| NFVRG | P. Aranda Gutierrez |
| Internet-Draft | DRL. Lopez |
| Intended status: Informational | Telefonica |
| Expires: April 17, 2017 | S. Salsano |
| Univ. of Rome Tor Vergata/CNIT | |
| October 14, 2016 |
High-level VNF Descriptors using NEMO
draft-aranda-nfvrg-recursive-vnf-01
Current efforts in the scope of Network Function Virtualisation(NFV) propose YAML-based descriptors for Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) and for their composition in Network Services (NS) These descriptors are human-readable but hardly understandable by humans. On the other hand, there has been an effort proposed to the IETF to define a human-readable (and understandable) representation for networks, known as NEMO. In this draft, we propose a simple extension to NEMO to accommodate VNF Descriptors (VNFDs) in a similar manner as inline assembly is integrated in higher-level programming languages.
This approach enables the creation of recursive VNF forwarding graphs in Service Descriptors, practically making them recursive.
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Currently, there is a lot of on-going activity to deploy NFV in the network. From the point of view of the orchestration, Virtual Network Functions are blocks that are deployed in the infrastructure as independent units. Following the reference architectural model proposed in [ETSI-NFV-MANO], VNFs provide for one layer of components (VNF components(VNFCs)) below, i.e. a set of VNFCs accessible to a VNF provider can be composed into VNFs. However, there is no simple way to use existing VNFs as components in VNFs with a higher degree of complexity. In addition, Network Service Descriptors (NSD) and VNF Descriptors (VNFDs) specified in [ETSI-NFV-MANO] and used in different open source MANO frameworks are YAML-based files, which despite being human readable, are not easy to understand.
On the other hand, there has been recently an attempt to work on a modelling language for networks or Network Modelling (NEMO) language. This language is human-readable and provides constructs that support recursiveness. In this draft, we propose an addition to NEMO to make it interact with VNFDs supported by a NFV MANO framework. This integration creates a new language for VNFDs that is recursive, allowing VNFs to be created based on the definitions of existing VNFs.
This draft uses two example formats to show how low level descriptors can be imported into NEMO. The first one is the format used in the OpenMANO framework. The second one follows strictly the specifications provided by ETSI NFV ISG in [ETSI-NFV-MANO]. Conceptually, other descriptor formats like TOSCA can also be used at this level.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
Virtual network function descriptors (VNFDs) are used in the Management and orchestration (MANO) framework of the ETSI NFV to achieve the optimal deployment of virtual network functions (VNFs). The Virtual Infrastructure Manager (VIM) uses this information to place the functions optimally. VNFDs include information of the components of a specific VNF and their interconnection to implement the VNF, in the form of a forwarding graph. In addition to the forwarding graph, the VNFD includes information regarding the interfaces of the VNF. These are then used to connect the VNF to either physical or logical interfaces once it is deployed.
There are different MANO frameworks available. For this draft, we will first concentrate on the example of OpenMANO, which uses a YAML representation similar to the one specified in [ETSI-NFV-MANO]. Then we will provide an example using the exact format specified in [ETSI-NFV-MANO].
Taking the example from the (public) OpenMANO github repository, we can easily identify the virtual interfaces of the sample VNFs in their descriptors:
+----------------------------+
| |
mgt0 | +---------------+ | ge0
| | | |
---+-----+ Template VM +------+------
| | | |
| +---+--------+--+ |
| | | |
+---------+--------+---------+
| |
xe0 xe1
vnf:
name: TEMPLATE
description: This is a template to help in the creation of
# class: parent # Optional. Used to organize VNFs
external-connections:
- name: mgmt0
type: mgmt
VNFC: TEMPLATE-VM
local_iface_name: mgmt0
description: Management interface
- name: xe0
type: data
VNFC: TEMPLATE-VM
local_iface_name: xe0
description: Data interface 1
- name: xe1
type: data
VNFC: TEMPLATE-VM
local_iface_name: xe1
description: Data interface 2
- name: ge0
type: bridge
VNFC: TEMPLATE-VM
local_iface_name: ge0
description: Bridge interface
Figure 1: Sample VNF and descriptor (source: OpenMANO github)
In this example we consider the VNF represented in Figure 6.4 of [ETSI-NFV-MANO]. Its internal diagram, including a VNF component, is represented in Figure Figure 2. A YAML representation of the VNF Descriptor is reported in Figure Figure 3. The topology of the interconnection of VNFs is expressed by using the abstraction of Virtual Links, which interconnect Connection Points of the VNFs. The Virtual Links are described by Virtual Link Descriptors (VLD) files. An example YAML representation of the Virtual Link VL1 in the example VNF is reported in Figure Figure 3. In order to understand the topology, a (potentially large) set of VNFD and VLD files needs to be analysed. For a human programmer of the service, this representation is not friendly to write and very hard to read/understand/debug.
