ROUTE COMPUTATION METHOD AND RELATED DEVICE

Abstract

The embodiments of this application provide a routing domain, including a computing container and a network router. The network router is a routing node that supports route computation. The computing container is connected to the network router through a virtual link. The computing container is configured to: run a routing protocol, where the routing protocol is used to carry a computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and an identifier of a service or function running in the computing container; send the computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service. The network router is configured to: obtain the computing capability and obtain a network capability of the routing domain; and compute a route based on the computing capability, or compute a route based on the computing capability and the network capability.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to the communications field, and in particular, to a route computation method and a related device.

BACKGROUND

Currently, there are two development trends of internet computation, and one is a ubiquitous computing capability. That is, computing containers with different scales of computing capabilities are widely distributed in different distances between users. These computing containers may be thousands of base stations that have computing capabilities and that are brought by tens of billions of intelligent terminals, billions of home gateways worldwide, and future mobile edge computing (mobile edge computing, MEC) in each city, or may be hundreds of cloud-hosted (Cloud CO) equipment rooms brought by network function virtualization (network function virtualization, NFC), and dozens of large-scale cloud data centers in each country. The other is a trend that features being microservice-based or serverless (Serverless). A conventional client-server (client-server) mode is deconstructed. Applications on a server (server) side are deconstructed into “functional components” for being deployed on a cloud platform. The functional components are scheduled by a same application programming interface gateway (application programming interface gateway, API gateway). In this way, an event-triggering function component can “be used immediately after being required and be ended immediately after being used”. That is, the functional component can be dynamically instantiated as required. A service logic of a server is transferred to a client side. A client only needs to focus on a “computation function” but does not need to be aware of computing resources such as a computation place and a server/virtual machine/container. Therefore, the client needs to focus only on the service logic and implement that “a function is a service”.

There is a gap between a current internet architecture and the foregoing trends. In a space dimension, a current internet topology is an “end-to-end model”, that is, a network is in the middle and computation is in the periphery. However, in an edge computing or ubiquitous computing scenario, an internet topology is changed to computation and is embedded in a network. A current internet protocol (Internet Protocol, IP) route technology is based on the “end-to-end model” and considers only IP reachability. The network and the computation are two uncorrelated independent worlds. Consequently, it is difficult to construct, through the network, a highly efficiently organized distributed computing system by using a ubiquitous capability.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of this application provide a route computation method and a related device, used to inject a computing capability, as routing information, into a routing domain, so that the computing capability is added to route computation, thereby achieving optimal computation and network resource utilization.

According to a first aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a routing domain. The routing domain includes a computing container and a network router. The network router is a routing node that supports route computation. The computing container is connected to the network router through a virtual link. The computing container is configured to run a routing protocol, where the routing protocol is used to carry a computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and an identifier of a service or function; and send the computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function to the network router by using the routing protocol. The network router is configured to obtain the computing capability, and obtain a network capability of the routing domain; and compute a route based on the computing capability; or compute a route based on the computing capability and the network capability.

It can be learned from the technical solution provided in this embodiment of this application that the computing container diffuses the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function in the routing domain, so that the computing capability is considered during route computation, thereby achieving optimal computation and network resource utilization.

Optionally, the network router may further generate a routing table based on the identifier of the service or function and the route, and store the routing table.

Optionally, the computing container sends a virtual link state to the network router. The virtual link state is used to indicate the computing capability or the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function.

Optionally, in the routing domain, the computing container may also compute a route based on the obtained computing capability. Alternatively, the computing container may also obtain the network capability of the routing domain, and compute a route based on the computing capability and the network capability.

In this embodiment of this application, the route computed by the computing container is a route from a service or function consumer to each computing container in the routing domain. The computing container may be a server, a virtual machine, or a container, or a smaller unit that provides a computing resource. In addition, the computing container may further include application software or an operating system, and the application software or the operating system may also be used as a special router configured to compute a route. In this way, the computing container determines the route from the service or function consumer to each computing container, so that the user can select a more appropriate computing container to implement a corresponding service or function.

Optionally, the computing capability includes a computing capability parameter or a computing metric value, and the computing capability parameter includes at least one of a throughput, a server load, and a computing delay. The network capability includes a network metric value or a network parameter, and the network parameter includes at least one of a network bandwidth and a network delay.

Optionally, a specific process in which the network router or the computing container computes a route based on the computing capability or based on the computing capability and the network capability is as follows:

In a possible implementation, the network router or the computing container obtains the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter, and then computes the route based on the computing metric value.

In another possible implementation, the network router or the computing container obtains the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter, and obtains the network metric value based on the network parameter. Then, the network router or the computing container computes the route based on the computing metric value and the network metric value.

In another possible implementation, the network router or the computing container obtains a composite metric value based on the computing capability parameter and the network parameter. Then, the network router or the computing container computes the route based on the composite metric value.

In this embodiment of this application, the route computed by the network router is a route from the network router to each routing node in the routing domain, and the route computed by the computing container or application software or operating system is a route from the service or function consumer to each computing container. In addition, the network router may be further configured to diffuse the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function to each network router in the routing domain; and/or the network router is further configured to diffuse the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function to another routing domain.

Based on the foregoing route computation method, when the route is computed by using the computing metric value and the network metric value, the network router or the computing container may perform comprehensive computation based on a specific service or function. For example, for a service that requires the computing capability, in a routing algorithm running on each node, the computing metric value is primarily used and the network metric value is secondarily used, to compute an optimal route; and for a conventional transmission-type service, because an edge computing capability is not required, in a routing algorithm running on each node, the network metric value is primarily used to compute an optimal route. In this way, the user can more effectively achieve optimal computation or network resource utilization.

Optionally, the network router or the computing container obtains the network metric value through computation based on the network parameter by using a first formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The first formula is:

Network metric value=α₁×Network bandwidth+γ₁ΣNetwork delay, where

α₁ and γ₁ are weighted values.

Optionally, the network router or the computing container obtains the computing metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter by using a second formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The second formula is:

$\mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}=\frac{a_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where α₂, β₁, β₂ and γ₂ are weighted values.

Optionally, the network router or the computing container obtains the composite metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter and the network parameter by using a third formula.

The third formula is:

$\mathrm{Composite}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}=a_1\times \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{bandwidth}+\frac{a_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_1\times \sum \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{delay}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where α₁, γ₁, α₂, β₁, β₂, and γ₂ are weighted values.

It may be understood that each weighted value in the first formula, the second formula, and the third formula may be appropriately set based on a service feature. For example, for a delay-sensitive service, a delay-related coefficient may be appropriately increased; and for a service that requires high bandwidth, a throughput-related or network bandwidth-related coefficient may be appropriately increased.

According to a second aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a computing container, specifically including: an obtaining unit, configured to obtain a computing capability or the computing capability and an identifier of a service or function; a running unit, configured to run a routing protocol, where the routing protocol is used to carry the computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function that is/are obtained by the obtaining unit; and a sending unit, configured to send the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function to a network router by using the routing protocol run by the running unit.

