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The Ribbon Virtual Network Function Manager (VNFM) is an ETSI standards-aligned virtualized application you can use to orchestrate and manage the lifecycle of SBC SWe deployments in an OpenStack cloud environment. VNFM provides an alternative to the use of Heat templates to deploy different types of vitual machine (VM) nodes and clusters.

VNFM processes a VNF Descriptor (VNFD) file to define the main properties and resources required to deploy a VNF. You "onboard" a VNFD file into VNFM for your deployment type as part of a Cloud Service Archive (CSAR) package file. 

Spacevars
0company
 provides a script and VNFD template file you use to generate a CSAR package file for the type of nodes you want to deploy. The VNFD file within the CSAR file cannot be edited; during orchestration, VNFM will prompt for allowed customizations such as the system name and associated EMS system details.

(SR-IOV only) - additional prerequisites and configuration steps required for SR-IOV deployment are preceded with this notation. If you are implementing SR-IOV interfaces, be sure to complete these steps.

Info
titleNote

Orchestration using VNFM does not support implementing a second management port for the SBC or the packet port redundancy feature.

Prerequisites

Prior to using VNFM to instantiate SBC VNFs: make sure to:

  • Download the required CSAR script file, VNFD template file and .qcow2 image file. Refer to the latest release notes.
  • Complete the procedure to generate a CSAR package file for the type of SBC instances you want to deploy. Refer to Creating a CSAR Package File.
  • Prepare the OpenStack cloud environment in which the VNF will be deployed. Refer to Pre-Instantiation Requirements of OpenStack.
  • (SR-IOV only) Make sure that the networks you created for the packet ports support SR-IOV and that you know the IP address for each SR-IOV interface.
  • Install VNFM and prepare it for operation. This includes adding clouds, tenants, and users to VNFM. Refer to VNFM Documentation for more information.
  • Instantiate the EMS system you plan to use to manage your SBC clusters. Refer to EMS Documentation for more information.
  • Create the cluster configuration in the EMS. Refer to Creating an SBC Cluster in EMS documentation.
Info
titleNote

Due to a current issue with RHEL 7.5, the following procedure must be run once on any compute hosts where SWe instances which require multi-queue virtio interfaces will be deployed. These steps enable such instances to spawn. The procedure confirms that the failure to spawn is due to the underlying RHEL 7.5 issue and then provides steps to work around this issue.

  1. Spawn an SBC SWe instance which requires multi-queue virtio interface support. The instance will fail to come up.
  2. Log into the compute host as the root user.
  3. Change to the directory: /var/log/audit
  4. Open the audit.log file and confirm that the following denial is reported by SELinux:
    avc:  denied  { attach_queue }
  5. Use the following commands to update the local policy of SELINUX to allow spawning of instances with multi-queue enabled:
    audit2allow -a -M attach_queue
    semodule -i attach_queue.pp
  6. Retry spawning a multi-queue virtio interface instance. The instance should now come up.

Onboarding the SBC CSAR Package File

The CSAR file you created for your deployment must be onboarded on VNFM before you can orchestrate a new SBC cluster. Make sure the CSAR file is in a location accessible from VNFM.  

  • Log into VNFM with credentials provided by the VNFM administrator.

  • Click Settings > VNF Onboarding. The VNF Onboarding window opens.

    Caption
    0Figure
    1VNF Onboarding Window

    Image Removed

  • In the Upload the CSAR files area, click Browse to open a file window where you can locate and select the CSAR file.
  • Click Upload. The package is added to the VNFs Available to Onboard list.
  • Click Onboard adjacent to the package.
    • Confirm the onboard procedure when prompted. The VNF package is now listed in the Your Onboarded VNFs list

    Refer to Performing onboarding through the UI for instructions.

    Deploying SBC VNFs

    After the CSAR file is onboarded, the SBC VNF can be deployed. Note that you must have previously created an OpenStack Glance image using the SBC application software .qcow2 file. Refer to Creating a Glance Image within the pre-instantiation requirements for OpenStack.   

    1. Log into VNFM if necessary.

    2. Click VNF

      Deployment

      Catalog. The VNF Catalog window opens showing the list of onboarded VNFs. 

