CN110311798B

CN110311798B - Method and device for managing virtual resources

Info

Publication number: CN110311798B
Application number: CN201810230883.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李卓明
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-03-20
Filing date: 2018-03-20
Publication date: 2021-02-12
Anticipated expiration: 2038-03-20
Also published as: CN110311798A; WO2019179301A1

Abstract

The application provides a method and a device for managing virtual resources, which relate to the technical field of communication and are used for determining the virtual resources corresponding to network slice instances so as to facilitate resource management scheduling and charging of slices, and the scheme comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a first management function unit obtains information of one or more virtual resource units corresponding to any one of one or more Virtual Network Function (VNF) instances corresponding to a first network slice instance, wherein the information of the virtual resource units is used for determining virtual resources used by the virtual resource units, and the virtual resource units comprise at least one of a Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU) and a virtual resource container; the first management function unit determines a mapping relationship between information of the first network slice instance and information of a virtual resource unit corresponding to any one VNF instance.

Description

Method and device for managing virtual resources

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for managing virtual resources.

Background

With the continuous emergence of various communication services, the requirements of different communication services on network performance are significantly different, and the fifth-generation mobile communication (5G) system introduces the concept of network slice (network slice) to cope with the difference of the requirements of different communication services on network performance. Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is an important technical foundation for implementing network slicing.

In the NFV environment, a conventional network device (also referred to as a Network Element (NE) or a Network Function (NF)) in a mobile network is divided into two parts, namely, a Virtual Network Function (VNF) instance and a network function software VNF App. The VNF App runs on a VNF instance and is responsible for completing business functions such as network forwarding, message processing and the like, and the VNF instance provides resources such as a CPU (central processing unit), a memory, disk storage, a network interface and the like required by running for the VNF App by using a virtualization technology. In the prior art, the amount of virtual resources used by a virtualized network function entity may be determined as follows: as shown in fig. 1, a Virtual Infrastructure Manager (VIM) collects virtual resource performance measurement data (i.e., Virtual Resource (VR) Performance Management (PM)) of each target Virtual Machine (VM) or virtual container (virtualcontainer) from a Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI), and reports the data to a Virtual Network Function Manager (VNFM); the VNFM combines them into virtual resource performance measurement data VR PM data of a target Virtual Network Function (VNF) instance and reports to an Element Manager (EM) over an interface (e.g., a Ve-VNFM-EM interface) between the VNFM and the EM. After obtaining the VR PM data of the VNF instance, the EM associates the service performance measurement data of the network function entity running on the VNF instance (i.e., the Performance Management (PM) data of the VNF application (VNF App)) and the VR PM data together and reports the result to a Network Management (NM) system (NM is a part of an operations support system, OSS), so that the NM determines the number of virtual resources used by the network function entity running on the VNF instance #2 according to the VNF App.

However, after the 5G network supports network slicing, many network function entities in the 5G core network (5GC, 5G core network) are shared by multiple network slice instances, as shown in fig. 2, for example, a network function is an access and mobility management function (AMF) entity, and network slice instance 1, network slice instance 2, and network slice instance 3 share an AMF, although the above prior art can measure the number of virtual resources used by the AMF entity as a whole, VNFM cannot distinguish vm (virtual machine) or virtualization container (virtualization container) that the AMF instance belongs to each network slice instance, and further generate VR PM data that the AMF instance belongs to each network slice instance, so that the number of virtual resources used by the AMF entity belonging to each network slice instance cannot be measured.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a device for managing virtual resources, which are used for determining the virtual resources corresponding to network slice instances so as to facilitate resource management scheduling and charging of slices.

In order to solve the technical problem, the application provides the following technical scheme:

in a first aspect, the present application provides a method for managing virtual resources, comprising: the method comprises the steps that a first management function unit receives a first message, wherein the first message is used for determining information of one or more virtual resource units associated with a Virtual Network Function (VNF) instance corresponding to a first network slice instance, and the information of the virtual resource units is used for determining Virtual Resources (VR) used by the virtual resource units, and the virtual resource units comprise at least one of Virtual Deployment Units (VDUs) and virtual resource containers; the first management function unit determines a mapping relationship between the information of the first network slice instance and the information of one or more virtual resource units associated with the VNF instance according to the first message.

Optionally, the virtual resource container in this application refers to a virtual machine VM or a virtualization container used for deploying a VNF instance.

The method for managing the virtual resources determines a mapping relation between information of a first network slice instance and information of a virtual resource unit corresponding to any VNF instance through a first management function unit according to a first message, so that when the first network slice instance and other network slice instances share the VNF instance, the first management function unit can determine the virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance and the virtual resource unit belonging to other network slice instances in the virtual resource unit corresponding to the shared VNF instance through the maintained mapping relation, so that all the virtual resource units belonging to the first network slice instance can be determined, and resource management scheduling and charging of the network slices are facilitated.

In one possible design, the method provided by the present application further includes: a first management function unit sends a first request message to a second management function unit, where the first request message is used to request reporting of VR measurement data belonging to a first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to a VNF instance, the first request message includes information of the VNF instance or a virtual resource unit list, and the virtual resource unit list includes information of at least one virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance in information of one or more virtual resource units associated with the VNF instance; the first management function unit receives a second message sent by the second management function unit aiming at the first request message; the first management functional unit determines, according to the second message, VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF instance. By providing information of at least one virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance in the one or more virtual resource units corresponding to the VNF instance, whether the NVF instance is a shared VNF instance or a non-shared VNF instance, the first management function unit is facilitated to obtain VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF instance.

In one possible design, the method provided by the present application further includes: the method comprises the steps that a first management function unit determines a service performance measurement result corresponding to a first network slice example, a service performance measurement result corresponding to a second network slice example and VR measurement data corresponding to network resources shared by the first network slice example and the second network slice example, wherein the network resources are virtual resource units or VNF examples, and the first management function unit determines the VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice example in the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resources according to the proportional relation between the service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice example and the service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice example and the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resources. This facilitates determining VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance from one or more VR measurement data associated with the shared VNF instance or the shared virtual resource unit.

In one possible design, the first management function unit determines a service performance measurement result corresponding to a first network slice instance and a service performance measurement result corresponding to a second network slice instance, the first management function unit determines a single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance and an S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice instance, and service index of network resource, the S-NSSAI set includes one or more S-NSSAIs, the first management function unit according to the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance and the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice instance, determining the service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set according to the service index of the network resource; and the first management functional unit determines the service performance measurement result of the first network slice example and the service performance measurement result of the second network slice example according to the mapping relation between the S-NSSAI and the network slice example information and the service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set. The service performance measurement result of the first network slice instance and the service performance measurement result of the second network slice instance are determined conveniently by maintaining a set of single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI corresponding to the first network slice instance and a set of single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI corresponding to the second network slice instance, a mapping relation between the S-NSSAI and the network slice instance information, and service performance measurement results of a shared VNF instance or a shared virtual resource unit and each S-NSSAI in the S-NSSAI set.

In one possible design, the method provided by the present application further includes: the first management function unit determines shared network resources, and comprises the following steps: a first management function unit determines that a network resource has a newly added virtual resource when a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance performs Network Function Virtualization (NFV) deployment, and the newly added virtual resource corresponds to the network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, then the first management function unit determines that the network resource is a shared network resource; or when the first management function unit determines that Network Function Virtualization (NFV) deployment is performed on a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance is used, and then the first management function unit determines that the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance is a shared network resource. By determining the shared VNF instances or virtual resource units, it is facilitated to determine the virtual resource measurement data belonging to each network slice instance in the shared VNF instances or shared virtual resource units, respectively.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a method for managing virtual resources, comprising: the first management function unit determines identification information, wherein the identification information is used for identifying one or more virtual resource units allocated to the first network slice instance by the second management function unit; wherein the virtual resource unit comprises at least one of a Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU) and a virtual resource container; in the process that a first management function unit needs to determine VR measurement data of a first network slice example, the first management function unit sends a first request message to a second management function unit, wherein the first request message comprises identification information, and the first request message is used for requesting the second management function unit to report virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice example associated with the identification information; and the first management functional unit receives the virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information sent by the second management functional unit.

The application provides a method for managing virtual resources, wherein identification information is determined by a first management function unit, and the identification information is carried in a process of requesting management of a first network slice instance, so that on one hand, a function unit for allocating virtual resource units to one or more VNF instances can associate the virtual resource units used by the first network slice instance with the identification information, and on the other hand, in a subsequent process, the function unit for allocating virtual resource units to one or more VNF instances can manage the virtual resource units allocated to one or more VNF instances in a group unit based on a management request of the first management function unit to the first network slice instance, and on the other hand, in a process that the first management function unit needs to determine VR measurement data of the first network slice instance, a first request message carrying the identification information can request a second management function unit to report VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information The volume data, in addition, for facilitating two or more network slice instances to have shared VNF instances, this facilitates distinguishing and counting virtual resources belonging to any one network slice instance and corresponding to any one network slice instance among virtual resources corresponding to VNF instances shared by two or more network slice instances, and VR measurement data corresponding to any one network slice instance.

In one possible design, the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance have shared network resources, and before the first management function unit sends the first request message to the second management function unit, the method provided by the present application further includes: the first management function unit sends the following information to the third management function unit in the process of requesting to manage the first network slice instance: identification information, information of shared network resources, which are VNF instances or virtual resource units. In this way, after receiving the information of the shared network resource, the third management function unit may associate, with the identification information, VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the information of the shared network resource, so as to distinguish and count virtual resources corresponding to network resources shared by two or more network slice instances.

In one possible design, the method provided by the present application further includes: the first management function unit sends a second request message to a second management function unit, where the second request message requests the second management function unit to report VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource, and the information or identification information of the network resource shared by the second request message. Therefore, the second management function unit determines the VRs belonging to the first network slice example in the VRs corresponding to the shared network resources according to the information of the shared network resources, so that the second management function unit requests the fifth management function unit to measure VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice example in the VRs corresponding to the shared network resources.

In one possible design, the method provided by the present application further includes: the first management function unit determines a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance, a service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to network resources shared by the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance; and the first management functional unit determines VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice example in the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resources according to the proportional relation between the service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice example and the service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice example and the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resources.

In one design, the determining, by a first management function unit, a service performance measurement result corresponding to a first network slice instance and a service performance measurement result corresponding to a second network slice instance includes: the first management function unit determines a single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI set corresponding to a first network slice instance, a single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI set corresponding to a second network slice instance and service indexes of network resources, wherein the S-NSSAI set comprises one or more S-NSSAIs; the first management functional unit determines the service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set according to the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice example, the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice example and the service index of the network resource; and the first management functional unit determines the service performance measurement result of the first network slice example and the service performance measurement result of the second network slice example according to the mapping relation between the S-NSSAI and the network slice example information and the service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set. The service performance measurement result of the first network slice instance and the service performance measurement result of the second network slice instance are convenient to determine by maintaining a set of single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI corresponding to the first network slice instance and a set of single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI corresponding to the second network slice instance, a mapping relation between the S-NSSAI and the network slice instance information, and service performance measurement results of network resources and each S-NSSAI in the S-NSSAI set.

In one possible design, the determining, by the first management function unit, the network resource to be a shared network resource includes: when the network resource has newly added virtual resource when Network Function Virtualization (NFV) deployment is performed on a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, and the newly added virtual resource corresponds to the network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, the first management function unit determines that the network resource is a shared network resource; or, when the first management function unit requests NFV deployment on a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, using a network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance, determining that the network resource is a shared network resource. By determining the shared network resources, it is convenient to subsequently count VRs belonging to each network slice instance in VRs corresponding to the shared network resources.

In one possible design, the method provided by the present application further includes: the first management function unit determines VR measurement data of the first network slice instance according to VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in the first VNF instance or the first virtual resource unit and VR measurement data exclusive to the first network slice instance; alternatively, VR measurement data of the second network slice instance is determined from VR measurement data of the first VNF instance or the first virtual resource unit belonging to the second network slice instance and VR measurement data exclusive to the second network slice instance. VR measurement data of the shared VNF instances or the virtual resource units belonging to each network slice instance are calculated by measuring VR measurement data of the shared VNF instances or the virtual resource units and service measurement results of each network slice instance, and finally the VR measurement data of the network slice instances are counted, so that resource management scheduling and charging of the slices are facilitated.

In a third aspect, a method for managing virtual resources provided by the present application includes: the second management function unit receives a first request message sent by the first management function unit, wherein the first request message comprises identification information, and the first request message is used for requesting the second management function unit to report virtual network VR measurement data of a first network slice example associated with the identification information; the second management function unit determines, according to the first request message and an association relationship between a virtual resource unit used by one or more VNF instances and identification information recorded in the second management function unit, virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information, where the virtual resource unit includes: at least one of a Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU) and a virtual resource container; the second management function unit sends the virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information to the first management function unit.

The application provides a method for managing virtual resources, in which a second management function unit maintains an association relationship between identification information and a virtual deployment unit of a first network slice instance, such that when the first management function unit requests determination of virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information, the resource group associated with the identification information may be determined from the identification information and all VRs in the resource group associated with the identification information may be determined as VRs for the first network slice instance, so that the VR may be subsequently updated based on the management request message for the first network slice instance, on the one hand, the virtual resource units used by the first network slice instance may be determined from the identification information and, on the other hand, the virtual resource units used by the first network slice instance may be managed in resource group units and VR measurement data within the resource group is reported.

In one possible design, before the second management function unit receives the first request message sent by the first management function unit, the method further includes: the second management function unit receives a second request message sent by a third management function unit, wherein the second request message comprises identification information and deployment parameters of one or more VNFs corresponding to the first network slice instance; the identification information is used for identifying one or more virtual resource units allocated for the first network slice instance; the second management function unit divides the virtual resource units used by the one or more VNF instances determined according to the deployment parameters of the one or more VNFs corresponding to the first network slice instance into one or more resource groups; the second management function unit associates the one or more resource groups with the identification information to determine an association between the virtual resource units used by the one or more VNF instances and the identification information. By maintaining the association relationship between the virtual resource units used by one or more VNF instances and the identification information, it is convenient to report VR measurement data in one resource group on a resource group basis or manage the virtual resource units in units of resource groups.

