CN114257634B

CN114257634B - Server discovery method, device and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN114257634B
Application number: CN202010951179.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 朱红梅; 林奕琳; 刘洁; 何宇锋; 杨峰义; 张建敏; 曹磊; 王波
Original assignee: China Telecom Corp Ltd
Current assignee: China Telecom Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2020-09-11
Filing date: 2020-09-11
Publication date: 2024-03-01
Anticipated expiration: 2040-09-11
Also published as: CN114257634A

Abstract

The disclosure provides a server discovery method, a server discovery device and a storage medium, and relates to the technical field of communication networks. The server discovery method disclosed by the disclosure comprises the following steps: the central user plane function C-UPF intercepts domain name system DNS requests from the terminal for a predetermined edge application; C-UPF determines whether the terminal belongs to the coverage area of a local user domain name system LDNS to a session management function SMF; under the condition that the SMF determines that the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS, the address of the LDNS is sent to the C-UPF; C-UPF feeds back the address of LDNS to the terminal; the LDNS receives a DNS request initiated by a terminal to the LDNS; and the LDNS feeds back the address of the Edge Application Server (EAS) of the preset edge application to the terminal under the condition that the full-limit domain name (FQDN) in the DNS request is successfully matched with the preset information, so that the terminal can interact with the EAS. By the method, interaction between the user and the EAS can be realized, and the EAS discovery under the condition of not depending on an application layer and in the state of no perception of the terminal is realized, so that the deployment of MEC is facilitated.

Description

Server discovery method, device and storage medium

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communication networks, and in particular, to a server discovery method, apparatus, and storage medium.

Background

With the development of MEC (Mobile Edge Computing ), there is an EAS (Edge Application Server, edge application server) deployed in the edge computing environment. The DNS information of EAS is different from that of the central service, and at the same time, there is a problem of application subscription, whether to use MEC service, etc., which has a certain influence on MEC deployment landing.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a scheme for discovering EAS, which enables connection with EAS when a user first accesses.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a server discovery method including: C-UPF (Central User Plane Function ) intercepts DNS (Domain Name System, domain name system) requests from terminals for predetermined edge applications; C-UPF determines to SMF (Session Management Function ) whether the terminal belongs to LDNS (Local Domain Name System, local user Domain name System) coverage area; under the condition that the SMF determines that the terminal belongs to the LDNS coverage area, sending redirection DNS query information comprising the address of the corresponding LDNS to the C-UPF; the C-UPF feeds back the address of the LDNS to the terminal through a DNS redirection function; the LDNS receives a DNS request initiated by a terminal to the LDNS; the LDNS feeds back the address of the EAS of the predetermined edge application to the terminal in case the matching of the FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name ) in the DNS request with the preset information is successful, so that the terminal interacts with the EAS.

In some embodiments, the C-UPF intercepting a DNS request from a terminal for a predetermined edge application includes: C-UPF intercepts DNS request from terminal; judging whether the DNS request is applied to a preset edge or not; releasing the DNS request if it is determined that the DNS request is not for a predetermined edge application; otherwise, the DNS request is intercepted.

In some embodiments, the C-UPF determining to the SMF whether the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS comprises: C-UPF obtains position matching instruction through SMF, and sends terminal position detection information to SMF; the SMF determines whether the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS according to the real-time position information of the terminal and the terminal position detection information from the C-UPF.

In some embodiments, the server discovery method further comprises: under the condition that the terminal is determined not to belong to the coverage area of any LDNS, the SMF sends release traffic occupation information to the C-UPF; the C-UPF sends a DNS request to the C-DNS; the C-DNS feeds back the query result to the terminal so that the terminal can interact with a server of a preset edge application.

In some embodiments, the server discovery method further comprises: adding a PSA (PDU Session Anchor, protocol data unit session anchor) in case the SMF determines that the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS; the DNS request initiated by the terminal to the LDNS is initiated by the newly added PSA.

In some embodiments, SMF inserts ULCL (UpLink Classifier, upstream classifier), or IPv6 multi-guide demarcation point, into the data plane of upstream and downstream traffic.

In some embodiments, the service discovery method further comprises: under the condition that the matching of the FQDN in the DNS request and the preset information is unsuccessful, the LDNS acquires the address of the EAS of the preset edge application from the third-party scheduler according to the DNS request; and feeding back the address of the EAS fed back by the third-party scheduler to the terminal so that the terminal can interact with the EAS.

