devopsy.kinsta.cloud

Tag: NFV

  • Laying the Foundation for a Successful Digital Future

    Laying the Foundation for a Successful Digital Future

    Digital infrastructure is under mounting pressure from a variety of powerful technology trends. Whether that pressure stems from DevOps, the cloud, AI, mobile or big data, almost every organization is looking to the future with an eye on modernizing their mission-critical IT systems.

    Unfortunately, the challenge of future-proofing IT infrastructure is often exacerbated by the widespread reliance on legacy technology. Add to that the growing data connectivity complexities across the entire technology landscape, and you face the difficult task of balancing your networking strategy with your other—sometimes competing—technology priorities.

    In particular, legacy networks often lack the performance, control and flexibility today’s digital business models rely on. And they’re increasingly vulnerable to security risks. If that wasn’t enough to give you pause about your network, older technologies often consume a disproportionate amount of your IT budget that you could otherwise invest in modernizing your underlying IT infrastructure.

    That fundamental disconnect leaves little room for maneuvering when current thinking shows that agility is so closely linked to success—and where having a purpose-built network infrastructure is key to successful digital transformation. Just as a new house needs a solid foundation, your digital future requires the right digital infrastructure to meet your long-term challenges. 

    The Issues of Network Modernization Raise Some Big Questions

    Think for a moment about the key issues you face. Can you afford to be at the mercy of an outdated or inflexible network? Can you ignore the enormous potential of transformative technologies? Are you prepared to risk falling behind more agile competitors? Or, alternatively, can digital transformation give you a significant competitive advantage?

    Whatever your priorities are, the bottom line is digital transformation almost always requires advanced on-demand connectivity that can be deployed quickly and cost-effectively. To meet this need, many businesses are turning to software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs) and network functions virtualization (NFV) to build agile networks designed to solve your data connectivity needs today and well into the future.

    Meeting the Challenge 1: SD-WANs

    SD-WANs are purpose-built solutions that deliver agile, secure and scalable connectivity by leveraging intelligent software. One of their main advantages is the centralized network orchestration, control and zero-touch provisioning that provides high-performance networking within a borderless infrastructure across highly distributed enterprises. 

    This high level of flexibility facilitates digital transformation, because SD-WANs can leverage all types of connectivity options (such as MPLS, broadband, 4G and 5G) while automating network functions. One big advantage is the ability to simplify the connection of people, devices and locations to the cloud, providing seamless access to the virtual functions and business services they need.

    SD-WANs also help abstract the complexity of the underlying network to create a virtual layer that simplifies a wide range of network operations. The major benefit here is that there’s no need to manage multiple layers of hardware (such as routers, firewalls and load balancers) that have historically complicated network management.

    This is particularly important for geographically distributed organizations that want to simplify branch or remote office networks, given that SD-WANs can connect new offices or branch locations to the corporate network in hours, rather than weeks or months. This provides a proven way to quickly deploy new apps and services while controlling, or even reducing, networking costs.

    Meeting the Challenge 2: NFV

    Combining SD-WANs with NFV can deliver even greater business benefits since NFV utilizes key network functions on an “as-a-service” basis, improving both network agility and efficiency. It achieves this by replacing legacy network hardware with software that runs in the cloud.

    This approach offers a cost-effective way to modernize diverse network functions ranging from intrusion detection to traffic prioritization and network performance optimization. In this way, you can easily reconfigure your networks to meet the data connectivity needs that lie at the heart of digital transformation. Best of all, you can do so without introducing unnecessary risk, complexity or cost.

    Modernizing Your Network for Digital Transformation

    Modernizing your network infrastructure can deliver the appropriate scale, security and performance needed for modern business. In particular, SD-WANs can help ensure your digital transformation goes hand-in-hand with an equivalent modernization of your network infrastructure. As a result, you can simplify your operations, improve security, respond more quickly to business demands and deliver a much more compelling customer experience.

