A Framework for Interface to In-Network Functions (I2INF)
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Sungkyunkwan University2066 Seobu-Ro, Jangan-GuSuwonGyeonggi-Do16419Republic of Korea+82 31 299 4957+82 31 290 7996pauljeong@skku.eduhttp://iotlab.skku.edu/people-jaehoon-jeong.php
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Sungkyunkwan University2066 Seobu-Ro, Jangan-GuSuwonGyeonggi-Do16419Republic of Korea+82 31 299 4106chrisshen@skku.eduhttps://chrisshen.github.io
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Sungkyunkwan University2066 Seobu-Ro, Jangan-GuSuwonGyeonggi-Do16419Republic of Korea+82 31 299 4106ahnjs124@skku.eduhttp://iotlab.skku.edu/people-Ahn-Yoseop.php
School of Electronic Engineering
Soongsil University369, Sangdo-ro, Dongjak-guSeoul06978Republic of Koreayounghak@ssu.ac.kr
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Federal University of ParanaBrazilelias@inf.ufpr.br
Operations and Management Area
Operations and Management Area Working GroupInternet-Draft
This document specifies a framework for Interface to
In-Network Functions (I2INF) for a user's services involved in
both networks and applications. In-Network Functions (INF)
include In-Network Computing Functions (INCF) in Network Functions
Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN).
They also include In-Network Application Functions (INAF) in
Internet-of-Things (IoT) Devices, Software-Defined Vehicles
(SDV), and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). This document
describes an I2INF framework with its components and interfaces
to configure and monitor the INFs for the user's services.
Network softwarization is widely deployed for network services
in network infrastructure (e.g., 5G mobile networks ),
clouding computing, and edge computing.
The network softwarization is realized by the technologies of Network
Functions Virtualization (NFV)
and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) .
Also, Intent-Based Networking (IBN)
can be used for intelligent network services as well as intelligent application services.
As per definitions of Computing in the Network (COIN), a Programmable
Network Device (PND) in an In-Network Computing (INC) environment can have
multiple kinds of capabilities (i.e., features)
to work with other PNDs.
PNDs from different product lines or vendors can have different capabilities
for INC functions. When working togther for a COIN system, the PDNs may be
unaware of capabilities of others. Therefore, it is necessary to define a
standard interface for PNDs to exchange their capabilities.
For the configuration and monitoring of Application Functions (AFs)
for applications and Network Functions (NFs) for network services
for a given user's service, a standard framework with interfaces is
required.
There is no standard data model to describe the capabilities of AFs and
NFs for a user-demanded service. Also, there is no standard
data model for a registration interface that is used to register
the capabilities of those AFs and NFs with a controller for the requested
service. In addition, there are no standard interfaces to configure
and monitor those AFs and NFs according to a user's intent.
Interface to Network Security Functions (I2NSF) was standardized for
the control and management of Network Security Services with Network
Security Functions (NSFs) .
This document is based on the work of I2NSF for a more general control
and management framework for intelligent services consisting of AFs and NFs.
This document specifies a framework for Interface to In-Network
Functions (I2INF) for In-Network Functions (INFs) having different
capabilities. The INFs consist of Network Functions (NFs) including PNDs
and Application Functions (AFs) in order to compose a user's services.
First of all, INFs include In-Network Computing Functions (INCF)
as NFs within NFV and SDN .
Secondly, they also include In-Network Application Functions
(INAF) as AFs within Internet-of-Things (IoT) Devices,
Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV)
,
and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). Finally, this document shows
how Intent-Based Networking (IBN) can be realized with the proposed
I2INF framework and its interfaces for a user's services consisting
of a combination of INFs in a target network.
This document uses the terminology described in ,
,
,
,
, , and . In addition, the
following terms are defined below:
Intent: A set of operational goals (that a network should meet) and
outcomes (that a network is supposed to deliver) defined in a
declarative manner without specifying how to achieve or implement
them .
Intent-Based System (IBS): A system that enforces an intent
from a user (or administrator) into a target system (e.g., SDV). An
intent can be expressed as a Natural Language (e.g., English) and can
be translated into a policy (i.e., network policy and application
policy) by a Natural Language Processing (NLP)
. In this document, the intent can be
translated into the corresponding high policy by an intent translator .
