# US 2021/0342178 A1 · Method and device for instantiating virtualized network function

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- Number: US 2021/0342178 A1
- Document ID: US20210342178A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 17/374,139
- Filed: 2021-07-13
- Published: 2021-11-04
- Earliest claimed: 2019-01-17
- Assignees: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Dongrun QIN; Longyu CAO; Xianming LI; Yijun YU
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210342178A1

## CPC

- G06F 9/45558: {Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects}
- G06F 9/5077: {Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources (specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455)}
- H04L 41/0806: for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
- H04L 41/0894: Policy-based network configuration management
- H04L 41/0895: Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
- G06F 2009/45562: {Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances}
- G06F 2009/45595: {Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances}
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

A method includes: a first network element receives first information used to indicate to instantiate a VNF. The first network element obtains hardware resource information used to indicate an available resource of a network functions virtualization infrastructure, where the available resource includes a resource of at least one piece of hardware, and the hardware represents a minimum physical resource set used to bear a virtual machine. The first network element determines, based on the first information and the hardware resource information, a one-to-one mapping relationship between at least one virtual machine corresponding to the VNF and at least one piece of hardware corresponding to the VNF. The first network element determines, based on the mapping relationship, to instantiate the at least one virtual machine on the at least one piece of hardware.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for instantiating a virtualized network function (VNF), comprising:
receiving, by a first network element, first information used to indicate to instantiate a VNF;
obtaining, by the first network element, hardware resource information used to indicate an available resource of a network functions virtualization infrastructure, wherein the available resource comprises a resource of at least one piece of hardware, and the hardware represents a minimum physical resource set used to bear a virtual machine;
determining, by the first network element based on the first information and the hardware resource information, a one-to-one mapping relationship between at least one virtual machine corresponding to the VNF and at least one piece of hardware corresponding to the VNF; and
determining, by the first network element based on the mapping relationship, to instantiate the at least one virtual machine on the at least one piece of hardware.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining, by the first network element based on the mapping relationship, to instantiate the at least one virtual machine on the at least one piece of hardware comprises:
indicating, by the first network element based on the mapping relationship, a virtualized infrastructure manager to instantiate the at least one virtual machine on the at least one piece of hardware.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method according to claim 2, further comprising: determining, by the first network element, an instantiation sequence of the at least one virtual machine based on the first information and the hardware resource information; and
the indicating, by the first network element based on the mapping relationship, of a virtualized infrastructure manager to instantiate the at least one virtual machine on the at least one piece of hardware comprises: indicating, by the first network element based on the mapping relationship and the instantiation sequence, the virtualized infrastructure manager to instantiate the at least one virtual machine on the at least one piece of hardware.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method according to claim 3, wherein the indicating, by the first network element based on the mapping relationship and the instantiation sequence, of the virtualized infrastructure manager to instantiate the at least one virtual machine on the at least one piece of hardware comprises:
sequentially indicating, by the first network element based on the instantiation sequence of the at least one virtual machine, the virtualized infrastructure manager to instantiate, on current corresponding hardware, a virtual machine mapped to the current corresponding hardware.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The method according to claim 3, wherein the indicating, by the first network element based on the mapping relationship and the instantiation sequence, of the virtualized infrastructure manager to instantiate the at least one virtual machine on the at least one piece of hardware comprises:
sending, by the first network element, the mapping relationship and the instantiation sequence to the virtualized infrastructure manager, so that the virtualized infrastructure manager instantiates the at least one virtual machine on the at least one piece of hardware based on the mapping relationship and the instantiation sequence.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the receiving, by the first network element, of the first information used to indicate to instantiate a VNF comprises:
receiving, by the first network element, the first information from a network functions virtualization orchestrator.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, further comprising:
obtaining, by the first network element, instantiation policy information, wherein the instantiation policy information indicates a policy used for instantiating the at least one virtual machine; and
correspondingly, the determining, by the first network element based on the first information and the hardware resource information, of a one-to-one mapping relationship between at least one virtual machine corresponding to the VNF and at least one piece of hardware corresponding to the VNF comprises:
determining, by the first network element based on the first information, the hardware resource information, and the instantiation policy information, the one-to-one mapping relationship between the at least one virtual machine corresponding to the VNF and the at least one piece of hardware corresponding to the VNF.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method according to claim 7, wherein the policy comprises:
at least one of a memory-first policy, a resource utilization—first policy, or a host balance degree—first policy.