In one possible design, the second management function unit receives information of the first VNF instance or information of the first virtual resource unit, and the identification information, and the dividing, by the second management function unit, the virtual resource unit used by the one or more VNF instances into one or more resource groups specifically includes: the second management function unit divides one or more virtual resource units corresponding to the VNF instance exclusively owned by the first network slice instance into one or more resource groups. For sharing a VNF instance by two or more network slice instances, the corresponding virtual resource units are likely to be virtual resource units corresponding to the two or more network slice instances, respectively, and therefore, by determining the virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance in the shared VNF instance, i.e. distinguishing VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance from VR measurement data belonging to other network slice instances in the virtual resource units corresponding to the shared VNF instance, all virtual resource units belonging to the first network slice instance can be determined.

In one possible design, the method provided by the present application further includes: the second management function unit receives a third request message sent by the fourth management function unit, where the third request message includes information of a second VNF instance, demand information and identification information corresponding to a second VNF associated with the information of the second VNF instance, and the third request message is used to manage a virtual resource unit used by the second VNF instance, where the second VNF instance is any one of one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance; the second management function unit updates the resource group to which the virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance belongs according to the requirement information corresponding to the second VNF, or the resources corresponding to one or more VNF instances acquired by the second management function unit; if the resource corresponding to any VNF instance is greater than the first threshold in the resources corresponding to the one or more VNF instances, the second management function unit determines information of a resource group to which a virtual resource unit used by any VNF instance belongs; the second management function unit updates one or more virtual resource units in the resource group associated with the information of the resource group to which the virtual resource unit used by any VNF instance belongs, so that the virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance can be updated in units of resource groups.

In one possible design, the method provided by the present application further includes: the second management function unit receives a fourth request message sent by the first management function unit, wherein the fourth request message includes information and identification information of the first VNF instance, and the fourth request message requests to determine VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the first VNF instance associated with the information of the first VNF instance; the second management function unit determines a virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance from a resource group to which the virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance associated with the identification information belongs according to the fourth request message; the second management function unit sends a fifth request message to the fifth management function unit, where the fifth request message includes information of the virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance, and the fifth request message is used to request to measure VR measurement data of the virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance. In this way, on the one hand, the VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in the VR measurement data corresponding to the first VNF instance can be determined based on the fourth request message, that is, the VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in the VR measurement data corresponding to the first VNF instance is distinguished from VR measurement data belonging to other network slice instances, and after the distinguishing, the VR measurement data of the first network slice instance can be conveniently and finally counted, so that resource management scheduling and charging of the slice are facilitated.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a method for managing virtual resources, comprising: the third management functional unit determines that the first network slice instance needs to be managed, and the third management functional unit determines deployment parameters of one or more VNFs corresponding to the first network slice instance; the third management function unit sends a first request message to the second management function unit, where the first request message includes deployment parameters of one or more VNFs and identification information, and the identification information is used to identify one or more virtual resource units allocated for the first network slice instance, where the virtual resource unit includes: at least one of a virtual deployment unit VDU and a virtual resource container.

In one possible design, the third management function unit determines that the first network slice instance needs to be managed, and includes: the third management function unit receives a second request message sent by the first management function unit, where the second request message requests management of the first network slice instance, and then the third management function unit determines that the first network slice instance needs to be managed.

In one possible design, the first network slice instance shares the first VNF instance or the first virtual resource unit with the second network slice instance, and the first request message further includes information of the first VNF instance or information of the first virtual resource unit.

In one possible design, before the third management function unit sends the first request message to the second management function unit, the method further includes: the third management function unit acquires the identification information in a request message which is sent by the first management function unit and needs to manage the first network slice instance.

In one possible design, before the third management function unit sends the first request message to the second management function unit, the method further includes: the third management functional unit associates identification information for the deployment parameters of the one or more VNFs and sends the identification information to the first management functional unit.

Accordingly, in a fifth aspect, the present application provides an apparatus for managing virtual resources, where the apparatus for managing virtual resources may implement the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, and therefore may also implement the beneficial effects in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect. The means for managing virtual resources may be a first management function, such as NSMF or NFMF, or may be a chip applied to the first management function. Which may be implemented by software, hardware, or by hardware executing the corresponding software.

The apparatus for managing virtual resources comprises: the device comprises a receiving unit, a determining unit, and a mapping unit, wherein the receiving unit is configured to receive a first message, the first message is used to determine information of one or more virtual resource units corresponding to any one of one or more virtual network function VNF instances corresponding to a first network slice instance, and the information of the virtual resource units is used to determine virtual resources VR used by the virtual resource units, where the virtual resource units include at least one of a virtual deployment unit VDU and a virtual resource container, and the determining unit is used to determine, according to the first message, a mapping relationship between the information of the first network slice instance and the information of the virtual resource units corresponding to any one of the VNF instances.

In one possible design, the third VNF instance is a shared VNF instance, and the apparatus provided in this application further includes: a sending unit, configured to send a first request message to a second management function unit, where the first request message is used to request reporting of VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF instance, where the first request message includes information of the VNF instance or a virtual resource unit list, and the virtual resource unit list includes information of at least one virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance in information of one or more virtual resource units associated with the VNF instance; the receiving unit is also used for receiving a second message sent by a second management function unit aiming at the first request message; a determining unit, configured to determine, according to the second message, VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF instance.

In one possible design, the determining unit is further configured to determine a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance, a service performance measurement result corresponding to a second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to a network resource shared by the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance, where the network resource is a virtual resource unit or the VNF instance; the determining unit is further configured to determine, according to a proportional relationship between a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and a service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource, VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource.

In a possible design, the determining unit is further specifically configured to determine a single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance, an S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice instance, and a service indicator of the network resource, where the S-NSSAI set includes one or more S-NSSAIs; the determining unit is further configured to determine, according to the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance, the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice instance, and the service index of the network resource, a service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set, and the determining unit is further configured to determine, according to a mapping relationship between the S-NSSAI and the network slice instance information, and a service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set, a service performance measurement result of the first network slice instance and a service performance measurement result of the second network slice instance.

In a possible design, the determining unit, and the determining unit are further configured to determine that a newly added virtual resource exists in the network resource, and the newly added virtual resource corresponds to a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, then the first management function unit determines that the network resource is a shared network resource; or, the determining unit is further configured to determine, when the first management function unit requests to perform virtual network functionalized NFV deployment on a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, that the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance is a shared network resource by using the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance.

In a sixth aspect, in a possible design, the means for managing virtual resources may include: a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is configured to receive a first message, the first message being used to determine information of one or more virtual resource units corresponding to any one of one or more virtual network function VNF instances corresponding to a first network slice instance, the information of the virtual resource units being used to determine virtual resources VR used by the virtual resource units, and the virtual resource units including at least one of a virtual deployment unit VDU and a virtual resource container; and the processor is used for determining a mapping relation between the information of the first network slice instance and the information of the virtual resource unit corresponding to any VNF instance according to the first message received by the communication interface.

In one possible design, a VNF instance is a shared VNF instance, and the communication interface is configured to send, to the second management function unit, a first request message, where the first request message is used to request reporting of VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF instance, where the first request message includes information of the VNF instance or a virtual resource unit list, and the virtual resource unit list includes information of at least one virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance in information of one or more virtual resource units associated with the VNF instance; and receiving a second message sent by the second management function unit for the first request message, wherein the processor is further configured to determine, according to the second message received by the communication interface, VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF instance.

In a possible design, the processor is further configured to determine a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and a service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to a network resource shared by the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance, where the network resource is a virtual resource unit or the VNF instance, and to determine VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource according to a proportional relationship between the service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and the service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource.

In a possible design, the processor is further specifically configured to determine a single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance, an S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice instance, and a service indicator of the network resource, where the S-NSSAI set includes one or more S-NSSAIs, and to determine a service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set according to the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance, the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice instance, and the service indicator of the network resource, and to determine a service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set according to a mapping relationship between the S-NSSAI and information of the network slice instance, and a service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set, determining a service performance measurement result of the first network slice instance and a service performance measurement result of the second network slice instance.

In a possible design, the processor is further specifically configured to determine that a network resource has a newly added virtual resource when a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance is subjected to network function virtualization NFV deployment, and the newly added virtual resource corresponds to the network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, and then the first management function unit determines that the network resource is a shared network resource, or the processor is further configured to determine that the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance is a shared network resource when a request is made for performing virtual network function NFV deployment on the network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, using the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance.

Optionally, the receiver and the processor of the apparatus for managing virtual resources are coupled to each other.

Optionally, the apparatus for managing virtual resources provided by the sixth aspect further comprises a memory, wherein the memory is used for storing codes and data, and the processor, the receiver and the memory are coupled to each other.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides an apparatus for managing virtual resources, where the apparatus for managing virtual resources may implement the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, and therefore may also achieve the beneficial effects in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect. The means for managing virtual resources may be a first management function, such as NSMF or NFMF, or may be a chip applied to the first management function. Which may be implemented by software, hardware, or by hardware executing the corresponding software.

The apparatus for managing virtual resources is characterized by comprising: a determining unit, configured to determine identification information, where the identification information is used to identify one or more virtual resource units allocated by the second management function unit for the first network slice instance; wherein the virtual resource unit comprises at least one of a Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU) and a virtual resource container; the transmitting unit is further configured to transmit a first request message to the second management function unit in a process that the determining unit determines that the VR measurement data needs to be determined as the first network slice instance, where the first request message includes identification information, and the first request message is used to request to determine VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information, and the receiving unit is configured to receive virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information, which is transmitted by the second management function unit.

In a possible design, the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance have a shared network resource, and the sending unit is further configured to send the identification information to a third management function unit in a process of requesting management of the first network slice instance, where the network resource is a VNF instance or a virtual resource unit.

In a possible design, the sending unit is further configured to send a second request message to a third management function unit, where the second request message includes information or identification information of a network resource, and the second request message requests the second management function unit to report VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource.

In a possible design, the determining unit is further configured to determine a service performance measurement result corresponding to a first network slice instance and a service performance measurement result corresponding to a second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to a network resource shared by the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance, and to determine, according to a proportional relationship between the service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and the service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource, VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource.

In one possible design, the determining unit is specifically configured to: determining a single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance, an S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice instance, and a service index of the network resource, wherein the S-NSSAI set comprises one or more S-NSSAIs, a determining unit further configured to determine a service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set according to the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance, the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice instance, and the service index of the network resource, and a determining unit further configured to determine a service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set according to a mapping relationship between the S-NSSAI and the network slice instance information, and a service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set, determining a service performance measurement result of the first network slice instance and a service performance measurement result of the second network slice instance.

In a possible design, the determining unit is further configured to determine that a network resource has a newly added virtual resource when a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance performs Network Function Virtualization (NFV) deployment, and the newly added virtual resource corresponds to a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, and then the first management function unit determines that the network resource is a shared network resource; or, the determining unit is further configured to determine that the processing unit uses the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance when performing NFV deployment on the network slice instances other than the first network slice instance, and then determine that the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance is a shared network resource.

In an eighth aspect, in one possible design, the means for managing virtual resources may include: the processor is used for determining identification information, and the identification information is used for identifying one or more virtual resource units allocated to the first network slice instance by the second management function unit; wherein the virtual resource unit comprises at least one of a Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU) and a virtual resource container; the communication interface is used for sending a first request message to the second management function unit in the process that the processor determines that the VR measurement data needs to be determined as the first network slice instance, wherein the first request message comprises identification information, and the first request message is used for requesting to determine the VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information, and is used for receiving the virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information sent by the second management function unit.

In one possible design, the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance have a shared network resource, and the communication interface is further configured to send, to the third management function unit, identification information and information of the network resource in a process of managing the first network slice instance by the processor, where the network resource is a VNF instance or a virtual resource unit.

In a possible design, the communication interface is further configured to send a second request message to a third management function unit, where the second request message includes information or identification information of a network resource, and the second request message requests the second management function unit to report VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource.

In one possible design, the processor is further configured to determine a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance, a service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to a network resource shared by the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance; and determining VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource according to a proportional relationship between a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and a service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource.

In one possible design, the processor is further specifically configured to determine a single network slice selection assistance information S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance, an S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice instance, and a service indicator of the network resource, where the S-NSSAI set includes one or more S-NSSAIs; the service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set is determined according to the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice example, the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice example and the service index of the network resource; and the service performance measurement result of the first network slice instance and the service performance measurement result of the second network slice instance are determined according to the mapping relationship between the S-NSSAI and the network slice instance information and the service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set.

In one possible design, the processor is further configured to determine that a network resource has a newly added virtual resource when a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance performs Network Function Virtualization (NFV) deployment, and the newly added virtual resource corresponds to a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, and then the first management function unit determines that the network resource is a shared network resource; or the processor is further configured to determine that the processor uses a network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance when performing NFV deployment on network slice instances other than the first network slice instance, and then determine that the network resource is a shared network resource.

Optionally, the apparatus for managing virtual resources provided by the eighth aspect further comprises a memory, wherein the memory is used for storing codes and data, and the processor, the receiver and the memory are coupled to each other.

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides an apparatus for managing virtual resources, where the apparatus for managing virtual resources may implement the method in the third aspect or any possible implementation manner of the third aspect, and therefore may also achieve the beneficial effects in any possible implementation manner of the third aspect or the third aspect. The means for managing virtual resources may be a second management function unit, such as a VNFM, or may be a chip applied to the second management function unit. Which may be implemented by software, hardware, or by hardware executing the corresponding software.

The apparatus for managing virtual resources comprises: a receiving unit, configured to receive a first request message sent by a third management function unit, where the first request message includes identification information and deployment parameters of one or more VNFs corresponding to a first network slice instance, and the identification information is used to identify one or more virtual resource units allocated to the first network slice instance; wherein the virtual resource unit comprises at least one of a Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU) and a virtual resource container; a determining unit, configured to determine, according to deployment parameters of one or more VNFs, a virtual resource unit used by one or more VNF instances; and the processing unit is used for dividing the virtual resource units used by the one or more VNF instances into one or more resource groups and associating the one or more resource groups with the identification information.

In one possible design, the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance share the first VNF instance, the first request message further includes information of the first VNF instance, and the processing unit is specifically configured to: the method comprises the steps of dividing one or more virtual resource units corresponding to a first VNF instance associated with information of the first VNF instance into one or more resource groups, wherein the one or more virtual resource units corresponding to the first VNF instance belong to the first network slice instance, and dividing one or more virtual resource units corresponding to VNF instances exclusive to the first network slice instance into one or more resource groups.

