Monitoring network functions

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• a user interface (UI) system communicatively coupled to the processor;
• and
• a data storage system communicatively coupled to the processor, the data storage system including a computer-readable medium (CRM) storing thereon, computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• querying a network function repository function (NRF), the NRF being one of a plurality of NRFs belonging to a group of NRFs;
• registering one or more network functions (NFs) with the NRF;
• maintaining, by the NRF, status information of the one or more NFs registered to the NRF;
• querying, by an NF registered to one of the plurality of NRFs and requiring a service provided by another NF, one or more NRFs of the plurality of NRFs for an available NF capable of providing the required service;
• and
• discovering, by the NF registered to the one of the plurality of NRFs, the available NF capable of providing the required service based on the status information of the available NF capable of providing the required service maintained at the one or more NRFs of the plurality of NRFs.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium (CRM) storing thereon, computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• querying a network function repository function (NRF), the NRF being one of a plurality of NRFs belonging to a group of NRFs;
• registering one or more network functions (NFs) with the NRF;
• maintaining, by the NRF, status information of the one or more NFs registered to the NRF;
• querying, by an NF registered to one of the plurality of NRFs and requiring a service provided by another NF, one or more NRFs of the plurality of NRFs for an available NF capable of providing the required service;
• and
• discovering, by the NF registered to the one of the plurality of NRFs, the available NF capable of providing the required service based on the status information of the available NF capable of providing the required service maintained at the one or more NRFs of the plurality of NRFs.