+----------------------------+
| VNF1 |
+----------------------------+
| |
| +-------------+ |
| | VNFC11 | |
| +-------------+ |
| | | |
| | +----+ | |
| | |CP14| | |
| | +-+--+ | |
| | | | |
| +-------------+ |
| | |
| +--+----+ |
| +----+ VL11 +---+ |
| | +--+----+ | |
| | | | |
| +-+--+ +-+--+ +--+-+ |
| |CP11| |CP12| |CP13| |
| +-+--+ +-+--+ +--+-+ |
| | | | |
+----------------------------+
| | |
+----+--+ +--+----+ +-+-----+
| VL1 | | VL2 | | VL3 |
+-------+ +-------+ +-------+
Figure 2: VNF example
#######################################
# VNF Descriptor of a VNF called vnf1
#######################################
id: vnf1
description_version: '0.1'
vendor: netgroup
version: '0.1'
connection_point:
- id: cp11
type: ''
virtual_link_reference: vl11
- id: cp12
type: ''
virtual_link_reference: vl11
- id: cp13
type: ''
virtual_link_reference: vl11
vdu:
- id: vdu11
computation_requirement: ''
virtual_memory_resource_element: ''
virtual_network_bandwidth_resource: ''
vnfc:
- id: vnfc11
connection_point:
- id: cp14
type: NIC
virtual_link_reference: vl11
virtual_link:
- id: vl11
connection_points_references:
- cp11
- cp12
- cp13
- cp14
connectivity_type: ' E-Line'
root_requirement: ''
Figure 3: ETSI MANO compliant VNF descriptor example
############################################ # Virtual Link Descriptor of a VL called vl1 ############################################ id: vl1 descriptor_version: '0.1' test_access: none vendor: netgroup connection: - cp01 - cp11 connectivity_type: E-LAN number_of_endpoints: 2 root_requirement: ''
Figure 4: ETSI MANO compliant Virtual Link descriptor example
The Network Modeling (NEMO) language is described in [I-D.xia-sdnrg-nemo-language]. It provides a simple way of describing network scenarios. The language is based on a two-stage process. In the first stage, models for nodes, links and other entities are defined. In the second stage, the defined models are instantiated. The NEMO language also allows for behavioural descriptions. A variant of the NEMO language is used in the OpenDaylight NEMO northbound API.
NEMO allows to define NodeModels, which are then instantiated in the infrastructure. NodeModels are recursive and can be build with basic node types or with previously defined NodeModels. An example for a script defining a NodeModel is shown below:
CREATE NodeModel dmz
Property string: location-fw, string: location-n2,
string: ipprefix, string: gatewayip, string: srcip,
string: subnodes-n2;
Node fw1
Type fw
Property location: location-fw,
operating-mode: layer3;
...
Figure 5: Creating a NodeModel in NEMO
In order to integrate VNFDs into NEMO, we need to take into account two specifics of VNFDs, which cannot be expressed in the current language model. Firstly, we need a way to reference the file which holds the VNFD provided by the VNF developer. This will normally be a universal resource identifier (URI). Additionally, we need to make the NEMO model aware of the virtual network interfaces.
