Abstract: There is provided a method, apparatus and non-transitory computer readable media for designing and deploying a network service (NS) meeting availability requirements. The method comprises computing availabilities and failure rates of virtual network functions (VNFs) instances available for deploying the NS. The method comprises designing the NS by defining VNFs instances constituents placement and redundancy, using the computed availabilities and failure rates of the VNFs instances. The method comprises deploying the NS.

Abstract: A technique for replacing a source Virtualized Network Function Manager, VNFM, managing a source Virtualized Network Function, VNF, in a VNF based environment by a target VNFM is disclosed. A method implementation of the technique comprises the steps of triggering (S302) instantiating a target VNF, the target VNF being managed by the target VNFM and being executed in parallel to the source VNF, triggering (S304) redirecting traffic from the source VNF to the target VNF in accordance with a traffic redirection schedule, triggering (S306) terminating the source VNF when redirecting traffic from the source VNF to the target VNF is complete, and triggering (S308) terminating the source VNFM.

Abstract: Resources in an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) system are upgraded in an iterative process. In response to an upgrade request indicating requested changes to a current configuration of the system, one or more graph representations of the current configuration and the requested changes are created. The graph representations include a control graph which has vertices representing resource groups, and edges representing dependences among the resource groups. A batch of resource groups is identified to be upgraded in a current iteration based on the dependencies and Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirements including availability and elasticity of the system. Upgrade operations are executed on the identified batch using selected upgrade methods which handle potential incompatibilties during transition of system configurations. The graph representations are updated to include any new requested changes and recovery operations in response to feedback of failed upgrade operations.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method, executed in a Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) software modification manager, for coordination of NFVI software modifications of a NFVI providing at least one Virtual Resource (VR) hosting at least one Virtual Network Function (VNF), comprising receiving an NFVI software modifications request; sending a notification that a software modification procedure of the at least one VR is about to start to a VNF level manager, the VNF level manager managing a VNF hosted on the at least one VR provided by the NFVI; applying software modifications to at least one resource of the at least one VR; and notifying the VNF level manager about completion of the software modifications.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method, apparatus and computer readable media for combining user and operator intents in network slice design and deployment. The method comprises receiving user intents for requested functionalities. The method comprises generating a solution map in which a network slice design is created for each requested functionality, each network slice design being associated with a plurality of operator policies that satisfy the user intents. The method comprises comparing the operator policies associated with the network slice designs for the requested functionalities and combining the network slice designs with matching operator policies into one or more merged network slice design if the user and operator intents are satisfied and if no isolation requirement is violated. The method comprises deploying, in a network of the operator, one or more merged network slice based on the one or more merged network slice design.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method, executed by an NFV-MANO, for providing a requested Service Availability Level (SAL) for a Network Service (NS). The method comprises at each of a plurality of layers of the NFV-MANO, mapping the requested SAL to a SAL that needs to be provided by a lower layer of the NFV-MANO. The method comprises propagating the mapped requested SAL through interfaces between layers of the NFV-MANO, from an NFVO towards a VIM. The method comprises receiving an estimated SAL? for the NS based on virtual resources (VR) allocated by the VIM for satisfying the requested SAL. The method comprises, upon determining that the estimated SAL? does not satisfy the requested SAL, taking actions to meet the requested SAL, or upon determining that the estimated SAL? satisfies the requested SAL taking no further actions.

Abstract: A set of test methods for performing a live test of service in a production environment, where the service is provided by a set of configured instances in the production environment and each configured instance is composed of a set of components. The methods including a method that includes instantiating components under test from the set of components to setup paths that are to be taken by test traffic, instantiating test configuration components for the service, executing a test case on a created path, generating a snapshot of a first serving component from the set of components, replacing a tested component under test with a second serving component cloned from the snapshot, relocating the service to the second serving component, replacing the serving component of the snapshot with a new component under test to create a new path to be tested, and determining whether all paths have been tested.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a composition for an enhanced oil recovery process, said composition comprising (a) one or more anionic cocogem surfactants; b) one or more surfactants based on nonionic vegetable fatty acids (or their synthetic analogues); c) optionally one or more, preferably commercially available, co-surfactants; d) optionally one or more agents with phase transfer property, preferably an alcohol; and e) polyacrylamide as a flow modifier.

Abstract: A method, system and computer readable media for mapping, for a network service (NS), requirements to configuration parameters and redundancy. The method includes marking Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) of a plurality of VNFs at each of a plurality of scaling levels and setting a recovery method for each VNF for each of a plurality of hosting types. The method includes finding configuration parameters, including values and options, for each marked and unmarked VNFs of each of a plurality of Network Forwarding Path (NFP) to satisfy the requirements, where each NFP corresponds to a functionality of the NS. The method includes finding a required number of standbys for each unmarked VNF of a Network Service Deployment Flavor (NsDF) of each of the plurality of hosting type. The method includes finding the hosting type having a minimum computing cost for all VNFs of the NsDF.

Abstract: There are provided methods for defining a Network Service Descriptor (NSD) for a Network Service (NS), and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) Orchestrator (NFVO) using said NSD. The NSD comprises zero, one or more of each of: a Virtualized Network Function (VNF) Descriptor (VNFD), a Physical Network Function (PNF) Descriptor (PNFD), a Network Service Descriptor (NSD), a Virtual Link (VL) Descriptor (VLD), and a VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor (VNFFGD). One method comprising the step of defining at least one Connection Points (CP) Profile, wherein the CP Profile is referenced through a cpProfileId in a Network Forwarding Path Descriptor (NFPD) attribute of the VNFFGD, the CP Profile specifying a Connection Point Descriptor (CPD) or Service Access Point Descriptor (SAPD) for a given VnfProfile, PnfProfile or NsProfile.