In one possible design, the receiving unit is further configured to receive a third request message sent by the fourth management function unit, where the third request message includes information of a second VNF instance, requirement information corresponding to a second VNF associated with the information of the second VNF instance, and identification information, where the identification information is used to determine a resource group to which a virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance belongs, the third request message is used to manage the virtual resource unit used by the second VNF instance, and the second VNF instance is any one of one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance; the apparatus provided by the present application further comprises: the updating unit is further configured to update, according to the requirement information corresponding to the second VNF, a resource group to which a virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance belongs, or the processing unit is further configured to obtain resources corresponding to one or more VNF instances; the determining unit is further configured to determine, in resources corresponding to one or more VNF instances, information of a resource group to which a virtual resource unit used by any VNF instance belongs, where the resource corresponding to any VNF instance is greater than a first threshold; and the updating unit is further used for updating one or more virtual resource units in the resource group associated with the information of the resource group to which the virtual resource unit used by any VNF instance belongs.

In a possible design, the receiving unit is further configured to receive a fourth request message sent by the first management function unit, where the fourth request message includes information of the first VNF instance and identification information, and the fourth request message requests to determine VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the first VNF instance associated with the information of the first VNF instance; the determining unit is further configured to determine, according to the fourth request message, a virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance from a resource group to which the virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance associated with the identification information belongs; the apparatus provided by the present application further comprises: a sending unit, configured to send a fifth request message to a fifth management function unit, where the fifth request message includes information of a virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance, and the fifth request message is used to request to measure VR measurement data of the virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance.

In a tenth aspect, an apparatus for managing virtual resources provided by the present application may include: the processor and the communication interface, where the communication interface is configured to receive a first request message sent by a third management function unit, where the first request message includes identification information and deployment parameters of one or more VNFs corresponding to a first network slice instance, and the identification information is used to identify one or more virtual resource units allocated to the first network slice instance; wherein the virtual resource unit comprises at least one of a Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU) and a virtual resource container; a processor, configured to determine, according to deployment parameters of one or more VNFs received by the communication interface, a virtual resource unit used by one or more VNF instances; and the processing unit is used for dividing the virtual resource units used by the one or more VNF instances into one or more resource groups and associating the one or more resource groups with the identification information.

In one possible design, the first network slice instance shares the first VNF instance with the second network slice instance, the first request message further includes information of the first VNF instance, and the processor is specifically configured to: the method comprises the steps of dividing one or more virtual resource units corresponding to a first VNF instance associated with information of the first VNF instance into one or more resource groups, wherein the one or more virtual resource units corresponding to the first VNF instance belong to the first network slice instance, and dividing one or more virtual resource units corresponding to VNF instances exclusive to the first network slice instance into one or more resource groups.

In one possible design, the communication interface is further configured to receive a third request message sent by the fourth management function unit, where the third request message includes information of the second VNF instance, and requirement information and identification information corresponding to the second VNF associated with the information of the second VNF instance, and the third request message is used to manage a virtual resource unit used by the second VNF instance, where the second VNF instance is any one of one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance; the processor is further configured to update a resource group to which a virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance belongs according to the requirement information corresponding to the second VNF, or the processor is further configured to obtain resources corresponding to one or more VNF instances; the processor is further configured to determine, in the resources corresponding to the one or more VNF instances, information of a resource group to which a virtual resource unit used by any VNF instance belongs, where the resource corresponding to any VNF instance is greater than a first threshold; and the processor is further used for updating one or more virtual resource units in the resource group associated with the information of the resource group to which the virtual resource unit used by any VNF instance belongs.

In one possible design, the communication interface is further configured to receive a fourth request message sent by the first management function unit, where the fourth request message includes information of the first VNF instance and identification information, and the fourth request message requests to determine VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the first VNF instance associated with the information of the first VNF instance; the processor is further configured to determine, according to the fourth request message, a virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance from a resource group to which a virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance associated with the identification information belongs; the apparatus provided by the present application further comprises: a communication interface, configured to send a fifth request message to a fifth management function unit, where the fifth request message includes information of a virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance, and the fifth request message is used to request to measure VR measurement data of the virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance.

Optionally, the apparatus for managing virtual resources provided by the tenth aspect further comprises a memory, wherein the memory is used for storing codes and data, and the processor, the receiver and the memory are coupled to each other.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides an apparatus for managing virtual resources, where the apparatus for managing virtual resources can implement the method in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, and therefore can also achieve the beneficial effects in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect. The device for managing virtual resources may be a third management function unit, such as VFVO, or may be a chip applied to the third management function unit. Which may be implemented by software, hardware, or by hardware executing the corresponding software.

The apparatus for managing virtual resources comprises: the device comprises a determining unit, a processing unit and a processing unit, wherein the determining unit is used for determining that the first network slice instance needs to be managed and determining the deployment parameters of one or more VNFs corresponding to the first network slice instance; a sending unit, configured to send a first request message to a second management function unit, where the first request message includes deployment parameters of one or more VNFs and identification information, and the identification information is used to identify one or more virtual resource units allocated for a first network slice instance, where the virtual resource unit includes: at least one of a virtual deployment unit VDU and a virtual resource container.

In one possible design, the apparatus further includes: a receiving unit, configured to receive a second request message sent by the first management function unit, where the second request message requests to manage the first network slice instance; and the determining unit is specifically configured to determine that the first network slice instance needs to be managed according to the second request message received by the receiving unit.

In a possible design, the determining unit is further configured to determine the identification information in a request message sent by the first management function unit and requiring management of the first network slice instance.

In a possible design, the determining unit is further configured to determine identification information for the deployment parameters of the one or more VNFs, and the sending unit is further configured to send the identification information to the first management function unit.

In a twelfth aspect, the apparatus for managing virtual resources includes: the device comprises a communication interface and a processor, wherein the processor is used for determining that a first network slice instance needs to be managed and determining deployment parameters of one or more VNFs corresponding to the first network slice instance; a communication interface, configured to send a first request message to a second management function unit, where the first request message includes deployment parameters of one or more VNFs and identification information, and the identification information is used to identify one or more virtual resource units allocated for a first network slice instance, where the virtual resource unit includes: at least one of a virtual deployment unit VDU and a virtual resource container.

In a possible design, the communication interface is further configured to receive a second request message sent by the first management function unit, where the second request message requests to manage the first network slice instance; the processor is specifically configured to determine that the first network slice instance needs to be managed according to the second request message received by the communication interface.

In one possible design, the processor is further configured to determine the identification information in receiving a request message sent by the first management function unit and requiring management of the first network slice instance.

In one possible design, the processor is further configured to determine identification information for the deployment parameters of the one or more VNFs, and the communication interface is further configured to send the identification information to the first management function.

In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions that, when executed, cause the first aspect or a method of any possible implementation of the first aspect to be performed.

In a fourteenth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions that, when executed, cause a method of the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect to be performed.

In a fifteenth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions that, when executed, cause a method of the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect to be performed.

In a sixteenth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions that, when executed, cause a method of the fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the fourth aspect to be performed.

In a seventeenth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions stored thereon, which when executed, cause the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect to be performed.

In an eighteenth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions stored thereon, which when executed, cause the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect to be performed.

In a nineteenth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions stored thereon, which when executed, cause a method of the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect to be performed.

In a twentieth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions stored thereon, which when executed, cause the method of the fourth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect to be performed.

In a twenty-first aspect, the present application provides a chip for use in a first management function, the chip comprising at least one processor and interface circuitry, the interface circuitry being coupled to the at least one processor, the processor being configured to execute a computer program or instructions to perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the interface circuitry being configured to communicate with other modules than the chip.

In a twenty-second aspect, the present application provides a chip for use in a first management function, the chip comprising at least one processor and interface circuitry, the interface circuitry being coupled to the at least one processor, the processor being configured to execute a computer program or instructions to perform the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, the interface circuitry being configured to communicate with other modules than the chip.

In a twenty-third aspect, the present application provides a chip for use in a second management function, the chip comprising at least one processor and interface circuitry, the interface circuitry being coupled to the at least one processor, the processor being configured to execute a computer program or instructions to perform the method of the third aspect or any possible implementation manner of the third aspect, and the interface circuitry being configured to communicate with a module other than the chip.

In a twenty-fourth aspect, the present application provides a chip applied in a third management function unit, where the chip includes at least one processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit is coupled to the at least one processor, and the processor is configured to execute a computer program or instructions to perform the method in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, and the interface circuit is configured to communicate with other modules outside the chip.

Optionally, the chip described above in this application may further include at least one memory, where instructions or computer programs are stored in the at least one memory.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a network architecture in the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a network architecture of the prior art;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided herein;

fig. 4 is a first flowchart illustrating a method for managing virtual resources according to the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a second method for managing virtual resources according to the present application;

fig. 6 is a third schematic flowchart of a method for managing virtual resources according to the present application;

fig. 7 is a fourth flowchart illustrating a method for managing virtual resources according to the present application;

fig. 8 is a fifth flowchart illustrating a method for managing virtual resources according to the present application;

fig. 9 is a sixth schematic flowchart of a method for managing virtual resources according to the present application;

fig. 10 is a seventh flowchart illustrating a method for managing virtual resources according to the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic flowchart illustrating an eighth method for managing virtual resources according to the present application;

fig. 12 is a nine schematic flowchart of a method for managing virtual resources according to the present application;

fig. 13 is a fifth flowchart illustrating a method for managing virtual resources according to the present application;

fig. 14 is a first schematic structural diagram of a first management functional unit provided in the present application;

fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a first management functional unit provided in the present application;

fig. 16 is a third schematic structural diagram of a first management functional unit provided in the present application;

fig. 17 is a first schematic structural diagram of another first management functional unit provided in the present application;

fig. 18 is a second schematic structural diagram of another first management functional unit provided in the present application;

fig. 19 is a third schematic structural diagram of another first management functional unit provided in the present application;

fig. 20 is a first schematic structural diagram of a second management functional unit provided in the present application;

fig. 21 is a second schematic structural diagram of a second management functional unit provided in the present application;

fig. 22 is a third schematic structural diagram of a second management functional unit provided in the present application;

fig. 23 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip provided in the present application.

Detailed Description

Before introducing the present application, first the related terms referred to in the present application are introduced:

shared network resources refer to one network resource belonging to two or more network slice instances, where the network resource may be a VNF instance or a virtual resource unit.

A shared VNF instance refers to one VNF instance belonging to two or more network slice instances.

Shared virtual resource units, refer to a virtual resource unit belonging to two or more network slice instances.

An exclusive VNF instance refers to a VNF instance belonging to a network slice instance, and an exclusive virtual resource unit refers to a virtual resource unit belonging to a network slice instance.

The application provides a method and a device for managing virtual resources, which are used for determining the virtual resources corresponding to network slice instances so as to facilitate resource management scheduling and charging of slices. The method and the device are based on the same inventive concept, and because the principles of solving the problems of the method and the device are similar, the implementation of the device and the method can be mutually referred, and repeated parts are not repeated.

The terms "first", "second", and the like in the present application are only for distinguishing different objects, and do not limit the order thereof. For example, the first management function unit and the second management function unit are only used for distinguishing different management function units, and the order of the management function units is not limited.

The term "and/or" in this application is only one kind of association relationship describing the associated object, and means that there may be three kinds of relationships, for example, a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" in this application generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship. A, B, and C, indicate that the following relationships may exist: a alone, B alone, C alone, a and B together, a and C together, B and C together, A, B and C together, A, A together, B, B together, C, C together.

It is noted that, in the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to mean exemplary, illustrative, or descriptive. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "e.g.," is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present concepts related in a concrete fashion.

Plural in this application generally refers to two or more, for example, plural a's, which may indicate that the following relationship exists: there are two a's or there are three a's.

Before introducing the present application, a network architecture to which the method provided by the present application is applied is introduced to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art:

the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present invention may be applied to a network management system, and the solution of the embodiments of the present invention is described with reference to a network management system including a Network Function Virtualization (NFV) system, that is, with reference to an NFV-based network management system as an example.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of the NFV-based network management system. The traditional network architecture usually adopts independent service network and operation support system, and compared with the traditional network architecture, the NFV technology deconstructs the network architecture from the vertical direction and the horizontal direction. As shown in fig. 3, the network architecture in the NFV environment is divided into three layers as viewed from the vertical:

infrastructure layer: network function virtualization infrastructure (NFV infrastructure, NFVI) may understand a pool of resources formed by connecting multiple geographically dispersed data centers over a high-speed communication network. NFVI requires the conversion of physical compute/storage/switch resources into virtual compute/storage/switch resource pools through virtualization.

Virtual network layer: the virtual network layer corresponds to each current telecommunication service network, each physical network element is mapped into a Virtual Network Function (VNF) unit, resources required by the VNF unit need to be decomposed into virtual computing/storage/switching resources, which are carried by NFVI, and an interface between the VNF units may adopt a signaling interface or a data interface defined by a conventional network.

Service/network management layer: the service/network management layer includes an Operation Support System (OSS)/service support system (BSS) and an Element Management (EM) system 110 (shown in fig. 3, including EM1 and EM2), which need to be modified and adjusted as necessary for virtualization. Optionally, the OSS/BSS may include a Network Manager (NM) unit. For convenience of description, hereinafter, the network management unit may be described as an NM unit or an NM. In a network environment using a network slice, a Network Slice Management Function (NSMF) is a management unit similar to an NM function, and may be merged with or into the NM. A Network Function Management Function (NFMF) is a management unit similar to an EM, and is a management unit for managing Network Function services after a Network adopts a service architecture. NFMF is an optional management unit and related functions are likely to be incorporated into the NSMF.

A network architecture in an NFV (network function virtualization) environment is divided into two domains as viewed in a horizontal direction:

service network domain: corresponding to the current telecommunication service networks.

Resource management and organization (MANO): as shown in fig. 3, the MANO includes three units, namely, a Virtualized Infrastructure Management (VIM) 106 unit, a virtual network function management (VNF manager, VNFM)104 unit, and a network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO113 unit, and respectively completes management of three levels, namely, NFVI, a VNF108 unit, and a network service (network service) provided by a service network.

Optionally, the MANO may further include a network service index, a virtual network function index, a network function virtual instance, a network function virtualization infrastructure resource, and the like. In addition, the MANO is responsible for allocating infrastructure resources required for network slicing according to NFV deployment requirements of the NSMF/NFMF unit, and completes deployment of a Virtual Network Function (VNF) on a virtualized infrastructure, and completes network connection between Network Functions (NF). In the operation process of the network slice, the VNFM104 unit and the VIM106 unit of the MANO are responsible for receiving a virtual resource measurement task, and generating and reporting virtual resource statistical data.