      Caption
      0Figure
      1VNF Catalog

      Image Added

    3. In the Select Action menu for

      . The Deploy Virtual Network Functions window opens.

      Click Deploy adjacent to the VNF you want to deploy, select Instantiate. The VNF Deployment Wizard window opens with the VNF Config tab in view. Instantiate VNF panel appears. The initial panel is shown in the following figure. As you make entries and selections, additional sections open. 

      Caption
      0Figure
      1Instantiate VNF Panel

      Image Added

    4. Use the following table to populate or edit the fields. Editing a value overrides the default value in the VNFD file, allowing you to specify the values appropriate for your deployment. Interface values (IF0 to IF3) can be edited, for example, if you need to specify VLAN IDs for your deployment. Take care to use the correct parameter names and maintain the syntax as shown. Refer to the Interface Definition Parameters Table for more information on the parameters that can be used to define the properties of an interface.

      Tab
      Caption
      VNF Deployment Wizard -
      0FigureTable
      1Instantiate VNF Parameters
      FieldDescription
      VNF Config
      Image Removed
      VNF Instance Name

      Enter a unique name to represent the VNF instance. The name chosen is used throughout the VNFM UI to identify the VNF instance for

      the instance in

      viewing or performing lifecycle actions.

      If the VNF Instance Name is not configured a name will be generated.

      Cloud NameSelect a cloud from

      the

      the Cloud Name

      drop

       drop-down list.

      The

      Tenant Name

      list appears.

      Select a tenant for the instance in
      the
      the Tenant Name
      drop
       drop-down list. 

      infoThis tab also includes a

      titleNote

      Reuse Pre-allocated IPs

      check box which enables using the VNFM pre-allocated floating IP feature. Refer to

      To reuse the IPV4 pre-allocated IPs addresses that are manually tagged or created during the previous orchestration, click the check box. In the Network section, ensure that the network configuration assigned to the VNF matches the network of the reserved floating IPs. See Using the preallocated IP VNFM feature

      for more information and procedures.

    5. Click the Network tab. The following figure includes the OAM network fields that are present if you are deploying OAM nodes as part of SBC N:1 HA deployment. If you are deploying without OAM nodes, only the first three fields appear.

      Caption
      0Figure
      1VNF Deployment Wizard - Network Tab

      Image Removed

    6. .
      VNFM PreferenceOptional. Only relevant to a VNFM Geographic Redundancy (GR) configuration. The selected Preferred VNFM responsible for monitoring a specific VNF. Another VNFM instance may monitor the VNF if the preferred VNFM is not available or user reassign VNF to another VNFM instance. If no VNFM is selected, the VNF will be managed by the VNFM instance monitoring with the fewest number of VNFs.
      Network

      Using the drop-down lists, select the names of the networks that you want to use as the management network and the two packet networks for the cluster. The lists contain the names of the existing networks in your environment. Refer to Creating Tenant Networks for more information on creating the prerequisite networks.

      If you are also

       If you are deploying OAM nodes as part of SBC N:1 HA deployment, a total of six network fields appear, three for the SBC nodes and three for the OAM nodes. If you are deploying without OAM nodes, only the first three fields appear. When deploying OAM nodes, select

      the

      the same

      three

       three networks in the OAM management and packet network fields fields as you selected for the cluster.  

      (SR-IOV only)

      If

       If you are implementing SR-IOV interfaces, make sure the signaling/media networks you select (Pkt0 and Pkt1) support SR-IOV.

      Click the
      Environment
      tab. The fields on this tab show user data required to instantiate the SBC as it is provided in the VNFD file. Editing values on this tab override the default values in the VNFD file allowing you to specify the values appropriate for your deployment. The following figure includes fields that are only present if you are deploying OAM nodes as part of SBC N:1 HA deployment. Fields that are OAM-only fields are identified in the table.
      Caption
      0Figure
      1VNF Deployment Wizard - Environment Tab

      Image Removed

      (Optional)

      Zone Name

      Optional. To specify a specific zone for the instance,

      click

      click Select a Zone

      and

       and choose a zone from the list.The

      nova zone is selected by default.   

