TWI849796B - Virtualized cloud switchboard system and its maintenance and management method and computer-readable storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

A virtualized cloud switchboard system and its maintenance and management method and a corresponding computer-readable storage medium are provided. The system includes: a switch maintenance and management apparatus, configured to create virtual machine configuration data according to customer requirement data, and then transmit the virtual machine configuration data to a virtual machine management platform to request the virtual machine management platform to establish a software switch virtual machine for providing cloud communication services for customers. In addition, the method includes: a switch maintenance and management apparatus of a virtualized cloud switchboard system executes an establishment procedure to request a virtual machine management platform to establish a software switch virtual machine; and the software switch virtual machine executes an automatic activating and provisioning procedure to automatically finish the activation authorization and provisioning settings of the software switch virtual machine.

Description

Virtualized cloud switchboard system, its maintenance and operation management method, and computer-readable storage medium

The present invention relates to a virtualized cloud switchboard system, its maintenance and management method and corresponding computer-readable storage medium, which mainly utilizes switch maintenance and management equipment to manage the communication service system of the cloud platform, and cooperates with the automated rapid deployment mechanism to reduce the system maintenance and management time and improve the system delivery efficiency.

In the past, when virtualization technology was already mature, Internet telephone exchange service providers had to build a cloud center using multiple physical machines, create multiple virtual machines in each physical machine, and install software switches in the virtual machines to provide enterprise cloud communication services, thereby reducing hardware costs and flexibly expanding the communication usage of the communication system.

However, in today's era, the services provided by cloud computing have been divided into three categories, namely Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Therefore, more and more Internet Telephone Exchange service providers rent cloud platforms from PaaS or IaaS service providers and act as SaaS service providers to provide enterprise cloud communication services.

In order to maintain the overall security of the communication service system, the system startup authentication and call authorization will be controlled. However, when customers need a cloud communication service system, the Internet telephone exchange service provider needs to assign maintenance personnel to first create a virtual machine on the PaaS and IaaS service platforms, then manually set up the communication service system startup program, authorize the call usage of this service, set up call routing, and the phone equipment will be matched with numbers through the automatic provisioning server before the communication service can be used.

In addition, when the communication service system is damaged for unknown reasons and needs to be restored, the above-mentioned related settings need to be manually performed again, resulting in unnecessary maintenance costs.

To solve the above problems, the present invention provides a virtualized cloud switchboard system, including: a switch maintenance and management device, which is used to establish virtual machine configuration data according to customer demand data, and then transmit the virtual machine configuration data to the virtual machine management platform to request the virtual machine management platform to establish a software switch virtual machine, wherein the software switch virtual machine is used to provide cloud communication services for customers, and the switch maintenance and management device is reused to manage and monitor the software switch virtual machine.

The present invention also provides a maintenance and management method for a virtualized cloud switchboard system, including: the switch maintenance and management equipment of the virtualized cloud switchboard system executes a creation program to request the virtual machine management platform to create a software switch virtual machine; and the software switch virtual machine executes an automatic activation and provisioning program to automatically complete the activation authorization and provisioning settings of the software switch virtual machine.

The present invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions, and the instructions are read by the server to execute the above-mentioned maintenance and management method of the virtualized cloud switchboard system.

Through the automatic activation and provisioning mechanism of the present invention, after the administrator imports and sets up the customer demand data on the web server, the software switch virtual machine is immediately established through the virtual machine management platform as a communication service system dedicated to the customer. After the customer's communication service system is set up, the customer's phone obtains the provisioning information from the communication service system and can directly make a call. In this way, the present invention can reduce the system setting time and provide a cloud communication switch system dedicated to the customer more quickly.

1: Software switch virtual machine cluster

11,12,1N:Software switch virtual machine

2: Virtual machine management platform

3: Switch maintenance and management equipment

31: Web server

32: Database server

33: Installation setting module

34: Authentication module

35: Monitoring module

111: Switch core communication module

112: Switch core management module

113:Automation settings module

114: Automatically install the server

S10~S14,S20~S27,S210~S215: Steps

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the virtualized cloud switchboard system of the present invention.

Figure 2 is an internal module diagram of the switch maintenance and management equipment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is an internal module diagram of the software switch virtual machine of the present invention.

Figures 4 to 6 are flow charts of the virtualized cloud switchboard maintenance and management method of the present invention.

