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Preface
Author Introduction
Jian Wang: As a senior datacom documentation engineer in Huawei, he has long
been engaged in developing technical documentation for key features of
datacom products. He has also been responsible for reviewing and delivering
guidance documents for key products and once worked as the editor-in-chief of
VNF Product Knowledge Overview and Special Topic - IP FPM.
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Preface
About This Book
This book describes the background of IP network slicing, explores its technical
value and solution, and presents successful deployment cases. This book aims to
help you understand the value and technical architecture of IP network slicing.
Intended Audience
This book is intended for network planning engineers, network design engineers,
mid- and senior-level managers at service providers and enterprises, and readers
who want to understand cutting-edge IP network technologies. Because network
slicing involves many network concepts, readers of this book should be familiar
with IP network basics, such as the IP network architecture, Flexible Algorithm
(Flex-Algo), and resource reservation technologies.
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Preface
Acknowledgments
In writing and publishing this book, we received extensive help and support from
both inside and outside Huawei. We sincerely thank Jinzhu Chen, Meng Zuo,
Zhenbin Li, Zhiqiang Du, Zhaokun Ding, Dawei Fan, Chenxi Wang, Wenjun Meng,
Tao Han, Hongkun Li, Fenghua Zhao, Yue Liu, and other leaders and experts
from Huawei Data Communication Product Line for their guidance and support.
Our thanks also go to Hui Tian, Shujun Han, Danni Ma, and other experts from
China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, who not only
provided valuable technical guidance but also carefully reviewed the book.
This book focuses on the most cutting-edge IPv6 technologies, which are still
evolving and deepening. While we have made significant efforts to ensure
accuracy, there might be omissions or deficiencies in the book. Your comments
and feedback are warmly welcomed.
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Preface
Table of Contents
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Table of Contents
5.2 Affinity-based Network Slicing Solution ................................................. 28
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Overview of Network Slicing
Network slicing provides multiple logical networks (slices) on the same shared
network infrastructure. Each slice serves a specific service type or industry user,
as shown in Figure 1-1, and can flexibly define its logical topology, Service Level
Agreement (SLA) requirements, reliability, and security level to meet
differentiated requirements of different services, industries, or users.
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Overview of Network Slicing
Figure 1-1 Network slicing
Carriers can use network slicing to meet differentiated network connection and
service quality requirements of different service types or industry users. This not
only eliminates the cost of constructing multiple private networks, but also
provides highly flexible network services that can be scheduled and allocated on
demand based on service requirements, thereby improving carriers' network
value and monetization capability and facilitating the digital transformation of
various industries.
2
Overview of Network Slicing
Chapter 2
Background of Network
Slicing
Abstract
Network slicing is designed to meet emerging differentiated service
requirements in the 5G and cloud era. Within only a few years of being
proposed, network slicing has been successfully applied in various
industries. This chapter analyzes the challenges facing IP networks from
the perspective of diversified services in the 5G and cloud era, and
describes the background of network slicing.
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Background of Network Slicing
devices, integrating services and transport networks. Such changes have
reshaped the scope of network connections. With the emergence of diversified
services in the 5G and cloud era, different users pose various service quality
requirements on networks.
5G
In the 5G era, the characteristics of mobile data, massive device connections, and
various vertical industry services vary significantly. Services such as mobile
communication, environment monitoring, smart home, smart agriculture, and
smart metering require huge numbers of device connections and frequent
transmission of many small packets. Other services such as live streaming, video
uploading, and mobile healthcare require higher transmission rates, while
Internet of Vehicles (IoV), smart grid, and industrial control services require
millisecond-level latency and near-100% reliability. As such, 5G networks must
provide capabilities such as massive access, ultra-low latency, and ultra-high
reliability to meet diversified service requirements of users and vertical industries.
Based on the main scenarios and service requirements of mobile Internet and the
Internet of Things (IoT), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has
defined three typical 5G application scenarios, as shown in Figure 2-1.