The following will detail the functions of the individual functional modules in the NFV system:

wherein, the Network Slice Management Function (NSMF) unit: and the system is responsible for the whole life cycle management of creation, activation, operation, deactivation, deletion and the like of a Network Slice Instance (NSI). The NSMF unit receives a network slice order of a customer, and drives the virtualization arranging and managing functional unit and the slice control functional entity to create a network slice instance according to a stored network slice template. In the network slice instance run phase, the NSMF creates a performance measurement task for the network slice instance, sets a performance measurement threshold, receives performance measurement data, and receives notification that the performance measurement exceeds the threshold. The performance measurement task includes measurement of a service key index of a network slice instance and measurement of Virtual Resources (VRs) used by the network slice instance. Specifically, a network slice includes several parts, such as a radio access network, a transmission network, and a core network, each of which may be considered as a subnet of the network slice, and a Network Slice Subnet Management Function (NSSMF) is responsible for managing the subnet. Herein, the NSMF and the NSSMF may be collectively referred to as a network slice management function NSMF, and are not particularly distinguished. The NSMF receives a network slice requirement (including a network slice subnet requirement) generated by a Communication Service Management Function (CSMF) according to the service requirement of a client; and converting the received network slice requirement into a network slice subnet requirement, and sending the network slice subnet requirement to a Network Slice Subnet Management Function (NSSMF). The NSMF converts the network slice subnet requirements into network slice instance requirements to be deployed, sends the network function requirements to the MANO, and after the MANO connects the VNF instances, the NSMF configures the services to the VNF instances (namely, network function entities capable of running) directly or indirectly through the NFMF, so that the services required by the customer orders can run on the slices normally. Thus a network slice is created.

The network slice refers to customizing different logic networks according to different service requirements on physical or virtual network infrastructures. The network slice may be a complete end-to-end network including a terminal device, an access network, a transmission network, a core network, and an application server, may provide a complete communication service, and has a certain network capability, and the network slice may be a communication resource that ensures a bearer service or a service to meet a Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirement, or may be a combination of a network function and a communication resource that is required to complete a certain communication service or certain communication services.

A Network Slice Instance (NSI) is a real operating logical network and can satisfy certain network characteristics or service requirements. A complete network slice instance may provide a complete end-to-end network service, and a network slice instance may include one or more Network Slice Subnet Instances (NSSI) and one or more Network Functions (NF).

For convenience, the NSMF and NSSMF are collectively referred to herein as a slice management function, NSMF, and the NSI and NSSI are collectively referred to herein as a network slice instance, NSI, without specific limitation.

The NFVO113 unit is mainly responsible for processing lifecycle management of virtualization services, and allocation and scheduling of virtual resources in a virtual infrastructure and a Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI).

The NFVO113 unit may communicate with one or more Virtual Network Function Managers (VNFMs) 104 to perform resource-related requests, send configuration information to the VNFMs 104, and collect status information of the VNFs 108. Additionally, NFVO113 may also communicate with Virtual Infrastructure Manager (VIM) 106, perform resource allocation, and/or reservation, exchange virtualized hardware resource configuration and status information.

The VNFM104 unit is responsible for lifecycle management of one or more VNFs, such as instantiating (updating), updating (updating), querying, scaling (scaling), and terminating (terminating) the VNF108 unit. The VNFM104 unit may communicate with the VNF108 unit to complete VNF lifecycle management and exchange configuration and status information. There may be multiple VNFMs in the NFV architecture, which are responsible for lifecycle management for different types of VNFs.

Optionally, the VNFM104 unit may be a virtual resource management unit, or the VNFM104 unit may have a function of managing virtual resources; the NFVO113 unit may be a virtual resource orchestration unit, or the NFVO113 unit may have a function of orchestrating virtual resources. The VIM106 unit, the control and management VNF108 unit interacts with the computing hardware 111, the storage hardware 112, the network hardware 113, the virtual computing (virtual computing)105, the virtual storage 107, and the virtual network 109. For example, VIM106 performs resource management functions including managing infrastructure resources, allocating (e.g., adding resources to virtual containers), and running functions (e.g., collecting NFVI fault information). The VNFM104 unit and the VIM106 unit may communicate with each other, request resource allocation, exchange virtualized hardware resource configuration and status information.

The NFVI, i.e., the infrastructure layer of the NFV, includes hardware components, software components, or a combination of both to establish a virtualized environment, deploy, manage, and implement VNF108 units. The hardware resources and virtualization layer are used to provide virtualized resources, such as virtual machines and other forms of virtual containers, for VNF108 units. The hardware resources include computing (computing) hardware 111, storage hardware 112, and network hardware 113. As an embodiment, the resources of the computing hardware 111 and the storage hardware 112 may be centralized. The virtualization layer in NFVI may abstract hardware resources, decoupling VNF108 units from the underlying physical network layer.

Each VNF108 unit, running in one or more virtual containers, corresponds to a set of network functions belonging to one or more physical devices.

An element management system (EM)110 is a system for configuring and managing devices in a conventional telecommunication system, and in the NFV architecture, the EM110 may also be used to configure and manage VNFs and initiate lifecycle management operations such as instantiation of a new VNF to a VNFM104 unit.

An operations support system and services support system (OSS/BSS) 124 that supports various end-to-end telecommunications services. The management functions supported by OSS include: network configuration, service provisioning, fault management, etc. The BSS processes orders, pays, revenues, etc., supporting product management, order management, revenue management, and customer management. For MANO in embodiments of the present invention, NSMF interacts with MANO in the role of the OSS system.

In the above process, the MANO performs NFV deployment of the network slice instance according to the command of the NSMF, and the NFV deployment deploys one network service instance on the NFVI (network function virtualization infrastructure) for the network slice instance to use. A network service virtualized in NFV is referred to as a Network Service (NS) instance after deployment. One NS is composed of multiple VNFs and LINK (LINK) connections between them. When the NS is deployed in the NFVI, a certain CPU, hard disk, and memory are allocated to the VM or the virtualization container, and a software image of the VNF is run on the VM to form a VNF instance, and a corresponding network link is allocated to connect the VNF instances according to the description of the NSD, thereby finally forming an NS instance. In the above process, the VNF instance is formed by the MANO allocating virtual resources (virtualized resources) on the NFVI, and the VNF instance runs a software image of a network function, forming a network function entity. In practice, a VNF often includes multiple VNF components (VNFCs, VNF components), and when a MANO deploys a VNF, the VNFCs are deployed on allocated VMs or virtualization containers, and then the VNFCs are connected together through links of a virtual network to form a VNF instance. The amount of virtual CPUs, virtual memories and virtual storages allocated by the MANO for the VNF instance, and the bandwidth of the virtual network used by the internal link of the VNF may also be included as the amount of VRs used by the VNF instance. VRs used by network slice instances include VRs used by the various VNF instances that make up the network slice instance, and may also include virtual networks used by LINKs between VNF instances. Therefore, the number of virtual resources used by one Network slice instance is the number of VRs of Network Service instances of the NFV deployed for the Network slice instance, i.e. the number of VRs used by each VNF instance, and may also include the number of VRs used by LINKs between VNF instances.

The first management functional unit involved in the following embodiments may be NSMF or NFMF, the second management functional unit may be VNFM, and the third management functional unit may be NFVO.

The following describes a flow of a method for managing virtual resources provided by the present application, as shown in fig. 4, including:

s101, a first management function unit receives a first message, where the first message is used to determine information of one or more virtual resource units associated with a VNF instance corresponding to a first network slice instance, and the information of the virtual resource units is used to determine virtual resources VR used by the virtual resource units, where the virtual resource units include at least one of a Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU) and a virtual resource container.

The virtual deployment unit may be configured to support deployment and operation of the VNFC, and if the VNF does not partition the VNFC, the virtual deployment unit supports parts and operation of the entire VNF.

Optionally, the virtual resource unit may further include a virtual resource container such as a virtual machine or a virtualization container. The virtual resource container provides an isolated virtual computing environment consisting of a virtual CPU, a virtual memory, a virtual disk storage and a virtual network interface for the software of the VNF or the software of the VNFC.

As shown in fig. 5, as a possible embodiment of the present application, the method provided by the present application may further include, before step S101: s103, the first management function unit sends a request message for requesting to manage the first network slice instance to the third management function unit.

Specifically, the managing the network service instance in the present application may include: NFV deployment is performed on a network service instance, the network service instance is subjected to capacity expansion (for example, when the function of the network service instance cannot meet the requirement, a VNF instance with a certain function is added to the network service instance, or the number of VNF instances with a certain function is increased), or the network service instance is subjected to capacity reduction (for example, the number of VNF instances in the network service instance is reduced). The following description of the management of the network service instance may be referred to herein, and will not be repeated in the following.

As an example, when the first management functional unit needs to perform NFV deployment on the created first network slice instance, a request message (for example, may also be an NFV deployment request message) for managing the first network slice instance carries a network service descriptor identifier (NSD ID) and other NFV deployment command parameters. In this way, after receiving the request message for managing the first network slice instance, the third management functional unit may execute a process of requesting the second management functional unit to manage one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance, where the process is specifically as follows: the third management functional unit determines a first network service instance corresponding to the first network slice instance according to the NSD determined by the NSD ID and other NFV deployment command parameters, and determines one or more VNF instances included in the first network service instance and deployment parameters corresponding to any one of the one or more VNF instances. Then the third management function unit sends deployment parameters corresponding to any VNF instance to the second management function unit, the second management function unit determines, according to a VNFD (virtual network function descriptor) corresponding to any VNF instance, a VNF component (VNFC) included in any VNF instance, and a virtual deployment unit VDU used for deploying a VNFC included in any VNF instance, and after the second management function unit completes deployment for any VNF instance, the second management function unit sends a result of VNF instance deployment to the third management function unit, where the result of VNF instance deployment includes information of one or more VNF instances included in the first network service instance, and a deployment result corresponding to any VNF instance in one or more VNF instances associated with the information of the one or more VNF instances, where the deployment result corresponding to one VNF instance includes all VDUs corresponding to the VNF instance, and information of virtual resources allocated to any one of all the VDUs, such as a virtual CPU, a virtual memory, a virtual disk storage, a virtual network interface, and the like.

Illustratively, the first network service instance includes: VNF #1, VNF #2, and VNF #3 instances, the result of VNF instance deployment may be information of VNF #1, VNF #2, and VNF #3 instances, and VDU1 corresponding to VNF #1 instance, VDU2 and VDU3 corresponding to VNF #2 instance, and VDU4, VDU5, and VDU6 corresponding to VNF #3 instance.

For example, the information of the VNF instance may be an identifier or an index of the VNF instance, and the information of the virtual resource may be an identifier or an index of the virtual resource, which is not limited in this application.

As another example, VNF #1 examples include: VNFC1, and VNFC2, where VNFC1 requires deployment of VDU1 and VDU2, and VNFC2 requires deployment of VDU3 and VDU4, then the second management function unit deploys VDU1 and VDU2 for VNFC1 of VNF #1 instance, and deploys VDU3 and VDU4 for VNFC2 of VNF #1 instance.

Secondly, after receiving the result of VNF instance deployment sent by the second management function unit, the third management function unit completes the deployment of the virtual link between the VNF instances, connects the VNF instances to form a first network service instance, and sends a first message to the first management function unit after completing the NFV deployment of the first network slice instance.

At this time, the first message may include: information of one or more virtual resource units corresponding to any one of the one or more virtual network function VNF instances, and information of the first network service instance.

As another example, when the created service carried by the network slice changes, or the operator for a specific operation and maintenance purpose, the first management functional unit may instruct the NFVO to perform scaling on the network service instance, in this scenario, the request message for managing the first network slice instance may be a request message for scaling or scaling the first network slice instance. The third management function unit determines, according to the request message for managing the first network slice instance, a VNF instance (taking the first VNF instance as an example) that needs to be subjected to capacity expansion or capacity reduction, and a capacity expansion parameter or a capacity reduction parameter corresponding to the first VNF instance, and then, the third management function unit sends, to the second management function unit, a message requesting to perform capacity expansion or capacity reduction on the first VNF instance, where the message carries the capacity expansion parameter or the capacity reduction parameter corresponding to the first VNF instance. Then, the second management function unit determines, according to the capacity expansion parameter or the capacity reduction parameter corresponding to the first VNF instance and according to the VNFD corresponding to the first VNF instance, which VDUs that any VNFC in the first VNF instance needs to be increased or decreased. For example, the second management function unit determines to expand the newly deployed VDU5 for VNF # 1. After the second management function unit completes the operation of expanding or contracting the first VNF instance, the second management function unit sends the result of expanding or contracting the first VNF instance to the third management function unit, where the result of expanding or contracting carries information of the first VNF instance, information of a newly added VDU for the first VNF instance, information of a VDU decreased from the first VNF instance, information of a virtual resource allocated to the newly added VDU, and so on. After receiving the scaling or contraction result of the first VNF instance, the third management function unit adjusts the deployment of the virtual link of the first network slice instance, in this case, the first message may be an NFV deploy/contraction response message sent to the first management function unit, where the NFV deploy/contraction response message carries information of the first network service instance and the expansion/contraction result of the first network service instance, and the expansion/contraction result of the first network service instance includes information of the expansion/contraction operation of the VNF instance and the expansion/contraction operation of the virtual link included in the first network service instance, and so on.

At this time, the first message may include: information of virtual resource units that need to be reduced, information of virtual resource units that need to be expanded, and information of the first network service instance. It can be understood that the information of the virtual resource unit that needs to be reduced and the information of the virtual resource unit that needs to be expanded may exist at the same time, or the information of the virtual resource unit that needs to be reduced or the information of the virtual resource unit that needs to be expanded may exist.

The third management function unit determines, according to the request message for managing the first network slice instance, the VNF instance that needs to be expanded or reduced, and the expansion parameter or the reduction parameter corresponding to the first VNF instance may be implemented as follows:

in the method 1, the request message for managing the first network slice instance includes first network service instance information and capacity expansion/reduction demand information, where the demand information is used to determine a parameter for capacity expansion or capacity reduction of the first network slice instance. In this case, the third management function unit may determine, according to the first network service instance information, an NSD used by the first network service instance, a parameter of capacity expansion or capacity reduction, determine information of a VNF instance that needs to perform a capacity expansion operation in the first network service instance, determine a capacity expansion parameter or a capacity reduction parameter corresponding to the VNF instance that needs to perform a capacity expansion operation, and determine information of the VNF instance that needs to perform a capacity expansion operation as information of the first VNF instance.

