CN114697253A

CN114697253A - Method for determining forwarding path of service chain and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN114697253A
Application number: CN202011588906.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 晏亚峰
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-28
Filing date: 2020-12-28
Publication date: 2022-07-01
Also published as: WO2022143597A1

Abstract

The application discloses a forwarding path determining method and a communication device of a service chain, wherein the method comprises the following steps: a first network element acquires a service level arrangement result corresponding to a first service chain, wherein the service level arrangement result indicates the ordering of multiple service functions SF; the first network element determines a forwarding path of a first service chain based on the sorting of the multiple SFs and the load condition of multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs; a first network element generates a first encapsulation message, wherein the first encapsulation message comprises first indication information, second indication information and a first service message, the first indication information is used for indicating a forwarding path, and the second indication information is used for indicating a first-hop SF network element in the forwarding path; and the first network element transmits the first encapsulation message to the service function forwarding SFF network element. Based on the scheme of the application, the method and the device are beneficial to planning a service chain forwarding path which accords with the rules of an operator.

Description

Method for determining forwarding path of service chain and communication device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain and a communication device.

Background

A Service Function Chain (SFC), also called a service chain, is an ordered collection of Service Functions (SFs). For example, the SF may be: video optimization, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) optimization, firewall or Uniform Resource Locator (URL) filtering, etc.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional service chain network. As shown in fig. 1, the service chain network includes a classifier (TC), a Service Function Forwarding (SFF) network element, and SF 1-5 network elements. The classifier is used for realizing the identification and rule matching of the service message and determining a service chain to be passed through for the service message. And after determining the service chain through which the service message passes, the classifier encapsulates the service message into an encapsulation message, wherein the encapsulation message is encapsulated with the identifier of the service chain through which the service message passes and the service message. And the classifier sends the encapsulation message to the SFF network element. The SFF network element is responsible for forwarding the encapsulated packet or the decapsulated service packet to a corresponding SF network element, so that the SF network element performs service processing on the service packet.

As shown in fig. 1, SF1 has one network element, SF2 has two network elements, SF3 has three network elements, SF4 has two network elements, and SF5 has one network element. Assuming that a service chain SFC1 is defined, the service level orchestration result of the SFC1 is: SF1- > SF2- > SF 3. The SFC1 indicates that a service packet is firstly subjected to service processing by the network element corresponding to SF1, then subjected to service processing by the network element corresponding to SF2, and then subjected to service processing by the network element corresponding to SF 3. Since both SF2 and SF3 have multiple network elements, SFC1 has multiple forwarding paths. Each SFF network element independently decides the SF network element to forward the next hop as defined by the rfc7665 standard. However, in practice, it is found that an SF network element which is forwarded by the next hop is independently decided by each SFF network element, and a forwarding path of a service chain cannot be guaranteed to meet a forwarding rule set by an operator (for example, a rule for balancing load of the SF network element). Therefore, how to enable the forwarding path of the service chain to meet the forwarding rule set by the operator is an urgent problem to be solved at present.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a communication device for determining a forwarding path of a service chain, which are beneficial to enabling the determined forwarding path of the service chain to meet rules set by an operator.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain, where the method includes: a first network element acquires a service level arrangement result corresponding to a first service chain, wherein the service level arrangement result indicates the ordering of multiple service functions SF; the first network element determines a forwarding path of a first service chain based on the sorting of the multiple SFs and the load condition of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs; a first network element generates a first encapsulation message, wherein the first encapsulation message comprises first indication information, second indication information and a first service message, the first indication information is used for indicating a forwarding path, and the second indication information is used for indicating a first-hop SF network element in the forwarding path; and the first network element transmits the first encapsulation message to the service function forwarding SFF network element.

Based on the method described in the first aspect, the forwarding path of the service chain can be determined in a centralized manner by the first network element, so that the first network element can accurately know the actual traffic on the SF network element, and the first network element can plan a service chain forwarding path that meets the rules of an operator based on the actual traffic on the SF network element.

Optionally, the first network element is deployed in the user plane, so that the user plane network element can more quickly acquire the forwarding path of the service chain, thereby more quickly implementing forwarding of the service packet.

In a possible implementation, before the first network element obtains the service level orchestration result corresponding to the first service chain, the first network element may further receive a second encapsulation packet sent by the classifier, where the second encapsulation packet includes the identifier of the first service chain and the first service packet. In this possible implementation, the first network element is not a classifier, but a newly added user plane network element, which can reduce the modifications to the existing classifier.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain, where the method includes: a first network element receives a first request sent by a classifier, wherein the first request is used for requesting to generate a forwarding path of a first service chain, and the first request carries an identifier of the first service chain; a first network element acquires a service level arrangement result corresponding to a first service chain, wherein the service level arrangement result indicates the ordering of multiple service functions SF; the first network element determines a forwarding path of a first service chain based on the sorting of the multiple SFs and the load condition of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs; the first network element sends first indication information to the classifier, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a forwarding path.

Based on the method described in the second aspect, the forwarding path of the service chain can be determined in a centralized manner by the first network element, so that the first network element can accurately know the actual traffic on the SF network element, and the first network element can plan a service chain forwarding path that meets the rules of the operator based on the actual traffic on the SF network element.

In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, before the first network element obtains the service level orchestration result corresponding to the first service chain, the first network element may further receive service chain information sent by the service chain controller, where the service chain information includes an identifier of at least one service chain and the service level orchestration result corresponding to the identifier of the service chain. The service chain controller is a central node of a network control surface, and the service chain controller is used for performing service level arrangement on the service chain, so that centralized management on the service level arrangement result of the service chain is facilitated.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, a specific implementation manner of the first network element obtaining the service level orchestration result corresponding to the first service chain is as follows: and the first network element acquires a service level arrangement result corresponding to the first service chain from the service chain information based on the identifier of the first service chain. Based on the possible implementation mode, the business level arrangement result corresponding to the first business chain can be accurately obtained.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the specific implementation manner of the first network element determining the forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ranking of the multiple SFs and the load conditions of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF of the multiple SFs is as follows: the first network element is based on the ranking of the plurality of SFs, the load condition of the plurality of SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the plurality of SFs, and one or more of the following information: the deployment position of a plurality of SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the plurality of SFs, the deployment position of an SFF network element included in the service chain network or the networking relationship between the plurality of SF network elements corresponding to the at least one SF in the plurality of SFs and the SFF network element determine the forwarding path of the first service chain. The forwarding path of the first service chain is determined based on the deployment position of the SF network element, the deployment position of the SFF network element or the networking relationship between the SF network element and the SFF network element, so that the forwarding of service messages across the SFF network element is reduced, the load of the SFF network element in a service chain network can be reduced, and the forwarding delay of the service messages is reduced.

In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, before the first network element obtains the service level orchestration result corresponding to the first service chain, the first network element may further receive target information sent by the service chain controller, where the target information is used to indicate one or more of the following information: the deployment position of the SF network elements included in the service chain network, the deployment position of the SFF network elements included in the service chain network or the networking relationship between the SF network elements and the SFF network elements included in the service chain network. In this possible implementation, the service chain controller manages the network topology information, which facilitates centralized management of the network topology information.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the specific implementation manner of the first network element determining the forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ranking of the multiple SFs and the load conditions of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF of the multiple SFs is as follows: the first network element determines a forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ranking of the multiple SFs, the load condition of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF of the multiple SFs, and the load weight of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF of the multiple SFs. The forwarding path of the first service chain determined based on the load weight of the SF network element corresponding to the service level arrangement result can more flexibly support load balancing under the condition of different SF instance processing capabilities.

In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first network element may further receive a load weight of an SF network element included in the traffic chain network, which is sent by the traffic chain controller. In this possible implementation, the service chain controller manages the load weight of the SF network element, which facilitates centralized management of the load weight of the SF network element.

In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first indication information includes an identification sequence of an SF network element on the forwarding path. Based on the possible implementation manner, the forwarding path of the first service chain can be accurately indicated.

In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the forwarding path includes multiple SF network elements corresponding to the multiple SFs.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain, where the method includes: the classifier sends a first request to a first network element, wherein the first request is used for requesting to generate a forwarding path of a first service chain, and the first request carries an identifier of the first service chain; the classifier receives first indication information sent by a first network element, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a forwarding path; and the classifier sends a first encapsulation message to the service function forwarding SFF network element, wherein the first encapsulation message comprises first indication information, second indication information and a first service message, and the second indication information is used for indicating a first-hop SF network element in a forwarding path.

