How does Cloudify Manage the Lifecycle of VNFs and Network Services in ETSI MANO

In 2021, Cloudify introduced the Agile-First approach to 5G network orchestration, creating a bridge between the Telco and DevOps worlds.

In those previous POCs, Cloudify proved to be a platform built to support agile service delivery and multiple interfaces that allow multi-vendor flexible solution integration. Today, Cloudify takes the next step to provide a vendor-agnostic solution in 5G and the public cloud.

ETSI as a Standard for Interoperability

Having a management or orchestration layer that can be used along with the VNF product is nowadays a must. For the past several years, VNF vendors were trying to align with ETSI MANO architecture, positioning their products among the standard definitions. However, having a solution that can be described as a MANO entity featurewise does not guarantee interoperability. To avoid vendor lock-in and create an open ecosystem standard communication interfaces are needed, as defined by an organization like ETSI.

This year AWS introduced support for standard ETSI-based VNF and Network Service lifecycle management using the SOL003 and SOL005 definitions. This interface can be used along with other existing solutions in AWS like Cloud Formation to manage resources and services.

With the latest version of AWS plugin, Cloudify can utilize the mentioned interfaces and provide orchestration capabilities for the VNFD, NSD, and Network Service. Using Cloudify’s internet-based approach, any service can be defined as a combination of the new and existing definitions. Making it easy to develop new services and update old ones to utilize new tools. This allows for quick adoption of new workloads that need to be deployed as a part of the agile 5G journey.

Cloudify in MANO

Cloudify designs and builds with open-source concepts since the beginning. It is an open-source solution based on standard service lifecycle definitions using TOSCA. Featuring an extensive portfolio of plugins that can be used to manage infrastructure and applications.  Cloudify can be deployed as NFVO or VNFM. Depending on the features that are needed and the plugins in use, Cloudify can interface VIM, VNF, or another VNFM. This flexibility is what differentiates Cloudify from other solutions available in the market. Having a fully featured plugin for each major public and private cloud provider allows Cloduify to fully utilize the cloud capabilities and provision state-of-the-art applications into those clouds while performing day-2 operations.

This approach did not allow full interoperability as defined by ETSI MANO, as dedicated plugins were in use. By publishing the cloudify-mano-plugin this gap is removed. The new plugin manages the lifecycle of standard VNFDs and NSDs provisioning the features defined in SOL003 and SOL005. Cloudify can now interface any standard-based REST endpoint and manage the VNF and NSD descriptors as well as Network Service instantiations in compliance with ETSI specifications.

The new plugin allows Cloudify to interface a SOL005 compliant VNFO to manage the lifecycle of VNFDs, NSDs, and NS instances.

A Network Service instance can be created and instantiated automatically by Cloudify’s lifecycle operations.

At the same time Cloudify can take the role of NFVO and interact with SOL003 enabled VNFM.

The new node type allows the lifecycle management of the ETSI MANO VNFD.

5G in the Public Cloud

The public cloud has significantly affected the telco world in recent years. Companies that can adapt and drive their digital transformation are on the right path to future growth. More on this can be found here The Public Cloud Effect on Telco.

Cloudify as an open-source platform with support for all private and public clouds is the perfect tool for driving this transformation. Bridging the gap between the past and future approaches to network orchestration allows for gradual change and service migration between different clouds. With the recent ETSI compatibility added, it is now even easier to provide a hybrid solution that utilizes private and public clouds.

This approach is not new for Cloudify. It has already proven as a tool that can manage multiple clouds to provide services to customers Hybrid Cloud Architecture – What Is It? Plus Examples.