Adaptive network function chaining

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9819576-B2
Application number	US-201615261371-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 9, 2016
Priority date	Sep 22, 2014
Publication date	Nov 14, 2017
Grant date	Nov 14, 2017

Abstract

Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer program product embodiments for dynamically applying network functions to traffic flows based on heuristics, policy conditions and client-specified conditions. A network monitors a network traffic flow to determine whether the network traffic flow meets a first criterion of a first rule. The criterion specifies that when the first criterion is met a network function be used to analyze or process the network traffic flow. When the network traffic flow is determined to meet the first criterion, the network determines a first route through the network to a network function provider that provides the network function and configures one or more routers along the first route to forward the network traffic flow to the network function provider for analysis or processing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of dynamically provisioning a first network function and a second network function in a network, the method comprising:
(a) determining whether a network traffic flow meets a first criterion of a first rule; when the network traffic flow is determined to meet the first criterion:
(b) determining a route through the network to a first network function provider that provides the first network function;
(c) determining a first plurality of routers along the route;
(d) configuring the first plurality of routers to forward the network traffic flow to the first network function provider for analysis or processing;
(e) determining whether the network traffic flow meets a second criterion of a second rule; and
when the network traffic flow is determined to meet the second criterion:
(f) updating the route through the network to a second network function provider that provides the second network function;
(g) determining a second plurality of routers along the route; and
(h) configuring the second plurality of routers to route the network traffic flow to the first network function provider and the second network function provider for analysis or processing.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining (a) comprises a network element on the route reporting event-based usage data based on analyzing packets from the network traffic flow, or the determining (a) comprises the network element on the route reporting periodic usage data based on analyzing packets from the network traffic flow.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining (e) comprises a network element on the route reporting event-based usage data based on analyzing packets from the network traffic flow, or the determining (e) comprises the network element on the route reporting periodic usage data based on analyzing packets from the network traffic flow.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
when the network traffic flow is determined to meet the first criterion:
(i) configuring the first network function provider to provide the first network function; and

when the network traffic flow is determined to meet the second criterion:
(j) configuring the second network function provider to provide the second network function.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first criterion and the second criterion are specified by a client of a network service associated with the network traffic flow.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining (a) comprises determining whether the network traffic flow is scheduled for analysis or processing during a time window between a pre-determined start and stop time, or the determining (e) comprises determining whether the network traffic flow is scheduled for analysis or processing during the time window between the pre-determined start and stop time.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
when the network traffic flow is determined to meet the first criterion:
(i) selecting the first network function provider from a plurality of network function providers that are capable of performing the first network function; and

when the network traffic flow is determined to meet the second criterion:
(j) selecting the second network function provider from a plurality of network function providers that are capable of performing the second network function.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining (a) comprises determining that a characteristic of a network service associated with the network traffic flow exceeds a first service level agreement threshold associated with the network service, and the determining (e) comprises determining that the characteristic of the network service exceeds a second service level agreement threshold associated with the network service.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining (b) comprises determining that the route satisfies a service level agreement of a network service associated with the network traffic flow, and the updating (f) comprises determining that the route satisfies the service level agreement of the network service associated with the network traffic flow.

10. A system for dynamically provisioning a first network function and a second network function in a network, comprising:
a computing device;
an analytics module, implemented on the computing device, configured to:
(a) determine whether a network traffic flow meets a first criterion of a first rule; and
when the network traffic flow meets the first criterion:
(b) determine whether the network traffic flow meets a second criterion of a second rule,

a network function orchestrator, implemented on the computing device, configured to:
when the network traffic flow is determined to meet the first criterion:
(c) determine a route through the network to a first network function provider that provides the first network function;
(d) determine a first plurality of routers along the route;
when the network traffic flow is determined to meet the second criterion:
(e) update the route through the network to a second network function provider that provides the second network function; and
(f) determine a second plurality of routers along the route; and

a service provisioning module, implemented on the computing device, configured to:
when the network traffic flow is determined to meet the first criterion:
(g) configure the first plurality of routers to route the network traffic flow to the first network function provider for analysis or processing; and
when the network traffic flow is determined to meet the second criterion:
(h) configure the second plurality of routers to route the network traffic flow to the first network function provider and the second network function provider for analysis or processing.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the determining (c) comprises determining that the route satisfies a service level agreement of a network service associated with the network traffic flow, and the determining (e) comprises determining that the route satisfies the service level agreement of the network service.

12. The system of claim 10 , further comprising a user portal module configured to receive the first criterion and the second criterion from a user of a network service associated with the network traffic flow.

13. The system of claim 12 , further comprising a rules database module configured to:
(i) store the first criterion and the second criterion; and
(j) provide the first criterion and the second criterion to the network function orchestrator.

14. The system of claim 10 , further comprising a data collection module configured to:
(i) configure a network element to report data for the network traffic flow on a periodic basis or event-driven basis;
(j) generate usage statistics of the network traffic flow from the data; and
(k) send the usage statistics to the analytics module.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the determining (a) comprises using the usage statistics to see if the first criterion is met, and the determining (b) comprises using the usage statistics to see if the second criterion is met.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the network function orchestrator is further configured to:
when the network traffic flow is determined to meet the first criterion:
(i) select the first network function provider from a first plurality of network function providers that are capable of providing the first network function; and

when the network traffic flow is determined to meet the second criterion:
(j) select the second network function provider fro

Assignees

• Level 3 Communications Llc

Inventors

• Sella William Thomas
• Teets Harold Wayne
• Sella James Michael
• Caputo Ii Pete Joseph
• Ewert Travis Duane

Classifications

• H04L41/5019

  Ensuring fulfilment of SLA · CPC title

• H04L69/22

  Parsing or analysis of headers · CPC title

• H04L45/306

  Route determination based on the nature of the carried application · CPC title

• H04L43/08

  Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters · CPC title

• H04L41/12

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title