In some embodiments, the SMF has pre-stored the ULCL/branch point policy and the relationship between LDNS address and DNAI (DN Access Identifier, data network access identity).

In some embodiments, the C-UPF pre-stores the FQDN of the EAS corresponding to the LDNS address.

By the method, the LDNS to which the user belongs can be found by utilizing the matching of the UPF and the SMF and searching, so that the DNS request of the user is redirected to the LDNS to obtain the corresponding EAS address, the interaction between the user and the EAS is realized, the EAS discovery under the condition of not depending on an application layer and in the state of no perception of the terminal is realized, and therefore, the deployment of MEC is facilitated.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a server discovery apparatus including: C-UPF configured to intercept DNS requests from the terminal for a predetermined edge application; determining whether the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS through SMF; under the condition that redirection DNS query information from the SMF is received, feeding back the address of the LDNS to the terminal through a DNS redirection function; the SMF is configured to determine whether the terminal belongs to the coverage of the LDNS, and send redirection DNS query information comprising the address of the corresponding LDNS to the C-UPF under the condition that the terminal is determined to belong to the coverage of the LDNS; the LDNS is configured to receive a DNS request initiated by the terminal to the LDNS, and match FQDN in the DNS request with preset information; and feeding back the address of the EAS of the preset edge application to the terminal in case of successful matching so that the terminal can interact with the EAS.

In some embodiments, the C-UPF is configured to obtain a location matching instruction through the SMF, and send the terminal location detection information to the SMF; the SMF is configured to determine whether the terminal belongs to the coverage of the LDNS based on the real-time location information of the terminal and the terminal location detection information from the C-UPF.

In some embodiments, the SMF is further configured to send release traffic occupancy information to the C-UPF if it is determined that the terminal does not belong to the coverage of any LDNS; the C-UPF is further configured to send a DNS request to the C-DNS after receiving the released traffic occupancy information, and to feed back a query result fed back by the C-DNS to the terminal so that the terminal interacts with a server of a predetermined edge application.

In some embodiments, the SMF is further configured to, in the event that the terminal is determined to belong to the LDNS, add the protocol data unit session anchor PSA so that DNS requests initiated by the terminal to the LDNS are initiated by the newly added PSA.

In some embodiments, the LDNS is further configured to: under the condition that the FQDN in the DNS request is not successfully matched with preset information, acquiring an address of the EAS of the preset edge application from a third party scheduler according to the DNS request; and feeding back the address of the EAS fed back by the third-party scheduler to the terminal so that the terminal can interact with the EAS.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a server discovery apparatus including: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform any of the service discovery methods mentioned above based on instructions stored in the memory.

The server discovery device can utilize the matching of UPF and SMF and find the LDNS to which the user belongs, so that the DNS request of the user is redirected to the LDNS to obtain the corresponding EAS address, the interaction between the user and the EAS is realized, the EAS discovery under the condition of independent application layer and no perception state of the terminal is realized, and therefore the deployment of MEC is facilitated.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is presented, on which computer program instructions are stored, which instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of any of the service discovery methods mentioned above.

By executing the instructions on the computer readable storage medium, the LDNS to which the user belongs can be found by utilizing the matching of UPF and SMF and searching, so that the DNS request of the user is redirected to the LDNS to obtain the corresponding EAS address, the interaction between the user and the EAS is realized, the EAS discovery under the condition of independent application layer and no perception state of the terminal is realized, and the deployment of MEC is facilitated.

According to an aspect of some embodiments of the present disclosure, a communication network is presented comprising any one of the server discovery apparatuses mentioned above; and an edge application server configured to provide an application service.

The system realizes the EAS discovery under the condition of not depending on an application layer and a terminal not being aware, thereby being beneficial to the deployment of MEC.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, illustrate and explain the present disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the present disclosure. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a flow chart of some embodiments of a server discovery method of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart of other embodiments of a server discovery method of the disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a signaling diagram of some embodiments of a server discovery method of the disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of some embodiments of a server discovery apparatus of the disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of further embodiments of a server discovery apparatus of the disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of still further embodiments of a server discovery apparatus of the disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of some embodiments of a communication network of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The technical scheme of the present disclosure is described in further detail below through the accompanying drawings and examples.