Abstract: A method and system for providing a NS instance satisfying a requested availability of a NSI comprises obtaining at least one VNFD for a VNF composing the NS, the VNFD being associated with at least one absolute availability value guaranteed according to at least one DF; obtaining an availability value of NFVI on which the VNF is to be deployed; determining a minimum availability value for a NS instance of the NS; selecting a VNF DF and RM for the VNF DF such that the product of the absolute availability value of the VNF DF, taking into account the selected RM, and of the availability value of the NFVI is greater than or equal to the minimum availability value for the NS instance; and instantiating the NS instance by instantiating at least one VNF instance according to the at least one selected VNF DF and corresponding RM.

Abstract: A non-transitory computer readable media, methods, system and network function virtualization orchestrator can be used to instantiate a network service operating as at least a portion of a network slice. A network service descriptor describing the network service comprises at least one service deployment flavor; zero or more sharing allowed attribute defining if the network service or constituent instances of the network service is allowed to be shared with another network service instance, or with its constituent instances; and zero or more external placement rule attribute defining if the network service or constituent instances of the network service, is affine or anti-affine with current and future other network service or constituent instances of the current and future other network service.

Abstract: The anionic cocogem surfactant of formula (I) for an oil production process of increased efficiency wherein each R1 and R2 is independently selected from hydrogen or C1-C18 straight or branched alkyl optionally substituted by OH; each R3 is independently selected from hydrogen; C1-C25 straight or branched alkyl or alkenyl optionally comprising inter-chain amido-group; aromatic group optionally substituted by C1-C25, preferably C5-C20, more preferably C5-C15 straight or branched alkyl, preferably selected from phenyl and diphenylether; or C10-C20 straight or branched alkenyl, alkadienyl or alkatrienyl; Z is C1-C18 straight or branched alkylene optionally substituted by one or two C1-C6 alkyl or preferably C3-C6 cycloalkyl, optionally comprising (EO)n and/or (PO)m groups, wherein EO is ethylene-oxide i.e. —CH2CH2O—, and PO is propylene-oxide, i.e.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method and a state controller running in a Kubernetes system. The state controller being operative to assign labels to pods, the labels indicating services to which the pods are assigned and high-availability states of the pods; detect a failed pod having a label indicating a high-availability state of not ready; and reassign the label indicating the high-availability state of the failed pod to a healthy pod, thereby changing endpoints of services provided and service flows from the failed pod to the healthy pod.

Abstract: There is provided an architecture, methods and a system for live testing in a production environment. The architecture comprises a platform independent Test Planner for generating a test package in response to receiving an event. Generating a test package comprises selecting test goals, generating a test suite and generating a test plan. The architecture comprises a platform dependent Test Execution Framework (TEF) for executing the test package in an environment serving live traffic. Executing the test package comprises initializing the test plan, starting the test plan and reporting the successful completion of the test plan, reporting the suspension of the test plan and waiting for further instructions, or reporting a failure of the test plan and executing a corresponding contingency plan.

Abstract: A non-transitory computer readable media, methods, system and network function virtualization orchestrator can be used to instantiate a network service operating as at least a portion of a network slice. A network service descriptor describing the network service comprises at least one service deployment flavor; zero or more sharing allowed attribute defining if the network service or constituent instances of the network service is allowed to be shared with another network service instance, or with its constituent instances; and zero or more external placement rule attribute defining if the network service or constituent instances of the network service, is affine or anti-affine with current and future other network service or constituent instances of the current and future other network service.

Abstract: A method and network node are provided for dimensioning a network service (NS). The method comprises calculating, based on given capacity requirements of the NS, a required number of virtual network functions component (VNFC) instances of each of a plurality of virtual network function (VNF) in the NS; selecting a VNF deployment flavor (VnfDf) for each of the plurality of VNFs in the NS, based on the calculated required number of VNFC instances; generating a network service deployment flavor (NsDf) including the selected VnfDfs; and onboarding a network service descriptor (NSD), which includes the NsDf, for use for instantiating the dimensioned NS.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method, executed by an NFV-MANO, for providing a requested Service Availability Level (SAL) for a Network Service (NS). The method comprises at each of a plurality of layers of the NFV-MANO, mapping the requested SAL to a SAL that needs to be provided by a lower layer of the NFV-MANO. The method comprises propagating the mapped requested SAL through interfaces between layers of the NFV-MANO, from an NFVO towards a VIM. The method comprises receiving an estimated SAL? for the NS based on virtual resources (VR) allocated by the VIM for satisfying the requested SAL. The method comprises, upon determining that the estimated SAL? does not satisfy the requested SAL, taking actions to meet the requested SAL, or upon determining that the estimated SAL? satisfies the requested SAL taking no further actions.

Abstract: A technique for replacing a source Virtualized Network Function Manager, VNFM, managing a source Virtualized Network Function, VNF, in a VNF based environment by a target VNFM is disclosed. A method implementation of the technique comprises the steps of triggering (S302) instantiating a target VNF, the target VNF being managed by the target VNFM and being executed in parallel to the source VNF, triggering (S304) redirecting traffic from the source VNF to the target VNF in accordance with a traffic redirection schedule, triggering (S306) terminating the source VNF when redirecting traffic from the source VNF to the target VNF is complete, and triggering (S308) terminating the source VNFM.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method, system and computer readable media for validating that a configuration of a cloud system meets requirements, using a reduced test suite selected from a test suite. The method includes classifying the requirements and service instances realizing the requirements composing the cloud system. The method includes applying test suite reduction rules to the test suite, using the classified requirements and service instances, to obtain the reduced test suite. The method includes applying the reduced test suite to the cloud system configured with the configuration, thereby validating that the configuration of the cloud system meets the requirements.