    — Michael Cabra

  • IBN’s Success is Driven by Formulating the Right Test Validation Strategy

    IBN’s Success is Driven by Formulating the Right Test Validation Strategy

    Intent-Based Networking (IBN) is widely considered to be the next big innovation in networking industry. IBN is all about simplifying the process of implementing new upgrades and changes in any networking environment to ensure the results match the original intent. IBN can be considered a successor to software-defined networking (SDN) as it seeks to automate networking operations while better aligning networks with business intent.

    IBN helps to automate operations that were traditionally performed by network analysts or network support engineers through an intent based model. This is achieved by creating a level of abstraction that through certain orders, points out the service or application to be added, which automates all network configuration and management activities.

    The Challenges Posed by SDN and NFV Based Networks

    A number of organizations are making long-term investments in the cloud and are just beginning to realize the benefits of NFV and SDN. As a result, we’re still in a transitionary phase until the transformation is complete. As businesses continue to make this transition, there are a few key considerations from an INB architecture point of view that need to be considered before embarking on this journey:

    • Analyze each networking program in your roadmap and define if intent-based networking can be added to these projects well before integrating IBN into the network architecture.
    • Ensure robust and thorough monitoring and assurance systems are in place.
    • Identify and examine the application programming interfaces (APIs) in the network architecture to determine if they will work with IBN. For instance, Nemo API in ODL/ONOS Controller.
    • IT network teams should have a single pane of view across architectures, data centers, campuses, branches and cloud platforms.
    • Ensure the network architecture has considered the necessary security elements required.

    How IBN Ensures a Holistic Approach to Network Intelligent Verification

    Unlike the traditional interpretation of network verification, the intelligent network verification I’m alluding to is able to consider network design, configurations and prevailing or existing network states to accurately assess network activity. It does not consider live traffic flows and pre-defined testing scenarios hence aiding in the verification of a negative scenario–something traditional testing can seldom accomplish.

    As IBN possess the ability to consider the complete network as a single entity, it facilitates a comprehensive approach to network verification. As a result, organizations are more effectively able to validate the behavior of the network, based on its configuration and state, with the higher-level intent.

    IBN Necessitates a Fundamental Shift in Network Design and Testing

    IBN is shifting the network IT model from a reactive approach to a more proactive software-driven approach where an automated analysis of current network designs can virtually eliminate human errors and misconfigurations. The automation verification enables is helping to replicate and augment the network expertise of the IT staff in troubleshooting and triaging issues during outages, verifying fixes provided by vendors and documenting procedures and workflows.

    There are newer testing challenges popping up due to factors arising from multi-vendor software platforms, protocols and APIs operating together in this environment.

    One good practice to be adopted before designing a new testing approach would be to look deeply at the critical dependencies in designing an IBN Solution. However, while migrating from an existing network to a virtual network, both networks must be re-validated thoroughly.

    Designing a Testing Validation Strategy that Delivers Value

    To tap into the full benefits, it is clear SDN and IBN must be integrated together to exploit their potential. Hence, it is critical to have a testing approach focused on five important areas.

    These areas along with the relevant tests that need to be considered are highlighted below:

    1. Business Policy: Policy conversion to technology and map test, service design and logical topology test, username to host mapping test and REST API functionality test.
    2. Automation: Service placement test, service functional test, service performance test, policy validation test (user intent and policy change validation).
    3. Assurance: End-to-end monitoring test, performance of user intent and usage of resources test, performance of SLAs and service profiles test (traffic throughput, latency, jitter).
    4. Programmable Network Infrastructure: Southbound API test (NEMO API), OpenFlow test, Ovsdb test, network management test.
    5. Security: Service convergence test, conformance test (IBN customer specs conformance, Intent vulnerabilities reporting).

    Testing is Critical to Ensuring the Success of IBN Automation

    With constant transformation of the network and associated technical complexities faced by network engineers, verification becomes an important step for enabling IBN to achieve its objectives in an SDN-based IBN network architecture. While companies are still allowing software to drive their IT upgrades completely, a focus on a well-defined testing approach is critical to provide the much-needed predictability and assurance required for a successful IBN implementation.

    Adopting a layered and integrated approach provides significant benefits related to early detection of bugs, improved test cycles through automation, predictability of outcomes, increase in confidence levels, enhanced scalability, improved security guidelines and adequate testing to ensure smooth delivery.

