Flexible multi-access edge computing (MEC) services consumption through hosts zoning

A method for managing service consumption using zones, comprising:

• receiving, at a MEC orchestrator from an application executing at a local host, a request for a list of services and corresponding proximity zones, the local host being under orchestration control of the MEC orchestrator;
• in response to receiving the request for the list of services, transmitting a query to a plurality of remote hosts under orchestration control of the MEC orchestrator for performance metrics of respective services offered from the plurality of remote hosts, the respective services to be used by the application executing at the local host;
• constructing a zone map including a plurality of zones that are stratified by performance cost boundaries, the performance cost boundaries indicating threshold performance metrics for a zone of the plurality of zones, the zone map comprising multiple zones, with each zone of the multiple zones enumerated as:
• a zone identifier, a cost range defined using a lower performance cost boundary and an upper performance cost boundary, a local host identifier of the local host executing the application, and a remote host identifier of each the plurality of remote hosts that provide respective services to be used by the application executing at the local host;
• and
• managing migration of the application or a service of the respective services to ensure a quality-of-service (QoS) of the application.

At least one non-transitory machine-readable medium including instructions for managing service consumption using zones, the instructions when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform the operations comprising:

• receiving, at a MEC orchestrator from an application executing at a local host, a request for a list of services and corresponding proximity zones, the local host being under orchestration control of the MEC orchestrator;
• in response to receiving the request for the list of services, transmitting a query to a plurality of remote hosts under orchestration control of the MEC orchestrator for performance metrics of respective services offered from the plurality of remote hosts, the respective services to be used by the application executing at the local host;
• constructing a zone map including a plurality of zones that are stratified by performance cost boundaries, the performance cost boundaries indicating threshold performance metrics for a zone of the plurality of zones, the zone map comprising multiple zones, with each zone of the multiple zones enumerated as:
• a zone identifier, a cost range defined using a lower performance cost boundary and an upper performance cost boundary, a local host identifier of the local host executing the application, and a remote host identifier of each the plurality of remote hosts that provide respective services to be used by the application executing at the local host;
• and
• managing migration of the application or a service of the respective services to ensure a quality-of-service (QoS) of the application.