4
Background of Network Slicing
Figure 2-1 Typical application scenarios in the 5G era
5
Background of Network Slicing
Cloud Services
With the rapid development of the cloud and Internet, more and more
enterprises are adopting digital transformation, as shown in Figure 2-2.
6
Background of Network Slicing
Technology (ICT) for enterprises, reconstructs private line networks between
enterprise sites and clouds, between enterprise sites, and between clouds, and
reshapes carriers' Business to Business (B2B) services. One-stop cloud-network
services are the most critical requirements of enterprise ICT departments.
In the huge enterprise ICT market, more and more industry players are creating
different solutions to meet user requirements. Public cloud providers tap into the
cloud backbone network field to provide one-stop cloud-network services,
gradually eliminating the need for site-to-Internet and site-to-site private lines.
In addition, vendors involved with Software-Defined Networking in a Wide Area
Network (SD-WAN) provide flexible and cost-effective solutions to meet
customers' interconnection requirements. These products and services not only
transform private line connections, but also provide flexible connection, fast
provisioning, and dynamic adjustment capabilities. Consequently, the market
share of carriers' traditional private line services is under threat. To maintain
competitiveness in the B2B market, carriers must leverage their advantages in
networks and provide flexible, agile, and SLA-guaranteed private line services
with wide coverage and cloud-network convergence capabilities.
Ultra-Low Latency
IP networks typically consist of access, aggregation, and backbone layers.
Because users are unlikely to all use the maximum bandwidth at the same time,
the planned bandwidth is converged from the access layer to the aggregation
layer (typically at a ratio of 4:1, although this varies depending on carriers) and
then to the backbone layer. Through such convergence, the statistical
multiplexing capability of IP networks can be fully utilized, allowing resources to
be shared and greatly reducing the network construction cost. The downside of
this convergence is that a network may encounter high-speed and multi-
interface access but low-speed and single-interface output, resulting in
congestion. Although routers use large interface buffers to solve the packet loss
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Background of Network Slicing
problem caused by congestion, buffering packets leads to higher queuing latency
if congestion occurs.
With the emergence of diversified 5G services, such as those shown in Figure 2-3,
different services have different requirements on bandwidth and latency. For
example, live video services require high bandwidth, and burst traffic is likely to
cause instantaneous congestion; and services such as telemedicine, gaming, and
precision manufacturing require ultra-low latency. Requirements on strict latency
can be met if channels with differentiated latency are provided based on
services.
Security Isolation
Some enterprises in vertical industries, such as government, finance, and
healthcare, have specific requirements (shown in Figure 2-4) on security and
stability of their core services, such as production, manufacturing, and interactive
services. To ensure that these core services are not affected by other services (for
example, information management and public network services), enterprises
usually isolate them by using private networks. However, factors such as
construction costs, Operations and Maintenance (O&M), and rapid service
expansion have given rise to enterprises seeking new ways to carry their core
services while meeting security isolation requirements. With statistical
multiplexing in traditional IP networks, services may preempt each other's
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Background of Network Slicing
resources. As such, only best-effort services can be provided, and the security
isolation capability cannot be provided. In addition, traditional Multi-Service
Transfer Platform (MSTP) private lines are becoming obsolete, but some services
they carry, such as financial and government private line services, require
security isolation and exclusive resources.
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Background of Network Slicing
Flexible Connections
With the continuous development of services in the 5G and cloud era, the
singular service type evolves toward diverse types, and the singular traffic
pattern evolves toward multi-direction patterns. This results in more flexible,
complex, and dynamic network connections, as shown in Figure 2-5. As 5G core
Network Elements (NEs) are cloudified, User Plane Functions (UPFs) are moved
closer to users, and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) is widely applied, the
connections between base stations, between base stations and different network
layers of Data Centers (DCs), and between different network layers of DCs
become increasingly complex and change dynamically. This requires networks to
provide any connection on demand. In addition, because different industries,
services, and users have different service scopes and access locations in the
network and cloud, customized network topologies and connections are required.