As explained in the introduction, in order integrate VNFDs into the NEMO language in the easiest way we need to reference the VNFD as a Universal Resource Identifier (URI) as defined in RFC 3986 [RFC3986]. To this avail, we define a new element in the NodeModel to import the VNFD:
CREATE NodeModel NAME <node_model_name> IMPORT VNFD FROM <vnfd_uri>
As shown in Figure 1, VNFDs include an exhaustive list of interfaces, including the interfaces to the management network. However, since these interfaces may not be significant for specific network scenarios and since interface names in the VNFD may not be adequate in NEMO, we propose to define a new element in the node model, namely the ConnectionPoint.
CREATE NodeModel NAME <node_model_name> DEFINE ConnectionPoint <cp_name> FROM VNFD:<iface_from_vnfd>
Once these two elements are included in the NEMO language, it is possibly to recursively define NodeModel elements that use VNFDs in the lowest level of recursion. Firstly, we create NodeModels from VNFDs:
CREATE NodeModel NAME SampleVNF
IMPORT VNFD from https://github.com/nfvlabs/openmano.git
/openmano/vnfs/examples/dataplaneVNF1.yaml
DEFINE ConnectionPoint data_inside as VNFD:ge0
DEFINE ConnectionPoint data_outside as VNFD:ge1
Import from a sample VNFD from the OpenMANO repository
Then we can reuse these NodeModels recursively to create complex NodeModels:
CREATE NodeModel NAME ComplexNode
Node InputVNF TYPE SampleVNF
Node OutputVNF TYPE ShaperVNF
DEFINE ConnectionPoint input
DEFINE ConnectionPoint output
CONNECTION input_connection FROM input TO InputVNF:data_inside
TYPE p2p
CONNECTION output_connection FROM output TO ShaperVNF:wan
TYPE p2p
CONNECTION internal FROM InputVNF:data_outside TO ShaperVNF:lan
TYPE p2p
Create a composed NodeModel
This NodeModel definition creates a composed model linking the SampleVNF created from the VNFD with a hypothetical ShaperVNF defined elsewhere. This definition can be represented graphically as follows:
+------------------------------------------------------+
| ComplexVNF |
| +-------------+ +-------------+ |
input | | | | output
+------+ SampleVNF +-----------+ ShaperVNF +-------+
| | | | | |
| +-------------+ +-------------+ |
| data_inside data_outside lan wan |
+------------------------------------------------------+
Figure 6
In ETSI NFV, a network service is described by one or more VNFs that are connected through one or more network VNFFGs. This is no more than what is defined in the composed NodeModel shown if Figure 6. By using NEMO, we provide a simple way to define VNF forwarding graphs (VNF-FGs) in network service descriptors in a recursive way.
With the strategy defined in this document, we are able to link a low-level VNF description into a high-level description language for networks like NEMO. Effectively, we are introducing recursiveness in VNFDs, allowing complex service descriptors to be built by reusing previously tested descriptors graphs as building blocks.
Although we have used the OpenMANO descriptor format in this document, other descriptors and concepts (i.e. as those used by TOSCA) can also be used as the lowest level in this extension to the NEMO language.
This draft includes no request to IANA.
The IMPORT construct allows referencing external resources. Developers using it in NEMO scripts are advised to verify the source of those external resources, and whenever possible, rely on sources with a verifiable identity through cryptographic methods.
This work has been partially performed in the scope of the SUPERFLUIDITY project, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No.671566 (Research and Innovation Action).
| [RFC2119] | Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997. |
| [RFC3986] | Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R. and L. Masinter, "Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66, RFC 3986, DOI 10.17487/RFC3986, January 2005. |
| [ETSI-NFV-MANO] | ETSI, "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Management and Orchestration", ETSI GS NFV-MAN 001 V1.1.1 (2014-12), December 2014. |
| [I-D.xia-sdnrg-nemo-language] | Xia, Y., Jiang, S., Zhou, T., Hares, S. and Y. Zhang, "NEMO (NEtwork MOdeling) Language", Internet-Draft draft-xia-sdnrg-nemo-language-04, April 2016. |