    After all, when the Intent is right and more importantly validated, all the pieces come together to drive business agility.

    — Jason Chandralal

  • DevOps: Embracing the Telco Cloud

    DevOps: Embracing the Telco Cloud

    Ongoing developments in technology have led businesses to look to the cloud for greater flexibility, scalability and processing power. The telecoms industry is no different. Under growing pressure to meet the demands of the internet of things (IoT) and 5G, service providers are increasingly adopting cloud and virtualization technologies such as network functions virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) to provide them with the capacity they need to manage the explosion in data traffic.

    In an environment in which traditional telco revenue has been eroded by OTT (over-the-top, or IP-delivered) players, the commercial advantages offered by a telco cloud have never been more important. It’s hardly surprising then, that the global market is expected to grow at CAGR of 20 percent, reaching $29 billion within the next two years.

    Don’t Believe the Hype

    Despite the messages of benefits, however, operators have reservations, with many expressing concern that the hype around the promise of NFV and SDN is just that—hype.

    During a panel discussion at the MPLS, SDN and NFV World Congress 2018 in Paris, representatives of Orange and Nokia, among others, raised questions over the current level of investment in the technology. SDN was described as “not really a new concept” and NFV as being a “bubble.”

    It was additionally suggested that the benefits of virtualization weren’t particularly economical. Operators are becoming increasingly aware that the cost savings that NFV promises often are offset by the need to deploy entire racks of compute resources to handle processes that previously would have been supported by a single appliance. When you factor in the CPU and server requirements, along with the necessary power and physical rack space, the cost of delivering the same performance as a dedicated solution can be at least as expensive as a custom-designed alternative.

    Performance and Power

    Given the fundamental role that both SDN and NFV play in underpinning telco cloud, opinions such as those expressed in Paris are concerning—particularly when publicly voiced and apparently widely held. It’s clear then, that if they’re not already doing so, operators need to address these issues to realize the potential of telco cloud in the most cost-effective and efficient way possible. Indeed, time is of the essence, as the performance and scaling problems that operators face with generic NFV infrastructure are only set to get worse once 5G networks are fully implemented. The sheer volume and speed of data traffic through a 5G network, for example, will bring entirely new requirements in terms of scalability and performance.

    Encouragingly, though, steps are being taken to tackle technical challenges around performance and power consumption, particularly with regard to generic hardware. By distributing workloads between x86 general purpose processors and software-reconfigurable, FPGA-based SMARTNICs that are optimized for virtualized environments or VNF re-architecture, operators are turning to hardware acceleration as a means of improving performance both now and in the future.

    Look into the Cloud

    The analyst forecast mentioned at the beginning of this article illustrates that, while discussions continue around the relative economic benefits of virtualization, there’s no denying that cloud-based network infrastructure is beginning to take root across the telecoms industry.

    Increasingly we are seeing operators moving workloads on to virtualized or containerized infrastructure, for example, as they look to improve performance, reduce costs and hyperscale as required by their various network functions, applications and services.

    What’s more, inspired by other sectors that have successfully leveraged cloud-native functionality, operators are embracing Agile and DevOps development practices. Telco cloud provides operators with the development agility they need to combine and re-combine existing functions that, when tested and proven for scale, can deliver entirely new network capabilities. With the ability to quickly bring innovative new ideas to market, operators now have a new avenue of revenue to explore.

    The benefits extend into the wider ecosystem, too. Not only will an open multi-vendor platform running on open source software improve operational and cost efficiency, but by allowing software from multiple vendors to be more quickly integrated, it will enable the creation of innovative new network services and IT functions that, in turn, could led to new revenue streams.

    And, of course, the new paradigm shift will improve the customer experience. Shortly after last year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC), for example, Verizon and Colt carried out the first demonstration of two-way, inter-carrier SDN orchestration, making near real-time bandwidth changes in each other’s production networks. The implications of this are significant, offering enterprise customers in particular flexibility on demand.