Optionally, the sending unit is specifically configured to send a virtual link state to the network router, where the virtual link state is used to indicate the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function.

Optionally, the computing container further includes a computation unit, configured to compute a route based on the computing capability, the computing capability includes a computing capability parameter or a computing metric value, and the computing capability parameter includes at least one of a throughput, a server load, and a computing delay.

Optionally, the obtaining unit is further configured to obtain a network capability of a routing domain in which the computing container is located, where the network capability includes a network metric value or a network parameter, the network parameter includes at least one of a network bandwidth and a network delay, the computing capability includes a computing capability parameter or a computing metric value, and the computing capability parameter includes at least one of a throughput, a server load, and a computing delay.

The computation unit is further configured to compute a route based on the computing capability and the network capability, where the route computed by the computing container is a route from a service or function user to each computing container in the routing domain.

Optionally, the computation unit is specifically configured to obtain the network metric value through computation based on the network parameter by using a first formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The first formula is:

Network metric value=α₁×Network bandwidth+γ₁ΣNetwork delay, where

• • α₁ and γ₁ are weighted values.

Optionally, the computation unit is specifically configured to obtain the computing metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter by using a second formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The second formula is:

$\mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}=\frac{a_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where

α₂, β₁, β₂, and γ₂ are weighted values.

Optionally, the computation unit is specifically configured to: obtain a composite metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter and the network parameter by using a third formula; and compute the route based on the composite metric value to generate a routing table.

The third formula is:

$\mathrm{Composite}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}={\alpha }_1\times \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{bandwidth}+\frac{{\alpha }_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_1\times \sum \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{delay}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where

α₁, γ₁, α₂, β₁, β₂, and γ₂ are weighted values.

Optionally, the computing container further includes application software or an operating system.

Optionally, the application software or the operating system is configured to compute the route based on the computing capability; or the application software or the operating system is configured to compute the route based on the computing capability and the network capability, where the route computed by the application software or the operating system is the route from the service or function user to each computing container in the routing domain.

Optionally, the computing container further includes a storage unit, configured to store the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function, and the network capability.

In a possible implementation, the computing container includes a processor and a transceiver, and the processor is configured to support the computing container in performing a corresponding function in the method provided in the second aspect. The transceiver is configured to indicate communication between the computing container and the network router, and send information or instructions in the foregoing method to the network router. Optionally, the apparatus may further include a memory. The memory is configured to be coupled to the processor, and stores program instructions and data that are necessary for the computing container.

The processor mentioned anywhere above may be a general-purpose central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to control program execution of the channel resource coordination and allocation method in the foregoing aspects.

According to a third aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a network router, including: an obtaining unit, configured to obtain a computing capability of a computing container, and obtain a network capability of a routing domain in which the network router is located; and a computation unit, configured to compute a route based on the computing capability, or compute a route based on the computing capability and the network capability.

Optionally, the obtaining unit is specifically configured to receive a virtual link state sent by the computing container, where the virtual link state is used to indicate the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function.

Optionally, the network router further includes a sending unit, configured to: diffuse the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function to each network router in the routing domain; and/or diffuse the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function to another routing domain.

Optionally, the computing capability includes a computing capability parameter or a computing metric value, and the computing capability parameter includes at least one of a throughput, a server load, and a computing delay.

The network capability includes a network metric value or a network parameter, and the network parameter includes at least one of a network bandwidth and a network delay.

Optionally, the computation unit is specifically configured to obtain the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter; and compute the route based on the computing metric value.

Optionally, the computation unit is specifically configured to obtain the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter, and obtain the network metric value based on the network parameter; and compute the route based on the computing metric value and the network metric value.

Optionally, the computation unit is specifically configured to obtain the network metric value through computation based on the network parameter by using a first formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The first formula is:

Network metric value=α₁×Network bandwidth+γ₁ΣNetwork delay, where

α₁ and γ₁ are weighted values.

Optionally, the computation unit is specifically configured to obtain the computing metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter by using a second formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The second formula is:

$\mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}=\frac{a_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where

α₂, β₁, β₂, and γ₂ are weighted values.

Optionally, the computation unit is specifically configured to: obtain a composite metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter and the network parameter by using a third formula; and compute the route based on the composite metric value to generate a routing table.

The third formula is:

$\mathrm{Composite}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}={\alpha }_1\times \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{bandwidth}+\frac{{\alpha }_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_1\times \sum \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{delay}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where

α₁, γ₁, α₂, β₁, β₂, and γ₂ are weighted values.

Optionally, the network router further includes a storage unit. The storage unit is configured to store the computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function, and the network capability of the routing domain.

In a possible implementation, the network router includes a processor and a transceiver, and the processor is configured to support the network router in performing a corresponding function in the foregoing method. The transceiver is configured to indicate communication between the computing container and the network router, and send information or instructions in the foregoing method to the computing container. Optionally, the apparatus may further include a memory. The memory is configured to be coupled to the processor, and stores program instructions and data that are necessary for the network router.

The processor mentioned anywhere above may be a general-purpose central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to control program execution of the channel resource coordination and allocation method in the foregoing aspects.

According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a route computation method, applied to a routing domain including the computing container and the network router in the first aspect to the third aspect. The network router is a router that supports route computation. A specific implementation is as follows: The computing container runs a routing protocol, where the routing protocol is configured to carry a computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and an identifier of a service or function; and sends the computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function to the network router by using the routing protocol. The network router obtains the computing capability, and obtains a network capability of the routing domain. The network router computes a route based on the computing capability; or computes a route based on the computing capability and the network capability.

Optionally, the sending the computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function to the network router includes: The computing container sends a virtual link state to the network router, where the virtual link state is used to indicate the computing capability or the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function.

Optionally, in the route computation method, the computing container computes the route based on the computing capability. Alternatively, the computing container obtains the network capability; and the computing container computes the route based on the computing capability and the network capability, where the route computed by the computing container is a route from a service or function user to each computing container in the routing domain.

Optionally, the computing capability includes a computing capability parameter or a computing metric value, and the computing capability parameter includes at least one of a throughput, a server load, and a computing delay. The network capability includes a network metric value or a network parameter, and the network parameter includes at least one of a network bandwidth and a network delay.

Optionally, a specific process in which the network router or the computing container computes a route based on the computing capability or based on the computing capability and the network capability is as follows:

In a possible implementation, the network router or the computing container obtains the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter; and then computes the route based on the computing metric value.

In another possible implementation, the network router or the computing container obtains the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter, and obtains the network metric value based on the network parameter. Then, the network router or the computing container computes the route based on the computing metric value and the network metric value.

In another possible implementation, the network router or the computing container obtains a composite metric value based on the computing capability parameter and the network parameter. Then, the network router or the computing container computes the route based on the composite metric value.

In this embodiment of this application, the route computed by the network router is a route from the network router to each routing node in the routing domain, and the route computed by the computing container or application software or operating system is a route from the service or function consumer to each computing container.