In one possible implementation, the first indication information includes an identification sequence of a service function network element on the forwarding path.

In one possible implementation, the forwarding path includes a plurality of SF network elements.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain, where the method includes: the service function forwarding SFF network element receives a first encapsulation message from a first network element or a classifier, wherein the first encapsulation message comprises first indication information, second indication information and a first service message, the first indication information is used for indicating a forwarding path of a first service chain, and the second indication information is used for indicating a first-hop SF network element in the forwarding path; the SFF network element forwards the first service message to a first-hop SF network element; the SFF network element receives a second service message returned by the first-hop SF network element; and the SFF network element forwards the second service message to a second jump SF network element in the forwarding path based on the forwarding path of the first service chain.

In a possible implementation, a specific implementation manner of forwarding, by an SFF network element, a second service packet to a second-hop SF network element in a forwarding path based on a forwarding path of a first service chain is as follows: and the SFF network element forwards the second service message to the second jump SF network element through the SFF network element connected with the second jump SF network element. Based on the possible implementation manner, the second service packet can be successfully forwarded to the second-hop SF network element.

In one possible implementation, the first network element is configured to implement orchestration of forwarding paths for the first traffic chain.

The beneficial effects of the third aspect and the fourth aspect can be seen in the beneficial effects of the first aspect and the second aspect, and are not described herein in detail.

In a fifth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which may be a first network element or a classifier or an SFF network element. The communication device may perform the method of any one of the first to fourth aspects. The functions of the communication device can be realized by hardware, and can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions. The unit may be software and/or hardware. The operations and advantageous effects performed by the communication device may refer to the method and advantageous effects described in any one of the first to fourth aspects, and repeated details are omitted.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication device comprising a processor, wherein the method according to any one of the first to fourth aspects is performed when the processor invokes a computer program in a memory.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communications apparatus comprising a processor and a memory for storing computer-executable instructions; the processor is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored by the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of the first to fourth aspects.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a communication device comprising a processor, a memory, and a transceiver for receiving signals or transmitting signals; the memory for storing program code; the processor is configured to call the program code from the memory to perform the method according to any one of the first to fourth aspects.

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communication device comprising a processor and an interface circuit for receiving code instructions and transmitting the code instructions to the processor; the processor executes the code instructions to perform a method as described in any one of the first to fourth aspects.

In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing instructions that, when executed, cause a method as in any one of the first to fourth aspects to be implemented.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a method as in any one of the first to fourth aspects to be implemented.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional service chain network;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a system architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of another system architecture provided by embodiments of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of another communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of an encapsulation packet according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of another encapsulated packet provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating another method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Specific embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The terms "first" and "second," and the like in the description, claims, and drawings of the present application are used for distinguishing between different objects and not for describing a particular order. Furthermore, the terms "include" and "have," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements listed, but may alternatively include other steps or elements not listed, or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearances of the phrase in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by one skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments.

In this application, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more, "at least two" means two or three and three or more, "and/or" for describing an association relationship of associated objects, which means that there may be three relationships, for example, "a and/or B" may mean: only A, only B and both A and B are present, wherein A and B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", wherein a, b, c may be single or plural.

In order to enable a forwarding path of a service chain to meet a rule set by an operator, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain and a communication device, and in order to better understand a scheme provided by the present application, a system architecture of the present application is introduced first below:

the method provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example, an internet of things (IoT) system, a narrowband band internet of things (NB-IoT) system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a fifth generation (5th-generation, 5G) communication system, a hybrid architecture of LTE and 5G, a 5G New Radio (NR) system, a new communication system appearing in future communication development, and the like.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, the system architecture includes a classifier (TC), a first network element, a service chain controller (SFC), a Service Function (SF) network element, and a Service Function Forward (SFF) network element. The TC, the first network element, the SF network element and the SFF network element are deployed on a user plane. The first network element may be a user plane network element added between the TC and SFF network elements. For example, the first network element may be referred to as an SFC enabler (SFC enabler). The SFCC is deployed at the control plane. The SF network element has a plurality of, and the SFF network element has one or more. Fig. 2 illustrates an example with 5 SF network elements and 3 SFF network elements. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, a network element may also be referred to as a module, and different user plane network elements may be integrated in the same device or may be separately deployed. Different control plane network elements can be integrated in the same device or can be separately deployed.

The following introduces network elements and related concepts in the system architecture:

firstly, SF network elements: some network function service can be provided for performing service processing on the service packet. For example, the SF network element may be a video optimization network element, a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) optimization network element, a firewall network element, or a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) filtering network element. In the service chain network, each service function may correspond to one or more SF network elements for implementing the service function. For example, in a service chain network, there may be one or more video optimization network elements. There may be one or more TCP optimized network elements. There may be one or more firewall network elements. There may be one or more URL filtering network elements.

Optionally, the SF network elements are classified into SFC-aware SF network elements and non-SFC-aware SF network elements. The SFC perception SF network element can identify the encapsulation message which is sent by the SFF network element and is encapsulated with the service message. Besides the service message, other information can be encapsulated in the encapsulation message. For example, in the embodiment of the present application, indication information for indicating a forwarding path of a service chain and indication information for indicating a certain hop SF network element may also be encapsulated in the encapsulation message. The SFC sensing SF network element can receive an encapsulated message encapsulated with a service message sent by the SFF network element, decapsulate the encapsulated message to obtain the service message, and process the service message. And after the SFC perception SF network element processes the service message, repackaging the processed service message, and returning the repackaged service message to the SFF network element.

The non-SFC perception SF network element can not identify the encapsulation message which is sent by the SFF network element and is encapsulated with the service message, and the non-SFC perception SF network element and the SFF network element can be bridged by a service chain proxy (SFC proxy) network element, so that the non-SFC perception SF network element can be accessed to the service chain network without being modified. For example, for a non-SFC sensing SF network element, the SFF network element may send an encapsulated packet encapsulated with a service packet to the SFC proxy network element, and the SFC proxy network element decapsulates the encapsulated packet to obtain a service packet, and sends the service packet to the non-SFC sensing SF network element. And after the non-SFC perception SF network element processes the service message, returning the processed service message to the SFC proxy network element, encapsulating the processed service message again by the SFC proxy network element to obtain a new encapsulated message, and sending the new encapsulated message to the SFF network element.

Alternatively, the SFF network element may also implement the function of the SFC proxy network element. For example, the SFF network element may decapsulate the encapsulated packet in which the service packet is encapsulated to obtain the service packet, and send the service packet to the non-SFC sensing SF network element for service processing. And after the non-SFC perception SF network element processes the service message, returning the processed service message to the SFF network element.

Service Function Chain (SFC): also called a traffic chain, which is an ordered set of SFs. The service level orchestration result for a service chain indicates the ordering of the multiple SFs for that service chain. For example, assume that the service level arrangement result of a service chain is: SF1- > SF2- > SF3 indicates that the service packet is subjected to service processing by the network element corresponding to SF1, then subjected to service processing by the network element corresponding to SF2, and then subjected to service processing by the network element corresponding to SF 3.

③ TC: the method is used for realizing the identification of the service message, matching the service message with the service chain matching rule and determining the service chain to be passed through for the service message. After receiving the service message, the TC matches the service message with the service chain rule, and determines a service chain through which the service message passes, that is, determines a service chain corresponding to the service message. After determining a service chain through which a service message needs to pass, the TC encapsulates the service message into an encapsulation message, where the encapsulation message carries the service message and an identifier of the service chain through which the service message needs to pass.

Fourthly, the first network element: the first network element is used for arranging a forwarding path of a service chain. Since there may be multiple network elements corresponding to one SF, one service chain may have multiple forwarding paths. For example, for a service chain with service level orchestration result of SF1- > SF2, as shown in fig. 2, since SF2 has two network elements. The forwarding path of the service chain has two paths, which are SF1 network element 150- > SF2 network element 151 and SF1 network element 150- > SF2 network element 152.