The high-level policy can also be translated into the corresponding
low-level policy by a policy translator
. The low-level
policy is dispatched to appropriate Service Functions (SFs). Through the
monitoring of the SFs, the activity and performance of the SFs is
monitored and analyzed. If needed, the rules of the high-level or
low-level network policy are augmented or new rules are generated and
configured to appropriate SFs.
Mobile Object (MO): An object that is capable of moving by its power
source with wireless communication capability such as 5G
Vehicle-to-Everything (e.g., 5G V2X).
It can be an Internet-of-Things (IoT) device, Software-Defined Vehicle
(SDV) ,
and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
An MO is a Programmable Network Device (PND)
that can be reconfigured for different network requirements inside the MO.
In-Network Computing Functions (INCF): The service functions that work
for computing in the network infrastructure.
They are a group of COIN programs
to provide required computing tasks and functions.
In-Network Application Functions (INAF): The service functions that
work for applications in Mobile Objects.
They are a group of COIN programs
to provide required application tasks and functions.
Interface to In-Network Functions (I2INF): Interfaces that are used
between a pair of INFs for the interaction for configuration and
monitoring.
A Framework for Interface to In-Network Functions (I2INF): a framework
that consists of components and interfaces to configure and monitor
INFs for various services in the network infrastructure and MOs.
This section specifies a framework for Interface to In-Network Functions
(I2INF) with its components and interfaces among the components.
shows Wireless and Wired Networks in a Central Cloud for the I2INF framework
having network entities and Mobile Objects (MO).
On the other hand,
shows a VNF-Consensus Architecture in an Edge Cloud for the I2INF
framework to synchonize the SDN Controllers for flow table information
in the same Edge Cloud .
| IP-RSU2 |<------->| IP-RSU3 |
+---------+ +---------+ +---------+
^ ^ ^
: : :
+-----------------+ +-----------------+ +-----------------+
| : V2I | | : V2I | | : V2I |
| v | | v | | v |
+--------+ | +--------+ | | +--------+ | | +--------+ |
| MO1 |===> | MO2 |===>| | | MO3 |===>| | | MO4 |===>|
+--------+<...>+--------+<........>+--------+ | | +--------+ |
V2V ^ V2V ^ | | ^ |
| : V2V | | : V2V | | : V2V |
| v | | v | | v |
| +--------+ | | +--------+ | | +--------+ |
| | MO5 |===> | | | MO6 |===>| | | MO7 |==>|
| +--------+ | | +--------+ | | +--------+ |
+-----------------+ +-----------------+ +-----------------+
Subnet1 Subnet2 Subnet3
(Prefix1) (Prefix2) (Prefix3)
<----> Wired Link <....> Wireless Link ===> Moving Direction
]]>| Edge Controller |<->*<->* |Controller| *
* +-------^-------+ +--------^--------+ * * +----------+ *
* | | * * *
* v V * * *
****************************************** **********
^ ^ ^
| | |
V V V
+---------------+ +---------------+ +---------------+
|SDN-Controller1| |SDN-Controller2| |SDN-Controller3|
+---------------+ +---------------+ +---------------+
^ ^ ^
| | |
V V V
+---------------+ +---------------+ +---------------+
| +-----+ | | +-----+ | | +-----+ |
| | SW1 | | | | SW3 | | | | SW5 | |
| +---^-+ | | +---^-+ | | +---^-+ |
| | | | | | | | |
| +-V---+ | | +-V---+ | | +-V---+ |
| | SW2 | | | | SW4 | | | | SW6 | |
| +-----+ | | +-----+ | | +-----+ |
+---------------+ +---------------+ +---------------+
SDN-Network1 SDN-Network2 SDN-Network3
(Subnet1) (Prefix2) (Prefix3)
<----> Wired Link
]]>
For the automatic network configuration of MOs, an intent-based management
is required between the central cloud and MOs .
shows an I2INF framework as
an IBS for an MO. The framework consists of a Central Cloud and an MO.
