System, method, and computer program for selecting at least one new physical element and/or virtual element for use in a system including a network function virtualization orchestrator (NFV-O)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9853914-B1
Application number	US-201414538731-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Nov 11, 2014
Priority date	Nov 11, 2014
Publication date	Dec 26, 2017
Grant date	Dec 26, 2017

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for selecting at least one new physical element and/or virtual element for use in a system including a network function virtualization orchestrator (NFV-O). In use, information corresponding to data traffic associated with a network system including an NFV-O module is identified, 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 network system. Additionally, an overall expected usage of the network system is determined based on the information corresponding to the data traffic. Further a cost of implementing at least one of one or more new physical elements or one or more VNFs is determined, based on the overall expected usage. Moreover, at least one of the one or more new physical elements or the one or more VNFs to implement in the network system is selected based at least partially on the determined cost of implementing the one or more new physical elements and the cost of implementing the one or more VNFs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
identifying, by a computer processor through a Network Function Virtualization Orchestrator (NFV-O) module of a NFV-based network, information corresponding to data traffic associated with the NFV-based network system, the NFV-O module being operable to manage data flow associated with one or more Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) existing in the NFV-based network system and one or more physical elements existing in the NFV-based network system;
determining, by the computer processor through the NFV-O module, an expected usage of the NFV-based network system based on the information corresponding to the data traffic;
determining, by the computer processor through the NFV-O module, that the expected usage of the NFV-based network system exceeds a capacity of existing components of the NFV-based network system;
when the computer processor determines that the expected usage of the NFV-based network system exceeds a capacity of existing components of the NFV-based network system, determining to implement in the NFV-based network system to handle the expected usage, by the computer processor through the NFV-O module, at least one of:
one or more new physical elements, and
one or more new VNFs;

determining, by the computer processor through the NFV-O module, a cost of implementing the one or more new physical elements in the NFV-based network system to handle the expected usage, a cost of implementing the one or more new VNFs in the NFV-based network system to handle the expected usage, and a cost of implementing a combination of the one or more new physical elements and the one or more new VNFs in the NFV-based network system to handle the expected usage; and
selecting to implement in the NFV-based network system, by the computer processor through the NFV-O module based at least partially on the determined cost of implementing the one or more new physical elements, the cost of implementing the one or more new VNFs, and the cost of implementing the combination of the one or more new physical elements and the one or more new VNFs, at least one of:
the one or more new physical elements, and
the one or more new VNFs;

wherein the one or more new physical elements are selected to implement in the NFV-based network system when the cost of implementing the one or more new physical elements is less than the cost of implementing the one or more new VNFs;
wherein the one or more new VNFs are selected to implement in the NFV-based network system when the cost of implementing the one or more new VNFs is less than the cost of implementing the one or more new physical elements;
wherein the combination of the one or more new physical elements and the one or more new VNFs is selected to implement in the NFV-based network system when the cost of implementing the combination is less than the cost of implementing only the one or more new physical elements and is less than the cost of implementing only the one or more new VNFs.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising monitoring data traffic associated with the NFV-based network system.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein monitoring the data traffic associated with the NFV-based network system functions to identify the information corresponding to data traffic.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a usage log utilizing the information corresponding to the data traffic.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the usage log is utilized to determine the expected usage of the NFV-based network system.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cost of implementing the one or more new physical elements includes a cost to purchase the one or more new physical elements.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cost of implementing the one or more new physical elements includes at least one of a cost of electricity to utilize the one or more new physical elements, and a cost to install the one or more new physical elements.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cost of implementing the one or more new VNFs includes at least one of: a cost of usage of the one or more new VNFs; a cost of installing the one or more new VNFs; or a cost of renting the one or more new VNFs.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying a usage log to associate with the data traffic.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the expected usage includes utilizing the usage log to determine the expected usage.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the usage log of the NFV-based network system is estimated.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the expected usage includes determining an expected average usage utilizing the usage log.

13. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:
computer code for identifying, by a computer processor through a Network Function Virtualization Orchestrator (NFV-O) module of a NFV-based network, information corresponding to data traffic associated with the NFV-based network system, the NFV-O module being operable to manage data flow associated with one or more Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) existing in the NFV-based network system and one or more physical elements existing in the NFV-based network system;
computer code for determining, by the computer processor through the NFV-O module, an expected usage of the NFV-based network system based on the information corresponding to the data traffic;
computer code for determining, by the computer processor through the NFV-O module, that the expected usage of the NFV-based network system exceeds a capacity of existing components of the NFV-based network system;
computer code for, when the computer processor determines that the expected usage of the NFV-based network system exceeds a capacity of existing components of the NFV-based network system, determining to implement in the NFV-based network system to handle the expected usage, by the computer processor through the NFV-O module, at least one of:
one or more new physical elements, and
one or more new VNFs;

computer code for determining, by the computer processor through the NFV-O module, a cost of implementing the one or more new physical elements in the NFV-based network system to handle the expected usage, a cost of implementing the one or more new VNFs in the NFV-based network system to handle the expected usage, and a cost of implementing a combination of the one or more new physical elements and the one or more new VNFs in the NFV-based network system to handle the expected usage; and
computer code for selecting to implement in the NFV-based network system, by the computer processor through the NFV-O module based at least partially on the determined cost of implementing the one or more new physical elements, the cost of implementing the one or more new VNFs, and the cost of implementing the combination of the one or more new physical elements and the one or more new VNFs, at least one of:
the one or more new physical elements, and
the one or more new VNFs;

wherein the one or more new physical elements are selected to implement in the NFV-based network system when the cost of implementing the one or more new physical elements is less than the cost of implementing the one or more new VNFs;
wherein the one or more new VNFs are selected to implement in the NFV-based network system when the cost of implementing the one or more new VNFs is less than the cost of implementing the one or more new physical elements;
wherein the combination of the one or more new physical elements and the one or more new VNFs is selected to implement in the NFV-based network system when the cost of implem

Assignees

• Amdocs Software Systems Ltd
• Amdocs Development Ltd

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H04L47/823 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L43/04

  Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation · CPC title

• H04L47/83

  based on usage prediction · CPC title

• H04L41/0897 Primary

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

• H04L69/00

  Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass (networks security protocols H04L9/40; wireless communication networks H04W) · CPC title