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Background of Network Slicing
This cannot prevent services from affecting each other, guarantee SLAs, or meet
requirements of services on dynamic deployment and flexible adjustment.
Tenant-level refined and intelligent management are required for services;
however, one traditional IP network cannot meet such requirements.
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Background of Network Slicing
Figure 2-6 Example of network slicing
12
Background of Network Slicing
Chapter 3
Benefits of Network Slicing
Abstract
Based on network slicing, carriers can provide resource isolation,
differentiated SLAs, high reliability, flexible topology customization, and
automatic slice management to build intelligent cloud networks, helping
enterprises achieve digital transformation.
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Benefits of Network Slicing
government services) or users in a network slice should not be accessible to
users in other network slices. In this case, effective security isolation measures
need to be taken between different slices.
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Benefits of Network Slicing
Take a smart grid scenario as an example. As shown in Figure 3-1, smart grid
services are classified as control or collection services. The two types of services
have different SLA requirements, and service isolation needs to be provided.
Network slicing provides resource and security isolation between smart grid and
public network services, as well as isolation between smart grid control and
collection services.
Network slicing enables carriers to gradually transform from selling the same
services to selling differentiated services for Business to Home (B2H), Business to
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Benefits of Network Slicing
Business (B2B), and Business to Consumer (B2C). As shown in Figure 3-2, a
carrier provides differentiated services for tenants in the form of slice offerings.
To drive new value growth in the future, carriers will predominantly provide on-
demand, customized, and differentiated services.
Figure 3-2 Slice as a service, providing differentiated network services for tenants
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Benefits of Network Slicing
Figure 3-3 Link failure-triggered switching in a network slice
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Benefits of Network Slicing
Figure 3-4 Flex-Algo-based flexible customization of topology connections
After a logical topology and connection are customized for users in a network
slice, the users are aware of only the network slice's logical topology and
connection — not the basic network's full network topology. In addition,
services deployed in a network slice are limited to the topology corresponding to
that network slice. For network slice users, this simplifies the network
information that they need to perceive and maintain. And for carriers, this
prevents excessive internal information about basic networks from being
exposed to network slice users, improving network security.
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Benefits of Network Slicing
3.5 Automated Slice Management
As service types and scales continuously increase, the complexity involved in
network management grows rapidly. This means that managing networks
manually is no longer a feasible option for carriers. Instead, they need to
manage these networks dynamically and efficiently, which requires automated
network management technologies. The network slice manager provides full-
lifecycle management and tenant-level refined service management for network
slices, streamlining the entire process from user intent to service provisioning, as
shown in Figure 3-5.
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Benefits of Network Slicing
Figure 3-5 Full-lifecycle management of network slices
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Benefits of Network Slicing
Chapter 4
Architecture of Network
Slicing
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Architecture of Network Slicing
Figure 4-1 IP network slicing architecture
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Architecture of Network Slicing
Figure 4-2 Network slice lifecycle management
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Architecture of Network Slicing
Slice optimization: Network slice performance needs to be balanced with
network costs to meet SLA requirements through various operations, such as
slice forwarding resource prediction and intra-slice traffic optimization.
The network slice instance layer covers VPNs at the overlay layer and Virtual
Transport Networks (VTNs) at the underlay layer. VPNs provide logical
connections for services within a network slice and can isolate services of
different network slices. VTNs, on the other hand, provide logical network
topologies for slice service connections, and provide exclusive or partially shared
network resources to meet SLAs of network slice services. In this regard, a
network slice instance is the integration of a VPN service as the overlay with an
appropriate VTN as the underlay. Because there are various overlay VPN
technologies that are mature and widely used, the following sections mainly
describe the VTN's functions. Network slice mentioned later typically refers to a
VTN that carries network slice services.
VTN functions can be broken down into data plane functions and control plane
functions.
Data plane: adds network slice identifiers to data packets so that packets of
different network slices can be forwarded according to the forwarding
entries of the corresponding network slices. Note that these identifiers are
generic and agnostic to various resource partitioning technologies used at
the network infrastructure layer. Currently, network slice IDs can be carried
using SRv6 Segment Identifiers (SIDs) or dedicated slice IDs in data packets.