Fifth, the SFF network element: the SFF network element is responsible for forwarding the encapsulation packet carrying the service packet or the service packet in the encapsulation packet to the corresponding SF network element, so that the SF network element performs service processing on the service packet. For example, as shown in fig. 2, it is assumed that the network elements 150 to 154 are all non-SFC aware SF network elements, and the SFF network elements integrate the functions of the SFC proxy network elements. For the service chain with the forwarding path of SF1 network element 150- > SF2 network element 151, after receiving the encapsulated packet 1, the SFF network element 140 decapsulates the encapsulated packet 1 and sends the service packet in the encapsulated packet 1 to the SF1 network element 150. After the SF1 network element 150 processes the service packet, the processed service packet is returned to the SFF network element 140. The SFF network element 140 encapsulates the processed service packet to obtain an encapsulated packet 2. The SFF network element 140 sends the encapsulated message 2 to the SFF network element 141. After receiving the encapsulation message 2, the SFF network element 141 decapsulates the encapsulation message 2, and then sends the service message in the encapsulation message 2 to the SF2 network element 151 for service processing.

Sixthly, SFCC: and the method is used for issuing the service chain matching rule to the TC. The SFCC may also define a service chain, i.e. implement service level orchestration of the service chain. For example, the SFCC determines that the service level arrangement result of service chain 1 is SF1- > SF2, the service level arrangement result of service chain 2 is SF1- > SF3, the service level arrangement result of service chain 3 is SF2- > SF3, and the service level arrangement result of service chain 4 is SF1- > SF2- > SF 3. The SFCC may issue the service chain information to the first network element in advance. As shown in table 1 below, the service chain information includes an identifier of the service chain 1 and a service level arrangement result of the service chain 1, an identifier of the service chain 2 and a service level arrangement result of the service chain 2, an identifier of the service chain 3 and a service level arrangement result of the service chain 3, and an identifier of the service chain 4 and a service level arrangement result of the service chain 4. Thus, after receiving the service chain information, the first network element can know the service level arrangement results corresponding to the service chains 1 to 4, so that the subsequent first network element can determine the forwarding path of the service chain based on the service level arrangement result of the service chain. Or, the SFCC may not issue the service chain information to the first network element, and the first network element obtains the service level orchestration result of the service chain in other manners.

TABLE 1

The SFCC may also implement management of service chain network topology information, which may indicate: the service chain network comprises SF network elements, the deployment position of the SF network elements, the SFF network elements, the deployment position of the SFF network elements, the networking relation between the SF network elements and the SFF network elements, the network address of the SF network elements and the network address of the SFF network elements.

In another possible implementation, the first network element may also be deployed in the control plane. When the first network element is deployed in the control plane, it may be a newly added control plane network element or a service chain controller. Take the first network element as an additional control plane network element as an example. Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of another system architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 3, the system architecture includes a TC, a first network element, an SFCC, an SF network element, and an SFF network element. Wherein, TC, SF network element and SFF network element are deployed on user plane. The SFCC and the first network element are deployed at a control plane. For example, the first network element may also be referred to as an SFC enabler. The SF network element may have a plurality of SFF network elements, and the SFF network element may also have one or more SFF network elements. Fig. 3 illustrates an example with 5 SF network elements and 3 SFF network elements. For the description of the TC, the first network element, the SFCC, the SF network element, and the SFF network element, reference may be made to the description in the foregoing, which is not repeated herein.

The following describes the forwarding path determining method and the communication device of the service chain provided in the embodiment in detail:

referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain according to an embodiment of the present application. In the scenario depicted in fig. 4, the first network element is deployed in the user plane. As mentioned above, the first network element may be a newly added user plane network element, or the first network element is a TC. As shown in fig. 4, the method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain includes the following steps 401 to 407. Wherein:

401. the first network element obtains a service level arrangement result corresponding to the first service chain, wherein the service level arrangement result indicates the ordering of multiple SF.

For example, the service level arrangement result corresponding to the first service chain is as follows: video optimization- > firewall- > URL filtering, which means that the service packet is firstly subjected to video optimization processing, then firewall processing, and then URL filtering processing.

In a possible implementation, assuming that the first network element is a TC, the TC may further receive a first service packet; and the TC matches the first service message with the service chain rule and determines that the first service message corresponds to the first service chain, namely the first service message needs to be processed through the first service chain. After the TC determines that the first service packet corresponds to the first service chain, the TC may obtain a service level orchestration result corresponding to the first service chain, so as to determine a forwarding path of the first service chain based on the service level orchestration result corresponding to the first service chain in the following.

In another possible implementation, assuming that the first network element is not a TC, the first network element is a newly added user plane network element, and the first network element may further receive a second encapsulation packet sent by the TC, where the second encapsulation packet includes the first service packet and the identifier of the first service chain. After the first network element receives the second encapsulation packet, the first network element may obtain a service level arrangement result corresponding to the first service chain, so as to subsequently determine a forwarding path of the first service chain based on the service level arrangement result corresponding to the first service chain.

In this possible implementation manner, after receiving the first service packet, the TC matches the first service packet with the service chain rule, and determines that the first service packet corresponds to the first service chain. And the TC encapsulates the first service message and the identifier of the first service chain to obtain a second encapsulated message. And the TC sends the second encapsulation message to the first network element. After receiving the second encapsulation packet sent by the TC, the first network element can determine that the first service packet needs to be processed by the first service chain, and therefore, a service level arrangement result corresponding to the first service chain needs to be obtained to determine a forwarding path for the first service chain. In this possible implementation, the first network element is not a classifier, but a newly added user plane network element, which can reduce the modifications to the existing classifier.

In one possible implementation, the SFCC may send service chain information to the first network element, where the service chain information includes an identifier of at least one service chain and a service level orchestration result corresponding to the identifier of the service chain. Accordingly, the first network element may receive the service chain information sent by the SFCC before acquiring the service level orchestration result corresponding to the first service chain. After receiving the service chain information, the first network element may further store the service chain information for subsequent use.

For example, the first network element receives the service chain information shown in table 1 from the SFCC, and stores the service chain information shown in table 1. Thus, the first network element can know the service level arrangement results corresponding to the service chain 1 to the service chain 4 respectively. The subsequent first network element can obtain the service chain arrangement result corresponding to a certain service chain from the stored service chain information, so as to determine a forwarding path for the service chain based on the service level arrangement result corresponding to the service chain. The service chain is arranged at the service level by the SFCC, which is beneficial to reducing the load of the first network element, and the service chain network can be used for arranging at the service level, so that the development time can be shortened, and the service chain is arranged at the service level by the SFCC which is a central node of the network control surface, so that the centralized management of the service chain arrangement result is more convenient.

Alternatively, the first network element may also obtain the service chain information from a network element other than the SFCC. Alternatively, the traffic link may be generated by the first network element itself.

In a possible implementation, a specific implementation manner of the first network element obtaining the service level orchestration result corresponding to the first service chain is as follows: and the first network element acquires a service level arrangement result corresponding to the first service chain from the service chain information based on the identifier of the first service chain.

For example, the first network element receives the service chain information shown in table 1 from the SFCC, and stores the service chain information shown in table 1. Assume that the first service chain is service chain 1. Then the first network element obtains the service level orchestration result corresponding to the identifier of service chain 1 from the service chain information shown in table 1, that is, SF1- > SF 2.

402. The first network element determines a forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ranking of the multiple SFs and the load condition of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs.

In this embodiment of the present application, after obtaining a service level arrangement result corresponding to a first service chain, a first network element determines a forwarding path of the first service chain based on a ranking of multiple SFs of the first service chain and a load condition of multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF of the multiple SFs.

In this embodiment, the forwarding path of the first service chain includes multiple SF network elements corresponding to multiple SFs of the first service chain. Specifically, for each SF of the plurality of SFs of the first traffic chain, the forwarding path of the first traffic chain comprises one SF network element of the SF. For example, assuming that the first traffic chain includes SF1 and SF2, the forwarding path of the first traffic chain includes one SF1 network element and one SF2 network element. For another example, assuming that the first traffic chain includes SF1, SF2, and SF3, the forwarding path of the first traffic chain includes one SF1 network element, one SF2 network element, and one SF3 network element.

In this embodiment of the present application, each SF in the multiple SFs of the first service chain does not necessarily correspond to multiple SF network elements. Therefore, the first network element determines the forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ranking of the multiple SFs of the first service chain and the load condition of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs. For example, as shown in fig. 2, assume that the traffic level orchestration result of the first traffic chain is SF1- > SF 2. Because there is only one SF1 network element and there are multiple SF2 network elements, the first network element determines the forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ordering of SF1 and SF2 and the load conditions of multiple SF2 network elements corresponding to SF 2. The forwarding path of the first service chain includes an SF1 network element 150 and a certain SF2 network element. The SF2 network element included in the forwarding path of the first traffic chain is determined based on the load conditions of the plurality of SF2 network elements corresponding to the SF 2.