    The 5G networks and the new generation of handsets, including foldable devices, dominated this year’s MWC. One look at the show’s agenda, however, shows just how important the cloud has become. And in meeting the demands of 5G and all it entails, its importance will only grow. It’s time, then, for operators to take a serious look into the telco cloud.

    — Naveen Kumar

  • OpenStack and Open Source MANO: Technologies for NFV Deployment

    OpenStack and Open Source MANO: Technologies for NFV Deployment

    We have experienced how open source software technologies revolutionized the application development process, which ultimately resulted in digital transformation across various industry verticals. Open source technologies now are disrupting the telecom sector for building 5G internet, which will be powered by network functions virtualization (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN). With NFV and SDN, multiple network functions and control and management operations in telecom networks will be software-driven; enabling the cloud-native and DevOps approach.

    There are various communities emerged to innovate the software stack behind NFV and SDN technologies such as OpenStack, ONAP, ETSI Open Source MANO (OSM), OPNFV, OpenDaylight, Open Networking Foundation (ONF), Open Contrail, Open Baron, On.Lab, CORD, Kubernetes, ONOS and Open-O. In this article, we will take a look at how a combination of data center management platform management platform, OpenStack and ETSI Open Source MANO (OSM) will be useful for NFV deployment.

    OpenStack for NFV

    As we know, OpenStack is mainly known to be the largest pool of open source projects that collectively form the software platform for cloud computing infrastructure. This infrastructure is used widely in private cloud use cases by many enterprises. After an introduction of NFV by ETSI, OpenStack has emerged as a key infrastructure platform for NFV. In most of the NFV deployments, OpenStack is used at the VIM (virtual infrastructure manager) layer to give a standardized interface for managing, monitoring and assessing all resources within the NFV infrastructure.

    Various OpenStack projects (including Tacker, Neutron, Nova, Astara, Congress, Mistral and Senlin) are capable of managing virtualized infrastructure components of NFV environments. As an example, Tacker is utilized to build a generic VNF manager (VNFM) and NFV Orchestrator (NFVO), which help in the deployment and operation of VNFs within NFV infrastructure. Additionally, integrating OpenStack projects introduces various features to NFV infrastructure, including performance features such as huge pages, CPU Pinning, NUMA topology and SR-IOV; service function chaining, networking slicing, scalability, high availability, resiliency and multisite enablement.

    Telecom service providers and enterprises that have implemented their NFV environment with OpenStack include AT&T, China Mobile, SK Telecom, Ericsson, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast and Bloomberg.

    Open Source Mano (OSM) for NFV

    The management and orchestration (MANO) layer is responsible for orchestration and complete lifecycle management of hardware resources and virtual network functions (VNFs). In other words, the MANO layer coordinates NFV infrastructure (NFVI) resources and maps them efficiently to various VNFs. There are various options available as three-dimensional software stacks for MANO. But ETSI-hosted OSM is largely preferred due to large activity at the community level as well as its highly mature framework, production readiness, ease of initiation and constant feeding of use cases by members.

    Virtual network functions (VNFs) forms network services and may need updates for feature addition or patch for functionalities. OSM provides a method to invoke the VNF upgrade operation with minimal impact in the running network service.

    With the continuous community support and involvement for feature innovation, OSM has now evolved to bring a continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) framework at MANO layer.

    The latest release 4 of OSM has brought a large set of features and enhancements to the OSM framework, impacting functionality, user experience and maturity, which enables various enhancements for NFV MANO from usability and interoperability perspective.

    OSM has steadily adopted the cloud-native principles and can be easily deployed in the cloud, as installation is container-based and runs with the help of container orchestration engine. A new northbound interface aligns with ETSI NFV specification SOL005 and provides dedicated control of the OSM system. Monitoring and closed‐loop capabilities have also been enhanced.

    The next version of OSM release 5 is expected to be launched in November and will be bundled with more 5G-related features such as network slicing and container-based VNFs.

    Why OpenStack and Open Source MANO for MANO layer in NFV?

    Both OpenStack and OSM have a large community known for its rapid pace for innovating NFV and higher contribution by all scale companies to enhance current features and develop new capabilities for core projects under it.

