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There are three stages in the life cycle of a VNF, as shown here:

Figure 1. VNF complete life cycle stages

Reference Documents

OpenECOMP Requirements and Guidelines for Virtual Network Functions in a Network Cloud• Describes VNF environment and

• identifies audiences interested in VNFs
• describes VNF environment
• gives an overview of requirements
• points out differences between OpenECOMP VNFs and ETSI VNFs

Common Requirements for Virtual Network Functions• General

• general Requirements for all VNFs (e.g., Security, Resiliency, Operations, Design)

OpenECOMP Requirements for Virtual Network Functions• ECOMP Requirements

• requirements for how VNFs interact with and

...

• use OpenECOMP

Example Implementation of Network Cloud

• Provides specifications for an example implementation of a Network Cloud

Heat Template Requirements for Virtual Network Functions• Provides

• provides recommendations and standards for building Heat templates compatible with

...

• OpenECOMP

Currently, these guidelines are intended for

ECOMP

Requirements and Guidelines for Virtual Network Functions in a Network Cloud

In the specifications, the terms must, must not, should, should not, and may have specific meanings defined here.

The following document describes, in general terms, the requirements for VNFs. It also provides background material: the motivation for VNFs, and the various audiences interested in VNFs. In addition, it points out, in general terms, the differences between OpenECOMP VNFs and ETSI VNFs.

This first release of the guidelines and requirements, although applicable in many implementations, is targeted for those implementations that consist of a network clouds based on OpenStack. Future  Future versions of these guidelines are envisioned to include other targeted virtualization environments, such as Customer Premises or other single-tenant small scale cloud implementations.

Example Implementation of Network Cloud

<<DocRef: Example Implementation of Network Cloud>>

Overview of VNF Requirements

The following reference documents, taken together, enumerate all the requirements that any VNF must meet in order to be instantiated in OpenECOMP. These documents may be merged in the future.

<<DocRef: "OpenECOMP Common Requirements and Guidelines for Virtual Network Functions in a Network Cloud">>

VNF Requirements <<TODO: in progress>><<DocRef: "OpenECOMP Requirements for Virtual Network Functions:>>

VNFs must meet requirements that fall into the categories of packaging, configuration, run-time monitoring and management, and licensing. Also, VNFs must communicate using event records (indicating a change of state or loggable event, for example).

Packaging

The With respect to packaging, the specification states that "Initially this information may be provided in documents, but in the near future a method will be developed to automate as much of the transfer of data as possible...".

Configuration

Regarding configuration management, "The VNF providers must provide the device YANG model and NETCONF server, supporting NETCONF APIs, to comply with target OpenECOMP and industry standards." In addition, the supplier "shall demonstrate mounting the NETCONF server on OpenDaylight (client)...", and successfully carry out specified operations thereon.

Run-Time Monitoring and Management

A For run-time monitoring and management, a VNF must provide event records as specified in the document.documentation. These event records describe a change of state or other loggable event.

Licensing

Finally, VNFs must conform to certain licensing restrictions, such as providing a universal license key, providing metrics (such as the number of subscribers), and not depending on a license server.The following reference documents, combined, enumerate all the requirements that any VNF must meet in order to be instantiated in OpenECOMP. These documents may be merged in the future.

<<DocRef: "Common Requirements for Virtual Network Functions">>

<<DocRef: "OpenECOMP Requirements for Virtual Network Functions:>>

The VNF API: Functions That a VNF Must or May Implement <<TODO: in progress>>

<<TODO: This might be a pointer to NETCONF or ETSI specs, along with other OpenECOMP APIs. The Requirements documents above don't enumerate all functions in the API, but they might contain enough references to other documents to comprise the full description of functions that VNFs must implement. >>

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