Based on the foregoing route computation method, when the route is computed by using the computing metric value and the network metric value, the network router or the computing container may perform comprehensive computation based on a specific service or function. For example, for a service that requires the computing capability, in a routing algorithm running on each node, the computing metric value is primarily used and the network metric value is secondarily used, to compute an optimal route; for a conventional transmission-type service, because an edge computing capability is not required, in a routing algorithm running on each node, the network metric value is primarily used to compute an optimal route. In this way, the user can more effectively achieve optimal computation or network resource utilization.

Optionally, the network router or the computing container obtains the network metric value through computation based on the network parameter by using a first formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The first formula is:

Network metric value=α₁×Network bandwidth+γ₁ΣNetwork delay, where

α₁ and γ₁ are weighted values.

Optionally, the network router or the computing container obtains the computing metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter by using a second formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The second formula is:

$\mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}=\frac{a_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where

α₂, β₁, β₂, and γ₂ are weighted values.

Optionally, the network router or the computing container obtains a composite metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter and the network parameter by using a third formula.

The third formula is:

$\mathrm{Composite}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}={\alpha }_1\times \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{bandwidth}+\frac{{\alpha }_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_1\times \sum \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{delay}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where

α₁γ₁, α₂, β₁, β₂, and γ₂ are weighted values.

It may be understood that each weighted value in the first formula, the second formula, and the third formula may be appropriately set based on a service feature. For example, for a delay-sensitive service, a delay-related weighted value may be appropriately increased; for a service that requires high bandwidth, a throughput-related or network bandwidth-related weighted value may be appropriately increased.

It can be learned from the foregoing technical solution that, the embodiments of this application have the following advantages: The computing container diffuses the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function in the routing domain, so that the computing capability is considered when a routing table is generated during route computation, thereby achieving optimal computation and network resource utilization. In addition, the computing container implements automatic allocation of computation, storage, and network resources, to adapt to a rapid service change or service mobility of the user. In this embodiment of this application, the network router performs route computation based on the computing capability of the computing container and the network capability, to achieve optimal computation and network resource utilization.

According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer storage medium stores computer instructions, and the computer instructions are used to perform the method according to any possible implementation of the fourth aspect.

According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a computer program product including instructions. When the computer program product runs on a computer, the computer is enabled to perform the method according to the fourth aspect of the foregoing aspects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a current network;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a routing domain according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a routing domain according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a principle of running a routing protocol to perform route computation in a routing domain according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a computing container according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic functional block diagram of a computing container according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic functional block diagram of application software or an operating system in a computing container according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a computing container according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a network router according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic functional block diagram of a network router according to an embodiment of this application; and

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a network router according to an embodiment of this application.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of this application provide a route computation method and a related device, used to inject a computing capability, as routing information, into a routing domain, so that the computing capability is added to route computation, thereby achieving optimal computation and network resource utilization.

In the specification, claims, and accompanying drawings of this application, the terms “first”, “second”, “third”, “fourth”, and so on (if existent) are intended to distinguish between similar objects but do not necessarily indicate a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the data termed in such a way are interchangeable in proper circumstances so that the embodiments of the present invention described herein can be implemented in other orders than the order illustrated or described herein. Moreover, the terms “include”, “contain” and any other variants mean to cover the non-exclusive inclusion, for example, a process, method, system, product, or device that includes a list of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those units, but may include other units not expressly listed or inherent to such a process, method, product, or device.

Currently, there are two development trends of internet computation, and one is a ubiquitous computing capability. That is, computing containers with different scales of computing capabilities are widely distributed in different distances between users. These computing containers may be thousands of base stations that have computing capabilities and that are brought by tens of billions of intelligent terminals, billions of home gateways worldwide, and MEC in each city, or hundreds of cloud CO equipment rooms brought by NFC, and dozens of large-scale cloud data centers in each country. However, there is a gap between a current internet architecture and the foregoing trends. In a space dimension, a current internet topology is an “end-to-end model” (that is, a network is in the middle and computation is in the periphery). As shown in FIG. 1, a set of nodes (Node) or vertices (Vertical) included in a current network routing domain is (u, v, w). A set of edges (Edge) connecting neighboring nodes is {(u, v) c1, (v, w) c2, (w, u) c3}, where c1, c2, and c3 are weighted values of the edges. In the network routing domain shown in FIG. 1, a node herein is a router or a network routing node, an edge herein is a link (Link) between neighboring nodes, and a weighted value herein may also be referred to as a link state (Link state). The link between the neighboring nodes may be a direct physical link, or may be a logical link that is reachable through a network. In FIG. 1, X and Y are respectively computing containers in which a function x and a function y are located, and are located outside the routing domain. Therefore, a current IP route technology is based on the “end-to-end model” and considers only IP reachability. The network and the computation are two uncorrelated independent worlds. Consequently, it is difficult to construct, through the network, a highly efficiently organized distributed computing system by using a ubiquitous capability.

To resolve the problem, an embodiment of this application provides a routing domain. The routing domain includes a computing container and a network router. The network router is a routing node that supports route computation. The computing container is connected to the network router through a virtual link. The computing container is configured to run a routing protocol, where the routing protocol is used to carry a computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and an identifier of a service or function; and send the computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function to the network router by using the routing protocol. The network router is configured to obtain a network capability of the routing domain; and compute a route based on the computing capability; or compute a route based on the computing capability and the network capability.

Specifically, an architecture of the routing domain may be shown in FIG. 2. The network routing domain includes a computing container 201 and a network router 202. A quantity of computing containers 201 and a quantity of network routers 202 are not limited herein. The computing container 201 is connected to the network router 202 through a virtual link. The virtual link may be a direct physical link, or may be a logical link that is reachable through a network. It may be understood that the computing container 201 in this embodiment of this application may be a server, a virtual machine, a container, or a smaller unit that provides a computing resource, and the network router 202 may be a router.

Based on the routing domain shown in FIG. 2, a route computation process in the routing domain is described.

The computing container 201, as a route initiator, runs a route daemon process. Then, in the route daemon process, an identifier of a service or function corresponding to the computing container 201 and a computing capability parameter of the computing container 201 are used as a virtual link state and sent to a neighboring network router 202 by using a routing protocol (where the routing protocol includes an interior gateway protocol (interior gateway protocol, IGP) or a border gateway protocol (border gateway protocol, BGP)). The routing protocol is used to carry a computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and an identifier of a service or function. Then, the network router 202 obtains a network capability of the routing domain. Finally, the network router 202 computes a route based on the network capability and the computing capability of the computing container 201 or the network router 202 computes a route based on the computing capability of the computing container.

Optionally, the computing container may also inject the computing capability or the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function into the routing domain in a form of the virtual link state. Then, after receiving the virtual link state, the network router diffuses the virtual link state to other network routers in the routing domain, and even to another neighboring routing domain.

Optionally, after computing the route, the network router may further generate a routing table based on the identifier of the service or function and the route.

It may be understood that the computing capability includes the computing capability parameter or a computing metric value, and the computing capability parameter includes at least one of a throughput, a server load, and a computing delay. The network capability includes a network metric value or a network parameter, and the network parameter includes at least one of a network bandwidth and a network delay.

