Security-Oriented Network Slice Backup Method

Abstract

5G realizes flexible networking by building network slices, and its realization depends on network function virtualization (NFV) technology, which combines different types of virtual network functions (VNFs) to provide network services. The reliability of VNFs is lower than that of traditional hardware due to the risk of both software and hardware failure, and redundant backup is an effective solution. Meanwhile, from the security point of view, because the 5G network is based on the unified and standardized hardware of the industry, the need for isolation is put forward. Current research on VNF reliability assurance has not considered the special isolation requirements of 5G. In this paper, aiming to guarantee the safety demand as well as minimize backup resource to meet the reliability target, we formalize the safety-oriented backup problem for 5G core network slices and propose a backup algorithm based on isolation (BABI). Simulation results show that the introduction of isolation can double the security of slices. The comparison with the existing backup methods shows that under the same isolation constraint, the proposed approach can achieve a less resource consumption by 60% - 80% and a improvement of the proportion of effective resources by 40% - 80%.