shows an I2INF framework
as an IBS for an Edge Cloud. The framework consists of a Central Cloud and an
Edge Cloud.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| +------------------+ +--------------------+ |
| | I2INF User | +---------->| I2INF Database | |
| +------------------+ | +--------------------+ |
| ^ | ^ |
| | | Database | Database |
| | | Interface | Interface |
| | Consumer-Facing | V |
| | Interface (Intent) | +--------------------+ |
| | | +-------->| Cloud Analyzer |<-+ |
| | | | +--------------------+ | |
| V | |Analytics | |
| +------------------+<---------+ |Interface | |
| | Cloud Controller |<-----------+ +--------------------+ | |
| +------------------+<-------------------->|Vendor's Mgmt System| | |
| ^ Registration Interface +--------------------+ | |
| | ^ | |
+----------|------------------------------------------|-------------|-+
| Controller-Facing Interface VMS-Facing | Analyzer- |
| (High-level Policy) Interface | Facing |
| | Interface |
+----------|------------------------------------------|-------------|-+
| | | | |
| v v | |
| +------------------+ Registration +--------------------+ | |
| | MO Controller |<-------------------->| MO Vendor's | | |
| +------------------+ Interface | Mgmt System | | |
| ^ ^ +--------------------+ | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | Analytics Interface +--------------------+ | |
| | +------------------------>| MO Analyzer |<-+ |
| | +--------------------+ |
| | SF-Facing Interface ^ |
| | (Low-level Policy) | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | +--------------+----------------------+---+ |
| | | | Monitoring Interface | |
| v v v v |
| +---------------+ +---------------+ +---------------+ |
| | SF-1 | | SF-2 |........| SF-n | |
| | (Router) | | (Firewall) | | (Navigator) | |
| +---------------+ +---------------+ +---------------+ |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
]]>
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
| +------------------+ +--------------------+ |
| | I2INF User | +---------->| I2INF Database | |
| +------------------+ | +--------------------+ |
| ^ | ^ |
| | | Database | Database |
| | | Interface | Interface |
| | Consumer-Facing | V |
| | Interface (Intent) | +--------------------+ |
| | | +-------->| Cloud Analyzer |<-+ |
| | | | +--------------------+ | |
| V | |Analytics | |
| +------------------+<---------+ |Interface | |
| | Cloud Controller |<-----------+ +--------------------+ | |
| +------------------+<-------------------->|Vendor's Mgmt System| | |
| ^ Registration Interface +--------------------+ | |
| | ^ | |
+----------|------------------------------------------|-------------|-+
| Controller-Facing Interface VMS-Facing | Analyzer- |
| (High-level Policy) Interface | Facing |
| | Interface |
+----------|------------------------------------------|-------------|-+
| | | | |
| v v | |
| +------------------+ Registration +--------------------+ | |
| | Edge Controller |<-------------------->| Edge Vendor's | | |
| +------------------+ Interface | Mgmt System | | |
| ^ ^ +--------------------+ | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | Analytics Interface +--------------------+ | |
| | +------------------------>| Edge Analyzer |<-+ |
| | +--------------------+ |
| | SF-Facing Interface ^ |
| | (Low-level Policy) | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | +--------------+----------------------+---+ |
| | | | Monitoring Interface | |
| v v v v |
| +---------------+ +----------------------+ +---------------+ |
| | SF-1 | | SF-2 |...| SF-n | |
| |(VNF-Consensus)| |(NFV-Failure-Detector)| | (NFV-RBCast) | |
| +---------------+ +----------------------+ +---------------+ |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
]]>
A Central Cloud (CC) consists of I2INF User (as
network administrator), Cloud Controller (as an orchestrator for a central cloud),
I2INF Database (as a main repository for INF management and
monitoring), and Cloud Analyzer (as a monitoring data analyzer for MOs and ECs)
such as Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) in 5G networks .
I2INF User: It is the software (e.g., web-browser-based user interface) used
by I2INF administrators to deliver network intents to MO controllers and
edge controlller. In the
3GPP intent-driven management service document, it is assumed that a network
intent is configured by an intent data model .
Cloud Controller: It is a component that controls and manages other system
components of the central cloud. From a security point of view, a security
service policy can be transmitted to the service function (SF) by converting
the I2INF User's security service intent into the corresponding security
service policy and selecting an SF that provides an appropriate security
service.
Cloud Vendor's Management System: It is a component that provides images of
virtualized SFs for cloud services and registers the SFs and
access information with Cloud Controller.