In an example, an architecture of the routing domain may be shown in FIG. 3. A set of nodes or vertices included in the network routing domain is {u, v, w, X, Y}, and a set of edges (Edge) connecting neighboring nodes is {(u, v) c1, (v, w) c2, (w, u) c3, (X, u) c4, (Y, v) c5}. In the network routing domain, the computing container (for example, a computing container X in which a function x is located and a computing container Y in which a function y is located) is also added, as a routing node, to a set of routing nodes. In this application file, such a special router may be referred to as the computing container 201, and is used to distinguish from a conventional network router 202. In FIG. 3, nodes u, v, and w are each the network router 202. In addition, a special edge is added to the network routing domain to serve as a virtual link between the computing container 201 and a neighboring network router 202, where c4 and c5 are weighted values of such a special edge, and may also be referred to as a virtual link state. The virtual link state may include “a function or service ID” and “a throughput (Throughput), a computing delay (Compute Delay), and/or a server load (Server Load)” of a corresponding computing container, and may even include a related computing capability parameter such as central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU) usage or storage usage. However, a route computation principle in the routing domain shown in FIG. 3 may be shown in FIG. 4. The computing container X is used as an example. The computing container X runs a routing protocol and initiates routing, so that the computing container X sends a computing capability of the computing container X to the network router u by using a routing protocol. The network router u sends the computing capability of the computing container X to another network router or computing container in the routing domain by using a routing protocol. Then, each network router or computing container computes a route separately. For example, the network router u sends the computing capability of the computing container X to the network router v and the network router w by using the routing protocol. In addition, the network router v sends the computing capability of the computing container X to the network router w and the computing container Y by using the routing protocol. In addition, the network router w may also send the computing capability of the computing capability X to the network router u and the network router v by using the routing protocol. Similarly, a computing capability of the computing container Y may also be diffused to each network router and computing container in the routing domain by using the routing protocol. Then, the network router u may compute a route from the network router u to the computing container X based on the computing capability of the computing container X and/or the network capability of the routing domain; the network router u may perform cloud computing to obtain a route from the network router u to the computing container Y by using the computing capability of the computing container Y and/or the network capability of the routing domain; the network router u may compute a route to the network router v based on link state information of the network router v and the network capability of the routing domain; and so on.

Specifically, a specific process in which the network router 202 or computing container 201 computes a route based on the computing capability and the network capability is as follows:

In a possible implementation, the network router 202 or the computing container 201 obtains a computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter, and obtains a network metric value based on the network parameter. Then, the network router 202 or the computing container 201 computes the route based on the computing metric value and the network metric value. In addition, when the route is computed by using the computing metric value and the network metric value, comprehensive computation may be performed based on a specific service or function. For example, for a service that requires the computing capability, in a routing algorithm running on each node, the computing metric value is primarily used and the network metric value is secondarily used, to compute an optimal route; and for a conventional transmission-type service, because an edge computing capability is not required, in a routing algorithm running on each node, the network metric value is primarily used to compute an optimal route.

In another possible implementation, the network router 202 or the computing container 201 obtains a composite metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter and the network parameter. Then, the network router 202 and the computing container 201 compute the route based on the composite metric value.

In another possible implementation, the network router 202 or the computing container 201 obtains a computing metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter. Then, the network router 202 or the computing container 201 computes the route based on the computing metric value.

Optionally, the network router 202 or the computing container 201 obtains the network metric value through computation based on the network parameter by using a first formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The first formula is:

Network metric value=α₁×Network bandwidth+γ₁ΣNetwork delay, where

α₁ and γ₁ are weighted values.

Optionally, the network router 202 or the computing container 201 obtains the computing metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter by using a second formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The second formula is:

$\mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}=\frac{a_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where

α₂, β₁, β₂, and γ₂ are weighted values.

Optionally, the network router 202 or the computing container 201 obtains the composite metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter and the network parameter by using a third formula.

The third formula is:

$\mathrm{Composite}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}={\alpha }_1\times \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{bandwidth}+\frac{{\alpha }_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_1\times \sum \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{delay}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where

α₁, γ₁, α₂, β₁, β₂, and γ₂ are weighted values.

It may be understood that each weighted value in the first formula, the second formula, and the third formula may be appropriately set based on a service feature. For example, for a delay-sensitive service, a delay-related coefficient may be appropriately increased; and for a service that requires high bandwidth, a throughput-related or network bandwidth-related coefficient may be appropriately increased.

A computing capability of the computing container 201 is in a one-to-one correspondence with the identifier of the service or function. However, when a service or function is not instantiated in the computing container, the computing capability of the computing container 201 is in a one-

to-one correspondence with a benchmark service or function identifier. That is, the computing container 201 may use the computing capability of the computing container 201 and the benchmark service or function identifier as a virtual link state for being diffused in the routing domain, so that each network router 202 or computing container 201 in the routing domain can determine a computing resource or storage resource suitable for the service or function through computation. In addition, after it is determined that the service or function is instantiated in the routing domain, the benchmark service or function identifier is replaced with the identifier of the service or function, and the identifier of the service or function and a computing capability parameter of the computing container in which the instantiation is performed are diffused in the routing domain. It may be understood that the identifier of the service or function may be a name or an identifier that is uncorrelated to a location; the identifier of the service or function is mapping of an information object; the identifier of the service or function is a function of processing an information object; the identifier of the service or function is a specific service; or the identifier of the service or function is a network address. A specific case is not limited herein.

In this embodiment of this application, the route computed by the network router is a route from the network router to each routing node in the routing domain, and the route computed by the computing container or application software or operating system is a route from the service or function consumer to each computing container.

In this embodiment of this application, the computing container 201 diffuses the computing capability of the computing container 201 and the identifier of the service or function in the routing domain, so that the computing capability is considered when a routing table is generated during route computation, thereby achieving optimal computation and network resource utilization. In addition, the computing container implements automatic allocation of computation, storage, and network resources, to adapt to a rapid service change or service mobility of the user. In this embodiment of this application, the network router performs route computation based on the computing capability of the computing container and the network parameter, to achieve optimal computation and network resource utilization.

Specifically, referring to FIG. 5, an embodiment of this application provides a computing container 201, including: an obtaining unit 2011, configured to obtain a computing capability or the computing capability and an identifier of a service or function; a running unit 2012, configured to run a routing protocol, where the routing protocol is used to carry the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function that is/are obtained by the obtaining unit 2011; and a sending unit 2013, configured to send the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function to the network router by using the routing protocol run by the running unit 2012. It may be understood that the computing capability includes a computing metric value or a computing capability parameter, where the computing capability parameter includes at least one of a throughput, a computing delay, and a server load.

Optionally, the computing container 201 sends the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function, as a virtual link state, to the network router 202.

Optionally, the computing container 201 further includes a computation unit 2014, configured to compute a route based on the computing capability, where the computing capability includes a computing capability parameter or a computing metric value, and the computing capability parameter includes at least one of a throughput, a server load, and a computing delay.