A flowchart of some embodiments of the server discovery method of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 1.

In step 101, the C-UPF receives a DNS request from the terminal for a predetermined edge application. In some embodiments, the C-UPF, after establishing a session connection with the terminal, may intercept and identify the DNS request, determining whether it is a DNS request for an application potentially deployed in an edge-hosted environment. If it is determined that there is a possibility for the application deployed in the edge-hosting environment, step 102 is performed; otherwise, an operation of resolving through the C-DNS server in the related art may be performed.

In step 102, the C-UPF determines, through the SMF, whether the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS. The C-UPF may provide terminal location detection information to the SMF. The SMF determines whether the terminal belongs to the coverage of the LDNS according to the real-time position information of the terminal and the terminal position detection information from the C-UPF. In some embodiments, the real-time location information of the terminal may be obtained from the AMF. In some embodiments, the SMF has a pre-stored relationship between LDNS address and DNAI.

In step 103, in case the SMF determines that the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS, sending redirect DNS query information including the address of the corresponding LDNS to the C-UPF; the C-UPF feeds back the address of the LDNS to the terminal through the DNS redirection information, and the terminal sends a DNS request to the address of the LDNS after receiving the information.

In step 104, the LDNS receives a DNS request initiated by the terminal to the LDNS.

In step 105, the LDNS matches the FQDN in the DNS request with preset information. In case of successful matching, namely searching the EAS of the preset edge application, and feeding back the address of the EAS to the terminal so as to facilitate the interaction between the terminal and the EAS. In some embodiments, the LDNS may be preconfigured with a relationship of FQDN to EAS IP address.

In some embodiments, the FQDN and the LDNS IP address corresponding to each EAS may be configured in the C-UPF to facilitate determining that the DNS request is directed to an edge application server.

In some embodiments, if the SMF determines that the terminal does not belong to any coverage area of the LDNS, the C-UPF may respond to the C-UPF indication to release traffic occupancy, and the C-UPF forwards the DNS request to the C-DNS for querying, so as to avoid that the service cannot be provided for the user in case of unsuccessful LDNS querying, and improve reliability of the service and stability of the system.

In some embodiments, if the LDNS does not query the EAS address of the predetermined edge application, the EAS address may be obtained by a third party, thereby implementing a mechanism based on operator scheduling and a mechanism based on third party scheduling, improving probability of successfully discovering EAS, and improving reliability of server discovery.

A flowchart of further embodiments of the server discovery method of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 2.

In step 201, the C-UPF intercepts a DNS request from the terminal for a predetermined edge application. In some embodiments, the C-UPF may intercept and screen each DNS query request obtained, determining that the corresponding application server may be located in a DNS request of the edge network.

In step 202, the C-UPF obtains a location matching instruction through the SMF, and sends the terminal location detection information to the SMF.

In step 203, the SMF determines whether the terminal belongs to a coverage area of a LDNS according to the real-time location information of the terminal and the terminal location detection information from the C-UPF.

In step 204, if the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS, step 208 is performed; in case the terminal does not belong to the coverage of any LDNS, step 205 is performed.

In step 205, the SMF sends release traffic occupancy information to the C-UPF, and then performs step 206.

In step 206, the C-UPF, upon receiving the information from the SMF, sends a DNS request to the C-DNS, which in turn performs step 207.

In step 207, the C-DNS feeds back the query result to the terminal, so that the terminal interacts with the server of the predetermined edge application, and the DNS query ends.

In step 208, the SMF adds PSA2, i.e., adds E (Edge) -UPF, and sends redirect DNS query information including the address of the corresponding LDNS to the C-UPF, and then proceeds to step 209. In some embodiments, the SMF may insert an upstream classifier ULCL, or an IPv6 multi-guide demarcation point, into the data plane of the upstream and downstream traffic, thereby implementing the addition of PSA2.

In step 209, the C-UPF feeds back the address of the LDNS to the terminal through a DNS redirection function. In some embodiments, the C-UPF may feed back the address of the LDNS to the terminal through DNS redirection information. And after receiving the DNS redirection information, the terminal sends a DNS request by taking the address of the LDNS as a target address. In some embodiments, the terminal creates an E-UPF PSA2 through the SMF.

In step 210, the LDNS receives a DNS request initiated by the terminal to the LDNS.