Control plane: distributes and collects each network slice's attributes (such
as the topology and resource) and their status information. In addition, the
control plane calculates and provisions routes and paths based on the
network slice's topology and resource constraints, mapping service flows of
different network slices to corresponding network slice instances on demand.
Currently, the network slice topology can be flexibly customized using Flex-
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Architecture of Network Slicing
Algos on the control plane, and path information within network slices can
be delivered using SRv6 Policies.
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Architecture of Network Slicing
Chapter 5
Network Slicing Solutions
Abstract
This chapter mainly describes the design principles and characteristics of
the affinity-based and slice ID-based network slicing solutions, and
compares the two solutions. This will help you understand how network
slicing implements functions such as resource isolation and
differentiated SLA assurance.
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Network Slicing Solutions
Affinities can identify the forwarding resource interfaces of different slices,
and each resource interface requires an IP address and SR SID. In the control
plane, each slice calculates Segment Routing-Multiprotocol Label Switching
(SR-MPLS) and SRv6 Policy paths based on the affinity for service bearing. In
the data plane, slice-specific service packets are encapsulated with the SR-
MPLS label stack or SRv6 Segment Routing Header (SRH) and forwarded
hop by hop. This book uses SRv6 as an example to describe the affinity-
based network slicing solution.
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Network Slicing Solutions
data packet for service forwarding. This book uses SRv6 as an example to
describe the slice ID-based network slicing solution.
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Network Slicing Solutions
What Is an Affinity?
An affinity, also called admin group or color, is a control information attribute of
a link. As shown in Figure 5-3, affinities are used to identify links by assigning
the links different colors (such as blue and yellow). Links identified with the
same color form a logical network topology.
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Network Slicing Solutions
Figure 5-4 Affinity-based network slicing
Affinity information (along with other link information) is flooded in the network
through the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP)/Border Gateway Protocol-Link State
(BGP-LS) and is reported to the network slice controller. After collecting the link
status information of the entire network, the network slice controller may form
an independent network slice view based on each affinity, and compute a
constrained forwarding path for slice services on a per-slice basis.
As shown in Figure 5-5, in the data plane, different SRv6 End.X SIDs need to be
allocated to resource interfaces or sub-interfaces reserved for different network
slices. In this way, each forwarding node on the network can determine the
interface or sub-interface resources for packet forwarding based on the SRv6
SIDs.
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Network Slicing Solutions
Figure 5-5 SRv6-based data plane
The network slice controller computes an explicit path based on slice constraints.
The path can then be orchestrated into a SID list composed of SRv6 SIDs relating
to interfaces or sub-interfaces. This SID list can explicitly indicate the forwarding
path of packets and a group of reserved forwarding resources on the path in the
SRv6 network. The controller uses a BGP SR Policy to deliver the SRv6 explicit
path of each slice to the ingress and steer the services — such as Layer 2 Virtual
Private Network (L2VPN) and Layer 3 Virtual Private Network (L3VPN) services
— planned in the slice to the SRv6 Policy path of the corresponding slice. As
shown in Figure 5-6, if the destination address of a service matches the endpoint
of an SRv6 Policy and the service preference (identified by the color extended
community attribute of the corresponding VPN route) is the same as that of the
SRv6 Policy, the service can be steered to the SRv6 Policy for forwarding. To
ensure resource isolation between different slices and provide differentiated
paths for different services within a slice, an SRv6 Policy restricts the forwarding
of service packets using the paths and reserved resources within a slice. This
makes it possible to meet the SLA requirements of different slice users and
different services within a slice.
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Network Slicing Solutions
Figure 5-6 Steering services to a specified SRv6 Policy path based on an affinity
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Network Slicing Solutions
from multiplying with the number of slices, effectively relieving the scalability
pressure caused by the increase of network slices in the control and data planes.