For example, the capacity expansion/capacity reduction requirement information may include: a Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirement of the network slice, or a requirement of adding or releasing a sub-service, and the like.

In the manner 2, the request message for managing the first network slice instance includes information of the first VNF instance and the capacity expansion parameter or the capacity reduction parameter corresponding to the first VNF instance, so that the third management function unit may determine, according to the information of the first VNF instance, that the VNF instance that needs to be subjected to capacity expansion or capacity reduction is the first VNF instance and the capacity expansion parameter or the capacity reduction parameter corresponding to the first VNF instance.

In addition, it should be noted that, when the first management function unit performs capacity expansion or capacity reduction on the first network slice instance, the first management function unit may directly send the information of the first VNF instance and the capacity expansion parameter or the capacity reduction parameter corresponding to the first VNF instance to the second management function unit, and send the capacity expansion or capacity reduction result to the first management function unit after the second management function unit performs capacity expansion or capacity reduction, in this case, the first message may be sent from the second management function unit to the first management function unit.

As another example, in this application, the second management function unit may also monitor resources of any VNF instance, and if the virtual CPU, the virtual memory, the virtual storage, or the virtual network reaches the scaling threshold, the second management function unit may trigger scaling of the VNF instance, and after the scaling is executed, send the first message to the first management function unit.

For example, in the present application, the first management function may be NSMF or NFMF, the third management function may be NFVO, and the second management function may be VNFM.

The information of the virtual resource unit may be an identifier of the VDU.

S102, the first management function unit determines a mapping relation between the information of the first network slice instance and the information of the one or more virtual resource units associated with the VNF instance according to the first message.

An example is given by a first management function unit requesting to deploy network slice instance 1 and network slice instance 2 in a scenario of NFV deployment on a newly created network slice instance, where network slice instance 1 includes: the VNF #1 instance, the VNF #2 instance, the VNF #1 instance corresponds to the VDU1, the VDU2, the VNF #2 instance corresponds to the VDU3, and the VDU4, and then the first management function unit determines that the VDU1, the VDU2, the VDU3, and the VDU4 have a mapping relationship with the network slice instance 1. Similarly, if the first management function unit requests to deploy network slice instance 2, network slice instance 2 and network slice instance 1 share VNF #1 instance, and when NFV deployment is performed on network slice instance 2, VDU21, VDU22 are deployed for VNF #1 instance, then the first management function unit records VDU21 and VDU22 deployed for VNF1# instance as belonging to network slice instance 2 according to the deployment result carried in the response message to deploy network slice instance 2.

For another example, when the VDU corresponding to the VNF instance increases or decreases, or the VNF instance corresponding to the network service instance increases or decreases, the first management function unit may update the mapping relationship between the information of the first network slice instance and the information of the virtual resource unit corresponding to any VNF instance, and determine the updated mapping relationship between the information of the first network slice instance and the information of the virtual resource unit corresponding to any VNF instance.

Illustratively, when creating network slice example 1, network slice example 1 has a mapping relationship with VDU1, VDU2, VDU3 and VDU4, and after expanding network slice example 1, VDU5 is added to network slice example 1, and then the first management function unit determines that VDU1, VDU2, VDU3, VDU4 and VDU5 have a mapping relationship with network slice example 1 after updating.

For yet another example, after the network slice instance 1 is condensed, the VDU3 is deleted, and the first management function unit determines that the VDU1, VDU2, VDU4 have a mapping relationship with the network slice instance 1 after the update.

It is to be understood that the VNF instance corresponding to the first network slice instance described in the above embodiments may be one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance.

The application provides a method for managing virtual resources, a first management function unit determines a mapping relationship between information of a first network slice instance and information of a virtual resource unit corresponding to any VNF instance according to a first message, so that when the first network slice instance and other network slice instances share a VNF instance, the first management function unit can determine the virtual resource unit corresponding to one network slice instance through the determined mapping relationship between the information of the first network slice instance and information of one or more virtual resource units associated with the VNF instance, and on the other hand, for the shared VNF instance, can determine a virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance and virtual resource units belonging to other network slice instances in the virtual resource units corresponding to the shared VNF instance so as to determine all the virtual resource units belonging to the first network slice instance, thereby facilitating resource management scheduling and charging for the network slice.

The foregoing steps mainly describe that in the process of managing the first network slice instance, the first management functional unit may determine a mapping relationship between one or more virtual resource units corresponding to the first network slice instance and the first network slice instance information. However, in an actual process, there may be any two or more network slice instances sharing one VNF instance (for example, an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) slice of an operator and an enterprise eMBB slice share an AMF instance), and in order to explicitly charge for any network slice instance, the first management function unit needs to determine which virtual resource units in one or more virtual resource units corresponding to the shared AMF instance belong to the eMBB slice of the operator and which virtual resource units belong to the enterprise eMBB slice.

Based on this, as another possible embodiment of the present application, the following takes the VNF instance involved in step S101 as a shared VNF instance, for example, the VNF instance is a VNF instance shared by a first network slice instance and a second network slice instance, and certainly in an actual process, the shared VNF instance may be shared by three or more VNF instances, and the method provided in the present application further includes: the first management function unit determines a virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance in one or more virtual resource units corresponding to the first VNF instance, that is, determines VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in one or more VR measurement data corresponding to the first VNF instance.

Specifically, the first management function unit may determine VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in one or more VR measurement data corresponding to the first VNF instance, and implement the following steps:

one possible implementation manner is that, as shown in fig. 6, the method provided by the present application further includes:

s104, the first management function unit sends a first request message to a third management function unit, where the first request message is used to request reporting of VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF instance, the first request message includes information of the VNF instance or a virtual resource unit list, and the virtual resource unit list includes information of at least one virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance in information of one or more virtual resource units associated with the VNF instance.

Optionally, the first request message further includes performance management PM information.

Specifically, the first management function unit creates performance management tasks related to VRs of each network function in the first network slice instance, and for sharing a VNF instance across multiple slices, when the first network slice instance requests the second network slice instance to create a VR related performance management task of the VNF instance, the first network slice instance carries Performance Management (PM) task information (for example, a PM task identifier) and information of the VNF instance, and also carries a first virtual resource unit list, where the first virtual resource unit list is obtained by the first management function unit searching for all VDU information belonging to the network slice instance 2 in the VNF instance according to a corresponding relationship between an NFV deployment condition and the network slice instance maintained by the first management function unit.

It is understood that step S104 may be preceded by: the first management function unit determines, according to a mapping relationship between the information of the first network slice instance and the information of the virtual resource unit corresponding to any VNF instance, information of at least one virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance in the one or more virtual resource units corresponding to the first VNF instance.

S105, the first management function unit receives a second message sent by the second management function unit aiming at the first request message.

Optionally, the second message includes the PM information, and VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF instance indicated by the information of the VNF instance.

S106, the first management functional unit determines VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in the VR measurement data corresponding to the first VNF instance according to the second message.

In another possible implementation manner, as shown in fig. 7, the method provided by the present application further includes:

s107, the first management function unit determines a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance, a service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to network resources shared by the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance, wherein the network resources are virtual resource units or VNF instances.

The determination of the service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and the service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance by the first management function unit in the present application can be implemented in the following manner: the method comprises the steps that a first management function unit determines a single network slice selection auxiliary information (S-NSSAI) set corresponding to a first network slice instance and a single network slice selection auxiliary information (S-NSSAI) set corresponding to a second network slice instance (the S-NSSAI set comprises one or more S-NSSAIs), and service indexes of shared network resources (VNF instances or virtual resource units) (namely indexes such as success and failure times of signaling interaction processes using network registration or session establishment of the S-NSSAI), wherein the S-NSSAI set comprises one or more S-NSSAIs; the first management functional unit determines the service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set according to the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice example, the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice example and the service index of the network resource; and the first management functional unit determines the service performance measurement result of the first network slice example and the service performance measurement result of the second network slice example according to the mapping relation between the S-NSSAI and the network slice example information and the service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set.

It is understood that the first management function unit has recorded therein a mapping relationship between the S-NSSAI and the network slice instance information, for example, the information recorded with the first network slice instance is associated with S-NSSAI1, and the information recorded with the second network slice instance is associated with S-NSSAI 2.

The first management function unit determines VR measurement data corresponding to a first VNF instance or a first virtual resource unit shared by a first network slice instance and a second network slice instance, and the VR measurement data may be implemented by: the first management function unit requests the second management function unit to create a VR related item performance management task of the first VNF instance or the first virtual resource unit. After the second management function unit creates the VR related item performance management task of the first VNF instance or the first virtual resource unit, the obtained VR measurement data corresponding to the first VNF instance or the first virtual resource unit is sent to the first management function unit.

And S108, the first management function unit determines VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice example in the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resources according to the proportional relation between the service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice example and the service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice example and the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resources.

Exemplarily, taking a network resource as a VNF instance as an example, the first management function unit determines a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and a service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to the shared VNF instance, and the first management function unit determines VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in the VR measurement data corresponding to the shared VNF instance according to a proportional relationship between the service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and the service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to the shared VNF instance.

Specifically, step S108 in the present application can be implemented by: the first management function unit is according to the formula:

VR quantity data of the first VNF instance or the first virtual resource unit in the first network slice instance is VR measurement data x corresponding to the shared network resource (VNF instance or the virtual resource unit) (service performance measurement result x first service resource weight corresponding to the first network slice instance/(service performance measurement result x first service resource weight corresponding to the first network slice instance + service performance measurement result x second service resource weight corresponding to the second network slice instance).

It is to be understood that the second network slice instance is a network slice instance that has shared network resources with the first network slice instance in addition to the first network slice instance.

The service resource weighting is a ratio of the number of virtual resources corresponding to the service index.

Illustratively, for example, a video call needs to occupy 5 virtual resources, while a voice call needs to occupy 1 virtual resource, where 5 and 1 are the above-mentioned traffic resource weights.

It should be noted that, when it is required to calculate VR quantity data of the first VNF instance or the first virtual resource unit in the second network slice instance, the first management function unit may change the parameter of the first network slice instance in the above formula to the parameter of the second network slice instance.

It is to be understood that, in this application, after the first management function unit determines VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the shared VNF instance (or the shared virtual resource unit), the first management function unit may determine VR measurement data of the first network slice instance according to VR measurement data corresponding to VNF instances (virtual resource units) other than the shared VNF instance in one or more VNF instances (or shared virtual resource units) corresponding to the first network slice instance, and VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR corresponding to the first VNF instance or the first virtual resource unit.

Illustratively, the network slice instance 1 and the network slice instance 2 share the VNF #1 instance, the VRs 1 and VR2 in the VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF #1 instance belong to the network slice instance 1, the VRs 3 and VR4 in the VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF #1 instance belong to the network slice instance 2, and the VR measurement data of the network slice instance 1 further includes: VR measurement data corresponding to VNF #2 instance and VR measurement data corresponding to VNF #3 instance, such that the first management function unit may determine VR measurement data for network slice instance 1 to include: VR1, VR2, VR measurement data for VNF #2 instance, and VR measurement data for VNF #3 instance.

It should be noted that, in the present application, for the shared VNF instance, if the shared VNF instance is shared by two or more network slice instances, the first management function unit may calculate, according to the above steps, VR measurement data that respectively belongs to any first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the shared VNF instance.

In summary, as another possible embodiment of the present application, the first management functional unit may further determine the shared network resource in the following manner, and therefore, as shown in fig. 8, the method provided by the present application further includes S109 or S110:

s109, the first management function unit determines that a network resource has a newly added virtual resource when a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance performs Network Function Virtualization (NFV) deployment, and the newly added virtual resource corresponds to the network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, and then the first management function unit determines that the network resource is a shared network resource.

Illustratively, taking the first network slice instance as the network slice instance 1, the network slice instance 1 has a network resource 1, taking the network resource as the VNF instance 1 as an example, the first management function unit records mapping relationships among VRs 1, VR2 and VR3 associated with the network slice instance 1 and the VNF instance 1, and if the first management function unit determines that the VR2 is also associated with the network slice instance 2, the first management function unit determines that the network resource is a shared network resource.

S110, when determining that network function virtualization, NFV, deployment is performed on a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, and using a network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance, the first management function unit determines that the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance is a shared network resource.

For example, when the first management function unit creates the network slice instance 2, it indicates to create the network slice instance 2 using the existing VNF instance 1, and then the first management function unit may determine that the VNF instance 1 is the shared VNF instance, or when the first management function unit creates the network slice instance 2, it indicates to create the network slice instance 2 using the existing virtual resource unit 1, and then the first management function unit may determine that the virtual resource unit 1 is the shared VNF instance.

As shown in fig. 9, the present application provides another method for managing virtual resources, the method comprising:

s201, the first management function unit determines identification information, wherein the identification information is used for identifying one or more virtual resource units distributed by the second management function unit for the first network slice instance; wherein the virtual resource unit comprises at least one of a Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU) and a virtual resource container.

As an example, the first management function may determine information of the first network slice instance (e.g., an identity of the first network slice instance) as the identification information, or the first management function may reassign an identity to the first network slice instance and use the identity as the identification information.

As another example, when determining that one or more VNF instances corresponding to a first network slice instance need to be managed, the third management functional unit associates a first identifier with the first network slice instance, and sends the first identifier to the first management functional unit, and then the first management functional unit determines the first identifier as identifier information.

Specifically, the determining, by the third management function unit, that one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance need to be managed includes: the third management functional unit determines that one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance need to be managed according to the request message for managing the first network slice instance, which is sent by the first management functional unit.

S202, in a process that the first management function unit needs to determine VR measurement data of the first network slice instance, the first management function unit sends a first request message to the second management function unit, where the first request message includes identification information, the first request message is used to request the second management function unit to report virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information, and information of the VNF instance is used to determine a VR allocated to a virtual resource unit corresponding to the VNF instance.

S203, the second management function unit determines, according to the first request message and the association relationship between the virtual resource units used by the one or more VNF instances and the identification information recorded in the second management function unit, virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information.

Specifically, the determination, by the second management function unit, of the virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information may be implemented by: the second management function unit requests a fifth management function unit to create a PM task, wherein the PM task carries identification information of a virtual network VR corresponding to the first network slice example, and the fifth management function unit obtains a virtual network VR measurement result corresponding to the first network slice example according to the identification information of the virtual network VR corresponding to the first network slice example and reports the VR measurement result to the second management function unit.

