10/9/2014

1

Christos Kolias

Orange Silicon Valley

NFV

for a Software-Centric Network

IEEE ComSoc SVC

Santa Clara, October 2014

2

BRAS

FirewallDPI

CDN

Tester/QoE

monitor

WAN

AccelerationMessageRouter

Radio/Fixed Access

Network Nodes

CarrierGrade NAT

PE RouterSGSN/GGSN

The NFV Concept & Vision

Classical Network Model:Hardware Appliances

Classical Network Model:Hardware Appliances

� Network Functions are based on specialized hardware

� One physical node per role. Physical install per site

� Static. Hard to scale up & out

� Inefficient: sized for peak loads or cannot handle spikes

Session BorderController

standard servers, storage, switches

The New Network Model:Virtual Appliances

The New Network Model:Virtual Appliances

Orchestration & Automation

� Network Functions are SW-based

� Multiple roles over same HW. Remote operation

� Dynamic. Extremely easy to scale

� Scalable number of VMs

EPC

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Fields of Application

• Mobile networks:� HLR/HSS, MME, SGSN, GGSN/PDN-

GW, eNodeB, vEPC

• NGN signalling: � SBCs, IMS

• Switching elements:� BNG, CG-NAT, routers

• Home environment: � home router, set top box, picocell

• Application-level optimization: � CDNs, Cache Servers, Load Balancers,

Application Accelerators

• Security functions � Firewalls, virus scanners, intrusion

detection systems, spam protection

• Tunnelling gateway elements: � IPSec/SSL VPN gateways

• Converged and network-wide functions: � AAA servers, policy control and charging

platforms

• Traffic analysis/forensics: � DPI, QoE measurement

• Traffic Monitoring:� Service Assurance, SLA monitoring, Test

and Diagnostics

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� EVA principle: elasticity, velocity, agility + scaleability

‒ Flexibility to easily, rapidly, dynamically provision and instantiate new services

in various locations (i.e. no need for new equipment install)

‒ Increased speed of time-to-market by minimising the typical network operator

cycle of innovation. More service differentiation & customization. Great for

BC/DR.

‒ Improved operational efficiency by taking advantage of a more homogeneous

(physical) network platform

� Reduced equipment costs through equipment consolidation, leveraging

the economies of scale. Eco-friendly.

� Reduced operational costs: reduced power, reduced space, improved

network monitoring

� Software-oriented innovation (including Open Source) to rapidly

prototype and test new services

� IT-oriented skillset and talent (readily available in global geography,

flexible). Convergence of IT & NetOps.

NFV: a Value Proposition

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ETSI NFV ISG

• Launched November 2012. First plenary January 2013

• 37 Tier-1 global operators/carriers

• > 230 member organizations

• 4 WGs, 2 EGs

• 4 specs published (Oct. ‘13) : architectural framework, virtualization

requirements, use cases, terminology

• 25 POCs

• Quarterly face-face meetings, 7 so far, next in Arizona, Nov. 2014

• 15 work items; 2 white papers (authored by operators, not ETSI)

• Tens of individual contributors and hundreds of contributions

• Working on Phase II

• www.etsi.org/nfv

ComputingHardware

StorageHardware

NetworkHardware

Hardware resources

Virtualisation Layer

Virtualised

Infrastructure

Manager(s)

VNF

Manager(s)

VNF

OSS/BSS

NFVI

VNF VNF

Execution reference points Main NFV reference pointsOther reference points

Virtual Computing

Virtual Storage

Virtual Network

EMS EMSEMS

Service, VNF and Infrastructure Description

Or-Vi

Or-Vnfm

Vi-Vnfm

Os-Ma

Se-Ma

Ve-Vnfm

Nf-Vi

Vn-Nf

Vl-Ha

Orchestrator

NF

V M

AN

AG

EM

EN

T &

OR

CH

ES

TR

AT

ION

VNFs

The E2E Reference Architecture

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� Network Functions Virtualisation Infrastructure as a Service (NFVIaaS)

‒ Network functions go to the cloud

� Virtual Network Function as a Service (VNFaaS)

‒ Ubiquitous, delocalized network functions

� Virtual Network Platform as a Service (VNPaaS)

‒ Applying multi-tenancy at the VNF level

� VNF Forwarding Graphs

‒ Building E2E services by composition

An E2E View: Architectural Use Cases

NVFIaaS Example

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� Mobile core network and IMS