For another example, as shown in fig. 2, assuming that the service level arrangement result of the first service chain is SF1- > SF2- > SF3, the first network element determines the forwarding path of the first service chain based on the sorting of SF1, SF2, and SF3, the load conditions of the multiple SF2 network elements corresponding to SF2, and the load conditions of the multiple SF3 network elements corresponding to SF 3. The forwarding path of the first service chain includes an SF1 network element 150, a certain SF2 network element, and a certain SF3 network element. The SF2 network element included in the forwarding path of the first traffic chain is determined based on the load conditions of the plurality of SF2 network elements corresponding to the SF 2. The SF3 network element included in the forwarding path of the first traffic chain is determined based on the load conditions of the plurality of SF3 network elements corresponding to the SF 3.

For another example, assuming that the service level arrangement result of the first service chain is SF1- > SF2- > SF3, the first network element determines the forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ordering of SF1, SF2, and SF3 and the load conditions of multiple SF2 network elements corresponding to SF 2. The forwarding path of the first service chain includes an SF1 network element 150, a certain SF2 network element, and a certain SF3 network element. The SF2 network element included in the forwarding path of the first traffic chain is determined based on the load conditions of the plurality of SF2 network elements corresponding to the SF 2. The SF3 network element included in the forwarding path of the first traffic chain may be determined by other parameters.

For another example, assuming that the service level arrangement result of the first service chain is SF1- > SF2- > SF3, the first network element determines the forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ordering of SF1, SF2, and SF3 and the load conditions of multiple SF3 network elements corresponding to SF 3. The forwarding path of the first service chain includes an SF1 network element 150, a certain SF2 network element, and a certain SF3 network element. The SF3 network element included in the forwarding path of the first traffic chain is determined based on the load conditions of the plurality of SF3 network elements corresponding to the SF 3. The SF2 network element included in the forwarding path of the first traffic chain may be determined by other parameters.

The first network element may determine a load condition of the SF network element based on traffic or the number of traffic flows on the SF network element. The more the traffic on the SF network element, the larger the load of the SF network element is indicated, and the less the traffic on the SF network element, the smaller the load of the SF network element is indicated. The more the number of the service flows on the SF network element, the larger the load of the SF network element is shown, and the less the number of the service flows on the SF network element, the smaller the load of the SF network element is shown. The advantage of determining the load condition of the SF network element by the number of the traffic flows is that the first network element does not need to count the traffic, which is beneficial to reducing the load of the first network element.

Optionally, the first network element may determine the forwarding path of the first service chain according to an SF network element load balancing policy based on the ordering of the multiple SFs of the first service chain and the load condition of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF of the multiple SFs. The SF network element load balancing strategy is to balance the traffic on a plurality of SF network elements corresponding to the same SF.

403. The first network element generates a first encapsulation message, where the first encapsulation message includes first indication information, second indication information, and a first service message, the first indication information is used to indicate a forwarding path of a first service chain, and the second indication information is used to indicate a first-hop SF network element in the forwarding path.

The first indication information and the second indication information may also be the same indication information, or the first indication information and the second indication information may be two indication information. The first-hop SF network element refers to a first SF network element in a forwarding path of the first service chain.

In one possible implementation, the first indication information includes an identification sequence of an SF network element on the forwarding path. That is, the first indication information indicates the forwarding path through the identification sequence of the SF network element on the forwarding path, so that the forwarding path can be accurately indicated. For example, as shown in fig. 5, assume that the forwarding path of the first service chain is: video optimization network element 150- > URL filtering network element 153- > firewall network element 152. The first indication information sequentially includes an identifier of the video optimization network element 150- > an identifier of the URL filtering network element 153- > an identifier of the firewall network element 152.

In a possible implementation, the second indication information is a sequence number of the first-hop SF network element in the forwarding path, so that the first-hop SF network element can be accurately indicated. For example, as shown in fig. 5, assume that the forwarding path of the first service chain is: video optimization network element 150- > URL filtering network element 153- > firewall network element 152. The second indication information is sequence number 1, and is used to indicate the video optimization network element 150. Or, the second indication information is an identifier of the first-hop SF network element, for example, the second indication information is an identifier of the video optimization network element 150.

404. And the first network element sends the first encapsulation message to the SFF network element.

In this embodiment, after generating the first encapsulation packet, the first network element sends the first encapsulation packet to an SFF network element, where the SFF network element is an SFF network element connected to the first-hop SF network element. And if the first network element is not directly connected with the SFF network element connected with the first-hop SF network element, the first network element can forward the first encapsulation message to the SFF network element connected with the first-hop SF network element through other SFF network elements.

Optionally, the SFFC may also issue a network address of an SFF network element included in the service chain network to the first network element. Correspondingly, the first network element may receive the network address of the SFF network element in the service chain network issued by the SFFC. Thus, the first network element can send the first encapsulation message to the SFF network element connected with the first-hop SF network element based on the network address of the SFF network element in the service chain network.

Alternatively, the first network element may obtain the network address of the SFF network element in the service chain network in another manner.

405. And the SFF network element forwards the first service message to the first-hop SF network element.

In this embodiment, after receiving the first encapsulated packet, the SFF network element decapsulates the first encapsulated packet to obtain first indication information, second indication information, and a first service packet. And the SFF network element determines a first-hop SF network element in a forwarding path of the first service chain based on the second indication information. And after determining the first-hop SF network element, the SFF network element sends a first service message to the first-hop SF network element.

In one possible implementation, the SFFC may send the network address of the SF network element included in the service chain network and the network addresses of other SFF network elements included in the service chain network to the SFF network element. Accordingly, the SFF network element may receive, from the SFFC, the network address of the SF network element included in the traffic chain network and the network addresses of other SFF network elements included in the traffic chain network. Thus, the SFF network element can send the service packet to the SF network element based on the network address of the SF network element, or the SFF network element can forward the service packet to the SF network element across SFF network elements based on the network address of the SF network element and the network addresses of other SFF network elements.

406. And the first SF network element sends a second service message to the SFF network element.

In this embodiment of the application, after receiving the first service packet, the first hop SF network element processes the first service packet to obtain a second service packet. The first service message may be the same as or different from the second service message. And after the first SF network element obtains the second service message, returning the second service message to the SFF network element.

Three specific implementations of step 405 and step 406 are further described below for different types of first-hop SF network elements:

if the first-hop SF network element is an SFC perception type SF network element, the SFF network element generates a third encapsulation message, and the third encapsulation message comprises first indication information, second indication information and a first service message. And the SFF network element sends the third encapsulation message to the first-hop SF network element. Correspondingly, after receiving the third encapsulation message, the first hop SF network element decompresses the third encapsulation message to obtain the first service message. And the first SF network element performs service processing on the first service message to obtain a second service message. And after the first-hop SF network element obtains the second service message, generating a fourth encapsulation message, wherein the fourth encapsulation message comprises the first indication information, the second indication information and the second service message. And the first SF network element sends a fourth encapsulation message to the SFF network element.

If the first-hop SF network element is a non-SFC perception type SF network element and the SFF network element integrates the function of the SFC proxy network element, the SFF network element can directly send the first service message to the first-hop SF network element for service processing. Correspondingly, after the first-hop SF network element performs service processing on the first service message to obtain a second service message, the second service message is directly returned to the SFF network element.

And thirdly, if the first-hop SF network element is a non-SFC perception type SF network element and the SFF network element does not integrate the function of the SFC proxy network element, the SFF network element generates a third encapsulation message, and the third encapsulation message comprises the first service message, the first indication information and the second indication information. And the SFF network element sends the third encapsulation message to the SFC proxy network element so that the SFC proxy network element decapsulates the third encapsulation message and sends the decapsulated first service message to the first-hop SF network element for service processing. Correspondingly, after the first-hop SF network element performs service processing on the first service message to obtain a second service message, the first-hop SF network element returns the second service message to the SFC proxy network element. And after receiving the second service message, the SFC proxy network element generates a fourth encapsulation message, wherein the fourth encapsulation message comprises the second service message, the first indication information and the second indication information. And the SFC proxy network element sends the fourth packaging message to the SFF network element.

407. And the SFF network element forwards the second service message to a second-hop SF network element in the forwarding path based on the forwarding path of the first service chain.

In this embodiment, after receiving the second service packet sent by the first-hop SF network element, the SFF network element forwards the second service packet to the second-hop SF network element in the forwarding path based on the forwarding path of the first service chain.