Cloud Analyzer: It gathers and evaluates monitoring data from MO Analyzers
and Edge Analyzers to ensure the functionality and performance of SFs,
e.g., the network data analytics function (NWDAF) in 5G networks.
I2INF Database: It is a database for managing MOs and ECs, including network and
security configuration and status of MOs and ECs.
For example, for MOs, it maintains the current locations and navigation paths of
MOs (e.g., SDVs). For ECs, it maintains the network configuration and status
of AFs and NFs within the edge cloud.
An IBS in an MO (or EC) is composed of MO Controller (or Edge Controller)
as a manager for the MO (or EC), MO Analyzer (or Edge Analyzer) as a
monitoring data analyzer for an MO (or EC)) , Vendor's
Management System (as a vendor system to provide cloud-native containers)
, and Service Functions (SFs).
As SFs for the MO, NFs include router, DNS server, and firewall
), and
AFs include safe driver and navigator.
As SFs for the EC, NFs include VNF-Consensus, NFV-Failure-Detector, and NFV-RBCast
(i.e., NFV Reliable-Ordered Broadcast) ).
The functions of each component is described as follows.
MO Controller: It is a component that controls and manages other components
of the MO framework (or EC framework). It translates the high-level policy
received from the Cloud Controller into a low-level policy that the SF can
understand. An SF to perform this low-level service policy is selected, and
the policy is transmitted to the SF.
MO Vendor's Management System (or Edge Vendor's Management System): It is
a component that provides an image of a virtualized SF for MO services
(or EC services) to the MO framework (or EC framework) and registers the
function and access information of the SF with MO Controller (or Edge
Controller).
Service Function (SF): It is a component that refers to a virtual network
function (VNF), cloud native network function (CNF), or physical network
function (PNF) for a specific service. For security services, it provides
security services such as firewalls, web filters, DDoS attack mitigators,
and anti-viruses. In addition, networks and application services can also
operate as SFs.
MO Analyzer (or Edge Analyzer): It is a component that collects monitoring
data from SFs of MOs (or ECs) and analyzes these data to confirm the
activity and performance of SFs. MO Analyzer (or Edge Analyzer) acts as
NWDAF in a 5G network. If there are problems (e.g., security attacks,
traffic congestion, QoS degradation) in the MO's internal network (or EC's
internet network), MO Analyzer (or Edge Analyzer) delivers either policy
reconfiguration or feedback information to MO Controller (or Edge Controller)
for security and network troubleshooting.
Together with the designed I2INF framework, in
and ,
interfaces are also defined between a pair of system components in the
central cloud and MO (or EC), respectively. These interfaces include
Consumer-Facing Interface: It is an interface between I2INF User and Cloud
Controller for conveying intents.
Controller-Facing Interface: It is an interface between Cloud Controller and
MO Controller (or Edge Controller) for high-level policy delivery with
translated intents.
SF-Facing Interface: It is an interface between MO Controller (or Edge
Controller) and SF for the delivery of a translated lower-level policy.
Registration Interface: It is an interface used to transfer SF capabilities
and access information for registration to either Cloud Controller or MO
Controller (or Edge Controller), or deliver SF queries for searching the
requested SFs. For an MO, this interface can be an interface between Cloud
Controller and Cloud Vendor's Management System (Cloud VMS), or between MO
Controller and MO Vendor's Management System (MO VMS).
Also, for an EC, this interface can be an interface between Cloud Controller
and Cloud Vendor's Management System (Cloud VMS), or between Edge Controller
and Edge Vendor's Management System (Edge VMS).
Monitoring Interface: It is an interface between the SF and the MO
Analyzer (or Edge Analyzer) used to collect the SF's monitoring data to
identify SF-related security, system, and network issues.
Analytics Interface: It is an interface for delivering policy
reconfiguration or feedback as a result of analyzing SF monitoring data.
For an MO, this interface is an interface between MO Analyzer and MO
Controller, or between Cloud Analyzer and Cloud Controller.
Also, for an EC, this interface is an interface between Edge Analyzer and
Edge Controller, or between Cloud Analyzer and Cloud Controller.
Analyzer-Facing Interface: It is an interface between MO Analyzer
(or Edge Analyzer) and Cloud Analyzer for the exchange of security,
network, and system-related analysis of SFs.