    For NFV, OpenStack standardizes interfaces between NFV elements and infrastructure. OpenStack is used for commercial solutions offerings by companies including Canonical/Ubuntu, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Huawei, IBM, Juniper, Mirantis, Red Hat, SUSE, VMware and Wind River. A large percentage of VIM deployments are based on OpenStack due to the simplicity in handling and operating various projects targeted toward providing full potential storage, compute and networking for NFV.

    With last two releases (3 & 4), OSM has evolved to support integration for cloud-native approach by enabling CI/CD frameworks into orchestration layers. Cloud readiness involvement of OSM is the key benefit along with OpenStack, which has proven architecture for private as well as public clouds. OSM deployment into NFV infrastructure has become very lean, where one can start with importing docker containers into production. On the other hand, OpenStack is known for enabling simplicity to manage virtualized and containerized infrastructure. Organizations can realize the full benefits out of integration as NFV MANO using OSM and OpenStack due to lean and simple management and deployment.

    Conclusion

    Since the introduction of NFV and SDN, telecom service providers and vendors were evaluating the use case offered for telecom networks, and due to this application of both, were in under maturity stage. Service providers and vendors were concerned about dynamic orchestration and automation of infrastructure deployment and constantly upgrading virtual network functions (VNFs). But due to contribution by open source communities such as OpenStack and Open Source MANO (OSM), they are now at the stage to apply cloud-native principles to 5G network implementation and operations. Furthermore, with contributions by communities to OpenStack and OSM projects, we will see more enhancement to 5G network enhancement technologies including network slicing, mobile edge computing (MEC) and cloud radio access network (cRAN), which will benefit emerging technologies including IoT, AI/machine learning, real-time analytics, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) with low latency and high-bandwidth features.

    — Sagar Nangare

  • SDN/NFV DevOps: Release Automation for Network Operators

    SDN/NFV DevOps: Release Automation for Network Operators

     A powerful force is waiting to be unleashed. Software defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) are already acknowledged as exciting possibilities in the world of telecom and media. Leading providers, such as Verizon Enterprise Solutions and My Republic, along with original equipment manufacturers including Cisco Systems and Ericsson, have unveiled their SDN-based services.

    In the near future, all physical devices in the network will undoubtedly be replaced by SDN/NFV. Analysts predicted millions of additional devices on network because of the internet of things (IoT) and smart home intelligent devices, which necessitates the need to automate release and deployment on the networking layer to deploy components and upgrade patches to both the southbound network components and northbound applications. So far, release and deployment is successful on the application layer, but network administrators will be challenged in the near future to manage the surge in demand without a seamless automation solution to manage new devices on the network.

    In this article, we’ll take a look at various real-life scenarios to build a business case to solve bigger problems in networking—including reducing overall provisioning time, mean time to recover from failure, round-trip time for a packet to enable a usable application or time to free up/repurpose a network resource—that apply to all edge technologies. The solution lies in leveraging DevOps container-based solutions and scaled agile and SDN/NFV controller engine module customizations, and a non-prescriptive approach to products or solutions.

    These technologies are the new beasts in the market, but how can SDN go beyond merely saving money for telecom and media companies? How can it provide an enhanced, immersive digital experience, reduce customer churn rate and create new revenue streams? That is where DevOps steps in.

    The DevOps Approach to SDN

    With mobile, cloud, and IoT creating futuristic applications, consumers require strong underlying network speed and reliability.

    The DevOps solution to SDN/NFV is an ideal means for network operators to transition seamlessly from physical networks to futuristic SDN/NFV networks, to provide uninterrupted digital experiences for users, and to achieve high customer retention. DevOps enables a close collaboration between developer and network operators to eliminate many of the pains of introducing new software and services to market. Similar to the system development life cycle, the automated release and deployment process of DevOps enables frequent and incremental updates of network components in near-real time.