Correspondingly, step S203 provided by the present application further includes: the second management function unit receives the first request message sent by the first management function unit.

S204, the second management function unit sends the virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information to the first management function unit.

S205, the first management function unit receives virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information sent by the second management function unit. In this way the first management function unit can determine virtual network VR measurement data for the first network slice instance.

The application provides a method for managing virtual resources, wherein a first management function unit carries identification information in a process of requesting to manage a first network slice instance, so that on one hand, a function unit which allocates a virtual resource unit for one or more VNF instances can associate the virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance with the identification information, and on the other hand, in a subsequent process, a function unit which can conveniently allocate the virtual resource unit for one or more VNF instances can manage the virtual resource unit allocated by one or more VNF instances in units of a group based on a management request of the first management function unit for the first network slice instance, and on the other hand, in a process that the first management function unit needs to determine VR measurement data of the first network slice instance, a first request message which carries the identification information can request a second management function unit to report VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information, in addition, for facilitating two or more network slice instances to have shared VNF instances, this facilitates distinguishing and counting virtual resources belonging to any network slice instance and corresponding to any network slice instance among virtual resources corresponding to VNF instances shared by two or more network slice instances, and VR measurement data corresponding to any network slice instance.

It can be understood that, in this application, before the first management functional unit executes S202, the second management functional unit acquires the identification information. For example, in the case where the identification information is generated for the first management functional unit: and the first management functional unit sends the identification information to the third management functional unit in the process of requesting the third management functional unit to manage the first network slice instance, and the third management functional unit sends the identification information to the second management functional unit. Or the first management function unit sends the identification information and the information of the VNF instance that needs capacity expansion or needs to be released to the second management function unit in the process of requesting the second management function unit to perform capacity expansion or capacity reduction on the first network slice instance. In the case where the identification information is generated for the third management function unit: the third management function unit may send, to the second management function unit, one or more VNFs corresponding to the first network slice instance, and deployment parameters corresponding to the one or more VNFs, and the identification information.

Based on this, as another embodiment of the present application, the method provided by the present application further includes, before step S203: the second management function unit establishes an association relationship between the identification information of any one of the network slice instances and the virtual resource units used by the one or more VNF instances corresponding to the any one of the network slice instances, where the association relationship is used to determine the virtual resource units used by the one or more VNF instances corresponding to the network slice instances associated with the identification information.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 10, the second management function unit in this application establishes an association relationship between the identification information of any network slice instance and the virtual resource units used by one or more VNF instances corresponding to the any network slice instance, and may be implemented in the following manner:

s206, the third management functional unit sends a second request message to the second management functional unit in a process of requesting the second management functional unit to manage one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance, where the second request message includes: identifying information and deployment parameters of one or more VNFs corresponding to the first network slice instance; the identification information is used to identify one or more virtual resource units allocated for the first network slice instance, where a virtual resource unit includes: at least one of a virtual deployment unit VDU and a virtual resource container (e.g., a virtual machine or a virtualization container, etc.).

Specifically, the process that the third management function unit requests the second management function unit to manage the one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance may refer to the description in the foregoing embodiment, and details of the process are not described herein again.

Specifically, the third management function unit may carry the identification information in a message requesting management of one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance, and send the identification information to the second management function unit, or may send the identification information to the second management function unit in a newly defined management message in a process of requesting management of one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance, that is, the second request message is a newly defined management message in a process of requesting management of one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance.

S207, the second management function unit receives a second request message sent by the third management function unit.

And S208, the second management function unit divides the virtual resource units used by the one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance into one or more resource groups according to the second request message.

Specifically, in this application, the dividing, by the second management function unit, the virtual resource unit used by one or more VNF instances into one or more resource groups includes: the second management function unit divides the virtual resource units used by one or more VNF instances into the same resource group, or the second management function unit divides the virtual resource units used by the same VNF instance into the same resource group, and the virtual resource units used by different VNF instances are located in different resource groups, or the second management function unit divides the virtual resource units corresponding to the same VNFC in one or more VNFCs corresponding to the same VNF instance into the same resource group, and divides the virtual resource units corresponding to different VNFCs into different resource group groups.

S209, the second management function unit associates one or more resource groups with the identification information to determine an association relationship between the virtual resource unit used by one or more VNF instances and the identification information.

Specifically, in the present application, the one or more resource groups of the second management function unit are associated with the identification information, where the second management function unit maps the second identification of the one or more resource groups with the identification information, or the second management function unit directly uses the identification information as the identification of the one or more resource groups.

Illustratively, taking the first network slice instance as a network slice instance 1, the identification information is an identification 1, and the network slice instance 1 includes, as examples, a VNF instance 1 and a VNF instance 2:

case1, the second management function unit determines that it is necessary to deploy VDU1, VDU2, VDU3 and VDU4 for VNF instance 1, and it is necessary to deploy VDU5 and VDU6 for VNF instance 2, then the second management function unit belongs VDU1, VDU2, VDU3, VDU4, VDU5 and VDU6 to the same resource group, and associates the resource group to which VDU1, VDU2, VDU3, VDU4, VDU5 and VDU6 belong with identity 1.

Case2 and the second management function unit determine that VDU1 and VDU2 need to be deployed for VNFC1 of VNF instance 1, the second management function unit belongs VDU1 and VDU2 to the same resource group 1-1, the second management function unit determines that VDU3 and VDU4 need to be deployed for VNFC2 of VNF instance 1, the second management function unit belongs VDU3 and VDU4 to the same resource group 1-2, and in addition, the second management function unit determines that VDU5 and VDU6 need to be deployed for VNF instance 2, and the second management function unit belongs VDU5 and VDU6 to the same resource group 1-3. In Case2, the second management function may associate identity 1 with resource group 1-1, resource group 1-2 and resource group 1-3. In this way, the second management function unit may attribute VDUs of different VNFCs of the same VNF instance to different resource groups, and may attribute VDUs of different VNF instances to different resource groups. It is convenient to determine the VDU of each VNF instance.

It is to be understood that, after the third management function unit determines that one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance need to be managed, the third management function unit performs step S205 described below. Specifically, the process of determining that one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance need to be managed by the third management function unit may refer to the description in the foregoing embodiment, and details of this application are not described herein again.

Similarly, the third management functional unit may request, at the first management functional unit, to perform NFV deployment on the first network slice instance, or to perform capacity expansion, where the determination in the capacity reduction operation needs to manage one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance.

When there is a shared VNF instance or a shared virtual resource unit between a first management function unit and at least one other management function unit, as shown in fig. 11, as another embodiment of the present application, taking a first network slice instance and a second network slice instance as an example to share the first VNF instance or the first virtual resource unit, a method provided by the present application further includes:

s210, the first management function unit sends, to the third management function unit, in the process of requesting management of the first network slice instance: information of the first VNF instance or information of the first virtual resource unit, and identification information. Thus, after receiving the information of the first VNF instance or the information of the first virtual resource unit, the third management function unit may perform the following steps according to the request message for managing the first network slice instance:

s1, the third management function unit determines that the first management function unit indicates the first VNF instance indicated by the information of the first VNF instance in the existing second network slice instance when creating the first network slice instance, or the first virtual resource unit indicated by the information of the first virtual resource unit in the existing second network slice instance when creating the first network slice instance, and in the process of requesting the second management function unit to manage the first VNF instance, the second management function unit may associate the newly added virtual resource unit of the first VNF instance with the identification information of the first network slice instance, and at this time, the originally-owned virtual resource unit of the first VNF instance is associated with the identification information of the second network slice instance.

Illustratively, before the first network slice instance is created, the first management function unit already performs NFV deployment on the second network slice instance, at this time, an association relationship between identification information 1 of the second network slice instance and virtual resource units used by one or more VNF instances corresponding to the second network slice instance is recorded in the second management function unit, for example, a VDU1 and a VDU2 corresponding to the VNF instance 1 are associated with the identification information 1.

When a first network slice instance needs to be created and is associated with identification information 2, a VDU3 needs to be added to the VNF instance 1 shared by the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance in addition to the existing VDU1 and VDU2, and then the second management function unit associates VDU1, VDU2, and VDU3 with identification information 2. Or when the first network slice instance needs to be created, and the newly created VNF instance does not include VDU1 and VDU2, and only VDU3 is needed, for the first network slice instance, the second management function unit associates only VDU3 with identification information 2, and does not associate VDU1, VDU2 with identification information 2.

It should be noted that, when capacity expansion or capacity reduction is performed on the shared VNF instance or the shared virtual resource unit, the second management function unit first determines the virtual resource unit used by the VNF instance according to the identification information, associates the virtual resource unit newly added to the VNF instance with the identification information during capacity expansion, and deletes the virtual resource unit released by the VNF instance from the resource group associated with the identification information during capacity reduction.

Therefore, based on step S210, S208 in the present application can be specifically implemented by: the second management function unit divides one or more virtual resource units corresponding to the VNF instance exclusively owned by the first network slice instance into one or more resource groups.

S211, the second management function unit receives information of the first VNF instance or information of the first virtual resource unit, and the identification information in a process that the third management function unit requests to manage one or more VNF instances.

S212, the second management function unit divides, into one or more resource groups, a virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance in one or more virtual resource units corresponding to the first VNF instance associated with the information of the first VNF instance, and one or more virtual resource units corresponding to VNF instances exclusively owned by the first network slice instance.

Specifically, for the shared VNF instance or the shared virtual resource unit, since a part of the shared VNF instance or the shared virtual resource unit belongs to the first network slice instance and another part of the shared VNF instance or the shared virtual resource unit belongs to the second network slice instance, the second management function unit determines all the virtual resource units associated with the identification information according to the identification information, and divides the virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance in the shared VNF instance or the shared virtual resource unit and one or more virtual resource units corresponding to the VNF instance exclusively owned by the first network slice instance into one or more resource groups.

As another embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 12, the method provided by the present application further includes:

s213, the first management function unit sends a third request message to the second management function unit, where the third request message includes information and identification information of the first VNF instance, and the third request message requests the second management function unit to report VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the first VNF instance.

And S214, the second management functional unit receives the third request message.

S215, the second management function unit determines, according to the third request message, a virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance from the resource group to which the virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance associated with the identification information belongs.

Illustratively, the virtual resource units used by the first network slice instance associated with the identification information are virtual resource unit 1, virtual resource unit 2, and virtual resource unit 3 is associated with the virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance, the second management function unit determines that virtual resource unit 3 is the virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance.

S216, the second management function unit sends a fifth request message to the fifth management function unit, where the fifth request message includes information of the virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance, and the fifth request message is used to request to measure VR measurement data of the virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance.

Specifically, the fifth function management unit may be a VIM.

Optionally, as another embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 13, the method provided by the present application further includes:

s217, the first management function unit determines a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance, a service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to the shared network resource (e.g., VNF instance or virtual resource unit).

Specifically, the determining, by the first management function unit, a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and a service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance includes: the first management function unit determines a single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI set corresponding to a first network slice instance and a single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI set corresponding to a second network slice instance, and service indexes of shared network resources (such as VNF instances or virtual resource units), wherein the S-NSSAI set comprises one or more S-NSSAIs; the first management functional unit determines the service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set according to the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice example, the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice example and the service index of the network resource; and the first management functional unit determines the service performance measurement result of the first network slice example and the service performance measurement result of the second network slice example according to the mapping relation between the S-NSSAI and the network slice example information and the service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set.

S218, the first management function unit determines, according to a proportional relationship between the service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and the service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource, VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource.

Specifically, the implementation of step S218 can refer to the above embodiments, and is not described herein again.

Specifically, in the method provided by the present application, the determining, by the first management function unit, the shared network resource (for example, a VNF instance or a virtual resource unit) includes: and the first management function unit determines that the shared network resource has newly-added virtual resources, and the newly-added virtual resources correspond to network slice instances except the first network slice instance, and then determines that the network resource is the shared network resource. Or when the first management function unit determines that Network Function Virtualization (NFV) deployment is performed on a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance is used, and then the first management function unit determines that the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance is a shared network resource.

Optionally, in an example, the method provided by the present application further includes:

s219, the second management function unit receives a second request message sent by the fourth management function unit, where the second request message includes information of a second VNF instance, and requirement information and identification information corresponding to a second VNF associated with the information of the second VNF instance, the third request message is used to manage a virtual resource unit used by the second VNF instance, and the second VNF instance is any one of one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance.

Illustratively, the fourth management functional unit may be NFMF, NFVO, or NF, where NF is a network function corresponding to the second VNF instance.

And S220, the second management function unit updates the resource group to which the virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance belongs according to the requirement information corresponding to the second VNF.

Specifically, the second management function unit determines that a VDU needs to be added to the second VNF according to the requirement information corresponding to the second VNF, and then the second management function unit divides the newly added VDU into resource groups to which the network resources used by the first network slice instance belong.

And if the second management function unit determines that the VDU in the one or more VDUs corresponding to the second VNF needs to be released according to the requirement information corresponding to the second VNF, deleting the VDU needing to be released from the resource group to which the network resource used by the first network slice instance belongs. Or determining that a certain VNF instance needs to be released, the VDU corresponding to the VNF instance that needs to be released is deleted from the resource group to which the network resource used by the first network slice instance belongs.

Or, in another example, the method provided by the present application further includes:

s221, the second management function unit obtains resources corresponding to the one or more VNF instances.

S222, if there is a resource corresponding to any VNF instance in the resources corresponding to the one or more VNF instances that is greater than the first threshold, the second management function unit determines information of a resource group to which a virtual resource unit used by any VNF instance belongs.

The resources corresponding to one or more VNF instances may be: the second management function unit may trigger expansion or contraction of the VNF instance when any one of the resources corresponding to the VNF instance is greater than a first threshold in the resources corresponding to the one or more VNF instances. The second management function unit needs to determine the resource group to which the VDU reaching the capacity expansion or capacity reduction threshold belongs when performing capacity expansion or capacity reduction, and perform capacity expansion or capacity reduction on the VDU in the resource group to which the VDU reaching the capacity expansion or capacity reduction threshold belongs.

S223, the second management function unit updates one or more virtual resource units in the resource group associated with the information of the resource group to which the virtual resource unit used by any VNF instance belongs.

