Graph database for services planning and configuration in network services domain

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9705815-B2
Application number	US-201414318541-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2014
Priority date	Jun 27, 2014
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

In general, techniques are described for representing services, network resources, and relationships between such services and resources in a graph database with which to validate, provision, and manage the services in near real-time. In one example, a controller device includes at least one processor; and at least one memory to store a graph database comprising a graph that represents network resources and relationships between network resources. The controller device receives, at an application programming interface, a data-interchange formatted message that indicates a service request to configure a network service; queries, at least a portion of the plurality of the graph, to determine whether a set of the plurality of network resources can satisfy the service request to provision the network service within the network; and configures the set of the plurality of network resources to provide the network service.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
storing a graph database comprising a plurality of vertexes, the plurality of vertexes including a first subset of vertexes representing a plurality of network resources and a second subset of vertexes representing a plurality of network services, and the graph database comprising a plurality of edges between a set of the plurality of vertexes, each respective edge indicating a relationship between at least one network resource of the plurality of network resources and at least one network service of the plurality of network services;
receiving, at an application programming interface of a software defined network (SDN) controller, a data-interchange formatted message that indicates a service request to configure a network service within a network;
querying, at least a portion of the plurality of vertexes and plurality of edges of the graph database based at least in part on the service request, to determine whether at least one network resource of the plurality of network resources and at least one network service of the plurality of network services can satisfy the service request to provision the network service within the network; and
responsive to determining that the at least one network resource and the at least one network service can satisfy the service request, configuring, by the SDN controller, the at least one network resource and the at least one network service to provide the network service within the network.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein querying the graph database comprises:
determining a service abstraction included in the data-interchange formatted message, wherein the service abstraction includes a plurality of parameters that define the service request;
translating, based at least in part on the parameters, the service request into a query usable to determine whether the at least one network resource and the at least one network service satisfies the service request; and
determining, based at least in part on the query, that the at least one network resource and the at least one network service satisfies the service request.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining that the at least one network resource and the at least one network service satisfies the service request comprises:
determining for a respective edge of the plurality of edges, a type of respective relationship between the at least one network resource and the at least one network service that respectively correspond to first and second vertexes of the respective edge; and
responsive to determining that the type of relationship satisfies the query, selecting the at least one network resource and the at least one network service to provide the network service within the network.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the at least one network resource and the at least one network service to provide the network service within the network comprises:
generating, based at least in part on the at least one network resource and the at least one network service that satisfy the service request, one or more data models that define one or more configurations of one or more service nodes to provide the network service; and
configuring, based at least in part on the one or more data models, the one or more service nodes to provide the network service.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
updating, based at least in part on configuring the at least one network resource and the at least one network service to provide the network service within the network, at least one edge or at least one vertex in the graph database that corresponds to at least one network resource or network service that satisfy the service request.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein querying at least a portion of the plurality of vertexes and plurality of edges of the graph database based at least in part on the service request comprises:
applying at least one tag to at least one vertex or one edge of the graph database;
simulating, using the at least one tag, the configuring of the at least one network resource and the at least one network service to provide the network service within the network; and
determining, based on the simulating, whether the at least one network resource and the at least one network service can satisfy the service request.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, based at least in part on a schema, whether the format of the data-interchange formatted message is valid; and
if the format of the data-interchange formatted message is valid, querying, at least the portion of the plurality of vertexes and plurality of edges of the graph database based at least in part on the service request, and
if the format of the data-interchange formatted message is not valid, sending an error message to a sender of the data-interchange formatted message.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a network event has occurred that indicates at least one change to the network; and
updating, in real-time and based at least in part on the network event, at least one edge or at least one vertex in the graph database that corresponds to at least one of the network resource or network service that is affected by the network event.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data-interchange formatted message is a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) message and the interface is a Representational State Transfer (REST) interface.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the graph database includes at least one sub-graph that corresponds to the network service for a particular customer, the sub-graph comprising the set of the plurality of vertexes and the plurality of edges, wherein the plurality of edges collectively indicate relationships between network resources to provision the network service for the particular customer of the network.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that cause at least one processor of a controller device to:
store a graph database comprising a plurality of vertexes, the plurality of vertexes including a first subset of vertexes representing a plurality of network resources and a second subset of vertexes representing a plurality of network services, and the graph database comprising a plurality of edges between a set of the plurality of vertexes, each respective edge indicating a relationship between at least one network resource of the plurality of network resources and at least one network service of the plurality of network services;
receive, at an application programming interface of the controller device, a data-interchange formatted message that indicates a service request to configure a network service within a network;
query, at least a portion of the plurality of vertexes and plurality of edges of the graph database based at least in part on the service request, to determine whether at least one network resource of the plurality of network resources and at least one network service of the plurality of network services can satisfy the service request to provision the network service within the network; and
responsive to determining that the at least one network resource and the at least one network service can satisfy the service request, configure the at least one network resource and the at least one network service to provide the network service within the network.

12. A controller device comprising:
at least one processor;
at least one memory to store a graph database comprising a plurality of vertexes, the plurality of vertexes including a first subset of vertexes representing a plurality of network resources and a second subset of vertexes r

Assignees

• Juniper Networks Inc

Inventors

• Mattson Geoffrey A
• Qiu Lei

Classifications

• H04L47/70 Primary

  Admission control; Resource allocation · CPC title

• G06F17/30958

  Physics · mapped topic

• H04L41/145

  involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network · CPC title

• H04L41/5051

  Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time · CPC title

• H04L47/83

  based on usage prediction · CPC title