The present invention provides a virtualized cloud PBX system and its maintenance and management method. As shown in FIG1 , the virtualized cloud PBX system includes a software switch virtual machine cluster 1 that is interconnected, a virtual machine management platform 2, and a switch maintenance and management device 3.

In one embodiment, the software switch virtual machine cluster 1 includes N software switch virtual machines (i.e., virtual machines with software switches installed, each virtual machine is a cloud communication service system) 11~1N, where N is a positive integer. The virtual machine management platform 2 generally refers to the management system of a PaaS or IaaS service provider, such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), Google Cloud Platform (Google Cloud Platform (GCP)) or VMware's management system, but is not limited thereto.

As shown in FIG2 , the switch maintenance and management device 3 includes a web server 31, a database server 32, a provisioning and setting module 33, an authentication module 34, and a monitoring module 35. In one embodiment, the provisioning and setting module 33, the authentication module 34, and the monitoring module 35 can all be hardware, software, firmware, a hardware server, a software server, or software executed by a server. The web server 31 and the database server 32 are connected to each other in communication, and the web server 31 and the database server 32 are both connected to the provisioning and setting module 33, the authentication module 34, and the monitoring module 35 in communication.

In one embodiment, the internal modules and functions of each software switch virtual machine 11-1N in the software switch virtual machine cluster 1 are the same. Taking the software switch virtual machine 11 as an example, as shown in FIG3 , the software switch virtual machine 11 includes a switch core communication module 111, a switch core management module 112, an automatic configuration module 113, and an automatic provisioning server 114. In one embodiment, the switch core communication module 111, the switch core management module 112, and the automatic configuration module 113 can all be hardware, software, firmware, a software server, or software executed by a server. The switch core communication module 111 is communicatively connected to the switch core management module 112 and the automatic configuration module 113. The switch core management module 112 is communicatively connected to the switch core communication module 111, the automatic configuration module 113 and the automatic provisioning server 114.

FIG4 is a flow chart showing how the administrator uses the web server 31 to set up customer requirements and import the phone provisioning data form, and then sends a creation request to the virtual machine management platform 2 through the provisioning configuration module 33 to create a software switch virtual machine. The flow chart of FIG4 is described below.

First, in step S10, the administrator of the cloud communication service provider sets the customer demand data through the web interface of the web server 31. The customer demand data may include the number of simultaneous calls and the total number of phones required by the customer, as well as the phone provisioning data. The phone provisioning data may include the URL (e.g., media access control (MAC) address) of each VoIP phone of the customer and the account (e.g., its phone number) and password required for the phone to register with the soft switch virtual machine. The above account and password may be generated or set by the provisioning setting module 33. In addition, the phone provisioning data may further include the settings for forwarding or answering busy calls and missed calls of each phone. Next, the web server 31 stores the customer demand data in the database server 32 and sends a configuration request to the installation configuration module 33.

In step S11, after receiving the configuration request, the provisioning configuration module 33 will obtain the customer's demand data from the database server 32, and then create the virtual machine provisioning configuration data according to the customer's demand data. The virtual machine provisioning configuration data includes the customer's switch-specific certificate and phone provisioning data.

Then, in step S12, the provisioning configuration module 33 sends a creation request to the virtual machine management platform 2, and the creation request includes virtual machine provisioning configuration data.

In step S13, the virtual machine management platform 2 creates a new software switch virtual machine in the software switch virtual machine cluster 1 according to the virtual machine provisioning configuration data. If the virtual machine is successfully established, the process ends. If the virtual machine establishment fails, the process enters step S14 to notify the administrator of the virtual machine management platform 2 and the switch maintenance management device 3. This method of automatically setting the virtual machine provisioning configuration data can reduce the time required for the administrator to set up and establish the customer's software switch virtual machine.

Figures 5 and 6 are flow charts showing the interaction between the switch core management module 112 and the automation configuration module 113 of the newly established software switch virtual machine and the switch maintenance management device 3 to complete the automatic activation and provisioning of the newly established software switch virtual machine. The following describes the flow charts in Figures 5 and 6.

First, after the newly created software switch virtual machine is started, in step S20, the automatic configuration module 113 of the software switch virtual machine obtains the customer's switch-specific certificate from the virtual machine provisioning configuration data, and transmits a token request to the switch maintenance and management device 3 to obtain the customer's switch-specific token. Then, the software switch virtual machine can use the application programming interface (API) of the switch maintenance and management device 3 with this unique token.