The above-mentioned scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application is introduced mainly from the perspective of interaction between network elements. It is to be understood that each network element, for example, the first management function unit and the second management function unit, includes a corresponding hardware structure and/or software module for performing each function in order to implement the above functions. Those of skill in the art would readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first management function unit and the second management function unit may be divided into function modules according to the above method example, for example, each function module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the module is schematic, and is only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation. The following description will be given by taking the division of each function module corresponding to each function as an example:

in the case of an integrated unit, fig. 14 shows a possible structural schematic of the first management function unit involved in the above-described embodiment. The first management function unit includes: receiving unit 101, determining unit 102. Wherein, the receiving unit 101 is configured to support the first management functional unit to execute steps S101 and S105 in the foregoing embodiment; the determination unit 102 is configured to support the first management function unit to execute steps S102, S106, S107, S108, S109, and S110 in the above-described embodiment. Furthermore, the first management function unit may further comprise a sending unit 103, the sending unit 103 being configured to support the first management function unit to perform steps S103, S104 in the above-mentioned embodiment. All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

Based on the hardware implementation, the sending unit 103 in this application may be a transmitter of the first management function unit, the receiving unit 101 may be a receiver of the first management function unit, the transmitter may be integrated with the receiver to function as a transceiver, a specific transceiver may also be referred to as a communication interface or a transceiver circuit, and the determining unit 102 may be integrated on a processor of the first management function unit.

In the case of an integrated unit, fig. 15 shows a schematic diagram of a possible logical structure of the first management function unit involved in the above-described embodiment. The first management function unit includes: a processing module 112 and a communication module 113. The processing module 112 is configured to control and manage the action of the first management function unit, for example, the processing module 112 is configured to execute a step of performing message or data processing on the first management function unit side, for example, support the first management function unit to execute steps S102, S106, S107, S108, S109, and S110 in the foregoing embodiments; the communication module 113 is used to support the first management function unit to execute steps S101, S103, S204, and S105 in the above embodiments. And/or other processes performed by the first management functional unit for the techniques described herein. Optionally, the first management function unit may further include a storage module 111 for storing program codes and data of the first management function unit.

The processing module 112 may be a processor or controller, such as a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. A processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., a combination of one or more microprocessors, a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, or the like. The communication module 113 may be a transceiver, a transceiving circuit or a communication interface, etc. The storage module 111 may be a memory.

When the processing module 112 is the processor 120, the communication module 113 is the communication interface 130 or the transceiver, and the storage module 111 is the memory 140, the first management function unit according to the present application may be the device shown in fig. 16.

Wherein the communication interface 130, the at least one processor 120, and the memory 140 are connected to each other through the bus 110; the bus 110 may be a PCI bus or an EISA bus, etc. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 16, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus. Wherein the memory 140 is used for storing program codes and data of the first management function unit. The communication interface 130 is used to support the first management function unit to communicate with other devices (e.g., a second management function unit), and the processor 120 is used to support the first management function unit to execute the program codes and data stored in the memory 140 to implement a method for managing virtual resources provided by the present application.

In the case of an integrated unit, fig. 17 shows a possible structural schematic of the first management function unit involved in the above-described embodiment. The first management function unit includes: a determination unit 201, a transmission unit 202, and a reception unit 203. Wherein, the determining unit 201 is configured to support the first management function unit to execute steps S201, S217, and S218 in the foregoing embodiment; the sending unit 202 is configured to support the first management function unit to execute steps S202, S210, and S213 in the foregoing embodiment; the receiving unit 203 is used to support the first management function unit to execute step S205 in the above embodiment. Additionally, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

Based on the hardware implementation, the receiving unit 203 in this application may be a receiver of the first management function unit, the sending unit 202 may be a transmitter of the first management function unit, and the transmitter may be integrated with the receiver of the first management function unit to function as a transceiver, and a specific transceiver may also be referred to as a communication interface, or a transceiving circuit, and the determining unit 201 may be integrated on a processor of the first management function unit.

In the case of an integrated unit, fig. 18 shows a schematic diagram of a possible logical structure of the first management function unit involved in the above-described embodiment. A first management function unit comprising: a processing module 212 and a communication module 213. The processing module 212 is configured to control and manage the action of the first management function unit, for example, the processing module 212 is configured to support the first management function unit to perform operations of performing message or data processing on the first management function unit side in the foregoing embodiment, for example, perform steps S201, S217, and S218 in the foregoing embodiment; the communication module 213 is used to support the first management function unit to perform operations of receiving and sending messages or data on the first management function unit side in the above embodiments, for example, steps S202, S210, S213, and S205 in the above embodiments. And/or other processes performed by the first management functional unit for the techniques described herein.

Optionally, the first management function unit may further include a storage module 211 for storing program codes and data of the first management function unit.

The processing module 212 may be a processor or controller, such as a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. A processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., a combination of one or more microprocessors, a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, or the like. The communication module 213 may be a transceiver, a transceiving circuit or a communication interface, etc. The storage module 211 may be a memory.

When the processing module 212 is the processor 220, the communication module 213 is the communication interface 230 or the transceiver, and the storage module 211 is the memory 210, the first management function unit involved in the present application may be the device shown in fig. 19.

Wherein the communication interface 230, the at least one processor 220, and the memory 210 are connected to each other through the bus 200; the bus 200 may be a PCI bus or an EISA bus, etc. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 19, but it is not intended that there be only one bus or one type of bus. Wherein the memory 210 is used for storing program codes and data of the first management function unit. The communication interface 230 is used to support the first management function unit to communicate with other devices (e.g., a second management function unit), and the processor 220 is used to support the first management function unit to execute the program codes and data stored in the memory 210 to implement a method for managing virtual resources provided by the present application.

In the case of an integrated unit, fig. 20 shows a possible structural schematic of the second management function unit involved in the above-described embodiment. The second management function unit includes: a receiving unit 301, a determining unit 302, and a transmitting unit 303. Wherein, the receiving unit 301 is configured to support the second management function unit to execute steps S203 and S207, S211, S214, and S219 in the foregoing embodiment; the determination unit 302 is configured to support the second management function unit to perform steps S209 and S215 and S221 and S222 in the foregoing embodiments, and the sending unit 303 is configured to support the second management function unit to perform steps S204 and S216 in the foregoing embodiments. In addition, the method further comprises the following steps: a processing unit 304 and an updating unit 305, wherein the processing unit 304 is configured to support the second management function unit to execute the steps S208 and S212 in the foregoing embodiment, and the updating unit 305 is configured to support the second management function unit to execute the steps S220 and S223 in the foregoing embodiment. And/or other processes for the techniques described herein. All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

Based on the hardware implementation, the receiving unit 301 in this application may be a receiver of the second management function unit, the sending unit 303 may be a transmitter of the second management function unit, the receiver may be integrated with the transmitter of the second management function unit to function as a transceiver, and a specific transceiver may also be referred to as a communication interface or a transceiver circuit, and the determining unit 302, the processing unit 304, and the updating unit 305 may be integrated in a processor of the second management function unit.

In the case of an integrated unit, fig. 21 shows a schematic diagram of a possible logical structure of the second management function unit involved in the above-described embodiment. The second management function unit includes: a processing module 312 and a communication module 313. The processing module 312 is configured to control and manage the action of the second management function unit, for example, the processing module 312 is configured to support the second management function unit to perform operations of performing message or data processing on the second management function unit side in the foregoing embodiments, for example, steps S209, S215, S221, S222, S208, S212, S220, and S223 in the foregoing embodiments; the communication module 313 is configured to support the second management function unit to perform operations of receiving or sending messages or data on the side of the second management function unit in the foregoing embodiments, for example, steps S203 and S207, S211, S214 and S219, S204, and S216 in the foregoing embodiments. And/or other processes performed by the second management function for the techniques described herein.

Optionally, the second management function unit may further include a storage module 311 for storing program codes and data of the second management function unit.

The processing module 312 may be a processor or controller, such as a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. A processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., a combination of one or more microprocessors, a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, or the like. The communication module 313 may be a transceiver, a transceiving circuit or a communication interface, etc. The storage module 311 may be a memory.

When the processing module 312 is the processor 320, the communication module 313 is the communication interface 330 or the transceiver, and the storage module 311 is the memory 310, the second management function unit according to the present application may be the device shown in fig. 22.

Wherein the communication interface 330, the at least one processor 320, and the memory 310 are connected to each other through a bus 300; the bus 300 may be a PCI bus or an EISA bus, etc. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 22, but this does not indicate only one bus or one type of bus. Wherein the memory 310 is used for storing program codes and data of the second management function unit. The communication interface 330 is used to support the second management function unit to communicate with other devices (e.g., the first management function unit), and the processor 320 is used to support the second management function unit to execute the program codes and data stored in the memory 310 to implement a method for managing virtual resources provided by the present application.

The above receiving unit (or unit for receiving) is an interface circuit of the apparatus for receiving signals from other apparatuses. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit for the chip to receive signals from other chips or devices. The above transmitting unit (or a unit for transmitting) is an interface circuit of the apparatus for transmitting a signal to other apparatuses. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the transmitting unit is an interface circuit for the chip to transmit signals to other chips or devices.

Fig. 23 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip system 150 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The chip system 150 includes at least one processor 1510 and interface circuitry 1530.

Optionally, the system-on-chip 150 also includes a memory 1540, which may include both read-only memory and random access memory, and provides operating instructions and data to the processor 1510. A portion of memory 1540 may also include non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM).

In some embodiments, memory 1540 stores the following elements, executable modules or data structures, or a subset thereof, or an expanded set thereof:

in the embodiment of the present invention, by calling an operation instruction stored in the memory 1540 (the operation instruction may be stored in an operating system), a corresponding operation is performed.

One possible implementation is: the first management function unit and the second management function unit are similar in structure of chip systems, and different devices can use different chip systems to realize respective functions.

The processor 1510 controls operations of a first management function unit, a second management function unit, and the processor 1510 may also be referred to as a Central Processing Unit (CPU). Memory 1540 can include both read-only memory and random-access memory, and provides instructions and data to processor 1510. A portion of memory 1540 may also include non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM). In a particular implementation, memory 1540, interface circuit 1530, and memory 1540 are coupled together by a bus system 1520, where bus system 1520 may include a power bus, a control bus, a status signal bus, and so forth, in addition to a data bus. For clarity of illustration, however, the various buses are labeled in fig. 23 as bus system 1520.

The method disclosed in the above embodiments of the present invention may be applied to the processor 1510 or implemented by the processor 1510. The processor 1510 may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by instructions in the form of hardware, integrated logic circuits, or software in the processor 1510. The processor 1510 may be a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, or discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present invention may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory 1540, and the processor 1510 reads the information in the memory 1540, and performs the steps of the above method in combination with the hardware thereof.

Optionally, the interface circuit 1530 is configured to perform the steps of receiving and transmitting of the first management function unit, the second management function unit in the embodiments shown in fig. 4, fig. 5, fig. 6, fig. 7, fig. 8, fig. 9, fig. 10, fig. 11, fig. 12, and fig. 13.

The processor 1510 is configured to execute the steps of the processing of the first management function unit and the second management function unit in the embodiments shown in fig. 4, fig. 5, fig. 6, fig. 7, fig. 8, fig. 9, fig. 10, fig. 11, fig. 12, and fig. 13.

In the above embodiments, the instructions stored by the memory for execution by the processor may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product may be written in the memory in advance or may be downloaded in the form of software and installed in the memory.

The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. The procedures or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are all or partially generated when the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, e.g., the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. A computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can store or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that is integrated with one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

In one aspect, a computer storage medium is provided having instructions stored therein, which when executed, cause a first management function unit to perform S101, S103, S104 and S105, S102, S106, S107, S108, S109 and S110 in an embodiment. And/or other processes performed by the first management functional unit for the techniques described herein.

In yet another aspect, a computer storage medium is provided, having stored therein instructions that, when executed, cause a first management function unit to perform steps S201, S217, S218, S202, S210, S213, and S205 in an embodiment. And/or other processes performed by the first management functional unit for the techniques described herein.

On the other hand, there is provided a computer storage medium having stored therein instructions that, when executed, cause the second management functional unit to execute S203 and S207, S211, S214 and S219, S204, S216, S209, S215 and S221, S222, S208, S212, S220 and S223 in the embodiment. And/or other processes performed by the second management function for the techniques described herein.

In one aspect, a computer program product is provided that includes instructions stored therein that, when executed, cause a first management function to perform S101, S103, S104, and S105, S102, S106, S107, S108, S109, and S110 in an embodiment. And/or other processes performed by the first management functional unit for the techniques described herein.

In yet another aspect, a computer program product is provided that includes instructions stored therein, which when executed, cause a first management function unit to perform steps S201, S217, S218, S202, S210, S213, and S205 in an embodiment. And/or other processes performed by the first management functional unit for the techniques described herein.

On the other hand, there is provided a computer program product including instructions stored therein, which when executed, cause the second management functional unit to execute S203 and S207, S211, S214 and S219, S204, S216, S209, S215 and S221, S222, S208, S212, S220 and S223 in the embodiment. And/or other processes performed by the second management function for the techniques described herein.

In one aspect, a chip is provided, where the chip is applied to a first management function unit, a system of chips includes at least one processor and an interface circuit, where the interface circuit and the at least one processor are interconnected by a line, and the processor is configured to execute instructions to perform S101, S103, S104, S105, S102, S106, S107, S108, S109, and S110 in the embodiment. And/or other processes performed by the first management functional unit for the techniques described herein.

In another aspect, a chip is provided, where the chip is applied to a first management function unit, a system of chips includes at least one processor and an interface circuit, where the interface circuit and the at least one processor are interconnected by a line, and the processor is configured to execute instructions to perform steps S201, S217, S218, S202, S210, S213, and S205 in an embodiment. And/or other processes performed by the first management functional unit for the techniques described herein. And/or other processes performed by the first management functional unit for the techniques described herein.

In another aspect, a chip is provided, where the chip is applied to a second management function unit, a system of chips includes at least one processor and an interface circuit, where the interface circuit and the at least one processor are interconnected by a line, and the processor is configured to execute instructions to perform, in an embodiment, S203 and S207, S211, S214 and S219, S204, S216, S209, S215 and S221, S222, S208, S212, S220 and S223. And/or other processes performed by the second management function for the techniques described herein.

