System, method, and computer program for performing preventative maintenance in a network function virtualization (NFV) based communication network

1. A method, comprising:

identifying a first potential fault in a first resource in a Network Function Virtualization based (NFV-based) communication network, the first resource including a first instance of a virtual network function (VNF);

identifying a first time for maintaining the first resource to prevent an occurrence of the first potential fault, the first time being a time for performing a preventive maintenance activity on the first resource;

identifying a second resource for replacing the first resource during the first time; and

verifying compatibility of the second resource with the first resource by:

installing a second instance of the VNF on the second resource,

providing a same data flow as input to each of the first instance of the VNF and the second instance of the VNF,

identifying a first output of the first instance of the VNF resulting from the data flow input to the first instance of the VNF,

identifying a second output of the second instance of the VNF resulting from the data flow input to the second instance of the VNF, and

comparing the first output with the second output,

using the second resource to replace the first resource during the first time when the first output and the second output are determined from the comparison to be the same, and

preventing the second resource from replacing the first resource during the first time when the first output and the second output are determined from the comparison to not be the same.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising securing availability of the second resource for the VNF for the first time.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising replacing the first resource with the second resource during the first time by:

initiating the second instance of VNF in the second resource, and

after the initiating, deactivating the first instance of the VNF in the first resource.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein replacing the first resource with the second resource during the first time further includes diverting communication addressed to the first instance of the VNF in the first resource to the second instance of the VNF in second resource before deactivating the first instance of the VNF in the first resource.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second resource is identified for replacing the first resource during the first time from a predefined maintenance preparation plan associated with the first resource, the predefined maintenance preparation plan specifying at least the second resource as a backup resource for the first resource.

6. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:

computer code for identifying a first potential fault in a first resource in a Network Function Virtualization based (NFV-based) communication network, the first resource including a first instance of a virtual network function (VNF);

computer code for identifying a first time for maintaining the first resource to prevent an occurrence of the first potential fault, the first time being a time for performing a preventive maintenance activity on the first resource;

computer code for identifying a second resource for replacing the first resource during the first time; and

computer code for verifying compatibility of the second resource with the first resource by:

installing a second instance of the VNF on the second resource,

providing a same data flow as input to each of the first instance of the VNF and the second instance of the VNF,

identifying a first output of the first instance of the VNF resulting from the data flow input to the first instance of the VNF,

identifying a second output of the second instance of the VNF resulting from the data flow input to the second instance of the VNF, and

comparing the first output with the second output,

using the second resource to replace the first resource during the first time when the first output and the second output are determined from the comparison to be the same, and

preventing the second resource from replacing the first resource during the first time when the first output and the second output are determined from the comparison to not be the same.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 , further comprising computer code for securing availability of the second resource for the VNF for the first time.

8. A system comprising:

a memory system; and

one or more processing cores coupled to the memory system and that are each configured to:

identify a first potential fault in a first resource in a Network Function Virtualization based (NFV-based) communication network, the first resource including a first instance of a virtual network function (VNF);

identify a first time for maintaining the first resource to prevent an occurrence of the first potential fault, the first time being a time for performing a preventive maintenance activity on the first resource;

identify a second resource for replacing the first resource during the first time; and

verify compatibility of the second resource with the first resource by:

installing a second instance of the VNF on the second resource,

providing a same data flow as input to each of the first instance of the VNF and the second instance of the VNF,

identifying a first output of the first instance of the VNF resulting from the data flow input to the first instance of the VNF,

identifying a second output of the second instance of the VNF resulting from the data flow input to the second instance of the VNF, and

comparing the first output with the second output,

using the second resource to replace the first resource during the first time when the first output and the second output are determined from the comparison to be the same, and

preventing the second resource from replacing the first resource during the first time when the first output and the second output are determined from the comparison to not be the same.