    The symbiotic relationship between SDN/NFV and DevOps is a dream. The software-defined and virtualized network elements remove the hassles of configuring and upgrading the physical networks’ devices. DevOps adds to this agility and programmability to streamline and shorten the implementation cycles, paving the way for automated service delivery. In turn, SDN and NFV create an elastic network environment, managed from a central location, to program and rapidly deploy new functionality on the network.

    Service providers can drastically reduce the time it takes to create and provision those network services, gaining a significant time-to-market advantage that helps them acquire new customers and retain existing ones. In the process, they can achieve higher revenues and cost savings, too.

    Creating New Dimensions in the Customer Experience

    Tech support has moved from phone to video, but before long, a centralized monitoring system will be able to auto detect and self-heal all issues related to virtual assets on the network. This will provide a more continuous experience for customers. For example, in case of any unexpected service interruption, TV channel providers’ AI-enabled systems will be able to record live programs and play back those interrupted periods to their viewers.

    Deploying a vendor-agnostic reliable SDN is a wait-and-watch situation for TV channel operators and telcos. Replacing their physical devices (including the conventional routers and switches) with software-enabled virtual devices will bring down printed circuit board (PCB) replacement costs and other associated maintenance fees. As reliable network bandwidth becomes all the more critical to improving channels’ television rating points (TRP), telecom carriers and TV channel operators are converging.

    Digital operators looking beyond TV and telcos anticipate millions of smart home appliances (such as security systems, microwaves, refrigerators and temperature control devices) controlled through the network by users from any remote location. Network administrators want to apply patches and upgrades to any SDN/NFV device, and to proactively fix any network-related issues without bothering their customers. Consumers may be controlling those home appliances from connected cars using mobile devices, so they may not be available physically to read glowing and blinking lights or to reset undecipherable, hard-to-access conventional modems and routers. Network providers are expected to manage millions of devices and provide uninterrupted service, so this paradigm shift, aided by technology transformation, has become imperative not only to reduce the call volumes of help desks but also to retain customers and acquire new ones. 

    Future-proofing for Technology Shifts    

    It is important to realize that telco carriers and TV channel operators are no longer merely confined to the communication and entertainment industry. With their scope vastly expanding into managing and controlling millions of household devices on their networks, it is imperative to future-proof technology with automated release-and-deployment processes over the network to support those devices.

    Some of the latest DevOps zero-touch release automation (RA) solutions can reduce the overall service provisioning time from months to a few hours. The scope is not just limited to configuring the southbound virtual software devices but may also be required to configure and manage northbound SDN/NFV applications to fulfill the ever-growing market. Having a graphical user interface (GUI)-based orchestration dashboard for network management can enable existing admins to continue without needing to acquire additional, niche skill sets to manage the new, massive networks.

    While release automation has been successful on the application layer, it has yet to prove itself on the networking layer. For SDN/NFV, release automation is just an engine that can be fitted into any controller to do virtual local area network provisioning, virtual management of firewalls and network functionalities management. Since there will be a shift from physical devices, there will be a desperate need to automate release and deployment of software versions on such networks.

    Adopting a DevOps strategy into SDN deployment requires a cultural shift from the traditional “big-lab,” acceptance-testing mindset to the “here-and-now” daily incremental changes in a live network. It calls for engineers to collaborate in managing the critical network-applications relationships. Consulting skillsets might be needed to assess the extent of customization required for legacy systems and to understand which technology solutions can deploy SDN, NFV and DevOps.

    It is clear that this industry will undergo a paradigm shift, and this technology is just crossing the chasm. Early adopters can give themselves an edge by leveraging compelling value propositions.

    — Ramesh Ganapathy

  • How DevOps Can Create Smarter, More Agile 5G Telecom Networks

    How DevOps Can Create Smarter, More Agile 5G Telecom Networks

    There is no doubt DevOps revolutionized software development with its introduction of lean and agile techniques. By applying continuous deployment and continuous integration methodologies into software development, enterprises can build, test and deploy applications and release new services more rapidly. In this article, we will see how the DevOps approach is being utilized in 5G telecom networks with the rise of software-defined systems.