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Network Slicing Solutions
Figure 5-7 Network slice address identification model (one-dimensional identification)
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Network Slicing Solutions
Figure 5-8 Network slice address identification model (two-dimensional identification)
35
Network Slicing Solutions
Figure 5-9 Format of an IPv6 packet encapsulated with an HBH Options header
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Network Slicing Solutions
Figure 5-10 Slice ID-based data plane
For a slice ID-based network slice, a network device needs to generate two
forwarding tables. One is a routing table, which is used to determine the Layer 3
outbound interface based on the destination address of a packet. The other is a
slice interface's slice ID mapping table, which is used to determine a slice's
reserved resources on the Layer 3 interface based on the slice ID in a packet. As
shown in Figure 5-11, after a service packet reaches a network device, the
network device searches the routing table based on the destination address in
order to obtain the next-hop device and Layer 3 outbound interface. The device
then searches the slice interface's slice ID mapping table based on the slice ID to
determine reserved resources (sub-interfaces or channels) on the Layer 3
outbound interface. Finally, the device uses the corresponding sub-interface or
channel to forward the service packet.
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Network Slicing Solutions
Figure 5-11 Steering services into a specified SRv6 Policy path based on a slice ID
The slice ID-based network slicing solution has the following advantages:
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Network Slicing Solutions
5.4 Comparison Between Network
Slicing Solutions
Table 5-1 compares the affinity-based network slicing solution with the slice ID-
based network slicing solution.
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Network Slicing Solutions
Item Affinity-based Network Slice ID-based Network
Slicing Solution Slicing Solution
40
Network Slicing Solutions
Chapter 6
Suggestions on Network
Slicing Deployment
Abstract
The deployment of network slicing usually requires the help of a
network controller. Before deploying network slicing, you need to
consider factors such as networking scenarios and SLA requirements.
This chapter provides suggestions on deploying network slicing based on
networking scenarios and reserving resources based on SLA
requirements.
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Suggestions on Network Slicing Deployment
Network Slicing in Different Networking Scenarios
According to the network connection model, there are three typical networking
scenarios: Multipoint-to-Multipoint (MP2MP), Point-to-Point (P2P) private line,
and hybrid network modes. As shown in Figure 6-1, network slices deployed in
the three networking scenarios are called MP2MP network slices, P2P private line
network slices, and hybrid network slices.
For MP2MP network slices, the entire physical network or a portion of it can be
sliced, and nodes in a MP2MP network slice are fully meshed. Typical MP2MP
network slices include carrier self-operating service slices, industry-specific slices,
and VIP customer-specific slices. Typically, network resources cannot be shared
between different MP2MP network slices, but can be shared between different
connections in the same slice. An MP2MP network slice usually requires
multipoint-to-multipoint interconnection, resulting in many connections and
complex connection relationships. For example, in an MP2MP network slice with
1000 nodes, to implement interconnection between any two nodes, about
1,000,000 point-to-point explicit paths need to be established. The complexity
brought by such a large number of paths puts great pressure on network
performance. As such, it is recommended that Flex-Algos be used to customize
slice topologies and provide distributed path computation for different MP2MP
network slices. A Flex-Algo is a customized algorithm for constrained path
computation. With Flex-Algos, you can define algorithm values and a series of
parameters (including metric types, algorithm types, and link constraints) to
flexibly customize topologies and path computation rules. In this way, network
nodes can perform distributed path computation based on constraints, reducing
the cost of computing and maintaining a large number of tunnels.
For P2P private line network slices, such as government and enterprise as well as
enterprise site-to-site private line network slices, slicing is implemented based on
specified service access points, and such private line network slices usually
require exclusive bandwidth resources. A private line network slice usually
requires interconnection only between limited service access points, and the
connection relationship between access points is relatively fixed. As such, while a
single private line network slice has only a limited number of connections, the
number of private line network slices on an entire network is relatively large. If
each P2P private line network slice is deployed using a Flex-Algo, a network
needs to support a large number of Flex-Algos, placing great pressure on
network performance. For this reason, it is recommended that SRv6 Policies be
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Suggestions on Network Slicing Deployment
used to provide explicit paths for connections in P2P private line network slices
to implement differentiated forwarding.