Next, in step S21, the automatic configuration module 113 generates activation authentication data and transmits an authentication request to the switch maintenance and management device 3, wherein the authentication request includes activation authentication data, and the activation authentication data includes an activation authentication code generated by random numbers. The detailed process of step S21 is shown in FIG6. The process of FIG6 is described below.

In step S210, the authentication module 34 of the switch maintenance and management device 3 receives the authentication request of the software switch virtual machine and the activation authentication data contained therein.

In step S211, the authentication module 34 obtains the customer's software switch configuration data from the database server 32 according to the activation authentication data. The software switch configuration data is derived from the aforementioned customer demand data. The software switch configuration data includes the aforementioned phone provisioning data, and includes the service configuration data of the software switch virtual machine, such as a blacklist for filtering incoming call numbers and a list of phone numbers that prohibit the customer's phone from making outgoing calls.

In step S212, the authentication module 34 confirms whether the software switch configuration data exists. If not, the process proceeds to step S213. Otherwise, if it exists, the process proceeds to step S214.

In step S213, the authentication module 34 notifies the maintenance personnel that the authorization activation has failed, and returns an error message to the newly created software switch virtual machine.

In step S214, the authentication module 34 generates activation authorization data.

Then, in step S215, the authentication module 34 returns the activation authorization data to the newly created software switch virtual machine.

Returning to the process of Figure 5, in step S22, the automated configuration module 113 obtains the activation authorization data returned by the authentication module 34.

In step S23, the automatic configuration module 113 confirms whether the activation authorization data is correct. The activation authorization data includes the aforementioned activation authentication code and the number of authorized calls (i.e., the number of simultaneous calls and the total number of phones in the customer demand data). If the activation authentication code is correct, the activation authorization data is determined to be correct, and the process enters step S24. Otherwise, the activation authorization data is determined to be incorrect, and the process ends.

In step S24, the automatic configuration module 113 executes the activation and call authorization operations of the newly created software switch virtual machine according to the activation authentication code, including setting the activation and call authorization quantity of the software switch virtual machine. If the activation or call authorization fails, the process enters step S25. If both the activation and call authorization are successful, the process enters step S26.

In step S25, the automated setting module 113 sends an activation and authorization failure notification to the monitoring module 35 of the switch maintenance and management device 3. After receiving the activation and authorization failure notification, the monitoring module 35 will notify the maintenance personnel of the activation and authorization failure.

In step S26, the automated configuration module 113 sends the activation and authorization success result to the switch maintenance management device 3 to record the activation and authorization success of the customer's software switch virtual machine.

Finally, in step S27, the automatic configuration module 113 sends a data addition request to the switch core management module 112. After receiving the request, the switch core management module 112 will add the core communication data of the software switch virtual machine. The core communication data is derived from the aforementioned customer demand data. The core communication data includes the customer's phone data, phone forwarding and answering settings, call group settings, and call relay route settings, etc. Among them, the customer's phone data is derived from the aforementioned phone supply data, and the call relay route settings include the relay route settings required for the customer's phone to make outbound calls, such as which external call servers are used for outbound calls. The switch core management module 112 will transmit the core communication data to the switch maintenance management device 3. The switch maintenance and management device 3 will store the core communication data in the database server 32.

In addition, the switch core management module 112 will match the URL (e.g., MAC address) provisioning data in the phone provisioning data in the aforementioned customer demand data with the customer's phone data and transmit it to the automatic provisioning server 114, so that the automatic provisioning server 114 can generate a dedicated provisioning file for each customer's phone.

Then, when any of the customer's phones is connected to the software switch virtual machine for the first time, its automatic provisioning server 114 will send the phone's dedicated provisioning file to the phone, so that the phone can perform phone provisioning (i.e., perform the settings required for its call function) according to the phone provisioning data in the dedicated provisioning file. After the provisioning is completed, the customer can use the phone to make calls. The switch core communication module 111 can provide basic call services and is responsible for transmitting the call traffic data of each call or call to the monitoring module 35 of the switch maintenance and management equipment 3. The call traffic data includes the caller, the called party, the call start time, and the total call time, etc.

In addition to the functions required to execute the processes in Figures 4 to 6, the internal module of the switch maintenance and management device 3 shown in Figure 2 also has the following features.