      Use the following table to edit the remaining values on the Environment tab, as necessary. Most values can still be changed to customize your deployment, exceptions are noted in the table. Interface values (IF0 to IF3) can be edited, for example, if you need to specify VLAN IDs for your deployment. Take care to use the correct parameter names and maintain the syntax as shown. Refer to the Interface Definition Parameters Table for more information on the parameters that can be used to define the properties of an interface.

      FieldDescription

      Zone Name pull-down list is populated with the Openstack Availability Zones accessible to the tenant. If no value is selected the default zone "nova" is selected.

      VNFC

      VM

      Type: oam SBC:SYSTEMNAMEUser-assigned name for the OAM instances. You must enter a name. This field is visible only if you are deploying OAM nodes

      .

      .
      SOL001 Custom Parameters

      Used to dynamically add VNF-specific data to a VNF without requiring a VNFD change. This field is not currently used by the SBC.

      VNFC

      VM

      Type: isbc, ssbc or msbc SBC:SYSTEMNAMEUser-assigned name for the SBC instances. You must enter a name.
      SBC PersonalitySpecifies an integrated (isbc), signaling (ssbc), media (msbc), or other SBC deployment personality. This value cannot be changed.
      The HA model selected in the VNFD fileSpecifies an active_standby HA deployment or an N:1 HA (n_1_ha) deployment. This value cannot be changed.
      The number of SBC VMs to createSpecifies the

      total

      number of SBC VMs to create. For example, a 4:1 HA

      deployment

      pair requires 5 VMs.
      The number of OAM VMs to createSpecifies the number of OAM VMs to create. For example, a 1:1 HA pair requires 2 VMs. This field is visible only if you are deploying OAM nodes.
      Properties of IF0Parameters associated with IF0. By default IF0 is configured as the management

      interface.Mgt0 IP version (ipv4, ipv6)IP address version to use for the Mgt0

      interface.

      default: IPv4

      Properties of IF1Parameters associated with IF1. By default IF1 is configured as the HA

      interface.Ha0 IP version (ipv4, ipv6)IP address version to use for the Ha0

      interface.

      default: IPv4

      Properties of IF2Parameters associated with IF2. By default IF2 is configured as the Pkt0 interface.
      (SR-IOV only) Edit the “PrefixVn:” and "VLANId:" values (shown below) to the appropriate values for your interface. Take care to only add the values and do not add additional characters or whitespace.
      Image Modified

      Pkt0 IP version (ipv4, ipv6)IP address version to use for the Pkt0 interface. default: IPv4

      Properties of IF3Parameters associated with IF3. By default IF3 is configured as the Pkt1 interface.
      (SR-IOV only) Edit the “PrefixVn:” and "VLANId:" parameters (shown above) to the appropriate values for your interface. Take care to only add the values and do not add additional characters or whitespace

      .Pkt1 IP version (ipv4, ipv6)IP address version to use for the Pkt1 interface

      .

      default: IPv4

      EMS UsernameEnter the username credentials to use when registering with the EMS.
      EMS PasswordEnter the password to use when registering with the EMS.
      EMS IP[0]Enter the IP address of the EMS-0 (primary) instance.
      EMS IP[1]Enter the IP address of the EMS-1 instance.
      EmsDownloadConfigBeginning with release 8.0 this option is no longer needed and the value is ignored.
      EmsPrivateNodeParametersOptionally specifies an EMS cluster ID.
      Depending on the version of VNFM you are using, the 
      Cloud Config Init Data
       section of the Environment tab (shown below) might not be populated. If the section is empty, then the initial contents must be manually copied into it. The default data to copy is located in the file: Scripts/*sbc-8.0-cloud-initdata.cfg. A copy of this file is located in the directory where the CSAR file was created and also within the contents of the CSAR package (after you unzip the CSAR). Open this text file, from either location, and copy its contents (including all leading spaces) into the Cloud Config Init Data section. This copy step is not required if the Cloud Config Init Data section is already populated.
      Caption
      0Figure
      1VNF Deployment Wizard - Cloud Config Init Data