While both the affinity- and slice ID-based network slicing solutions can meet
the requirements of the three networking scenarios, their implementation
processes differ. The following provides suggestions for deploying the two
solutions in the MP2MP network slice and P2P private line network slice
scenarios. A hybrid network slice is a combination of an MP2MP network slice
and a P2P private line network slice, and details are not described herein.
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Suggestions on Network Slicing Deployment
used between any two network nodes to specify a service path with guaranteed
network resources, and then a set of SRv6 Policies between each pair of multiple
network nodes forms an MP2MP network slice with guaranteed network
resources.
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Suggestions on Network Slicing Deployment
Application of the Slice ID-based Network Slicing
Solution in Networking Scenarios
In the slice ID-based network slicing solution, slice IDs are globally planned and
allocated to identify the subset of forwarding resources that network devices
allocate to network slices. This can meet the requirements of both MP2MP
network slices and P2P private line network slices, but the implementation
solutions differ between them. An MP2MP network slice consists of a large
number of connections and a complex network topology. To cope with this
situation, slice IDs and Flex-Algos can be combined to provide topology
customization and resource guarantee for network slices, as shown in Figure 6-3.
After Flex-Algos are enabled on network nodes, the network nodes perform path
computation according to the algorithm parameters defined by the Flex-Algos.
Then, based on the link constraints defined in Flex-Algos, a physical network can
be divided into different logical topologies to meet differentiated topology
customization requirements of network slices. In addition, Flex-Algos allow
different metric types to be used to compute differentiated paths for network
slices with the same topology, meeting differentiated SLA requirements of
network slices. After Flex-Algos determine slice topologies and packet forwarding
paths, slice IDs are used to identify the network resources reserved for the slices
and used during packet forwarding.
As shown in Figure 6-4, an SRv6 Policy is used to specify a service path with
guaranteed resources between two endpoints on the network. End SIDs and
End.X SIDs are allocated to the network nodes and Layer 3 interfaces,
respectively, while a slice ID identifies a private line tunnel with guaranteed
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Suggestions on Network Slicing Deployment
resources on the network. Multiple SRv6 Policies can use the same End/End.X SID
to specify explicit paths, and different slice IDs to identify different resources
reserved for the slices on the paths. This ensures that differentiated SLA
requirements of different P2P private line network slices can be met.
FlexE Interface
FlexE technology uses FlexE shim to pool physical interface resources based on
slots. A high-bandwidth physical interface is flexibly divided into several sub-
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Suggestions on Network Slicing Deployment
channel interfaces (FlexE interfaces) based on a slot resource pool, implementing
flexible and refined management of interface resources. A FlexE interface is
equivalent to a physical interface, and its bandwidth resources are strictly
isolated from those of other FlexE interfaces. FlexE interfaces have extremely
little latency interference with each other and can provide ultra-low latency. This
makes FlexE interfaces suitable for carrying URLLC services that have strict
requirements on latency SLA, such as differential protection services of power
grids.
Channelized Sub-interface
Channelized sub-interfaces are based on the sub-interface model. Leveraging the
HQoS mechanism, bandwidth can be flexibly allocated by configuring
independent channelized sub-interfaces for network slices. Each network slice is
allocated exclusive bandwidth and a dedicated scheduling tree to reserve
resources for slice services. A channelized sub-interface is equivalent to an
independent "lane" in a road. Each of these lanes is assigned to each network
slice on a network device. The lane between different network slices is fixed, and
cannot be changed during service traffic transmission. This ensures strict
isolation of services in different slices, and effectively prevents resource
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Suggestions on Network Slicing Deployment
preemption between services when traffic bursts occur. In addition, flexible lanes
can be assigned within the fixed lane of each network slice, allowing
differentiated scheduling to be performed in the same slice based on the priority
of packets.
