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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 distributed SBC deployments in an OpenStack cloud environment. VNFM provides an alternative to the use of Heat templates to deploy both media SBC (M-SBC) and signaling SBC (S-SBC) clusters in 1:1 HA configurations.

VNFM processes a VNF Descriptor (VNFD) file to define the main properties and resources required to deploy a VNF. The SBC VNFD file is provided in a Cloud Service Archive (CSAR) package file for the type of SBC cluster you are deploying. VNFD files cannot be edited; during orchestration, VNFM will prompt for allowed customizations such as the system name and associated EMS system details.

(SR-IOV only) If you are implementing SR-IOV interfaces, take note of the additional prerequisites and the additional configuration steps.

Prerequisites

Prior to using VNFM to instantiate SBC VNFs, make sure you have:

• Downloaded the required Cloud Service Archive (CSAR) package file and .qcow2 file for the SBC system you plan to deploy. Refer to the latest release notes.
• Prepared 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 gateway IP and the IP address for each SR-IOV interface.
• Installed VNFM and prepared it for operation. This includes adding clouds, tenants, and users to VNFM. Refer to VNFM Documentation for more information.
• Instantiated the EMS system you plan to use to configure and manage your SBC clusters. Refer to EMS Documentation for more information.
• Created the clusters you will use to manage and configure your SBC clusters in the EMS. Refer to Creating an SBC SWe Cluster in EMS documentation.

Onboarding the SBC CSAR package file

The CSAR file required 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. 

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

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

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   0 Figure 1 VNF Onboarding Window

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

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. The Deploy Virtual Network Functions window opens.

3. Click Deploy adjacent to the VNF you want to deploy. The VNF Deployment Wizard window opens with the VNF Config tab in view. 

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   0 Figure 1 VNF Deployment Wizard - VNF Config Tab

4. Enter a unique name for the instance in VNF Instance Name.
5. Select a cloud from the Cloud Name drop-down list. The Tenant Name list appears.

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

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   title Note:
   This tab also includes a Reuse Pre-allocated IPs check box which enables using the VNFM pre-allocated floating IP feature. Refer to Deploying a VNF with Preallocated Floating IPs for more information and procedures.

7. Click the Network tab. 

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   0 Figure 1 VNF Deployment Wizard - Network Tab

8. Using the drop-down lists in the three network fields, select the names of the networks that you want to use as the management network and the two packet networks for the cluster. The networks must have already been defined in your environment. Refer to Creating Tenant Networks for more information. The lists contain the names of the existing networks in your environment. 
   (SR-IOV only) If you are implementing SR-IOV interfaces, make sure the signaling/media networks you select (Pkt0 and Pkt1) support SR-IOV.

9. 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.

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   0 Figure 1 VNF Deployment Wizard - Environment Tab

10. (Optional) To specify a specific zone for the instance, click Select a Zone and choose a zone from the list. The nova zone is selected by default.   

11. Use the following table to edit the values in the VM Type section of the Environment tab, as necessary. Some values cannot be changed while other fields can be edited during orchestration, as 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.

    Field	Editable?	Description
    System Name	yes	User-assigned name for the instance. You must enter a name.
    SBC Personality	no	Specifies either a signaling (S-SBC) or media (M-SBC) deployment.
    Number of Interfaces	no	Specifies that there are 4 interfaces for the instance.
    The HA model selected in the VNFD file	no	Specifies an active-standby HA deployment.
    Properties of IF0	yes	Parameters associated with IF0. By default IF0 is configured as the management interface.
    Properties of IF1	yes	Parameters associated with IF1. By default IF1 is configured as the HA interface.
    Properties of IF2	yes	Parameters associated with IF2. By default IF2 is configured as the Pkt0 interface. (SR-IOV only) Edit the “GWV4:” parameter so it contains the IP for the SR-IOV network gateway.  Take care to only add the IP address and do not add additional characters or whitespace, as shown in the following example.
    Properties of IF3	yes	Parameters associated with IF3. By default IF3 is configured as the Pkt1 interface. (SR-IOV only) Edit the “GWV4:” parameter so it contains the IP for the SR-IOV network gateway. Maintain the format, as described above.
    EMS Username	yes	Enter the username credentials to use when registering with the EMS.
    EMS Password	yes	Enter the password to use when registering with the EMS.
    EMS IP[0]	yes	Enter the IP address of the EMS-0 (primary) instance.
    EMS IP[1]	yes	Enter the IP address of the EMS-1 instance.
    EmsDownloadConfig	yes	Specifies whether the cluster downloads configuration from the EMS. By default this value is set to True.
    EmsPrivateNodeParameters	yes	Optionally specifies an EMS cluster ID.

12. 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 following 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. 

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    0 Figure 1 VNF Deployment Wizard - Cloud Config Init Data

    
    

13. (SR-IOV only) For each interface, enter the required IP 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.

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    0 Figure 1 Manual IP tab for SR-IOV interfaces

14. Click Deploy VNF when you have completed your customizations. 

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. When the process is complete the VNF status changes to Ready.   

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 Configuring SBC SWe on OpenStack 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.