Optionally, the obtaining unit 2011 of the computing container 201 is further configured to obtain a network capability of a routing domain in which the computing container 201 is located, where the network capability includes a network metric value or a network parameter, the network parameter includes at least one of a network bandwidth and a network delay, the computing capability includes a computing capability parameter or a computing metric value, and the computing capability parameter includes at least one of a throughput, a server load, and a computing delay.

The computation unit 2014 is further configured to compute a route based on the computing capability and the network capability.

Optionally, the computation unit 2014 is specifically configured to obtain the network metric value through computation based on the network parameter by using a first formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The first formula is:

Network metric value=α₁×Network bandwidth+γ₁ΣNetwork delay, where

α₁ and γ₁ are weighted values.

Optionally, the computation unit 2014 is specifically configured to obtain the computing metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter by using a second formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The second formula is:

$\mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}=\frac{a_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where

α₂, β₁, β₂, and γ₂ are weighted values.

Optionally, the computation unit 2014 is specifically configured to: obtain a composite metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter and the network parameter by using a third formula, and compute the route based on the composite metric value to generate a routing table.

The third formula is:

$\mathrm{Composite}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}={\alpha }_1\times \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{bandwidth}+\frac{{\alpha }_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_1\times \sum \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{delay}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where

α₁, γ₁, α₂, β₁, β₂, and γ₂ are weighted values.

The computing container 201 further includes a storage unit 2015. The storage unit 2015 is configured to store the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function running in the computing container 201, and the network capability.

Optionally, the computing container 201 further includes application software or an operating system. The application software or the operating system may be configured to: compute the route based on the computing capability, or compute the route based on the computing capability and the network capability.

The following describes the computing container 201 by using a specific functional block diagram. Specifically, referring to FIG. 6, the computing container 201 obtains link state information of the computing container 201. The link state information is used to indicate a computing capability of the computing container 201, the computing capability may be a computing metric value or a computing capability parameter, and the computing capability parameter includes at least one piece of information of a throughput, a server load, and a computing delay. When the computing capability is the computing capability parameter, the computing container 201 may further obtain a computing metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter by using the second formula, and store the computing metric value in a storage unit (which may also be referred to as a link state database) of the computing container 201. It may be understood that the computing container 201 triggers a link state update when the computing metric value or the computing capability parameter substantially changes, to update the link state database. For example, when the computing metric value is less than a first threshold, the computing metric value is greater than a second threshold, or a parameter in the computing capability parameter is greater than or less than a preset threshold, the link state database of the computing container 201 is updated, or the computing capability parameter or the computing metric value is re-sent to a neighboring network router 202. In addition, the computing container 201 may further receive a link state request (link state request, LSR) or link state update (link state update, LSU) packet sent by the neighboring network router 202. The link state request may further carry a link state advertisement of the network router or a network parameter of the routing domain, and the LSU packet carries a to-be-updated directly-connected interface state of the neighboring network router. Then, the computing container 201 stores the link state advertisement of the network router and the network parameter of the routing domain. It may be understood that an agreed neighbor relationship is first established between the computing container 201 and the network router 202. Then, the computing container 201 and the network router 202 start to exchange a link state advertisement (link state advertisement, LSA) with each other. The link state advertisement may be understood as an advertisement that is generated by each routing node and that is for describing a directly-connected interface state of the routing node (including an interface overhead, a relationship with a neighboring router, and the like). For the computing container in this embodiment of this application, the computing container generates an advertisement for describing a computing capability state of the computing container (including an identifier of a service or function and a computing capability of the computing container; and further including a relationship with a neighboring network router, and the like). Then, the computing container 201 maintains the link state database of the computing container 201. To be specific, after receiving the link state advertisement, the computing container 201 updates a corresponding link state advertisement entry in the link state database. In brief, the computing container 201 places the collected link state advertisement in the routing domain into the link state database of the computing container 201, so that the computing container 201 can clearly learn of a computation or storage resource topology of the entire routing domain by using the link state database. The computing container 201 may further generate a corresponding link state advertisement after triggering the link state update, and send the link state advertisement as a link state update packet to the neighboring network router. The computing container 201 may further compute a route based on a computing capability in the link state advertisement in the link state database. If a computing metric value and/or a network metric value already exist/exists in the link state advertisement, route computation is directly performed based on the computing metric value and the network capability to obtain a route from a service/function consumer to each computing container. If the link state advertisement carries a computing capability parameter and/or a network parameter, the computing container 201 first obtains a computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter, and obtains a network metric value based on the network parameter; and then computes the route based on the computing metric value and the network metric value. In this embodiment of this application, a route computation algorithm may be a shortest path first (shortest path first, SPF) algorithm or another algorithm. This is not specifically limited herein. The SPF is a core algorithm of an IGP-type routing protocol and is used to make decision on optimal route selection in a complex network. After computation using the SPF algorithm, each computing container computes a loop-free “tree” that covers the entire network, has a shortest path, and roots in a service or function consumer. With this “tree”, the computing container actually learns of an optimal path from a service or function consumer to each computing container. Then, the computing container determines a specific computing container based on the route. If the computing container determines that the specific computing container is not the computing container, the computing container generates and outputs a location for re-instantiating a service or function. The location may be an identifier, a network address, or the like of the specific computing container. It may be understood that, when the computing container outputs information about the location, the receiver may be application layer software or an operating system. Therefore, instantiation or migration of the service or function is implemented.