      Image Removed

      Replace
       In the Cloud Config Init Data section, replace
      the default public key with the public key of your own self-generated ssh key pair to be used for logging into SBC
      . The previous figure shows an SSH key for the "admin" user account
      . To generate the key, you can use the ssh-keygen command and use the contents of the id_rsa.pub file that it generates in your /home/<user>/.ssh directory to replace the default. Refer to man ssh-keygen for more information. You also have the option to enter passwords for the user accounts defined in this section. Take care to maintain the formatting of this section when you replace the default content. The data must be provided in a proper YAML format.
      FlavorOptional. Select a specific flavor to be used to instantiate VMs of a particular type. For each VM type defined in the VNFD, a drop-down list appears containing flavors which meet, or exceed, the flavor constraints defined in the VNFD for that VM type. If no flavor is selected, a flavor will be auto-selected.
      Manual IP

      (SR-IOV and Provider Networks only) For each interface, enter the required IPv4 or IPv6 address.

      Or, if this configuration has been done for a previous orchestration, you will have the option to select the name of a previous instance whose IP address configuration you want to reuse from the Select from the previous Orchestrations list.
      Caption
      0Figure
      1Manual IP tab for SR-IOV interfaces

      Image Removed

      (Optional) 

       The VNF instantiate will fail if the tenant does not have adequate privileges to create static IP addresses for the associated network.

      If the VM is using a private network, the specified IP Address will refer to the NAT external network IP address. The NAT IP address is referred to as a "floating" IP address in Openstack terminology and must be already allocated to the tenant.

      Manual IP section sub-fields: 

      VNFC Name: Displays the VNFC type and instance. An instance value of zero (0) represents a common IP address shared between all VMs of the same VNFC type, also referred to as a VIP (Virtual IP Address) or an Openstack Allowed Address Pair.

      NIC Name: Network Interface Controller Name displays the  VNFD interface port description to assist user in identifying external IP address association and type of network connection.

      IP Index: If a VM VNFD interface port is defined with multiple subnets, this field will display an incremental value to associated with each subnet. The default is a zero (0) value to indicate a single IP address per VM port

      Manual Ports

      Optional. If your VNFD file supports manual port configuration and you want to select the port for the SBC VNF,

      click the Manual Ports tab and

      select the port. If you choose not to specify the neutron port, VNFM creates the port and attaches it to the VM. If your VNFD file does not support manual ports,

      the Manual Ports tab will show

      a message will appear that manual port configuration is not required.

      Storage Volumes

      (

      Optional

      )

      . If your VNFD file supports Cinder storage device configuration (other than a Cinder boot device) and you want to specify a storage volume you created manually,

      click the Storage Volumes tab and

      select the volume disk type you created for the SBC on your cloud server. If you do not specify a storage volume, one is automatically created and attached to the instance during instantiation. If the VNFD file does not include a Cinder storage device

      then the Storage Volumes tab will show a message

      ,  a message will appear that storage volume configuration is not required.

       

    7. Click Deploy VNF when you have completed your customizations.  Instantiate. VNFM begins the process of orchestrating the SBC VNFs.
    VNFM opens the VNF Status window where you can watch the status progression as the VNFs are deployed.
    1. When the process is complete the VNF status changes to Ready.   
    Info
    titleNote

    If you are deploying an N:1 M-SBC, the newly orchestrated VNF remains in a “degraded” state until you configure a Load Balancing Service (LBS). An alarm saying that the VNF cannot connect to VNFM may be triggered. However, once LBS is configured the active and standby roles for the VMs are determined and the VNF registers successfully with VNFM. Configuring LBS is a part of the initial configuration of an M-SBC. Refer to M-SBC Cluster Configuration using SBC Configuration Manager.

    After Orchestration

    During orchestration VNFM creates basic security rules and a security group. These basic rules do not restrict access to and from the SBC nodes. If you have not already created the specific security rules required for your deployment, refer to the following page for the list of rules you should create: Creating Security Group Rules.

    After orchestration the SBC nodes are created but have no associated configuration. Refer to Basic SBC SWe Cloud Configuration using SBC Configuration Manager for procedures to configure the SBC. 

    SR-IOV Interface IP Address Example

    If you completed the steps required for implementing SR-IOV interfaces and you used the example input data shown in the previous procedure, the following figure shows the IP address assignments that would be made for the packet interfaces during orchestration. This output appears for the VMs within an VNF when you click on a VNF name within the VNF Status page.  Caption

    0Figure
    1SR-IOV IP Address Example
    Image Removed


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