Flex-channel
A Flex-channel provides a flexible and fine-granularity interface resource
reservation mode. In contrast to a channelized sub-interface, a Flex-channel does
not have a sub-interface model and is easier to configure. As such, a Flex-
channel is more suitable for scenarios where network slices are quickly created
on demand.
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Suggestions on Network Slicing Deployment
Comparison Between Different Resource
Reservation Technologies
Table 6-1 compares different resource reservation technologies.
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Suggestions on Network Slicing Deployment
Figure 6-5 Combination of different resource reservation technologies
Network slices with hierarchical scheduling are used to provide flexible and
refined resource management. For example, on a network with 50 Gbit/s
bandwidth in the access ring and 100 Gbit/s bandwidth in the aggregation ring,
FlexE interfaces can be used on the access and aggregation rings to reserve 1
Gbit/s and 2 Gbit/s bandwidth, respectively. This implements hard isolation of
services and meets the requirements of a vertical industry on isolation and ultra-
low latency. After entering the aggregation ring from multiple access rings,
services in the same slice can share the 2 Gbit/s bandwidth reserved for the slice
in the aggregation ring. Different service types or users of the vertical industry
can continue to use channelized sub-interface or Flex-channel technology in a
FlexE interface of a slice to perform refined resource reservation and scheduling.
This maximizes statistical multiplexing of resources while meeting requirements
on slice isolation and SLA assurance.
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Suggestions on Network Slicing Deployment
Chapter 7
Successful Applications of
Network Slicing
Abstract
To meet differentiated SLA requirements in the 5G and cloud era,
carriers support different services through network slicing, helping
enterprises achieve digital transformation. This chapter describes the
successful applications of network slicing in four scenarios: smart
healthcare, smart policing, smart port, and smart grid.
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Successful Applications of Network Slicing
treatment, rehabilitation, health care, and more. During the promotion of smart
healthcare, high-speed broadband networks and interconnected private lines
covering urban and rural healthcare organizations are crucial for supporting the
smart healthcare system.
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Successful Applications of Network Slicing
Ultra-low latency: Core healthcare systems are migrated to the cloud. The
service latency of systems such as image archiving & communication
systems and hospital information management systems is less than 20 ms
and remains stable, providing service experience the same as local services.
This private network is the first in the industry to deploy slicing and SRv6
technologies across the entire network. It has the following characteristics:
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Successful Applications of Network Slicing
Fast provisioning and agile O&M: NCE provides E2E network slice lifecycle
management, and slices and SLAs are visualized and controllable.
One network for multiple purposes: One healthcare private network can be
further sliced to provide multiple service slices, enabling one network for
multiple purposes and high Return On Investment (ROI).
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Successful Applications of Network Slicing
Figure 7-3 Different policing services of smart policing
High security and reliability: Uploaded policing surveillance data has high
security requirements and must be fully isolated from public data
transmission channels.
High bandwidth: Drone patrol, smart police cars, and high-altitude cameras
require 4K HD surveillance, and 4K video recording requires real-time
transmission (20 Mbit/s to 40 Mbit/s uplink bandwidth per channel).
Guaranteed latency: In the hotspot areas of B2C user traffic, E2E resource
reservation can be used to guarantee the latency of public security services.
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Successful Applications of Network Slicing
Figure 7-4 Smart policing based on network slicing
High security and reliability: An independent E2E channel for the policing
service slice is deployed, where Radio Bearer (RB) or Allocation and
Retention Priority (ARP) is deployed on the Radio Access Network (RAN) to
reserve resources; FlexE slicing is deployed on the IP network to reserve
resources; and a standalone UPF is deployed on the core network). This
isolates policing services from public services and ensures the security of
uploaded policing surveillance data.
High bandwidth: High-bandwidth slices are deployed (10GE for base stations,
50GE for the IP network, and 100GE for the core and aggregation layers) to
meet the upstream bandwidth requirements of videos and implement real-
time uploading of multi-channel HD videos.