If the SFF network element is connected with the second-hop SF network element, after the SFF network element receives the second service message sent by the first-hop SF network element, the SFF network element does not need to send the second service message to the second-hop SF network element through other SFF network elements.

For example, if the SFF network element is connected to the second-hop SF network element, and the second-hop SF network element is an SFC-aware SF network element, the SFF network element generates an encapsulation packet, where the encapsulation packet includes the second service packet, the first indication information, and the third indication information indicates the second-hop SF network element. And the SFF network element sends the encapsulated message to a second hop SF network element so that the second hop SF network element decapsulates the encapsulated message and performs service processing on a second service message obtained by decapsulation.

For example, if the SFF network element is connected to the second-hop SF network element, the second-hop SF network element is a non-SFC aware SF network element, and the SFF network element integrates the function of the SFC proxy network element, the SFF network element may directly send the second service packet to the second-hop SF network element for service processing.

For another example, if the SFF network element is connected to the second-hop SF network element, the second-hop SF network element is a non-SFC-aware SF network element, and the SFF network element does not integrate the function of the SFC proxy network element, the SFF network element generates an encapsulation message, where the encapsulation message includes the second service message, the first indication information, and the third indication information indicates the second-hop SF network element. And the SFF network element sends the encapsulation message to an SFC proxy network element so that the SFC proxy network element decapsulates the encapsulation message and sends a second service message obtained by decapsulation to a second hop SF network element for service processing.

If the SFF network element is not connected to the second-hop SF network element, the specific implementation manner of the SFF network element forwarding the second service packet to the second-hop SF network element in the forwarding path based on the forwarding path of the first service chain is as follows: and the SFF network element forwards the second service message to the second jump SF network element through the SFF network element connected with the second jump SF network element. Based on the possible implementation manner, the second service packet can be successfully forwarded to the second-hop SF network element.

Optionally, the SFF network element may generate an encapsulation packet, where the encapsulation packet carries the second service packet, the first indication information, and third indication information, and the third indication information indicates a second hop SF network element. And the SFF network element sends the encapsulation message to the SFF network element connected with the second-hop SF network element, so that the SFF network element connected with the second-hop SF network element can send a second service message to the second-hop SF network element based on the encapsulation message.

The method described in fig. 4 is further described below by taking the first network element as an added user plane network element, by way of a specific example:

as shown in fig. 5, the service chain network includes 1 video optimization network element, 2 firewall network elements, and 2 URL filtering network elements. Wherein, the 5 network elements are all non-SFC aware SF network elements. The SFCC defines 3 service chains, and the service level arrangement result of the service chain 1 is as follows: video optimization- > URL filtering- > firewall. The service level arrangement result of the service chain 2 is as follows: video optimization- > firewall. The service level arrangement result of the service chain 3 is as follows: firewall- > URL filtering. And the SFCC sends service chain information to the first network element in advance. As shown in table 2 below, the service chain information includes the identifier of the service chain 1 and the service level orchestration result of the service chain 1, the identifier of the service chain 2 and the service level orchestration result of the service chain 2, and the identifier of the service chain 3 and the service level orchestration result of the service chain 3. Thus, after receiving the service chain information, the first network element can know the service level arrangement results corresponding to the service chains 1 to 3 respectively.

TABLE 2

Service chain identification	Service level orchestration results
		Identification of service chain 1	Video optimization->URL filtering->Firewall
Identification of service chain 2	Video optimization->Fire wall
		Identification of service chain 3	Firewall->URL filtering

After receiving the service message 1, the TC matches the service message 1 with the service chain matching rule, and determines that the service message 1 needs to be forwarded through the service chain 1. And the TC encapsulates the service message 1 to obtain an encapsulated message 1. As shown in fig. 6. The encapsulation message 1 comprises a service chain header and the service message 1. The service chain header carries the identifier of the service chain 1, which indicates that the service packet needs to be processed by the service chain 1. The TC sends the encapsulation packet 1 to the first network element. After receiving the encapsulation message 1, the first network element obtains a service level arrangement result corresponding to the service chain 1 from the service level arrangement result shown in the table 2. The first network element determines a forwarding path of the service chain 1 based on a service level arrangement result corresponding to the service chain 1, a load condition of the firewall network element 151, a load condition of the firewall network element 152, a load condition of the URL filtering network element 153, and a load condition of the URL filtering network element 154. Since the first network element determines the forwarding path of the service chain in a centralized manner, and the traffic on the network elements 150 to 154 is allocated by the first network element, the first network element can accurately know the actual traffic on the network elements 150 to 154. The first network element may preferentially select an SF network element with a small load to process the service packet. For example, assume 20M (mega) traffic on firewall network element 151, 10M traffic on firewall network element 152, 10M traffic on URL filter network element 153, and 30M traffic on URL filter network element 154. Then, the first network element may determine that the forwarding path of the service chain 1 is: video optimization network element 150- > URL filtering network element 153- > firewall network element 152.

After determining the forwarding path of the service chain 1, the first network element generates an encapsulation packet 2, as shown in fig. 7, the encapsulation packet 2 includes a service chain header and the same service packet 1 as in the encapsulation packet 1, and the service chain header includes indication information 1 and indication information 2. The indication information 1 indicates a forwarding path of the service chain 1. The indication information 1 in turn comprises an identifier of the video optimization network element 150- > an identifier of the URL filtering network element 153- > an identifier of the firewall network element 152. The indication information 2 is a sequence number 1, and is used to indicate the video optimization network element 150. The first network element sends an encapsulation packet 2 to the SFF network element 140. It is assumed that the SFF network elements in fig. 5 are all integrated with the function of the SFC proxy network element, and the SF network elements are all non-SFC aware SF network elements. The SFF network element 140 decapsulates the encapsulated packet 2 and determines, based on the indication information 2, that the service packet 1 needs to be forwarded to the video optimization network element 150. The SFF network element 140 sends the service packet 1 to the video optimization network element 150. The video optimization network element 150 processes the service packet 1 to obtain a service packet 2. The video optimization network element 150 sends the service packet 2 to the SFF network element 140. After receiving the service packet 2, the SFF network element 140 determines that the next-hop SF network element is the URL filter network element 153 based on the indication information 1. The SFF network element 140 obtains an encapsulation packet 3 based on the service packet 2, where the encapsulation packet 3 includes the service packet 2, the indication information 1, and the indication information 3. The indication information 3 is a sequence number 2, and indicates that the next-hop SF network element is the URL filter network element 153. The SFF network element 140 sends the encapsulated message 3 to the SFF network element 141. The SFF network element 141 decapsulates the encapsulated packet 3 and determines, based on the indication information 3, that the service packet 2 needs to be forwarded to the URL filtering network element 153. The SFF network element 141 sends the service packet 2 to the URL filter element 153. Similarly, after the URL filtering network element 153 processes the service packet 2, it sends a service packet 3 to the SFF network element 141. After receiving the service packet 3, the SFF network element 141 determines that the SF network element of the third hop is the firewall network element 152 based on the indication information 1. The SFF network element 141 sends the service packet 3 to the firewall network element 152 for service processing.

If each SFF network element independently decides the SF network element to forward the next hop, each SFF network element can only know the traffic or the number of service flows allocated by itself on each SF network element, and cannot know the actual traffic or the number of service flows on each SF network element. Therefore, each SFF network element independently decides the SF network element to forward the next hop to forward the service packet, and it cannot be ensured that the forwarding path of the service chain conforms to the forwarding rule set by the operator (e.g., a rule for balancing the load of the SF network element). By implementing the method described in fig. 4, the first network element can determine the forwarding path of the service chain in a centralized manner, so that the first network element can accurately know the actual traffic or the number of the service flows on the SF network element, and the first network element can plan a service chain forwarding path that meets the rules of an operator based on the actual traffic or the number of the service flows on the SF network element. Compared with the first network element deployed on the control plane, the first network element is deployed on the user plane, so that the user plane network element can acquire the forwarding path of the service chain more quickly, and the forwarding of the service message is realized more quickly.

In a possible implementation, the first network element determines, based on the ranking of multiple SFs of the first service chain and the load condition of multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs, that the forwarding path of the first service chain may have the following two specific implementation manners:

the specific implementation mode is that: the first network element is based on the ranking of the plurality of SFs, the load condition of the plurality of SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the plurality of SFs, and one or more of the following information: the deployment position of a plurality of SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the plurality of SFs, the deployment position of an SFF network element included in the service chain network or the networking relationship between the plurality of SF network elements corresponding to the at least one SF in the plurality of SFs and the SFF network element determine the forwarding path of the first service chain. The forwarding path of the first service chain is determined based on the deployment position of the SF network element, the deployment position of the SFF network element or the networking relationship between the SFF network element and the SF network element, so that the cross-SFF network element forwarding is favorably reduced, the load of the SFF network element in the service chain network can be reduced, and the forwarding delay of the service message is reduced.

