resource allocation input comprises at least one of
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Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Li Xu
• Rao Jaya

Classifications

• H04L41/5025

  by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade · CPC title

• H04L43/0852

  Delays · CPC title

• H04L41/0803

  Configuration setting · CPC title

• H04W28/18

  Negotiating wireless communication parameters · CPC title

• H04W4/70

  Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] · CPC title