In addition, the present application also provides an NFV system, where the system for traffic offloading includes the first management functional unit shown in fig. 14 to 16, the first management functional unit shown in fig. 17 to 19, the second management functional unit shown in fig. 20 to 22, and a third management functional unit.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, a division of a unit is merely a logical division, and an actual implementation may have another division, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

Units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and other various media capable of storing program codes.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of managing virtual resources, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a first management function unit receives a first message, wherein the first message is used for determining information of one or more virtual resource units associated with a Virtual Network Function (VNF) instance corresponding to a first network slice instance, and the information of the virtual resource units is used for determining Virtual Resources (VR) used by the virtual resource units, and the virtual resource units comprise at least one of Virtual Deployment Units (VDUs) and virtual resource containers;

the first management function unit determines a mapping relationship between the information of the first network slice instance and the information of one or more virtual resource units associated with the VNF instance according to the first message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the first management function unit sends a first request message to a second management function unit, where the first request message is used to request reporting of VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF instance, where the first request message includes information of the VNF instance or a virtual resource unit list, and the virtual resource unit list includes information of at least one virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance in information of one or more virtual resource units associated with the VNF instance;

the first management function unit receives a second message sent by the second management function unit aiming at the first request message;

the first management functional unit determines, according to the second message, VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF instance.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

the first management function unit determines a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance, a service performance measurement result corresponding to a second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to a network resource shared by the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance, where the network resource is a virtual resource unit or the VNF instance;

and the first management functional unit determines VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice example in the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resources according to the proportional relation between the service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice example and the service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice example and the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resources.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining, by the first management function unit, the service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and the service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance comprises:

the first management functional unit determines a single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance, an S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice instance, and a service index of the network resource, where the S-NSSAI set includes one or more S-NSSAIs;

the first management functional unit determines a service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set according to the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance, the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice instance and the service index of the network resource;

and the first management functional unit determines the service performance measurement result of the first network slice example and the service performance measurement result of the second network slice example according to the mapping relation between the S-NSSAI and the network slice example information and the service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set.

5. The method of any of claims 1-4, wherein the first management function determines the shared network resource, comprising:

the first management function unit determines that a network resource has a newly added virtual resource when Network Function Virtualization (NFV) deployment is performed on a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, and the newly added virtual resource corresponds to the network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, then the first management function unit determines that the network resource is a shared network resource; or, when the first management function unit determines to perform Network Function Virtualization (NFV) deployment on a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, using a network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance, and then the first management function unit determines that the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance is a shared network resource.

6. A method of managing virtual resources, comprising:

the first management function unit determines identification information, wherein the identification information is used for identifying one or more virtual resource units allocated to the first network slice instance by the second management function unit; wherein the virtual resource unit comprises at least one of a Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU) and a virtual resource container;

the first management functional unit sends a first request message to the second management functional unit, where the first request message includes the identification information, and the first request message is used to request the second management functional unit to report virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information;

and the first management function unit receives virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information sent by the second management function unit.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first network slice instance and a second network slice instance have shared network resources, and wherein before the first management function sends a first request message to the second management function, the method further comprises: the first management function unit sends to the third management function unit: the identification information, the information of the network resource, and the network resource are VNF instances or virtual resource units.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

the first management function unit sends a second request message to a second management function unit, where the second request message includes information and identification information of the shared network resource, and the second request message requests the second management function unit to report VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the shared network resource.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

the first management function unit determines a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance, a service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to network resources shared by the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance;

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining, by the first management function unit, the service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and the service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance comprises:

the first management functional unit determines a single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance, an S-NSSAI set corresponding to a second network slice instance, and a service index of the network resource, wherein the S-NSSAI set comprises one or more S-NSSAIs;

11. The method of any of claims 7-10, wherein determining, by the first management function, the network resource to be a shared network resource comprises:

the first management function unit determines that a network resource has a newly added virtual resource when Network Function Virtualization (NFV) deployment is performed on a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, and the newly added virtual resource corresponds to the network slice instance other than the first network slice instance, then the first management function unit determines that the network resource is a shared network resource;

or, when the first management function unit requests to perform NFV deployment on network slice instances other than the first network slice instance, the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance is used, and it is determined that the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance is a shared network resource.

12. A method of managing virtual resources, comprising:

a second management function unit receives a first request message sent by a first management function unit, wherein the first request message includes identification information, the first request message is used for requesting the second management function unit to report virtual network VR measurement data of a first network slice instance associated with the identification information, and the identification information is used for identifying one or more virtual resource units allocated to the first network slice instance by the second management function unit;

the second management function unit determines, according to the first request message and an association relationship between a virtual resource unit used by one or more VNF instances and identification information, virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information, where the virtual resource unit includes: at least one of a Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU) and a virtual resource container;

the second management function unit sends the virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information to the first management function unit.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein before the second management function receives the first request message sent by the first management function, the method further comprises:

the second management function unit receives a second request message sent by a third management function unit, where the second request message includes identification information and deployment parameters of one or more VNFs corresponding to the first network slice instance; the identification information is used for identifying one or more virtual resource units allocated to the first network slice instance;

the second management function unit divides virtual resource units used by one or more VNF instances determined according to deployment parameters of one or more VNFs corresponding to the first network slice instance into one or more resource groups;

the second management function unit associates the one or more resource groups with the identification information to determine an association between a virtual resource unit used by one or more VNF instances and the identification information.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first network slice instance shares a first VNF instance with a second network slice instance, the method further comprising: the second management function unit receives the information of the first VNF instance or the information of the first virtual resource unit, and the identification information, and the dividing, by the second management function unit, the virtual resource unit used by the one or more VNF instances into one or more resource groups specifically includes:

the second management function unit divides one or more virtual resource units corresponding to a first VNF instance associated with the information of the first VNF instance, which belong to the first network slice instance, into the one or more resource groups.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12-14, further comprising:

the second management function unit receives a third request message, where the third request message includes information of a second VNF instance, requirement information corresponding to a second VNF associated with the information of the second VNF instance, and the identification information, and the third request message is used to manage a virtual resource unit used by the second VNF instance, and the second VNF instance is any one of one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance;

the second management function unit updates the resource group to which the virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance belongs according to the requirement information corresponding to the second VNF,

or, the second management function unit acquires resources corresponding to the one or more VNF instances;

if the resource corresponding to any VNF instance is greater than a first threshold in the resources corresponding to the one or more VNF instances, the second management function unit determines information of a resource group to which a virtual resource unit used by the any VNF instance belongs;

and the second management function unit updates one or more virtual resource units in the resource group associated with the information of the resource group to which the virtual resource unit used by any VNF instance belongs.

16. The method according to any one of claims 12-14, further comprising:

the second management function unit receives a fourth request message sent by the first management function unit, where the fourth request message includes information of the first VNF instance and identification information, and the fourth request message requests to determine VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the first VNF instance associated with the information of the first VNF instance;

the second management function unit determines, according to the fourth request message, a virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance from a resource group to which a virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance associated with the identification information belongs;

the second management function unit sends a fifth request message to a fifth management function unit, where the fifth request message includes information of a virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance, and the fifth request message is used to request to measure VR measurement data of the virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance.

17. An apparatus for managing virtual resources, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first message, where the first message is used to determine information of one or more virtual resource units associated with a virtual network function VNF instance corresponding to a first network slice instance, and the information of the virtual resource units is used to determine a virtual resource VR used by the virtual resource units, where the virtual resource units include at least one of a virtual deployment unit VDU and a virtual resource container;

a determining unit, configured to determine, according to the first message, a mapping relationship between information of the first network slice instance and information of one or more virtual resource units associated with the VNF instance.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send a first request message to a second management function unit, where the first request message is used to request reporting of VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF instance, where the first request message includes information of the VNF instance or a virtual resource unit list, and the virtual resource unit list includes information of at least one virtual resource unit belonging to the first network slice instance in information of one or more virtual resource units associated with the VNF instance;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second message sent by the second management function unit for the first request message;

the determining unit is further configured to determine, according to the second message, VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the VNF instance.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the determining unit is further configured to determine a traffic performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and a traffic performance measurement result corresponding to a second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to a network resource shared by the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance, wherein the network resource is a virtual resource unit or the VNF instance;

the determining unit is further configured to determine, according to a proportional relationship between a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and a service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource, VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the determining unit is further specifically configured to determine a single network slice selection assistance information S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance, an S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice instance, and a service indicator of the network resource, where the S-NSSAI set includes one or more S-NSSAIs;

the determining unit is further configured to determine, according to the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance, the S-NSSAI set corresponding to the second network slice instance, and the service index of the network resource, a service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set;

the determining unit is further configured to determine the service performance measurement result of the first network slice instance and the service performance measurement result of the second network slice instance according to a mapping relationship between the S-NSSAI and the network slice instance information and the service performance measurement result of each S-NSSAI corresponding to the network resource in the S-NSSAI set.

21. The apparatus according to any of claims 17-20, wherein the determining unit is further configured to determine that a network resource is a shared network resource if the network resource has a newly added virtual resource at a time of a virtual network functionalized NFV deployment for a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance and the newly added virtual resource corresponds to the network slice instance other than the first network slice instance; or, the determining unit is further configured to determine that the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance is a shared network resource when the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance is used when a request is made to perform virtual network functionalized NFV deployment on a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance.

22. An apparatus for managing virtual resources, comprising:

a determining unit, configured to determine identification information, where the identification information is used to identify one or more virtual resource units allocated by the second management function unit for the first network slice instance; wherein the virtual resource unit comprises at least one of a Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU) and a virtual resource container;

a sending unit, further configured to send a first request message to the second management function unit, where the first request message includes the identification information, and the first request message is used to request to determine VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information;

a receiving unit, configured to receive the virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance, where the second management function unit sends the identification information.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance have shared network resources, and wherein the sending unit is further configured to send the identification information and information of the network resource to a third management function unit in a process of requesting management of the first network slice instance, and wherein the network resource is a VNF instance or a virtual resource unit.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the sending unit is further configured to send a second request message to a third management function unit, the second request message includes information or identification information of a network resource, and the second request message requests the second management function unit to report VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the determining unit is further configured to determine a traffic performance measurement corresponding to the first network slice instance and a traffic performance measurement corresponding to a second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to network resources shared by the first network slice instance and the second network slice instance;

and determining VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in the VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource according to a proportional relationship between a service performance measurement result corresponding to the first network slice instance and a service performance measurement result corresponding to the second network slice instance, and VR measurement data corresponding to the network resource.

26. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the determining unit is specifically configured to: determining a single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI set corresponding to the first network slice instance, an S-NSSAI set corresponding to a second network slice instance, and a service index of the network resource, wherein the S-NSSAI set comprises one or more S-NSSAIs;

27. The apparatus according to any of claims 22-26, wherein the determining unit is further configured to determine that a network resource is a shared network resource if the network resource has a newly added virtual resource at a time of a virtual network functionalized NFV deployment for a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance and the newly added virtual resource corresponds to a network slice instance other than the first network slice instance;

or, the determining unit is further configured to determine that the processing unit uses the network resource corresponding to the first network slice instance when performing NFV deployment on the network slice instances other than the first network slice instance, and then determine that the network resource is a shared network resource.

28. An apparatus for managing virtual resources, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first request message sent by a first management function unit, where the first request message includes identification information, the first request message is used to request a second management function unit to report virtual network VR measurement data of a first network slice instance associated with the identification information, and the identification information is used to identify one or more virtual resource units allocated by the second management function unit to the first network slice instance;

a determining unit, configured to determine, according to the first request message and an association relationship between a virtual resource unit used by one or more VNF instances and identification information, virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information, where the virtual resource unit includes: at least one of a Virtual Deployment Unit (VDU) and a virtual resource container;

a sending unit, configured to send, to the first management function unit, virtual network VR measurement data of the first network slice instance associated with the identification information.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second request message sent by a third management function unit, where the second request message includes identification information and deployment parameters of one or more VNFs corresponding to the first network slice instance; the identification information is used for identifying one or more virtual resource units allocated to the first network slice instance;

a processing unit, configured to divide virtual resource units used by one or more VNF instances, which are determined according to deployment parameters of one or more VNFs corresponding to the first network slice instance, into one or more resource groups;

the determining unit is further configured to associate the one or more resource groups with the identification information, so as to determine an association relationship between a virtual resource unit used by one or more VNF instances and the identification information.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the first network slice instance shares a first VNF instance with a second network slice instance, wherein the first request message further includes information of the first VNF instance, and wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

the method comprises the steps of dividing one or more virtual resource units corresponding to a first VNF instance associated with information of the first VNF instance into one or more resource groups, wherein the one or more virtual resource units belong to the first network slice instance, and the one or more virtual resource units corresponding to the VNF instance exclusive to the first network slice instance are divided into the one or more resource groups.

31. The apparatus according to any one of claims 28 to 30, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive a third request message, where the third request message includes information of a second VNF instance, requirement information corresponding to a second VNF associated with the information of the second VNF instance, and the identification information, and the third request message is used to manage a virtual resource unit used by the second VNF instance, where the second VNF instance is any one of one or more VNF instances corresponding to the first network slice instance;

the device further comprises:

an updating unit, further configured to update, according to the requirement information corresponding to the second VNF, a resource group to which a virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance belongs,

or, the processing unit is further configured to acquire resources corresponding to the one or more VNF instances; the determining unit is further configured to determine, in the resources corresponding to the one or more VNF instances, information of a resource group to which a virtual resource unit used by any VNF instance belongs, where the resource corresponding to any VNF instance is greater than a first threshold;

the updating unit is further configured to update one or more virtual resource units in the resource group associated with the information of the resource group to which the virtual resource unit used by any VNF instance belongs.

32. The apparatus according to any of claims 29-30, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive a fourth request message sent by the first management function unit, where the fourth request message includes information of the first VNF instance and identification information, and the fourth request message requests to determine VR measurement data belonging to the first network slice instance in VR measurement data corresponding to the first VNF instance associated with the information of the first VNF instance;

the determining unit is further configured to determine, according to the fourth request message, a virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance from a resource group to which a virtual resource unit used by the first network slice instance associated with the identification information belongs;

the sending unit is configured to send a fifth request message to a fifth management function unit, where the fifth request message includes information of a virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance, and the fifth request message is used to request to measure VR measurement data of the virtual resource unit corresponding to the first VNF instance.

33. A chip comprising a processor and interface circuitry, the interface circuitry being coupled to the processor, the processor being configured to run a computer program to implement the method of any of claims 1 to 5, or the method of any of claims 6 to 11, or the method of any of claims 12 to 16, the interface circuitry being configured to communicate with a module other than the chip.

34. A computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored which, when executed, implements the method of any of claims 1-5, or the method of any of claims 6-11, or the method of any of claims 12-16.