Policy management method and system, and apparatus

A policy decision entity for policy management applied to a scenario of providing a composite network service (NS) across management domains, the composite NS comprising one or more nested NSs, the composite NS and the nested NS being provided in different management domains, wherein a network function virtualization orchestrator (NFVO) in a management domain of the composite NS is responsible for a life cycle management (LCM) of the composite NS, the policy decision entity comprising a system including a communications interface, a processor, and a memory, said memory comprising a non-transitory computer-readable memory;

• wherein the communications interface is configured to send, to the NFVO in the management domain of the composite NS, a first policy management operation request generated by the processor;
• wherein the memory is configured to store a computer executable instruction, an identifier of a policy group, and an identifier of a member policy comprised in the policy group;
• and
• wherein the processor is connected to the memory and the communications interface by a bus, and the processor is configured to:
• execute the computer executable instruction in the memory to generate the first policy management operation request and send the first policy management operation request to the NFVO in the management domain of the composite NS through the communications interface, wherein the policy management operation request comprises the identifier of the policy group.

A network function virtualization orchestrator (NFVO) entity in a management domain of a composite network service (NS) applied to a scenario of providing the composite NS across management domains, wherein the composite NS comprises one or more nested NSs, the composite NS and the nested NS being provided in different management domains, an NFVO in a management domain of the composite NS being responsible for a life cycle management (LCM) of the composite NS, an NFVO in a management domain of the nested NS being responsible for the life cycle management (LCM) of the nested NS, wherein the NFVO entity in the management domain of the composite NS comprises a communications interface, a processor, and a memory, said memory comprising a non-transitory computer-readable memory;

• wherein the communications interface is configured to:
• receive a first policy management operation request sent by a policy decision entity, and send to the NFVO in the management domain of the nested NS a second policy management operation request generated by the processor;
• wherein the memory is configured to store a computer executable instruction, an identifier of a policy group, and an identifier of a member policy comprised in the policy group;
• and
• wherein the processor connected to the memory and the communications interface by a bus is configured to:
• execute the computer executable instruction in the memory to parse the first policy management operation request;
• determine, based on the identifier of the policy group comprised in the first policy management operation request, an identifier of the LCM policy that is of the nested NS and comprised in the policy group;
• generate the second policy management operation request;
• and send the second policy management operation request to the NFVO in the management domain of the nested NS through the communications interface, wherein the second policy management operation request comprises the identifier of the LCM policy of the nested NS.

A policy management system comprising a communications interface, a processor, and a memory, said memory comprising a non-transitory computer-readable memory, said policy management system configured to provide:

• a policy decision entity;
• and
• a network function virtualization orchestrator (NFVO) entity, the NFVO entity being in a management domain of a composite network service (NS), wherein the policy management system is applied to a scenario of providing the composite NS across management domains, the composite NS comprising one or more nested NSs, the composite NS and the nested NS being provided in different management domains;
• wherein, the policy decision entity is configured to send a first policy management operation request to an NFVO in the management domain of the composite NS, wherein the first policy management operation request comprises an identifier of a policy group;
• and
• wherein, the NFVO in the management domain of the composite NS, is configured to receive the first policy management operation request, determine, based on the identifier of the policy group, an identifier of a life cycle management (LCM) policy of the nested NS and included in the policy group, and to send a second policy management operation request to a NFVO in a management domain of the nested NS, wherein the second policy management operation request comprises the identifier of the LCM policy of the nested NS, wherein the NFVO in the management domain of the nested NS is responsible for the LCM policy of the nested NS.