In step 211, the LDNS matches the FQDN in the DNS request with preset information.

In step 212, it is determined whether the match was successful. If the FQDN in the DNS request is successfully matched with the preset information, that is, the LDNS stores the corresponding EAS address, step 213 is executed; otherwise, the LDNS does not store the corresponding EAS address, and step 214 is performed.

In step 213, the address of the EAS of the predetermined edge application is fed back to the terminal.

In step 214, the LDNS obtains the address of EAS of the predetermined edge application from the third party scheduler according to the DNS request. The LDNS can forward the DNS request to the third-party scheduler to acquire the query result fed back by the third-party scheduler.

In step 215, the LDNS feeds back the address of the EAS fed back by the third party scheduler to the terminal.

Through the method, through hierarchical configuration of data on the LDNS, the corresponding relation between the FQDN and the EAS IP address and the relation between the FQDN and the third party scheduler are utilized, the EAS server discovery scheme under two different scheduling strategies is realized based on an operator scheduling mechanism and a third party scheduling mechanism, the standard blank is made up, diversified discovery means are provided, and the market competitiveness is improved.

A signaling diagram of some embodiments of the server discovery method of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 3.

In 301, the SMF pre-configures a relationship between LDNS IP address and DNAI. In some embodiments, the SMF may be preconfigured or acquire UL CL/BP (Branch Point) policies from the PCF when needed for use. The C-UPF configures FQDN of service EAS corresponding to each LDNS IP address, and DNS URL detection is performed when DNS request is obtained.

In 302, an initial PDU session is established and anchored on a C-UPF. Due to the diversity of UE services, initialization access is focused on C-UPF in preference to C-UPF.

In 303, the C-UPF detects that the DNS request is for a particular application that may be deployed in an edge-hosted environment, holds the DNS request until an instruction is obtained from the SMF.

In 304, the C-UPF reports the detection result based on the pre-stored information to the SMF.

In 305, the SMF provides instructions to the central-UPF based on the central-UPF DNS URL detection and the real-time location of the UE (e.g., DNAI). When a predetermined edge application to be accessed by the UE matches the location of the UE (DNAI), the SMF performs 306a as follows; if there is no match, then 306b is performed as follows.

In 306a, if the UE is in the coverage of a certain LDNS, the SMF performs at least one of the following: an upstream classifier (UL CL) is inserted in the data plane of UL/DL traffic, or an IPv6 multi-guide demarcation point is inserted, thereby increasing PSA2. The decision is based on the location of the UE and the matching edge application from the Central-UPF detection. Meanwhile, the SMF responds to the C-UPF, indicating that the DNS query is redirected using an LDNS IP address corresponding to the exact location or DNAI of the UE. Further, 307a is performed.

In 306b, if the UE is not in coverage of any LDNS, the SMF responds to the C-UPF, indicating to release traffic occupancy, which forwards DNS Qin Qiu to the Central-DNS. Further, 307b is performed.

In 307b, the C-DNS responds to the UE with the IP address of the corresponding center AS, thereby performing 308b.

In 308b, application traffic data is transmitted between the UE and the central AS.

In 307a, the C-UPF redirects the DNS request to the UE using the corresponding LDNS IP address, wherein the C-UPF configures a pair of FQDN and LDNS. Further, 308a is performed.

In 308a, the UE initiates a DNS request to the LDNS over the E-UPF PSA2 tunnel, which in turn performs 309a.

In 309a, the LDNS matches the FQDN in the DNS request with the pre-configured information stored in itself, and if the matching is successful, the following 310aa is executed; if the match fails, the following 310ab is performed.

In 310aa, the LDNS feeds back the EAS IP address to the UE, which in turn performs 311aa.

In 310ab, the LDNS forwards the DNS request to the third party scheduler according to a second match of the FQDN, where the first match is for the operator scheduling scheme and the second match is for how to resolve the corresponding third party scheduler IP address. LDNS has preconfigured the operator's dispatch services FQDN and EAS IP address, and the relationship of FQDN to the third party dispatch forwarding IP address. Further, 311ab is performed.

At 311aa, the UE will launch the operator's scheduling application. And transmitting application flow data between the UE and the AS to complete the discovery and connection of the EAS.