The web server 31 may include obtaining the resource usage status of the virtual machine management platform 2 in real time through the monitoring module 35, and providing a web interface for customers to query the resource usage status. The web server 31 may also include obtaining the registration and call data of each software switch virtual machine in real time through the monitoring module 35, and displaying the registration and call data on its web interface.

The web server 31 is also responsible for storing the communication service data entered by the administrator in the web interface to the database server 32 and sending a request to the provisioning configuration module 33. The provisioning configuration module 33 will forward the request to the switch core management module 112 of the software switch virtual machine specified by the administrator. The switch core management module 112 will add, modify or delete the core communication data of the software switch virtual machine according to the request and the communication service data.

The database server 32 is also responsible for storing operational information such as virtual machine utilization, virtual machine processor utilization, virtual machine memory utilization, and storing software switch virtual machine configuration and fault data such as customer phone provisioning data, phone traffic and alarm messages.

The provisioning configuration module 33 may include sending a request to the virtual machine management platform 2 to request the virtual machine management platform 2 to add, modify or delete a software switch virtual machine.

The installation configuration module 33 can also receive data configuration requests from the web server 31, such as adding or modifying customer phones, customer number forwarding settings, and blacklist settings, and transmit the request and the accompanying data to the software switch virtual machine specified by the request, thereby adding, modifying, or deleting the core communication data of the software switch virtual machines 11~1N.

The authentication module 34 may include an authentication process. Before the virtual machine management platform 2 or the software switch virtual machine 11~1N communicates with the switch maintenance and management device 3, it will obtain a token with a valid time limit as the device identity through the authentication module 34, and it is necessary to regularly update the token with the switch maintenance and management device 3. When it is necessary to communicate with the switch maintenance and management device 3, the request sent by the virtual machine management platform 2 or the software switch virtual machine 11~1N must include this token, and the device verification must be completed through the authentication module 34 before subsequent settings and monitoring data transfer can be performed, thereby ensuring that the communication source is a trusted device.

The monitoring module 35 can receive the resource usage status of the virtual machine management platform 2, monitor the call operation status of the software switch virtual machine cluster 1, and process the call data of the software switch virtual machine. The monitoring module 35 is responsible for receiving the hardware resource information of the virtual machine management platform 2 and the hardware operation status of each virtual machine in real time, so that the administrator can know in advance whether there are platform hardware resources to establish a software switch virtual machine. The administrator can also query the data of each virtual machine through the web interface of the web server 31. The data of the virtual machine includes the processor usage rate, memory usage rate, and free hard disk capacity of the virtual machine.

The monitoring module 35 is also responsible for receiving alarm messages from the softswitch virtual machine, monitoring the registration and call traffic data of the client phones of the softswitch virtual machine, and storing the call traffic data of each received call in the database server 32.

In one embodiment, the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, such as one or more memories, floppy disks, hard disks or optical disks. The computer-readable storage medium can be used to store instructions, and the instructions can be read by the switch maintenance management device 3 or any software switch virtual machine to execute the above-mentioned virtualized cloud switchboard system maintenance management method.

Compared with other conventional technologies, this invention has the following advantages:

First, the present invention provides switch maintenance and management equipment to control the virtual machine management platform and the software switch virtual machine. The administrator can set the core communication data of the switch through the web interface. The administrator can also set it up through the web interface, and the system will automatically allow the designated software switch virtual machine to establish a customer telephone communication system to reduce its deployment time and provide a highly convenient and uniformly managed communication system to save maintenance costs.

Second, the present invention provides an automated switch activation and provisioning mechanism. Since the switch needs to have a security authentication protection mechanism on the cloud platform, the method provided by the present invention can automatically activate authorization, system data configuration, and phone provisioning configuration in the software switch virtual machine of any cloud platform, thereby reducing the time for administrators to set up the software switch virtual machine, thereby shortening the time for service providers to deliver customer communication service systems.

The above detailed description is a specific description of the feasible embodiments of the present invention, but the embodiments are not intended to limit the patent scope of the present invention. Any equivalent implementation or modification that does not deviate from the technical spirit of the present invention should be included in the patent scope of this case.