Guaranteed latency: FlexE slicing is deployed to implement hard pipe
isolation and guarantee the stable latency of policing services.
Visualized slice SLA: IFIT is deployed to visualize the SLA of service slices,
quickly locating network faults.
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Successful Applications of Network Slicing
7.3 Smart Port — Slice-based Port
Private Network
Requirement Introduction
The port industry is a heavy machinery industry. The main operation site of a
port is located in the outdoor yard, which occupies a large area and is covered by
containers, cranes, and container trucks, as shown in Figure 7-5.
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Successful Applications of Network Slicing
challenges such as high optical fiber costs, limited Wi-Fi coverage, difficult
production network isolation, and high labor costs.
With the advent of the 5G era, the port urgently needs to be upgraded to a
smart one. This requires gantry cranes to be reconstructed. If HD cameras can be
deployed on each gantry crane to upload HD videos to the control room,
workers can view the site through HD videos and remotely control the gantry
crane through low-latency channels. This resolves the above challenges while
meeting the requirements of the gantry crane.
High bandwidth: Each gantry crane has 18 1080p cameras, and the required
uplink bandwidth is 30 Mbit/s.
Low latency: The required E2E latency is 18 ms, where the latency required
for the IP network is 3 ms.
High availability: 99.999% availability, less than one suspension per month.
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Successful Applications of Network Slicing
Figure 7-6 Smart port based on network slicing
The network slicing-based smart port solution has the following characteristics:
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Successful Applications of Network Slicing
Compared with traditional ports, smart ports that adopt remote control and
monitoring can cut labor costs by 75% and enable gantry cranes to move flexibly
and work unattended, reducing security risks.
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Successful Applications of Network Slicing
Service Typical Scenario Description
Type Scenario
Demand Reduces or shifts the power load in a certain period when the
response reliability of the power system is threatened, thereby ensuring
the stability of the power grid. This scenario requires ultra-low
latency and high reliability.
Big video Includes substation inspection robots, drone patrol for power
applications transmission lines, comprehensive video surveillance for power
distribution rooms, and mobile management and control for
onsite construction activities, which require real-time video
and image transmission. As such, high communication
bandwidth is required.
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Successful Applications of Network Slicing
High reliability: Video services require 99.9% availability, control services
require 99.999% availability, and production and management services need
to be isolated.
Multiple network slice instances can be created for each type of slice as required.
Power grid enterprises can provide differentiated electric power network slice
services based on the slice running status and service requirements.
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Successful Applications of Network Slicing
Figure 7-7 Smart grid based on network slicing
The network slicing-based smart grid solution has the following characteristics:
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Successful Applications of Network Slicing
Chapter 8
Technical Prospects of
Network Slicing
For carriers, network slicing helps them offer their network infrastructures to
various industries in a more flexible, efficient, and open manner. In addition, slice
isolation of different dimensions and degrees ensures high QoS, reliability, and
security of various services. Currently, carriers are actively cooperating with
industry partners, equipment vendors, and integrators to fully verify and
gradually put network slicing solutions and key technologies into commercial use
in multiple fields such as electric power, healthcare, industrial manufacturing,
transportation, video live broadcast, and cloud gaming.
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Technical Prospects of Network Slicing
For tenants in vertical fields and third-party Over The Tops (OTTs, providing
various application services for users through the Internet), network slicing
allows network resources and capabilities to be used more conveniently and
quickly, obtaining on-demand deterministic service assurance. Network slicing
will promote in-depth cooperation between tenants in vertical fields, third-party
OTTs, and carriers, and promote the emergence and development of new
business models and ecological environments.
Network slicing's requirements and related technologies start in the 5G era, but
its applications will not be limited to 5G. The concept, architecture, and technical
solutions of network slicing will be continuously verified and improved in more
extensive service scenarios. In addition, the continuous deployment and
application of network slicing will bring greater value to carriers, industry users,
and enterprise users.
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Technical Prospects of Network Slicing
Contact Us
networkinfo@huawei.com
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Technical Prospects of Network Slicing