In 311ab, the third party scheduler responds to the LDNS with an EAS IP address, thereby performing 312ab. In some embodiments, the third party scheduler performs a location determination based on the IP address of the LDNS, and obtains the nearest EAS IP address.

In 312ab, LDNS forwards the EAS IP address to the UE, which in turn performs 313ab.

In 313ab, the UE obtains the EAS IP address through LDNS response and starts the application. And transmitting application flow data between the UE and the AS to complete the discovery and connection of the EAS.

In some embodiments, the steps 311ab to 313ab may be: the LDNS returns the IP address of the third-party scheduler to the UE, the UE initiates a DNS request again according to the IP address of the third-party scheduler, the third-party scheduler judges the position of the UE according to the LDNS IP address carried by the UE, and the nearest EAS IP address is fed back to the UE, so that the forwarding burden of the LDNS and an operator network is reduced.

The method has no change to network hardware, utilizes the multi-dimensional information of the existing LDNS, and simultaneously realizes an operator scheduling mechanism and a third party scheduling mechanism, thereby meeting the edge computing application under the multi-service scene; different technical points are skillfully combined, so that the discovery of the IP address of the service server under the condition that the terminal does not sense is independent of an application layer, and the probability and reliability of the discovery of the EAS address are improved.

A schematic diagram of some embodiments of the server discovery apparatus of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 4.

The C-UPF 401 is capable of intercepting DNS requests from the terminal for a predetermined edge application; determining whether the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS through SMF; and feeding back the address of the LDNS to the terminal under the condition that the redirection DNS query information from the SMF is received.

The SMF 402 can determine whether the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS, and send redirect DNS query information including the address of the corresponding LDNS to the C-UPF if it is determined that the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS;

the LDNS 403 can receive a DNS request initiated by a terminal to the LDNS, and match the FQDN in the DNS request with preset information; feeding back to the terminal the address of the EAS of the predetermined edge application in case the matching is successful, so that the terminal interacts with the EAS

In some embodiments, the C-UPF can obtain a location matching instruction through the SMF, and send the terminal location detection information to the SMF; the SMF can determine whether the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS according to the real-time location information of the terminal and the terminal location detection information from the C-UPF, so as to implement final confirmation on whether to redirect the DNS request of the terminal to the LDNS.

In some embodiments, the SMF is further capable of sending release traffic occupancy information to the C-UPF if it is determined that the terminal does not belong to the coverage of any LDNS; the C-UPF can also send a DNS request to the C-DNS after receiving the released traffic occupation information, and feed back the query result fed back by the C-DNS to the terminal so that the terminal interacts with a server of a preset edge application, thereby avoiding the situation that the service cannot be provided for the user under the condition that the LDNS query is unsuccessful and improving the reliability of the service and the stability of the system.

In some embodiments, the SMF can further increase the PSA in case that it is determined that the terminal belongs to the LDNS, so that the DNS request initiated by the terminal to the LDNS is initiated by the newly added PSA, and forwarding efficiency of the DNS request retransmitted by the terminal is improved.

In some embodiments, the LDNS is further capable of obtaining an address of the EAS of the predetermined edge application from the third party scheduler according to the DNS request in case the matching of the FQDN in the DNS request with the preset information is unsuccessful; and feeding back the address of the EAS fed back by the third-party scheduler to the terminal so that the terminal can interact with the EAS. The device can improve the probability of successfully discovering the EAS and improve the reliability of server discovery based on an operator scheduling mechanism and a third party scheduling mechanism.

A schematic structural diagram of one embodiment of a server discovery apparatus of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 5. The server discovery apparatus includes a memory 501 and a processor 502. Wherein: memory 501 may be a magnetic disk, flash memory, or any other non-volatile storage medium. The memory is used to store instructions in the corresponding embodiments of the server discovery method hereinabove. Processor 502 is coupled to memory 501 and may be implemented as one or more integrated circuits, such as a microprocessor or microcontroller. The processor 502 is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, and may implement EAS discovery without depending on an application layer situation and in a terminal unaware state, thereby facilitating MEC deployment.

In one embodiment, as also shown in fig. 6, the server discovery apparatus 600 includes a memory 601 and a processor 602. The processor 602 is coupled to the memory 601 through a BUS 603. The server discovery apparatus 600 may also be connected to an external storage apparatus 605 via a storage interface 604 to invoke external data, and may also be connected to a network or another computer system (not shown) via a network interface 606. And will not be described in detail herein.