1: Software switch virtual machine cluster

11,12,1N:Software switch virtual machine

2: Virtual machine management platform

3: Switch maintenance and management equipment

Claims (8)

A virtualized cloud switchboard system includes: a switch maintenance and operation management device, which is used to establish virtual machine configuration data according to customer demand data, and then transmit the virtual machine configuration data to a virtual machine management platform to request the virtual machine management platform to establish a software switch virtual machine, wherein the software switch virtual machine is used to provide cloud communication services for customers, and the switch maintenance and operation management device is reused to manage and monitor the software switch virtual machine, wherein ... The management equipment includes: a web server for providing a web interface to receive the customer demand data through the web interface; a configuration module for establishing the virtual machine configuration data according to the customer demand data, so as to transmit the virtual machine configuration data to the virtual machine management platform and then request the virtual machine management platform to establish, modify or delete the software switch virtual machine; and an authentication module for executing the activation authorization process after the software switch virtual machine is started. A virtualized cloud switchboard system as described in claim 1, wherein: the web server is reused to generate a data configuration request according to the input received by the web interface; and the provisioning configuration module is reused to transmit the data configuration request to the software switch virtual machine to request the software switch virtual machine to add, modify or delete the core communication data of the software switch virtual machine. The virtualized cloud switchboard system as described in claim 1 further includes: a monitoring module for obtaining or receiving the resource usage status of the virtual machine management platform, the hardware operation status of the software switch virtual machine, the call data and the fault alarm message; and a database server for storing the data of the virtual machine management platform. The web server is used to display the resource usage status of the virtual machine management platform, the hardware operation status of the software switch virtual machine, the call data and the fault alarm message, wherein the web server is reused to display the resource usage status of the virtual machine management platform, the hardware operation status of the software switch virtual machine, the call data and the fault alarm message through the web interface. The virtualized cloud switchboard system as described in claim 1, wherein the software switch virtual machine includes: a switch core communication module, which is used to provide basic call services and provide the call traffic data of each call to the switch maintenance and management equipment; a switch core management module, which is used to add the core communication data of the software switch virtual machine and match the customer's website provisioning data with the phone data; an automatic configuration module, which is used to set the activation of the software switch virtual machine and the number of call authorizations; and an automatic provisioning server, which is used to generate a dedicated provisioning file for each phone of the customer according to the matched website provisioning data and the phone data, so as to provide provisioning for each phone. A maintenance and management method for a virtualized cloud switchboard system includes: a switch maintenance and management device of the virtualized cloud switchboard system executes a creation program to request a virtual machine management platform to create a software switch virtual machine; and the software switch virtual machine executes an automatic activation and provisioning program to automatically complete the activation authorization and provisioning settings of the software switch virtual machine, wherein the creation program includes: The switch maintenance and management device receives customer demand data through a web interface; the switch maintenance and management device creates virtual machine provisioning configuration data according to the customer demand data; and the switch maintenance and management device transmits the virtual machine provisioning configuration data to the virtual machine management platform to request the virtual machine management platform to create the software switch virtual machine according to the virtual machine provisioning configuration data. The maintenance and management method of the virtualized cloud switchboard system as described in claim 5, wherein the automatic activation and provisioning procedure includes: allowing the software switch virtual machine to obtain the customer's exclusive certificate from the virtual machine provisioning configuration data, and transmitting a token request to the switch maintenance and management device to obtain the customer's exclusive token; allowing the software switch virtual machine to generate activation authentication data, and after transmitting the activation authentication data to the switch maintenance and management device, perform an authentication and authorization procedure And obtain the activation authorization data returned by the switch maintenance and management equipment; enable the software switch virtual machine to perform the activation and call authorization operations of the software switch virtual machine according to the activation authorization data; enable the software switch virtual machine to add the core communication data of the software switch virtual machine; and enable the software switch virtual machine to generate a dedicated provisioning file for each phone of the customer according to the customer demand data and the core communication data, so as to provide each phone with provisioning. The maintenance and management method of the virtualized cloud switchboard system as described in claim 6, wherein the authentication and authorization procedure includes: allowing the switch maintenance and management device to receive the activation authentication data; and allowing the switch maintenance and management device to obtain the customer's software switch configuration data from the database according to the activation authentication data, and confirm whether the software switch configuration data exists, wherein when the software switch configuration data exists, allowing the switch maintenance and management device to generate the activation authorization data, so as to return the activation authorization data to the software switch virtual machine. A computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, which are read by a server to execute a maintenance management method for a virtualized cloud switchboard system as described in any one of claims 5 to 7.

Images