VMS-Facing Interface: It is an interface between Cloud VMS and MO VMS
(or Edge VMS) to exchange SF container images with SF feature information.
Database Interface: It is an interface for exchanging data in an I2INF
database. It is an interface between I2INF Database and Cloud Controller, or
between I2INF Database and Cloud Analyzer.
The intent, high-level policy, and low-level policy can be
either XML documents or
YAML documents . They can be delivered to the
destination components via NETCONF , RESTCONF , or REST API .
As shown in and
,
the I2INF Framework enforces an intent from an I2INF User, which as a user
(or administrator), into a target system such as an MO (e.g., SDV) and
an Edge Cloud.
The intent from the I2INF User can be translated into the corresponding
high-level policy by an intent translator in the Cloud Controller of the
Central Cloud .
The high-level policy can also be translated into the corresponding low-level
policy by a policy translator in the MO Controller of the MO or
the Edge Controller of the Edge Cloud
.
For the MO, as shown in ,
the low-level policy is dispatched from the MO Controller to appropriate
Service Functions (SFs) in the MO, such as Router, Firewall, and
Navigator.
Also, for the EC, as shown in ,
the low-level policy is dispatched from the Edge Controller to appropriate
Service Functions (SFs) in the EC, such as VNF-Consensus, NFV-Failure-Detector,
and NFV-RBCast.
Through the monitoring of the SFs, the
activity and performance of the SFs in the MO (or EC) is monitored and
analyzed by the MO Analyzer (or Edge Analyzer) in the MO (or EC). If
needed, the rules of the high-level or low-level network policy can be
augmented by the MO Analyzer (or Edge Analyzer). Also, new rules can be
automatically generated and configured to appropriate SFs by the MO
Analyzer (or Edge Analyzer).
Therefore, this document proposes an I2INF framework as an IBS for
both MOs and ECs. Through this IBS, the SFs (i.e., NFs and AFs) in the MOs
and ECs can be better configured and managed. Base on the proposed
framework, both virtualized NFs and AFs can be efficiently orchestrated
for agile resource re-configurations and flexible updates.
This document does not require any IANA actions.
The same security considerations for the Interface to Network Security
Functions (I2NSF) Framework are applicable to the
Intent-Based System this document.
Yet Another Markup Language (YAML) 1.0System Architecture for the 5G System (5GS)Intent Driven Management Services for Mobile NetworksStudy on Scenarios for Intent Driven Management Services for Mobile NetworksArchitecture Enhancements for 5G System (5GS) to Support Network Data Analytics ServicesNetwork Data Analytics ServicesNetwork Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Architectural FrameworkNetwork Functions Virtualisation (NFV) Release 2;
Management and Orchestration; Architectural Framework SpecificationNFV-COIN: Unleashing The Power of In-Network Computing with Virtualization TechnologiesPrincipled Design of the Modern Web ArchitectureHey, Lumi! Using Natural Language for Intent-Based Network ManagementBERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language UnderstandingDeep LearningAUTOSAR Adaptive PlatformEclipse Software Defined Vehicle Working Group CharterConnected Vehicle Systems Alliance Kubernetes: Cloud Native Computing PlatformA Survey on Intent-Based Networking
This work was supported by Institute of Information & Communications
Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) grant funded by the Korea
Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) (No. RS-2024-00398199).
This work was supported in part by Institute of Information & Communications
Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) grant funded by the Korea
Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) (No. 2022-0-01015, Development of
Candidate Element Technology for Intelligent 6G Mobile Core Network).
This document is made by the group effort of OPWAWG, greatly benefiting
from inputs and texts by (Futurewei),
(Daejeon University), and
(Dong-Eui University).
The authors sincerely appreciate their contributions.
The following are coauthors of this document:
Department of Computer Science & EngineeringSungkyunkwan University2066 Seobu-Ro, Jangan-GuSuwonGyeonggi-Do16419Republic of Korea+82 31 299 4106rna0415@skku.eduhttp://iotlab.skku.edu/people-Moses-Gu.phpDepartment of Computer Science & EngineeringSungkyunkwan University2066 Seobu-Ro, Jangan-GuSuwonGyeonggi-Do16419Republic of Korea+82 31 299 4106hongju2024@skku.eduhttp://iotlab.skku.edu/people-Joo-Won-Hong.php