In this embodiment, the data instruction is stored in the memory, and then the processor processes the instruction, so that EAS discovery under the condition of not depending on an application layer and in a state that the terminal does not have awareness can be realized, thereby being beneficial to the deployment of the MEC.

In another embodiment, a computer readable storage medium has stored thereon computer program instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method in the corresponding embodiments of the server discovery method. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that embodiments of the present disclosure may be provided as a method, apparatus, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present disclosure may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable non-transitory storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

A schematic diagram of some embodiments of the communication network of the present disclosure is shown in fig. 7. The communication network may include any of the service discovery devices mentioned above, including C-UPF72, SMF71, and LDNS 75. In some embodiments, the service discovery apparatus may further include a C-DNS 73 to answer DNS requests that are not directed to EAS, or DNS requests that the source terminal does not belong to any LDNS. In some embodiments, the service discovery apparatus may further include an E-UPF 74, the E-UPF 74 being created for the SMF71 after determining that the terminal belongs to the LDNS. AS is the central application server and EAS 76 is the edge application server for the intended edge application.

After the 5G terminal initiates a DNS request to the 5G network, the C-UPF72 is accessed, the C-UPF72 identifies the DSN query request, DNS URL detection is performed, and a service detection result is returned to the SMF 71.

The SMF71 executes E-UPF insertion according to the terminal position (from AMF) and the detection result returned by the C-UPF, and instructs the C-UPF to redirect the DNS request; if the two types of service are not matched, the UPF is instructed to transfer the DNS request to the C-DNS, and normal service flows, such as blue line normal service, are continued;

and the UE initiates a DNS request to the LDNS according to the IP address returned by the C-UPF, wherein the E-UPF is established, and the DNS request reaches the LDNS through the E-UPF. And if the LDNS matches the corresponding EAS IP address, returning to the UE.

In some embodiments, the LDSN may send DNS requests directly to the third party scheduler and forward the fed-back EAS IP to the UE.

In other embodiments, the LDNS may also return the IP address of the third party scheduler to the UE, where the UE initiates the DNS request again according to the IP address of the third party scheduler, and the third party scheduler determines the location of the UE according to the LDNS IP address carried by the UE, and feeds back the EAS IP address closest to the UE.

The communication system can utilize the matching of UPF and SMF and find the LDNS to which the user belongs, so that the DNS request of the user is redirected to the LDNS to obtain the corresponding EAS address, the interaction between the user and the EAS is realized, the EAS discovery under the condition of independent application layer and no perception state of the terminal is realized, and therefore the deployment of MEC is facilitated.

The present disclosure is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the disclosure. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

Thus far, the present disclosure has been described in detail. In order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the present disclosure, some details known in the art are not described. How to implement the solutions disclosed herein will be fully apparent to those skilled in the art from the above description.

The methods and apparatus of the present disclosure may be implemented in a number of ways. For example, the methods and apparatus of the present disclosure may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination of software, hardware, firmware. The above-described sequence of steps for the method is for illustration only, and the steps of the method of the present disclosure are not limited to the sequence specifically described above unless specifically stated otherwise. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the present disclosure may also be implemented as programs recorded in a recording medium, the programs including machine-readable instructions for implementing the methods according to the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure also covers a recording medium storing a program for executing the method according to the present disclosure.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are merely for illustrating the technical solution of the present disclosure and are not limiting thereof; although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: modifications may be made to the specific embodiments of the disclosure or equivalents may be substituted for part of the technical features; without departing from the spirit of the technical solutions of the present disclosure, it should be covered in the scope of the technical solutions claimed in the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A server discovery method, comprising:

the central user plane function C-UPF intercepts domain name system DNS requests from the terminal for a predetermined edge application;

the C-UPF determines whether the terminal belongs to the coverage area of a local user domain name system LDNS to a session management function SMF;

under the condition that the SMF determines that the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS, sending redirection DNS query information comprising the address of the corresponding LDNS to the C-UPF;

the C-UPF feeds back the address of the LDNS to the terminal through a DNS redirection function;

the LDNS receives a DNS request initiated by a terminal to the LDNS;

