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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. Ribbon 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.

Note

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.
Note

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. 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.

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

    VNF Catalog

  3. In the Select Action menu for the VNF you want to deploy, select Instantiate. The Instantiate VNF panel appears. The initial panel is shown in the following figure. The VNF Information section is expanded by default. Click the arrows adjacent to each heading to expand the section and configure its options, as appropriate. 

    Instantiate VNF Panel


    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.

    Instantiate VNF Parameters

    FieldDescription
    VNF Information - Use this section to enter general information about your deployment.
    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 viewing or performing lifecycle actions.

    If you do not specify a name for the VNF instance, a name is generated.

    Cloud NameSelect a cloud from the Cloud Name drop-down list.
    Tenant NameSelect a tenant for the instance in the Tenant Name drop-down list. 
    Zone

    Optional. To specify a specific zone for the instance, choose a zone from the list.The list is populated with the Openstack Availability Zones accessible to the tenant. If you do not select a value, the default zone "nova" is selected.

    Continuity Plan
    Select a VNFM continuity plan from the drop-down list. See VNFM documentation for information on Preparing a Continuity Plan.
    Note: If you specify Default, the VNF is assigned to a VNFM.
    Network - Use this section to select the networks to use within the deployment.
    Required VNF Networks

    Using the drop-down lists under Available Networks, 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 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 same three networks in the OAM management and packet network fields as you selected for the cluster.  

    (SR-IOV only) If you are implementing SR-IOV interfaces, make sure the signaling/media networks you select (pkt0 and pkt1) support SR-IOV.

    Address / Port - Use this section to manually configure IP addresses and ports for the VNFC interfaces.
    Reuse Pre-allocated IPsTo reuse the IPV4 pre-allocated IPs addresses that were manually tagged or created during a previous orchestration, click this 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 Pre-allocated IP VNFM Feature.
    VNFCThis column lists each VNFC type and instance number (for example, ssbc1) for which you can configure an IP address and port.
    InterfaceThis column contains a description of each network interface from the VNFD file (for example, pkt0).
    IP Index

    If a VM interface is defined with multiple subnets, this column lists an incremental value to associated with each subnet. The default is zero (0) to indicate a single IP address per VM port.

    Address or Port

    Using the drop-down list in the Address or Port column, select the type of value you want to configure for each VNFC / Interface:

    • Address - to enter an IP address. If the VM is using a private network, the specified IP address identifies the NAT external network IP address. The NAT IP address is referred to as a "floating" IP address and must be already allocated to the tenant.
    • Port - to select a port. Optional. If your VNFD file supports manual port configuration, you have the option to select specific ports for the SBC VNFs. If you choose not to specify a port, VNFM creates the port and attaches it to the VM.

    (SR-IOV and Provider Networks only) For each interface, enter the required IPv4 or IPv6 address. The VNF instantiation will fail if the tenant does not have adequate privileges to create static IP addresses for the associated network.

    SelectionUse the field in the Selection column to enter an address or select a port.
    Flavor - Use this section to specify a flavor type to use when instantiating a specific VNFC type.
    Required VNF Flavors Optional. For each VNFC type listed in the Required VNF column, select a specific flavor from the Available Flavors drop-down list to use when instantiating VMs of that type. The list contains flavors which meet, or exceed, the flavor constraints defined in the VNFD for that VM type. If no flavor is selected, a flavor is auto-selected.
    Storage Volumes - Use this section to optionally specify Cinder storage device configuration.
    Storage Volume

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

    Note: Ribbon recommends creating a separate volume for logs and attaching it to the instance during launch. Without a separate volume, the SBC writes logs to the root volume (/), which is lost if you rebuild or recreate the instance.

    VNF Specific - Use this section to verify settings and provide information that is specific to an SBC deployment.
    VNFC 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 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 number of SBC VMs to create. For example, a 4:1 HA 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.
    Properties of IF1Parameters associated with IF1. By default IF1 is configured as the HA interface.
    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.
    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.
    EMS UsernameEnter the username credentials to use when registering with the EMS, if applicable.
    EMS PasswordEnter the password to use when registering with the EMS, if applicable.
    EMS IP[0]Enter the IP address of the EMS-0 (primary) instance, if applicable.
    EMS IP[1]Enter the IP address of the EMS-1 instance, if applicable.
    EmsDownloadConfigBeginning with release 8.0 this option is no longer needed and the value is ignored.
    EmsPrivateNodeParameters. cluster_idEnter the value you want to use as the EMS cluster ID for the VNF, if applicable.
    Cloud Config Init DataReplace the default public key with the public key of your own self-generated ssh key pair to be used for logging into SBC. 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.

  4. Click Instantiate. VNFM begins the process of orchestrating the SBC VNFs. When the process is complete the VNF status changes to Ready.   

Note

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.

Note

If VNFM shows the SBC status as "Ready," but the EMS shows the SBC status as "Not Registered Online," check the EMS logs for further information.

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.