In this embodiment, the application layer software or operating system in the computing container 201 may be considered as a special router. A functional block diagram of the application layer software or operating system may be shown in FIG. 7. The application software or the operating system receives a link state request (link state request, LSR) or a link state update (link state update, LSU) packet of a neighboring network router or the computing container. The link state request may further carry a link state advertisement of the network router or a network parameter of the routing domain, and the LSU packet carries a to-be-updated direct interface state of the neighboring network router. Then, the application software or the operating system stores the link state advertisement of the network router and the network parameter of the routing domain. The computing capability may be a computing metric value or a computing capability parameter, and the computing capability parameter includes at least one piece of information of a throughput, a server load, and a computing delay. The network capability may be a network metric value or a network parameter, and the network parameter includes at least one piece of information of a network bandwidth or a network delay. When the computing capability is the computing capability parameter, the application software or the operating system may further obtain a computing metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter by using the second formula, and store the computing metric value in a storage unit (which may also be referred to as a link state database) of the application software or the operating system. When the network capability is the network parameter, the application software or the operating system may alternatively obtain a network metric value through computation based on the network parameter by using a second formula, and store the network metric value in a storage unit (which may also be referred to as a link state database) of the application software or the operating system. It may be understood that the application software or the operating system triggers a link state update when the computing metric value, the computing capability parameter, the network metric value, or the network parameter substantially changes, to update the link state database. For example, when the computing metric value is less than a first threshold, the computing metric value is greater than a second threshold, or a parameter in the computing capability parameter is greater than or less than a preset threshold, the link state database of the application software or the operating system is updated, or the computing capability parameter or the computing metric value is re-sent to the neighboring network router or the computing container. It may be understood that an agreed neighbor relationship is first established between the application software or the operating system and the network router 202. Then, the application software or the operating system and the network router 202 start to exchange a link state advertisement (link state advertisement, LSA) with each other. The link state advertisement may be understood as an advertisement that is generated by each routing node and that is for describing a direct interface state of the routing node (including an interface overhead, a relationship with a neighboring router, and the like). For the computing container in this embodiment of this application, the computing container generates an advertisement for describing a computing capability state of the computing container (including an identifier of a service or function and a computing capability of the computing container; and further including a relationship with a neighboring network router, and the like). The application software or the operating system maintains the link state database of the application software or the operating system. To be specific, after receiving the link state advertisement, the application software or the operating system updates a corresponding link state advertisement entry in the link state database. In brief, the application software or the operating system places the collected link state advertisement in the routing domain into the link state database of the application software or the operating system, so that the application software or the operating system can clearly learn of a computation or storage resource topology of the entire routing domain by owning the link state database. The application software or the operating system may further generate a corresponding link state advertisement after triggering the link state update, and send the link state advertisement as a link state update packet to the neighboring network router. The application software or the operating system may further compute a route based on a computing capability in the link state advertisement in the link state database. If a computing metric value and/or a network metric value already exist/exists in the link state advertisement, route computation is directly performed based on the computing metric value and the network capability to obtain a route from a service/function consumer to each computing container. If the link state advertisement carries a computing capability parameter and/or a network parameter, the application software or the operating system first obtains a computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter, and obtains a network metric value based on the network parameter; and then computes the route based on the computing metric value and the network metric value. In this embodiment of this application, a route computation algorithm may be a shortest path first (shortest path first, SPF) algorithm or another algorithm. This is not specifically limited herein. The SPF is a core algorithm of an IGP-type routing protocol and is used to make an optimal route selection decision in a complex network. After computation using the SPF algorithm, each computing container computes a loop-free “tree” that covers the entire network, has a shortest path, and roots in a service or function consumer. With this “tree”, the computing container actually learns of an optimal path from a service or function consumer to each computing container. Then, the computing container determines a specific computing container based on the route. If the computing container determines that the specific computing container is not the computing container, the computing container generates and outputs a location for re-instantiating a service or function. The location may be an identifier, a network address, or the like of the specific computing container. It may be understood that, when the computing container outputs information about the location, the receiver may be application layer software or an operating system. Therefore, instantiation or migration of the service or function is implemented.

FIG. 8 is a possible schematic structural diagram of the computing container 201 according to the foregoing embodiment. The computing container 201 may include: a processor 802, a computer-readable storage medium/memory 803, a transceiver 804, an input device 805, an output device 806, and a bus 801. The processor, the transceiver, the computer-readable storage medium, and the like are connected by using the bus. A specific connection medium between the foregoing components is not limited in this embodiment of this application.

The transceiver 804 sends a computing capability to a network router 202.

In an example, the processor 802 may include a baseband circuit, for example, may compute a route to generate a routing table. The transceiver 804 may include a radio frequency circuit, to perform processing such as modulation and amplification on link state information generated based on the computing capability, and then send the link state information to the network router.

In another example, the processor 802 may run an operating system to control a function between each device and each component. The transceiver 804 may include a baseband circuit and a radio frequency circuit.

It may be understood that FIG. 8 shows only a simplified design of the computing container. During actual application, the computing container may include any quantity of transceivers, processors, memories, and the like, and all computing containers that can implement this application are within the protection scope of this application.

The processor 802 in the computing container 201 may be a general-purpose processor, for example, a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (network processor, NP), or a microprocessor, or may be an application-specific integrated circuit (application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to control program execution in the solutions of this application, or may be a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), a field programmable gate array (field-programmable gate array, FPGA) or another programmable logic device, a discrete gate or a transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component. Alternatively, the controller/processor may be a combination of processors implementing a computation function, for example, a combination of one or more microprocessors, or a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor. The processor usually performs logical and arithmetic operations based on program instructions stored in the memory.

The bus 801 may be a peripheral component interconnect (peripheral component interconnect, PCI) bus, an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus, and or the like. The bus may be classified into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of representation, only one thick line is used to represent the bus in FIG. 8, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

The foregoing computer-readable storage medium/memory 803 may further store an operating system and another application program. Specifically, the program may include program code, and the program code includes computer operation instructions. More specifically, the memory may be a read-only memory (read-only memory, ROM), another type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), another type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, a magnetic disk memory, or the like. The memory 803 may be a combination of the foregoing storage types. In addition, the computer-readable storage medium/memory may be located in the processor, or may be located outside the processor, or distributed on a plurality of entities including the processor or a processing circuit. The computer-readable storage medium/memory may be specifically embodied in a computer program product. For example, the computer program product may include a computer-readable medium in a packaging material.

Alternatively, an embodiment of this application further provides a universal processing system. For example, the universal processing system is usually referred to as a chip. The universal processing system includes one or more microprocessors that provide a processor function, and an external memory that provides at least a part of a storage medium. All these components are connected to another supporting circuit by using an external bus architecture. When instructions stored in the memory are executed by the processor, the processor is enabled to execute some or all steps of the computing container in the route computation method.

Method or algorithm steps described in combination with the content disclosed in this application may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by a processor by executing software instructions. The software instructions may be formed by a corresponding software module. The software module may be located in a RAM memory, a flash memory, a ROM memory, an EPROM memory, an EEPROM memory, a register, a hard disk, a removable hard disk, a CD-ROM, or a storage medium of any other form known in the art. For example, a storage medium is coupled to a processor, so that the processor can read information from the storage medium or write information into the storage medium. Certainly, the storage medium may be a component of the processor. The processor and the storage medium may be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may be located in user equipment. Certainly, the processor and the storage medium may exist in the user equipment as discrete components.

It may be understood that, after the computing container generates the routing table, the computing container does not need to maintain the routing table or perform route forwarding.

In the embodiments of this application, the computing container diffuses the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function in the routing domain, so that the computing capability is considered when the routing table is generated during route computation, thereby achieving optimal computation and network resource utilization. In addition, the computing container implements automatic allocation of computation, storage, and network resources, to adapt to a rapid service change or service mobility of the user.

Specifically, referring to FIG. 9, an embodiment of this application provides a network router 202, including: an obtaining unit 2021, configured to obtain a computing capability of a computing container, and obtain a network capability of a routing domain in which the network router 202 is located; and

a computation unit 2022, configured to compute a route based on the computing capability, or compute a route based on the computing capability and the network capability.

Optionally, the computing capability includes a computing capability parameter or a computing metric value, and the computing capability parameter includes at least one of a throughput, a server load, and a computing delay.

The network capability includes a network metric value or a network parameter, and the network parameter includes at least one of a network bandwidth and a network delay.

Optionally, the computation unit 2022 is specifically configured to obtain the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter; and compute the route based on the computing metric value.

Optionally, the computation unit 2022 is specifically configured to obtain the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter, and obtain the network metric value based on the network parameter; and compute the route based on the computing metric value and the network metric value.

Optionally, the computation unit 2022 is specifically configured to obtain the network metric value through computation based on the network parameter by using a first formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The first formula is:

Network metric value=α₁×Network bandwidth+γ₁ΣNetwork delay, where

α₁ and γ₁ are weighted values.