The networking relationship between the SF network element and the SFF network element refers to a connection relationship between the SF network element and the SFF network element. For example, as shown in fig. 5, the SFF network element 140 has a connection relationship with the video optimization network element 150, the SFF network element 141 has a connection relationship with the firewall network element 151, the firewall network element 152 and the URL filtering network element 153, and the SFF network element 142 has a connection relationship with the URL filtering network element 154.

Optionally, the first network element may determine the forwarding path of the first service chain according to a location affinity priority policy or a load balancing priority policy. The location affinity priority strategy is to preferentially select an SF network element which is closer to the same SFF network element in connection distance to forward the encapsulation message so as to reduce the forwarding across the SFF network elements.

For example, assume that the deployment locations of the SFF network elements and the SF network elements in fig. 5 are as shown in table 3 below. Wherein, the deployment location dc1.az1.host1 in the first row indicates that the video optimization network element 150 and the SFF network element 140 are deployed under the host1 under the available area 1 under the data center 1. DC1 represents data center 1, AZ1 represents available area 1, and Host1 represents Host 1. The other deployment locations in table 3 are identical in principle and are not described in detail here. As shown in fig. 5, both the SFF network element 140 and the video optimization network element 150 are deployed under dc1.az1.host1, so the deployment locations of the SFF network element 140 and the video optimization network element 150 are close. The SFF network element 141, the firewall network element 152, and the URL filtering network element 153 are deployed under dc1.az2.host2, so the deployment locations of the SFF network element 141, the firewall network element 152, and the URL filtering network element 153 are close. Both the SFF network element 142 and the URL filtering network element 154 are deployed under dc1.az3.host3, so the deployment locations of the SFF network element 142 and the URL filtering network element 154 are close.

TABLE 3

It is assumed that the networking relationship between the SFF network element and the SF network element in fig. 5 is as shown in table 4 below. Wherein the SFF network element 140 is connected to the video optimization network element 150. The SFF network element 141 is connected to a firewall network element 151, a firewall network element 152 and a URL filtering network element 153. The SFF network element 142 is connected to a URL filter network element 154.

TABLE 4

Assuming that the first service chain is a service chain 1, and the service level arrangement result corresponding to the service chain 1 is video optimization- > URL filtering- > firewall. There is 20M traffic on firewall network element 151, 10M traffic on firewall network element 152, 10M traffic on URL filter network element 153, and 30M traffic on URL filter network element 154. Since there is only one video-optimized network element, the first network element determines that the first-hop SF network element of the service chain 1 is the video-optimized network element 150. Assume that the forwarding path of the service chain 1 is determined according to the location affinity precedence policy. The first network element determines a second-hop SF network element based on the location affinity policy, but since both the firewall network element 151 and the firewall network element 152 need to be forwarded across SFF network elements, the location affinity policy fails, and the first network element selects the second-hop SF network element of the service chain 1 based on the SF network element load balancing policy. Since the load on the URL filtering network element 153 is small, the first network element determines that the URL filtering network element 153 is the second-hop SF network element of the service chain 1. The first network element determines a third-hop SF network element based on the location affinity policy. Since the firewall network element 152 is connected to the SFF network element 141, and the firewall network element 152 is closer to the SFF network element 141 in deployment position than the firewall network element 151, the first network element determines that the firewall network element 152 is the third-hop SF network element of the service chain 1.

Optionally, the first network element may further receive target information sent by the service chain controller, where the target information is used to indicate one or more of the following information: the deployment position of the SF network elements included in the service chain network, the deployment position of the SFF network elements included in the service chain network or the networking relationship between the SF network elements and the SFF network elements included in the service chain network. Optionally, the target information may further indicate an SFF network element included in the service chain network and an SF network element included in the service chain network. The target information may include an identifier of the SF network element and an identifier of the SFF network element, so as to indicate the SF network element included in the service chain network and the SFF network element included in the service chain network. After the first network element receives the target information, the forwarding path of the service chain can be planned based on the target information. Target information is issued through the service chain controller, and centralized management of the target information is facilitated.

The concrete implementation mode is two: the first network element determines a forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ranking of the multiple SFs of the first service chain, the load condition of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF of the multiple SFs, and the load weight of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF of the multiple SFs. The forwarding path of the first service chain determined based on the load weight of the SF network element corresponding to the service level arrangement result can more flexibly support load balancing under the condition of different SF instance processing capacities.

Wherein the load weight of the SF network element may be related to the processing capability of the SF network element. The larger the processing capacity of the SF network element, the larger the load weight of the SF network element. The smaller the processing capacity of the SF network element, the smaller the load weight of the SF network element.

Optionally, the first network element may determine the forwarding path of the first service chain according to an SF network element load balancing policy.

For example, assume that the load weights of the SFF network element and the SF network element in fig. 5 are shown in table 5 below. Wherein the load bearing capacity of the firewall network element 151 is smaller than that of the firewall network element 152. The load-bearing capacity of the URL filtering network element 153 is smaller than that of the URL filtering network element 154. Assuming that the first service chain is a service chain 1, and the service level arrangement result corresponding to the service chain 1 is video optimization- > URL filtering- > firewall. There is 20M traffic on firewall network element 151, 20M traffic on firewall network element 152, 20M traffic on URL filter network element 153, and 10M traffic on URL filter network element 154. The first network element preferentially selects an SF network element with a smaller ratio between traffic and load weight as an SF network element in the forwarding path. Since there is only one video-optimized network element, the first network element determines that the first-hop SF network element of the service chain 1 is the video-optimized network element 150. Since the ratio between the traffic and the load weight corresponding to the URL filtering network element 153 is 20/7, the ratio between the traffic and the load weight corresponding to the URL filtering network element 154 is 10/3. Therefore, the first network element determines that the URL filtering network element 153 is the second-hop SF network element of the service chain 1. Since the ratio between the traffic and the load weight corresponding to the firewall network element 151 is 5, the ratio between the traffic and the load weight corresponding to the firewall network element 152 is 10/3. Thus, the first network element determines that the firewall network element 152 is the third-hop SF network element of the service chain 1.

TABLE 5

Network element	Load weight
		Firewall network element 151	4
Firewall network element 152	6
		URL filter network element 153	7
URL filter network element 154	3

Optionally, the first network element may receive a load weight of an SF network element included in the service chain network, where the load weight is sent by the service chain controller. And the load weight is issued by the service chain controller, so that centralized management of the load weight is facilitated.

Optionally, the policy that the first network element determines that the service chain forwarding path is used may be a default of the first network element, or may be sent to the first network element by the service chain controller. For example, the first network element may receive a location affinity precedence policy or a load balancing precedence policy, etc. sent by the traffic chain controller.

Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic flowchart of another method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain according to an embodiment of the present application. In the scenario depicted in fig. 8, the first network element is deployed in the control plane. As described above, the first network element may be a newly added control plane network element, or the first network element is an SFCC. As shown in fig. 8, the method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain includes the following steps 801 to 806. Wherein:

801. the classifier sends a first request to a first network element, wherein the first request is used for requesting to generate a forwarding path of a first service chain, and the first request carries an identifier of the first service chain.

In this embodiment of the application, after receiving the first service packet, the TC matches the first service packet with the service chain matching rule, and determines that the first service packet corresponds to the first service chain, that is, the first service packet needs to be processed through the first service chain. And after determining that the first service message corresponds to the first service chain, the TC sends a first request to the first network element.

802. The first network element obtains a service level arrangement result corresponding to the first service chain, wherein the service level arrangement result indicates the ordering of multiple SF.

803. The first network element determines a forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ranking of the multiple SFs and the load condition of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs.

For specific implementation of step 802 and step 803, reference may be made to the description in the foregoing method embodiments, which are not described herein again.

804. The first network element sends first indication information to the classifier, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a forwarding path.

For the description of the first indication information, reference may be made to the description in the above method embodiment, which is not repeated herein.

805. And the classifier sends a first encapsulation message to the service function forwarding SFF network element, wherein the first encapsulation message comprises first indication information, second indication information and a first service message, and the second indication information is used for indicating a first-hop SF network element in a forwarding path.