‒ Elastic, scalable, more resilient EPC

‒ Specially suitable for a phased approach

� Mobile base stations

‒ Evolved Cloud-RAN

‒ Enabler for SON

� Home environment

‒ L2 visibility to the home network

‒ Smooth introduction of residential services

� CDNs

‒ Better adaptability to traffic surges

‒ New collaborative service models

� Fixed access network

‒ Offload computational intensive optimization

‒ Enable on-demand access services

An E2E View: Service-Oriented Use Cases

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Virtual Network Functions Forwarding Graph

� Provides logical description of interconnecting the VNFs and traffic flow between them (aka Service Chaining)

� Nested FGs a possibility

� Need for new visualization & monitoring tools

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� www.etsi.org/nfv-poc

� ETSI NFV PoC Zone @ SDN & OpenFlow World Congress (Oct. ‘14)

NFV POCs Proof-of-Concept Participants

CloudNFV Open NFV Framework Project Telefonica, Sprint, 6WIND, Dell,

EnterpriseWeb, Mellanox, Metaswitch,

Overture Networks, Qosmos, Aeroflex

Service Chaining for NW Function Selection in Carrier Networks NTT, Cisco, HP, Juniper Networks

Virtual Function State Migration and Interoperability AT&T, BT, Broadcom, Tieto

Multi-vendor Distributed NFV CenturyLink, Certes, Cyan, Fortinet, RAD

E2E vEPC Orchestration in a multi-vendor open NFVI environment Telefonica, Sprint, Intel, Cyan, Red Hat, Dell,

Connectem

Virtualised Mobile Network with Integrated DPI Telefonica, Intel, Tieto, Qosmos, Wind

River, HP

C-RAN virtualisation with dedicated hardware accelerator China Mobile, Alcatel-Lucent, Wind River,

Intel

Automated Network Orchestration DT, Ericsson, x-ion, DT Innovation Labs

VNF Router Performance with DDoS Functionality AT&T, Telefonica, Brocade, Intel, Spirent

NFV Ecosystem Telecom Italia, DigitalWave, SunTec, Svarog,

Telchemy, EANTC

Multi-Vendor on-boarding of vIMS on a cloud management framework Deutsche Telekom - Huawei Technologies -

Alcatel-Lucent

Demonstration of multi-location, scalable, stateful Virtual Network Function NTT, Fujitsu, Alcatel-Lucent

SteerFlow: Multi-Layered Traffic Steering for Gi-LAN Telefonica, Radware, HP, Mellanox

ForCES Applicability for NFV and integrated SDN Verizon, Telefonica, Mojatatu Networks,

Cumulus, Univ. of Patras

Subscriber Aware SGi/Gi-LAN Virtualization Telenor, ConteXtream, SkyFire, Guavus,

Redhat, HP

NFVIaaS with Secure, SDN-controlled WAN Gateway AT&T, Telecom Italia, Netronome, Intel,

ServiceMesh, PLUMgrid, Cisco

Operational Efficiency in NFV Capacity Planning, Provisioning and Billing BT, MetraTech, Huawei

VNF Router Performance with Hierarchical Quality of Service Functionality Telefonica, BT, Brocade, Intel, Spirent

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Creates competitive supply of innovative applications by third parties

Strategic Networking Paradigms

• NFV and SDN are highly complementary, they are mutually beneficial but not dependent on each other.

• Software is common denominator

Creates abstractions to enable faster innovation

Software

Defined

Networking

Leads to agility, Reduces CAPEX, OPEX,

Network

Functions

Virtualisation

Open

Innovation

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� What should be open? ‒ Open Source (software)

‒ Open Design (hardware)

‒ Open Standards

‒ Open Interfaces, APIs (plugins)

‒ Open SDKs

� Open Community (not controlled by single vendor)

� Decoupling of software and hardware. Programmable network functions

� Benefits‒ modularization: best of breed, flexibility

‒ customization (mix & match)

‒ reduced costs

‒ easy to upgrade, no vendor lock-in

Open Networking & NFV

Network Operating System

Application / Tools / Services

Hardware (switch/server))

Virtual Switch

API

APIAPI

API

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� Issues: ‒ (harmonious) integration and consistency

‒ for operators: carrier-grade (HA & five 9s, DR/BC, SLAs, reliability)

