Method for Associating NS with VNF, Apparatus, and System

Abstract

A method for associating a network service (NS) with a virtualized network function (VNF) to enable a network manager (NM) to determine a relationship between the NS and the VNF and maintain the NS. The method includes: sending, by the NM, an NS instantiation request message to a network function virtualization orchestrator (NFVO), where the NS instantiation request message carries information about the NS; receiving, by the NM, an NS instantiation completion message from the NFVO, where the NS instantiation completion message carries the information about the NS and information about N VNFs; and determining a mapping relationship between the NS and the N VNFs according to the information about the NS and the information about the N VNFs, where information about each VNF in the information about the N VNFs represents the VNF in the N VNFs forming the NS, and where N≥one.

1 . A method, comprising:
 sending, by a network manager (NM), a first message to a network function virtualization orchestrator (NFVO), wherein the first message requests performance of a network service (NS) instantiation for an NS, wherein the first message comprises first information about the NS, and wherein the first information comprises at least one of instantiation information of the NS or an NS identifier of the NS;   receiving, by the NM, a second message from the NFVO, wherein the second message indicates that the NS instantiation is completed, and wherein the second message comprises the first information and virtualized network function (VNF) identifiers of VNFs that form the NS; and   determining, by the NM, a mapping relationship between the NS and the VNFs based on the VNF identifiers and the first information.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the instantiation information comprises at least one of an identifier of a VNF descriptor (VNFD) or an identifier of a deployment flavor of a VNF of the VNFs. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each VNF identifier of the VNF identifiers indicates a respective VNF of the VNFs. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the VNF identifiers are allocated by the NFVO, the NM, an element manager (EM), or a VNF manager (VNFM) coupled to the VNFs. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein when the first information comprises the NS identifier of the NS, determining the mapping relationship between the NS and the VNFs comprises determining, by the NM, the mapping relationship based on the VNF identifiers and the NS identifier. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein when the first information comprises the instantiation information of the NS and the NS identifier of the NS, determining mapping relationship between the NS and the VNFs comprises determining, by the NM, the mapping relationship based on the VNF identifiers, the instantiation information, and the NS identifier. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the NM is an operations support system/business support system (OSS/BSS) or a user interface of the OSS/BSS. 
     
     
         8 . A communications device configured as a network manager (NM), the communications device comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory coupled to the processor and configured to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the NM to:
 send a first message to a network function virtualization orchestrator (NFVO), wherein the first message requests performance of a network service (NS) instantiation for an NS, wherein the first message comprises first information about the NS, and wherein the first information comprises at least one of instantiation information of the NS or an NS identifier of the NS; 
 receive a second message from the NFVO, wherein the second message indicates that the NS instantiation is completed, and wherein the second message comprises the first information and virtualized network function (VNF) identifiers of VNFs that form the NS; and 
 determine a mapping relationship between the NS and the VNFs based on the VNF identifiers and the first information. 
   
     
     
         9 . The communications device of  claim 8 , wherein the instantiation information comprises at least one of an identifier of a VNF descriptor (VNFD) or an identifier of a deployment flavor of a VNF of the VNFs. 
     
     
         10 . The communications device of  claim 8 , wherein each VNF identifier of the VNF identifiers indicates a respective VNF of the VNFs. 
     
     
         11 . The communications device of  claim 8 , wherein the VNF identifiers are allocated by the NFVO, the NM, an element manager (EM), or a VNF manager (VNFM) coupled to the VNFs. 
     
     
         12 . The communications device of  claim 8 , wherein when the first information comprises the NS identifier of the NS, the NM is configured to determine the mapping relationship between the NS and the VNFs based on the VNF identifiers and the NS identifier. 
     
     
         13 . The communications device of  claim 8 , wherein when the first information comprises the instantiation information of the NS and the NS identifier of the NS, the NM is configured to determine the mapping relationship between the NS and the VNFs based on the VNF identifiers, the instantiation information, and the NS identifier. 
     
     
         14 . The communications device of  claim 8 , wherein the NM is an operations support system/business support system (OSS/BSS) or a user interface of the OSS/BSS. 
     
     
         15 . A communications device configured as a network function virtualization orchestrator (NFVO), the communications device comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory coupled to the processor and configured to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the NFVO to:
 receive a first message from a network manager (NM), wherein the first message requests performance of a network service (NS) instantiation for an NS, wherein the first message comprises first information about the NS, and wherein the first information comprises at least one of instantiation information of the NS or an NS identifier of the NS; 
 obtain, based on the first information, virtualized network function (VNF) identifiers of VNFs that form the NS; and 
 send a second message to the NM, 
   wherein the second message indicates that the NS instantiation is completed, wherein the second message comprises the first information and the VNF identifiers, and wherein the first information and the VNF identifiers are configured for the NM to determine a mapping relationship between the NS and the VNFs.   
     
     
         16 . The communications device of  claim 15 , wherein the instantiation information comprises at least one of an identifier of a VNF descriptor (VNFD) or an identifier of a deployment flavor of a VNF of the VNFs. 
     
     
         17 . The communications device of  claim 15 , wherein each VNF identifier of the VNF identifiers indicates a respective VNF of the VNFs. 
     
     
         18 . The communications device of  claim 15 , wherein the VNF identifiers are allocated by the NFVO, the NM, an element manager (EM), or a VNF manager (VNFM) coupled to the VNFs. 
     
     
         19 . The communications device of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions further cause the NFVO to send a third message to a VNF manager (VNFM), wherein the third message carries the instantiation information, and wherein the third message instructs the VNFM to search for the VNFs based on the instantiation information. 
     
     
         20 . The communications device of  claim 19 , wherein the instructions further cause the NFVO to:
 receive a fourth message from the VNFM, wherein the fourth message indicates that a second instantiation is completed for a first VNF in the VNFs, and wherein the fourth message further indicates that a third instantiation is uncompleted for a second VNF in the VNFs; and   obtain second information about the second instantiation and third information about the third instantiation based on the fourth message.