### Claim 9 (depends on 3)

The method according to claim 3, wherein the first information comprises at least one of: at least one virtual machine type, an indication signal of a required resource corresponding to the at least one virtual machine type, instantiation priorities corresponding to the virtual machine types, virtual machine quantities corresponding to the virtual machine types required for instantiating the VNF, or constraint information corresponding to the at least one virtual machine type.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method according to claim 9, wherein
the determining, by the first network element based on the first information and the hardware resource information, of a one-to-one mapping relationship between at least one virtual machine corresponding to the VNF and at least one piece of hardware corresponding to the VNF comprises: determining, by the first network element, the one-to-one mapping relationship between the at least one virtual machine corresponding to the VNF and the at least one piece of hardware corresponding to the VNF, based on the resource of the at least one piece of hardware, the indication signal of the required resource corresponding to the at least one virtual machine type, and the constraint information corresponding to the plurality of virtual machine types; and
the determining, by the first network element, of an instantiation sequence of the at least one virtual machine based on the first information and the hardware resource information comprises: determining, by the first network element, the instantiation sequence of the at least one virtual machine based on the instantiation priority corresponding to the at least one virtual machine type and the virtual machine quantities corresponding to the virtual machine types required for instantiating the VNF.

### Claim 11

A network element device for instantiating a virtualized network function (VNF), the network element device comprising:
a communications unit configured to receive first information used to indicate to instantiate a VNF, wherein
the communications unit is further configured to obtain hardware resource information used to indicate an available resource of a network functions virtualization infrastructure, wherein the available resource comprises a resource of at least one piece of hardware, and the hardware represents a minimum physical resource set used to bear a virtual machine;
a resource orchestration unit configured to determine, based on the first information and the hardware resource information, a one-to-one mapping relationship between at least one virtual machine corresponding to the VNF and at least one piece of hardware corresponding to the VNF; and
a deployment unit configured to determine, based on the mapping relationship, to instantiate the at least one virtual machine on the at least one piece of hardware.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The device according to claim 11, wherein the resource orchestration unit is configured to:
indicate, based on the mapping relationship, a virtualized infrastructure manager to instantiate the at least one virtual machine on the at least one piece of hardware.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The device according to claim 12, wherein the resource orchestration unit is further configured to determine an instantiation sequence of the at least one virtual machine based on the first information and the hardware resource information; and
the deployment unit is configured to indicate, based on the mapping relationship and the instantiation sequence, the virtualized infrastructure manager to instantiate the at least one virtual machine on the at least one piece of hardware.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The device according to claim 13, wherein the deployment unit is configured to:
sequentially indicate, based on the instantiation sequence of the at least one virtual machine, the virtualized infrastructure manager to instantiate, on current corresponding hardware, a virtual machine mapped to the current corresponding hardware.

### Claim 15 (depends on 13)

The device according to claim 13, wherein the deployment unit is configured to:
send the mapping relationship and the instantiation sequence to the virtualized infrastructure manager, so that the virtualized infrastructure manager instantiates the at least one virtual machine on the at least one piece of hardware based on the mapping relationship and the instantiation sequence.

### Claim 16 (depends on 11)

The device according to claim 11, wherein
the communications unit is configured to receive the first information from a network functions virtualization orchestrator.

### Claim 17 (depends on 11)

The device according to claim 11, wherein
the communications unit is further configured to obtain instantiation policy information, wherein the instantiation policy information indicates a policy used for instantiating the at least one virtual machine; and
the resource orchestration unit is configured to determine, based on the first information, the hardware resource information, and the instantiation policy information, the one-to-one mapping relationship between the at least one virtual machine corresponding to the VNF and the at least one piece of hardware corresponding to the VNF.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The device according to claim 17, wherein the policy comprises:
at least one of a memory-first policy, a resource utilization—first policy, or a host balance degree—first policy.

### Claim 19 (depends on 13)

The device according to claim 13, wherein the first information comprises at least one of: at least one virtual machine type, an indication signal of a required resource corresponding to the at least one virtual machine type, instantiation priorities corresponding to the virtual machine types, virtual machine quantities corresponding to the virtual machine types required for instantiating the VNF, or constraint information corresponding to the at least one virtual machine type.

### Claim 20 (depends on 19)

The device according to claim 19, wherein the resource orchestration unit is configured to:
determine the one-to-one mapping relationship between the at least one virtual machine corresponding to the VNF and the at least one piece of hardware corresponding to the VNF, based on the resource of the at least one piece of hardware, the indication signal of the required resource corresponding to the at least one virtual machine type, and the constraint information corresponding to the plurality of virtual machine types; and
determine the instantiation sequence of the at least one virtual machine based on the instantiation priority corresponding to the at least one virtual machine type and the virtual machine quantities corresponding to the virtual machine types required for instantiating the VNF.