In the embodiment of the application, after receiving the first indication information, the classifier sends a first encapsulation message to the SFF network element. For the description of the first encapsulation packet, reference may be made to the description in the foregoing method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

806. And the SFF network element forwards the first service message to the first-hop SF network element.

807. And the first jump SF network element sends a second service message to the SFF network element.

808. And the SFF network element forwards the second service message to a second jump SF network element in the forwarding path based on the forwarding path of the first service chain.

Specific implementation manners of steps 806 to 808 can refer to the specific implementation manners of steps 405 to 407 in the above method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

It should be noted that the possible implementation manners in the method embodiment corresponding to fig. 4 may also be applied to the method embodiment corresponding to fig. 8.

By implementing the method described in fig. 8, the first network element may determine the forwarding path of the service chain in a centralized manner, so that the first network element can accurately know the actual traffic on the SF network element, and the first network element can plan a path that meets the rules of the operator based on the actual traffic on the SF network element.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus shown in fig. 9 may be used to perform part or all of the functions of the first network element in the method embodiment described in fig. 4 above. The apparatus may be the first network element, or an apparatus in the first network element, or an apparatus capable of being used in cooperation with the first network element. Wherein, the first network element may also be a chip system. The first network element shown in fig. 9 may comprise a communication unit 901 and a processing unit 902. The processing unit 902 is configured to perform data processing. The communication unit 901 is integrated with a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The communication unit 901 may also be referred to as a transceiving unit. Alternatively, communication section 901 may be divided into a reception section and a transmission section. The processing unit 902 and the communication unit 901 are similar, and are not described in detail below. Wherein:

a processing unit 902, configured to obtain a service level arrangement result corresponding to the first service chain, where the service level arrangement result indicates the ordering of multiple service functions SF; a processing unit 902, further configured to determine a forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ranking of the multiple SFs and a load condition of multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs; the processing unit 902 is further configured to generate a first encapsulation packet, where the first encapsulation packet includes first indication information, second indication information, and a first service packet, where the first indication information is used to indicate a forwarding path, and the second indication information is used to indicate a first-hop SF network element in the forwarding path; a communication unit 901, configured to send the first encapsulation packet to the SFF network element for service function forwarding.

In a possible implementation, the communication unit 901 is further configured to receive a second encapsulation packet sent by the classifier, where the second encapsulation packet includes an identifier of the first service chain and the first service packet.

In a possible implementation, the communication unit 901 is further configured to receive service chain information sent by a service chain controller, where the service chain information includes an identifier of at least one service chain and a service level orchestration result corresponding to the identifier of the service chain.

In a possible implementation, the manner for the processing unit 902 to obtain the service level orchestration result corresponding to the first service chain specifically is as follows: and the first network element acquires a service level arrangement result corresponding to the first service chain from the service chain information based on the identifier of the first service chain.

In a possible implementation, based on the sorting of multiple SFs and the load condition of multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs, the processing unit 902 determines that a specific implementation manner of a forwarding path of the first service chain is as follows: based on the ranking of the multiple SFs, the load condition of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs, and one or more of the following information: the deployment position of a plurality of SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the plurality of SFs, the deployment position of an SFF network element included in the service chain network or the networking relationship between the plurality of SF network elements corresponding to the at least one SF in the plurality of SFs and the SFF network element determine the forwarding path of the first service chain.

In a possible implementation, the communication unit 901 is further configured to receive target information sent by the service chain controller, where the target information is used to indicate one or more of the following information: the deployment position of the SF network element included in the service chain network, the deployment position of the SFF network element included in the service chain network, or the networking relationship between the SF network element and the SFF network element included in the service chain network, and the network address of the SFF network element included in the service chain network.

In a possible implementation, based on the sorting of multiple SFs and the load condition of multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs, the processing unit 902 determines that a specific implementation manner of a forwarding path of the first service chain is as follows: and determining a forwarding path of the first service chain based on the sorting of the multiple SFs, the load condition of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs and the load weight of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs.

In a possible implementation, the communication unit 901 is further configured to receive a load weight of an SF network element included in the traffic chain network, where the load weight is sent by the traffic chain controller.

In one possible implementation, the forwarding path of the first service chain includes multiple SF network elements corresponding to multiple SFs of the first service chain.

In one possible implementation, the first indication information includes an identification sequence of an SF network element on the forwarding path.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus shown in fig. 9 may be used to perform part or all of the functions of the first network element in the method embodiment described in fig. 8 above. The apparatus may be the first network element, or an apparatus in the first network element, or an apparatus capable of being used in cooperation with the first network element. The first network element may also be a chip system. The first network element shown in fig. 9 may comprise a communication unit 901 and a processing unit 902. Wherein:

a communication unit 901, configured to receive a first request sent by a classifier, where the first request is used to request to generate a forwarding path of a first service chain, and the first request carries an identifier of the first service chain; a processing unit 902, configured to obtain a service level arrangement result corresponding to the first service chain, where the service level arrangement result indicates the ordering of multiple service functions SF; a processing unit 902, further configured to determine a forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ranking of the multiple SFs and a load condition of multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs; the communication unit 901 is further configured to send first indication information to the classifier, where the first indication information is used to indicate a forwarding path.

In a possible implementation, based on the sorting of multiple SFs and the load condition of multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs, the processing unit 902 determines that a specific implementation manner of a forwarding path of the first service chain is as follows: based on the ranking of the multiple SFs, the load condition of multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF of the multiple SFs, and one or more of the following information: the deployment position of a plurality of SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the plurality of SFs, the deployment position of an SFF network element included in the service chain network or the networking relationship between the plurality of SF network elements corresponding to the at least one SF in the plurality of SFs and the SFF network element determine the forwarding path of the first service chain.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device shown in fig. 9 may be used to perform some or all of the functions of the classifier in the method embodiment described above with respect to fig. 8. The device can be a classifier, a device in the classifier, or a device capable of being matched with the classifier for use. The classifier can also be a chip system. The classifier shown in fig. 9 may include a communication unit 901 and a processing unit 902. Wherein:

a communication unit 901, configured to send a first request to a first network element, where the first request is used to request to generate a forwarding path of a first service chain, and the first request carries an identifier of the first service chain; a communication unit 901, further configured to receive first indication information sent by a first network element, where the first indication information is used to indicate a forwarding path; the communication unit 901 is further configured to send a first encapsulation packet to the SFF network element for service function forwarding, where the first encapsulation packet includes first indication information, second indication information, and a first service packet, and the second indication information is used to indicate a first-hop SF network element in a forwarding path.

In one possible implementation, the forwarding path comprises a plurality of traffic function SF network elements.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device shown in fig. 9 may be used to perform part or all of the functions of the SFF network element in the method embodiments described in fig. 4 or fig. 8. The device may be an SFF network element, or a device in the SFF network element, or a device that can be used in match with the classifier. Wherein, the SFF network element may also be a chip system. The SFF network element shown in fig. 9 may comprise a communication unit 901 and a processing unit 902. Wherein:

a communication unit 901, configured to receive a first encapsulated packet from a first network element or a classifier, where the first encapsulated packet includes first indication information, second indication information, and a first service packet, the first indication information is used to indicate a forwarding path of a first service chain, and the second indication information is used to indicate a first-hop SF network element in the forwarding path; a communication unit 901, further configured to forward the first service packet to the first-hop SF network element; a communication unit 901, further configured to receive a second service packet returned by the first-hop SF network element; the communication unit 901 is further configured to forward the second service packet to a second hop SF network element in the forwarding path based on the forwarding path of the first service chain.

In a possible implementation, the manner for the communication unit 901 to forward the second service packet to the second-hop SF network element in the forwarding path based on the forwarding path of the first service chain specifically is as follows: and forwarding the second service message to the second jump SF network element through the SFF network element connected with the second jump SF network element.

In one possible implementation, the orchestration of forwarding paths for implementing the first traffic chain.