    Emergence of Software in Legacy Telecom Networks

    In last few decades software has changed our lives in myriad ways—mostly for the better. Now, software is starting to disrupt the telecommunication industry with the eagerly anticipated 5th generation of telecom network, also known as 5G. It is expected to provide low latency and high bandwidth network connections to serve use cases including artificial intelligence, smart city, 3D video, industry automation and self-driving cars, and to provide end-to-end real-time experiences such as virtual reality and augmented reality. A variety of these use cases have different network requirements and dependencies, and 5G is expected to provide such flexibility along with agility.

    Software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) form the backbone of the upcoming 5G network, enabling service providers to deliver lucrative services to their customers and realize a competitive advantage. SDN makes the network programmable and centrally controlled, while NFV replaces dedicated network appliances with software packaged in virtual machines on top of high-performance servers. SDN and NFV enables:

    • Better control over overall network.
    • Reduction of manual network configuration processes.
    • Lower CAPEX.
    • Network resiliency.
    • Orchestrate network dynamically.
    • Faster time to market, i.e. faster introduction of new services and features to customers.

    Application of SDN and NFV technologies in 5G telecom networks indicates the use of software in the legacy telecom network, wherein many network functions including firewall, content delivery network (CDN), network address translation (NAT), routers, deep packet inspection (DPI) and broadband remote access server (BRAS) can be virtualized and serve as virtual network functions (VNFs) in NFV architecture. This stands as the core feature of upcoming 5G networks, as most of hardware-dependent operations will be performed by software, providing higher performance with tons of benefits to end users.

    Cloud-Native Enables DevOps

    Virtual network functions (VNFs) are the software representation of network function appliances in NFV environment and a core element in 5G networks. Services can be provided by chaining different VNFs developed by different vendors. There are complexities associated with having multivendor VNFs, as each VNF has its own performance and operational issues including manual integration in NFV infrastructure, utilization of NFV hardware resources, lack of interoperability and multitenancy. For a 5G network to deploy successfully, each VNF must be configured and managed in automated way.

    As software becomes part of telecom network, the term “cloud native” becomes part of the vernacular for VNFs.

    By harnessing a cloud-native approach—including containerization, microservices-based architecture and dynamic orchestration—VNFs with their own life cycle enable:

    • Decomposition of sub processes into microservices—resources required will be automatically scaled and communicated with other services using APIs.
    • Management and simplified orchestration of VNFs.
    • Deployment within containers and connected by APIs.
    • Orchestration by container scheduler—manages provision into service and lifecycle management.
    • Portability to different NFV environments.

    More importantly, a cloud-native approach allows VNF vendors and service providers to impose DevOps (continuous deployment and integration) methods to automate process of building, validating and deploying VNFs into NFV environments.

    A DevOps approach in 5G networks brings benefits for overall network operations, enabling deployment automation and management of service chains and 5G network slices. Complete automation is required, especially for 5G network operations, which may increase operational efficiency and decrease human error, saving OPEX and decreasing expensive downtime.

    For 5G networks, requirement of DevOps methods in VNF can be for:

    • Automated onboarding and deployment of VNFs in NFV environment.
    • Automated performance testing and benchmarking for VNFs.
    • Enabling self-scaling of VNFs—automated resource provisioning for VNFs.
    • Rnabling self-healing after an error in VNFs residing in VMs or containers.
    • Real-time monitoring of VNF activities for analysis.

    More ‘Intelligent’ Network

    Cloud-native capabilities and a DevOps approach opens the possibility of incorporating artificial intelligence in 5G telecom network operations analysis and real-time monitoring. Cisco Systems has already introduced its solution based on machine learning, which it calls Intent Based Networking. We can imagine a network operation having “zero touch” feature by just providing an intent to complete network for any configuration or specific network-based instruction. The collected analysis data can be used in the management and organization of NFV for corrections of network errors, adjustments in VNF and NFV elements configuration and self-healing/scaling of network functions.

    Summary

    Development of 5G network is still in process. By taking into account a revolution in SDN, NFV, cloud native and DevOps, it is expected that we will have 5G networks by some of leading players Verizon, AT&T, Telefonica and Vodafone reasonably soon.

    — Sagar Nangare