Optionally, the computation unit 2022 is specifically configured to obtain the computing metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter by using a second formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm.

The second formula is:

$\mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}=\frac{a_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where

α₂, β₁, β₂, and γ₂ are weighted values.

Optionally, the computation unit 2022 is specifically configured to: obtain a composite metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter and the network parameter by using a third formula; and compute the route based on the composite metric value to generate a routing table.

The third formula is:

$\mathrm{Composite}\mathrm{metric}\mathrm{value}={\alpha }_1\times \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{bandwidth}+\frac{{\alpha }_2\times \mathrm{Throughput}}{{\beta }_1-{\beta }_2\times \mathrm{Server}\mathrm{load}}+{\gamma }_1\times \sum \mathrm{Network}\mathrm{delay}+{\gamma }_2\times \mathrm{Computing}\mathrm{delay},$

where

α₁, γ₁, α₂, β₁, β₂, and γ₂ are weighted values.

Optionally, the network router 202 further includes a storage unit, configured to store the computing capability of the computing container 201 or the computing capability of the computing container 201 and an identifier of a service or function running in the computing container 201, and the network capability of the routing domain.

Optionally, the network router 202 further includes a generation unit 2023. The generation unit 2023 is configured to generate the routing table based on the identifier of the service or function and the route, and store the routing table in the storage unit.

The following describes the network router 202 by using a specific functional block diagram. Specifically, referring to FIG. 10, the network router 202 obtains a link state of each interface of the network router 202. Information about the link state is used to indicate a network capability of the routing domain. The network capability includes a network metric value or a network parameter. The network parameter includes at least one piece of information of a network bandwidth and a network delay. When the network capability is the network parameter, the network router 202 may further obtain a network metric value through computation based on the network parameter by using a first formula, and store the network metric value in a storage unit (which may also be referred to as a link state database) of the network router 202. It may be understood that the network router 202 triggers a link state update when the network metric value or the network parameter substantially changes, to update the link state database. For example, when the network metric value is less than a first preset threshold or the network metric value is greater than a second preset threshold or a parameter in the network parameter is greater than a third preset threshold or less than a fourth preset threshold, the link state database of the network router 202 is updated or the network metric value or the network parameter is re-sent to a neighboring network router 202 or the computing container 201. In addition, the network router 202 may further receive a link state request (link state request, LSR) or link state update (link state update, LSU) packet sent by the neighboring network router 202 or the computing container 201. The link state request may further carry a link state advertisement of the neighboring network router or a network parameter of the routing domain or a link state advertisement of the computing container 201, and the LSU packet carries a to-be-updated direct interface state of the neighboring network router. Then, the network router 202 stores the link state advertisement of the computing container 201 or the neighboring network router and the network parameter of the routing domain. It may be understood that an agreed neighbor relationship is first established between the computing container 201 and the network router 202. Then, the computing container 201 and the network router 202 start to exchange a link state advertisement (link state advertisement, LSA) with each other. The link state advertisement may be understood as an advertisement that is generated by each routing node and that is for describing a direct interface state of the routing node (including an interface overhead, a relationship with a neighboring router, and the like). For the computing container in this embodiment of this application, the computing container generates an advertisement for describing a computing capability state of the computing container (including an identifier of a service or function and a computing capability of the computing container; and further including a relationship with a neighboring network router, and the like). Then, the network router 202 maintains the link state database of the network router 202. To be specific, after receiving the link state advertisement, the network router 202 updates a corresponding link state advertisement entry in the link state database. In brief, the network router 202 places the collected link state advertisement in the routing domain into the link state database of the network router 202, so that the network router 202 can clearly learn of a computation or resource storage topology of the entire routing domain by owning the link state database. The network router 202 may further generate a corresponding link state advertisement after triggering the link state update, and send the link state advertisement as a link state update packet to the neighboring network router or the computing container. The network router 202 computes a route based on a computing capability in the link state advertisement in the link state database. If a computing metric value and/or a network metric value already exist/exists in the link state advertisement, route computation is directly performed based on the computing metric value and the network capability to obtain a route from a service/function consumer to each computing container. If the link state advertisement carries a computing capability parameter and/or a network parameter, the network router 202 first obtains a computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter, and obtains a network metric value based on the network parameter; and then computes the route based on the computing metric value and the network metric value. In this embodiment of this application, a route computation algorithm may be a shortest path first (shortest path first, SPF) algorithm or another algorithm. This is not specifically limited herein. The SPF is a core algorithm of an IGP-type routing protocol and is used to make an optimal route selection decision in a complex network. After computation using the SPF algorithm, each computing container computes a loop-free tree that covers the entire network, has a shortest path, and roots in a service or function consumer.

FIG. 11 shows a possible schematic structural diagram of the network router 202 according to the foregoing embodiment. The network router 202 may include: a processor 1102, a computer-readable storage medium/memory 1103, a transceiver 1104, an input device 11011, an output device 1106, and a bus 1101. The processor, the transceiver, the computer-readable storage medium, and the like are connected by using the bus. A specific connection medium between the foregoing components is not limited in this embodiment of this application.

The transceiver 1104 sends a link state request to the computing container 201.

In an example, the processor 1102 may include a baseband circuit, for example, may compute a route to generate a routing table. The transceiver 1104 may include a radio frequency circuit, to perform processing such as modulation and amplification on the link state request, and then send the link state request to the computing container.

In another example, the processor 1102 may run an operating system to control a function between each device and each component. The transceiver 1104 may include a baseband circuit and a radio frequency circuit.

It can be understood that FIG. 11 shows only a simplified design of the network router. During actual application, the network router may include any quantity of transceivers, processors, memories, and the like, and all network routers that can implement this application are within the protection scope of this application.

The processor 1102 in the network router 202 may be a general-purpose processor, for example, a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (network processor, NP), or a microprocessor, or may be an application-specific integrated circuit (application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to control program execution in the solutions of this application, or may be a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), a field programmable gate array (field-programmable gate array, FPGA) or another programmable logic device, a discrete gate or a transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component. Alternatively, the controller/processor may be a combination of processors implementing a computation function, for example, a combination of one or more microprocessors, or a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor. The processor usually performs logical and arithmetic operations based on program instructions stored in the memory.

The bus 1101 may be a peripheral component interconnect (peripheral component interconnect, PCI) bus, an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus, and or the like. The bus may be classified into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of representation, only one thick line is used to represent the bus in FIG. 11, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

The foregoing computer-readable storage medium/memory 1103 may further store an operating system and another application program. Specifically, the program may include program code, and the program code includes computer operation instructions. More specifically, the memory may be a read-only memory (read-only memory, ROM), another type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), another type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, a magnetic disk memory, or the like. The memory 1103 may be a combination of the foregoing storage types. In addition, the computer-readable storage medium/memory may be located in the processor, or may be located outside the processor, or distributed on a plurality of entities including the processor or a processing circuit. The computer-readable storage medium/memory may be specifically embodied in a computer program product. For example, the computer program product may include a computer-readable medium in a packaging material.