the LDNS feeds back the address of the Edge Application Server (EAS) of the preset edge application to the terminal under the condition that the full-limit domain name (FQDN) in the DNS request is successfully matched with preset information, so that the terminal interacts with the EAS;

the LDNS acquires the address of the EAS of the preset edge application from a third-party scheduler according to the DNS request under the condition that the FQDN in the DNS request is not successfully matched with preset information;

and feeding back the address of the EAS fed back by the third-party scheduler to the terminal so that the terminal can interact with the EAS.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the C-UPF intercepting DNS requests from a terminal for a predetermined edge application comprises:

the C-UPF intercepts a DNS request from a terminal;

judging whether the DNS request is applied to a preset edge or not;

releasing the DNS request if it is determined that the DNS request is not for a predetermined edge application;

otherwise, the DNS request is intercepted.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the C-UPF to SMF determining whether a terminal belongs to a coverage area of an LDNS comprises:

the C-UPF acquires a position matching instruction through the SMF and sends terminal position detection information to the SMF;

and the SMF determines whether the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the local user domain name system LDNS according to the real-time position information of the terminal and the terminal position detection information from the C-UPF.

4. A method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, further comprising:

under the condition that the terminal is determined not to belong to the coverage of any LDNS, the SMF sends release traffic occupation information to the C-UPF;

the C-UPF sends a DNS request to a central domain name system C-DNS;

the C-DNS feeds back the query result to the terminal so that the terminal can interact with a server of a preset edge application.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

under the condition that the SMF determines that the terminal belongs to the coverage area of the LDNS, adding a protocol data unit session anchor PSA;

and the DNS request initiated by the terminal to the LDNS is initiated by the newly added PSA.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the increasing PSA comprises: and the SMF inserts an uplink classifier ULCL or an IPv6 multi-guide demarcation point into the data plane of the uplink and downlink flow.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the SMF has pre-stored an upstream classifier ULCL/branch point policy and a relationship between LDNS address and data network access identity DNAI.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the C-UPF has pre-stored an FQDN of the EAS corresponding to the LDNS address.

9. A server discovery apparatus comprising:

a central user plane function C-UPF configured to intercept domain name system DNS requests from the terminal for a predetermined edge application; determining whether the terminal belongs to the coverage area of a local user domain name system LDNS or not to a session management function SMF; under the condition that redirection DNS query information from the SMF is received, feeding back the address of the LDNS to the terminal;

the SMF is configured to determine whether the terminal belongs to the coverage of the LDNS, and send redirection DNS query information comprising the address of the corresponding LDNS to the C-UPF under the condition that the terminal is determined to belong to the coverage of the LDNS;

the LDNS is configured to receive a DNS request initiated by a terminal to the LDNS, and match a fully defined domain name FQDN in the DNS request with preset information; feeding back an address of an Edge Application Server (EAS) of the predetermined edge application to a terminal under the condition that matching is successful, so that the terminal interacts with the EAS; and under the condition that the FQDN in the DNS request is not successfully matched with preset information, acquiring the address of the EAS of the preset edge application from a third-party scheduler according to the DNS request, and feeding back the address of the EAS fed back by the third-party scheduler to a terminal so as to facilitate the terminal to interact with the EAS.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the C-UPF is configured to obtain a location matching instruction by the SMF, and to send terminal location detection information to the SMF;

the SMF is configured to determine whether a terminal belongs to the coverage area of a local user domain name system LDNS based on real-time location information of the terminal and the terminal location detection information from the C-UPF.

11. The device according to claim 9 or 10, wherein,

the SMF is further configured to send release traffic occupancy information to the C-UPF if it is determined that the terminal does not belong to the coverage of any LDNS;

the C-UPF is further configured to send a DNS request to the C-DNS after receiving the released traffic occupancy information, and feed back a query result fed back by the C-DNS to the terminal so that the terminal can interact with a server of a preset edge application.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein,

the SMF is further configured to, in case it is determined that the terminal belongs to the coverage of the LDNS, add a protocol data unit session anchor PSA so that DNS requests initiated by the terminal to the LDNS are initiated by the newly added PSA.

13. A server discovery apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform the method of any of claims 1-8 based on instructions stored in the memory.

14. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer program instructions which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the method of any of claims 1 to 8.

15. A communication network, comprising:

the server discovery apparatus of any one of claims 9 to 13; and

the edge application server EAS is configured to provide application services.