Demystifying ONAP via In-Person Training Classes
- November 16, 2017
- Posted by: Amar Kapadia - Guest Post
- Category: Network Automation, Network Orchestration, ONAP
If you are a Communications Service Provider (CSP) or an enterprise looking to implement Networks Function Virtualization (NFV) or Software Defined Networking (SDN), the Linux Foundation ONAP project merits a closer look.
ONAP or Open Network Automation Platform is an open source management and orchestration platform for NFV and SDN. Some might argue that one of the inhibitors to mainstream NFV adoption has been a comprehensive, versatile network automation platform — and ONAP fills this gap.
According to the ONAP website:
ONAP is a comprehensive platform for real-time, policy-driven orchestration and automation of physical and virtual network functions. 100% open source, part of Linux Foundation.
ONAP has strong momentum with 18 platinum members, including Cloudify, out of which 7 are telecom operators. The project is a superset of the ETSI MANO component. In case you are wondering what ETSI MANO entails, its scope includes:
- NFV orchestration: Network service (NS) onboarding, lifecycle management, performance management, fault management and VNF forwarding graph management
- VNF management: VNF onboarding, lifecycle management, performance management, fault management and software image management
- Other: Security, VIM (virtualized infrastructure manager aka cloud software)/SDN controller
ONAP does everything required by the above list, but goes beyond by including:
- Unified design framework: The framework is used to onboard VNFs, design network services and management steps.
- FCAPS: Fault, configuration, accounting, performance, security functionality.
The below figure shows the scope of ONAP and the other systems it interacts with i.e. OSS/BSS/big data applications, NFVI/VIM and vendor-provided VNFs.
The first official ONAP training class (that we know of) was organized by Cloudify and Aarna Networks and concluded successfully on Friday 11/10 at the RobotX space in Santa Clara.
The half-day ONAP100 class covered an overview of ONAP, its architectural principles, a deep dive into the 29 sub-projects that constitute the upcoming Amsterdam release, ONAP use cases, and a virtual lab. The students included professionals from both telecom operators and vendors. The class was engaging and the students asked a number of architectural and operational questions.
If you would like to learn more about ONAP go to: https://cloudify.co/onap/what-is-onap/