Alternatively, an embodiment of this application further provides a universal processing system. For example, the universal processing system is usually referred to as a chip. The universal processing system includes one or more microprocessors that provide a processor function, and an external memory that provides at least a part of a storage medium. All these components are connected to another supporting circuit by using an external bus architecture. When instructions stored in the memory are executed by the processor, the processor is enabled to perform some or all steps of the network router in the route computation method.

Method or algorithm steps described in combination with the content disclosed in this application may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by a processor by executing software instructions. The software instructions may be formed by a corresponding software module. The software module may be located in a RAM memory, a flash memory, a ROM memory, an EPROM memory, an EEPROM memory, a register, a hard disk, a removable hard disk, a CD-ROM, or a storage medium of any other form known in the art. For example, a storage medium is coupled to a processor, so that the processor can read information from the storage medium or write information into the storage medium. Certainly, the storage medium may be a component of the processor. The processor and the storage medium may be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may be located in user equipment. Certainly, the processor and the storage medium may exist in the user equipment as discrete components.

In this embodiment of this application, the network router performs route computation based on the computing capability of the computing container and the network parameter, to achieve optimal computation and network resource utilization.

It may be clearly understood by persons skilled in the art that, for the purpose of convenient and brief description, for a detailed working process of the foregoing system, apparatus, and unit, refer to a corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus, and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the described apparatus embodiment is merely an example. For example, the unit division is merely logical function division and may be other division during actual implementation. For example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not performed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections may be implemented by using some interfaces. The indirect couplings or communication connections between the apparatuses or units may be implemented in electronic, mechanical, or other forms.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one position, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected based on actual requirements to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of this application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each of the units may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit may be implemented in a form of hardware, or may be implemented in a form of a software functional unit.

When the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, the integrated unit may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of this application essentially, or the part contributing to the prior art, or all or some of the technical solutions may be implemented in the form of a software product. The software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to perform all or some of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of this application. The foregoing storage medium includes: any medium that can store program code, such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (Read-Only Memory, ROM), a random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.

The foregoing embodiments are merely intended for describing the technical solutions of this application, but not for limiting this application. Although this application is described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, persons of ordinary skill in the art should understand that they may still make modifications to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments or make equivalent replacements to some technical features thereof, without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application.

Claims

1. A routing domain, comprising: a computing container and a network router, whereinthe network router is a routing node that supports route computation;the computing container is connected to the network router through a virtual link;the computing container is configured to: run a routing protocol, wherein the routing protocol is used to carry a computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and an identifier of a service or function; and send the computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function to the network router by using the routing protocol; andthe network router is configured to: obtain the computing capability, and obtain a network capability of the routing domain; and compute a route based on the computing capability; or compute a route based on the computing capability and the network capability.

2. The routing domain according to claim 1, wherein that the computing container sends the computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function to the network router comprises: the computing container sends a virtual link state to the network router, wherein the virtual link state is used to indicate the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function.

3. The routing domain according to claim 1, wherein the computing container is further configured to compute the route based on the computing capability; or the computing container is further configured to: obtain the network capability, and compute the route based on the computing capability and the network capability, whereinthe route computed by the computing container is a route from a service or function user to each computing container in the routing domain.

4. The routing domain according to claim 1, wherein the computing capability comprises a computing capability parameter or a computing metric value, and the computing capability parameter comprises at least one of a throughput, a server load, and a computing delay; and the network capability comprises a network metric value or a network parameter, and the network parameter comprises at least one of a network bandwidth and a network delay.

5. The routing domain according to claim 4, wherein the computing the route based on the computing capability comprises: obtaining the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter; and computing the route based on the computing metric value.

6. The routing domain according to claim 4, wherein the computing the route based on the computing capability and the network capability comprises: obtaining the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter, and obtaining the network metric value based on the network parameter; and computing the route based on the computing metric value and the network metric value.

7. The routing domain according to claim 6, wherein the obtaining the network metric value based on the network parameter comprises: obtaining the network metric value through computation based on the network parameter by using a first formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm, wherein the first formula is Network metric value=α1×Network bandwidth+γ1ΣNetwork delay, whereinα1 and γ1 are weighted values.

8. The routing domain according to claim 5, wherein the obtaining the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter comprises: obtaining the computing metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter by using a second formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm, wherein the second formula is

9. The routing domain according to claim 4, wherein the computing the route based on the computing capability and the network capability comprises: obtaining a composite metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter and the network parameter by using a third formula; and computing the route based on the composite metric value to generate a routing table, wherein

10. The routing domain according to claim 1, wherein the network router is further configured to diffuse the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function to each network router in the routing domain; and the network router is further configured to diffuse the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function to another routing domain.

11. The routing domain according to claim 1, wherein the network router is further configured to generate the routing table based on the identifier of the service or function and the route.

12. A route computation method, applied to a routing domain comprising a computing container and a network router, wherein the network router is a routing node that supports route computation; and the method comprises: running, by the computing container, a routing protocol, wherein the routing protocol is used to carry a computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and an identifier of a service or function, and sending the computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability of the computing container and the identifier of the service or function to the network router by using the routing protocol;obtaining, by the network router, the computing capability, and obtaining a network capability of the routing domain; andcomputing, by the network router, a route based on the computing capability, or computing a route based on the computing capability and the network capability.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the sending the computing capability of the computing container or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function to the network router comprises: sending, by the computing container, a virtual link state to the network router, wherein the virtual link state is used to indicate the computing capability or the computing capability and the identifier of the service or function.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the method further comprises: computing, by the computing container, the route based on the computing capability; orobtaining, by the computing container, the network capability, and computing, by the computing container, the route based on the computing capability and the network capability, whereinthe route computed by the computing container is a route from a service or function user to each computing container in the routing domain.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the computing capability comprises a computing capability parameter or a computing metric value, and the computing capability parameter comprises at least one of a throughput, a server load, and a computing delay; and the network capability comprises a network metric value or a network parameter, and the network parameter comprises at least one of a network bandwidth and a network delay.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the computing a route based on the computing capability and the network capability comprises: obtaining the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter, and obtaining the network metric value based on the network parameter; and computing the route based on the computing metric value and the network metric value.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the computing a route based on the computing capability and the network capability comprises: obtaining the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter, and obtaining the network metric value based on the network parameter; and computing the route based on the computing metric value and the network metric value.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the obtaining the network metric value based on the network parameter comprises: obtaining the network metric value through computation based on the network parameter by using a first formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm, wherein the first formula is Network metric value=α1×Network bandwidth+γ1ΣNetwork delay, whereinα1 and γ1 are weighted values.

19. The method according to claim 16, wherein the obtaining the computing metric value based on the computing capability parameter comprises: obtaining the computing metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter by using a second formula or a nonlinear weighting algorithm, wherein

20. The method according to claim 15, wherein the computing a route based on the computing capability and the network capability comprises: obtaining a composite metric value through computation based on the computing capability parameter and the network parameter by using a third formula; andcomputing the route based on the composite metric value to generate a routing table, wherein