Fig. 10 shows a communication apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present application, configured to implement the functions of the first network element in fig. 4 or fig. 8. The apparatus may be the first network element or an apparatus for the first network element. The means for the first network element may be a system-on-chip or a chip within the first network element. The chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices. Or, the communication device 100 is configured to implement the function of the classifier in fig. 8. The apparatus may be a classifier or an apparatus for a classifier. The means for the classifier may be a system-on-chip or a chip within the classifier. The chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices. Or, the communication device 100 is configured to implement the functions of the SFF network element in fig. 4 or fig. 8. The apparatus may be an SFF network element or an apparatus for an SFF network element. The means for the SFF network element may be a system of chips or a chip within the SFF network element. The chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

The communication apparatus 100 includes at least one processor 1020, configured to implement a data processing function of a first network element, a classifier, or an SFF network element in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 100 may further include a communication interface 1010, configured to implement the transceiving operation of the first network element, the classifier, or the SFF network element in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application. In embodiments of the present application, the communication interface may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, or other type of communication interface for communicating with other devices over a transmission medium. For example, communication interface 1010 enables a device in device 100 to communicate with other devices. The processor 1020 transmits and receives data using the communication interface 1010 and is configured to implement the methods described above with respect to the method embodiments of fig. 4 or fig. 8.

The apparatus 100 may also include at least one memory 1030 for storing program instructions and/or data. A memory 1030 is coupled to the processor 1020. The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is an indirect coupling or a communication connection between devices, units or modules, and may be an electrical, mechanical or other form for information interaction between the devices, units or modules. The processor 1020 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1030. Processor 1020 may execute program instructions stored in memory 1030. At least one of the at least one memory may be included in the processor.

The specific connection medium among the communication interface 1010, the processor 1020 and the memory 1030 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In fig. 10, the memory 1030, the processor 1020, and the communication interface 1010 are connected by a bus 1040, the bus is indicated by a thick line in fig. 10, and the connection manner between other components is only schematically illustrated and not limited. 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. 10, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

When the apparatus 100 is specifically an apparatus for a first network element, a classifier or an SFF network element, for example, when the apparatus 100 is specifically a chip or a system of chips, the output or the reception of the communication interface 1010 may be a baseband signal. When the apparatus 100 is specifically a first network element, a classifier, or an SFF network element, the output or the reception of the communication interface 1010 may be a radio frequency signal. In the embodiments of the present application, the processor may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, and may implement or execute the methods, operations, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The operations of the methods disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor.

In the foregoing embodiments, the descriptions of the respective embodiments have respective emphasis, and for parts that are not described in detail in a certain embodiment, reference may be made to the related descriptions of other embodiments.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only used for illustrating the technical solutions of the present application, and not for limiting the same; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some or all of the technical features may be equivalently replaced; and the modifications or the substitutions do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions depart from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1.A method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain is characterized in that the method comprises the following steps:

a first network element acquires a service level arrangement result corresponding to a first service chain, wherein the service level arrangement result indicates the ordering of multiple service functions SF;

the first network element determines a forwarding path of the first service chain based on the sorting of the multiple SFs and the load condition of multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs;

the first network element generates a first encapsulation message, where the first encapsulation message includes first indication information, second indication information, and a first service message, the first indication information is used to indicate the forwarding path, and the second indication information is used to indicate a first-hop SF network element in the forwarding path;

and the first network element sends the first encapsulation message to a Service Function Forwarding (SFF) network element.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein before the first network element obtains the service level orchestration result corresponding to the first service chain, the method further comprises:

and the first network element receives a second encapsulation message sent by the classifier, wherein the second encapsulation message comprises the identifier of the first service chain and the first service message.

3. A method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain is characterized in that the method comprises the following steps:

a first network element receives a first request sent by a classifier, wherein the first request is used for requesting to generate a forwarding path of a first service chain, and the first request carries an identifier of the first service chain;

the first network element acquires a service level arrangement result corresponding to the first service chain, wherein the service level arrangement result indicates the ordering of multiple service functions SF;

the first network element determines a forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ordering of the multiple SFs and the load condition of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs;

and the first network element sends first indication information to the classifier, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the forwarding path.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein before the first network element obtains the service level orchestration result corresponding to the first service chain, the method further includes:

the first network element receives service chain information sent by a service chain controller, wherein the service chain information comprises at least one service chain identifier and a service level arrangement result corresponding to the service chain identifier.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the obtaining, by the first network element, the service level orchestration result corresponding to the first service chain comprises:

and the first network element acquires a service level arrangement result corresponding to the first service chain from the service chain information based on the identifier of the first service chain.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the determining, by the first network element, the forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ranking of the multiple SFs and the load conditions of multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF of the multiple SFs comprises:

the first network element is based on the ranking of the multiple SFs, the load condition of multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF in the multiple SFs, and one or more of the following information: and determining a forwarding path of the first service chain according to the deployment position of the plurality of SF network elements corresponding to the at least one SF in the plurality of SFs, the deployment position of the SFF network elements included in the service chain network, or the networking relationship between the plurality of SF network elements corresponding to the at least one SF in the plurality of SFs and the SFF network elements.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein before the first network element obtains the service level orchestration result corresponding to the first service chain, the method further comprises:

the first network element receives target information sent by a service chain controller, wherein the target information is used for indicating one or more of the following information: the deployment position of the SF network element included in the service chain network, the deployment position of the SFF network element included in the service chain network or the networking relationship between the SF network element and the SFF network element included in the service chain network.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the determining, by the first network element, the forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ranking of the multiple SFs and the load conditions of multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF of the multiple SFs comprises:

the first network element determines a forwarding path of the first service chain based on the ranking of the multiple SFs, the load condition of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF of the multiple SFs, and the load weight of the multiple SF network elements corresponding to at least one SF of the multiple SFs.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

and the first network element receives the load weight of the SF network element included in the service chain network sent by the service chain controller.

10. The method according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the forwarding path comprises a plurality of SF network elements corresponding to the plurality of SFs.

11. The method according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the first indication information comprises an identification sequence of an SF network element on the forwarding path.

12. A method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain is characterized in that the method comprises the following steps:

the classifier sends a first request to a first network element, wherein the first request is used for requesting to generate a forwarding path of a first service chain, and the first request carries an identifier of the first service chain;

the classifier receives first indication information sent by the first network element, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the forwarding path;

and the classifier sends a first encapsulation message to a service function forwarding SFF network element, wherein the first encapsulation message comprises the first indication information, the second indication information and a first service message, and the second indication information is used for indicating a first-hop SF network element in the forwarding path.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the forwarding path comprises a plurality of traffic function (SF) network elements.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the first indication information comprises an identification sequence of a service function network element on the forwarding path.

15. A method for determining a forwarding path of a service chain is characterized in that the method comprises the following steps:

a Service Function Forwarding (SFF) network element receives a first encapsulation message from a first network element or a classifier, wherein the first encapsulation message comprises first indication information, second indication information and a first service message, the first indication information is used for indicating a forwarding path of a first service chain, and the second indication information is used for indicating a first hop (SF) network element in the forwarding path;

the SFF network element forwards the first service message to the first-hop SF network element;

the SFF network element receives a second service message returned by the first-hop SF network element;

and the SFF network element forwards the second service message to a second-hop SF network element in the forwarding path based on the forwarding path of the first service chain.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the forwarding path comprises a plurality of SF network elements.

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the first indication information comprises an identification sequence of a traffic function network element on the forwarding path.

18. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein the SFF network element forwards the second service packet to a second-hop SF network element in the forwarding path based on the forwarding path of the first service chain, including:

and the SFF network element forwards the second service message to the second jump SF network element through the SFF network element connected with the second jump SF network element.

19. The method according to any of claims 15 to 18, wherein the first network element is configured to implement orchestration of forwarding paths of the first service chain.

20. A communications device comprising means for implementing the method of any one of claims 1 to 11, or comprising means for implementing the method of any one of claims 12 to 14, or comprising means for implementing the method of any one of claims 15 to 19.

21. A communication device comprising a processor, the processor when executing a computer program in a memory being arranged to perform a method according to any of claims 1-11, or being arranged to perform a method according to any of claims 12-14, or being arranged to perform a method according to any of claims 15-19.

22. A communication device comprising a processor and a memory;

the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the processor is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored by the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1-11, or to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 12-14, or to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 15-19.

23. A communication device comprising a processor, a memory, and a transceiver;

the transceiver is used for receiving signals or sending signals;

the memory for storing a computer program;

the processor, for calling the computer program from the memory to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or for calling the computer program from the memory to execute the method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, or for calling the computer program from the memory to execute the method according to any one of claims 15 to 19.

24. A communication device comprising a processor and a communication interface;

the communication interface is used for communicating with other communication devices; the processor is configured to run a program to cause the communication device to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 11, or to cause the communication device to implement the method of any one of claims 12 to 14, or to cause the communication device to implement the method of any one of claims 15 to 19.

25. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer readable instructions which, when run on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 1-11, or cause the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 12-14, or cause the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 15-19.