‒ security, testing & interoperability, certification, licensing, regulation

� Creating a sandbox of open source tools would be ideal

� Open VNFs

‒ Open-sourced firewalls, load balancers, DPI

� Emergence of virtual switches and routers as vital block elements

� Disaggregation of switch hardware/software supports

‒ dynamic/programmable QoS (selective per application/user/virtual network, etc)

‒ monitoring/analytics tools

‒ run many NOS on same system (group of physical/virtual ports)

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� SDN can play a key role in the orchestration of the infrastructure (physical, virtual)

‒ Provisioning and configuration of VNFs

‒ Allocate and manage resources (e.g., bandwidth)

‒ VM mobility

‒ Automation & programmability

‒ Security & policy control

‒ Centralized network control. Unified control & management plane?

� Service composition (NFV Forwarding Graphs)

‒ Directing traffic flows to VNFs

‒ Traffic flow characterization very important (especially for mobile, E2E scenarios)

� An SDN controller could be a VNF or part of service orchestration (NFV’s M&O)

NFV+SDN

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� NFV creates a very dynamic environment

‒ SDN can present an overall logical view, map

‒ SDN’s programmability is key aspect (i.e., for automation)

� Ad-hoc, on-demand, secure virtual tenant networks

� Extend M&O to include Network Management

� SDN could enable and accelerate the virtualization of the network and the “cloudification” of the carrier (COs/PoPs become DCs)

� Challenges in “dovetailing” SDN with NFV

‒ Hybrid virtualized/non virtualized environment

‒ Mixed SDN/non-SDN (legacy) network elements/domains

‒ SDN across NFV boundaries

‒ NFV across SDN boundaries (this may require some sort of SDN federation)

NFV and SDN together can create greatest value

Apps Apps Apps

APIs

Computing

Hardware

Storage

Hardware

Network

Hardware

Hardware resources

Virtualisation Layer (ODL, NSX, OVX, …)

NFV Infrastructure (NFVI)

Virtual Computing Virtual Storage Virtual Network

MANAGEMENT

&

ORCHESTRATION

Virtual Network Functions (VNFs)

VNF VNF VNF

Apps

SDN-based NFV

Interfaces, ProtocolsSDN Controller

OpenStackNeutron

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Service Composition & Service Insertion

� Policies determine the chain order (eg. OF rules): define your own chain!

� Use of metadata, tags as application/flow descriptors.

� Use

‒ Tunnels/overlays, eg., VxLAN for creating paths‒ SDN controller for directing traffic

� Virtual networks for multi-tenancy and traffic isolation (virtualizing the virtual appliances…)

vCDNvDPIvLBvFW vADC

vDPI vCDN

physical

switch

vSwitch SDN Controller

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� Programmable Service Chains

‒ Branching‒ Loops‒ Parallelism‒ Nests/recursion

� Pipelined Service Chains

� Virtual switches are key functional blocks

‒ Statefull/stateless

‒ Redundancy/DR

‒ Performance guarantees (delay, bandwidth)

� Languages/structures for describing service chains

‒ Describing forwarding behaviour

‒ Accounting for constraints (e.g., security)

� Building service chains for NaaS

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Mapping to Open Source communities

NFVI NFV M&O

Hardware Resources

ComputingHardware

StorageHardware

NetworkHardware

Virtualization Layer

Virtual Compute Virtual StorageVirtual Network

VNF VNF VNF

EMS EMS EMS

OSS / BSS

Service, VNF &

Infrastructure

Description

VirtualizedInfrastructure

Manager

Orchestrator

VNFManagers

VNF

OpenStackCloudStack

KVMXEN, LXC

new forgeneric VNFs Open Daylight

ONOS, ONF

DPDKODP (Linaro)

OCP

OpenStackCloudStack

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� Open Platform for NFV (OPNFV): collaborative (vendor/carrier) community supported by Linux Foundation to accelerate the evolution and adoption of NFV

� Launched September 2014. Already 40 members. www.opnfv.org

� Scope: NFV Infrastructure (NFVI) and Virtualized Infrastructure Management (VIM)

Open Platform for NFV

� Goals‒ Create a carrier-grade open source platform for integration, testing and

validation‒ Build new open source components‒ Use open implementations to drive an open standard and open

ecosystem for NFV solutions‒ Develop code for E2E solutions

� Benefits

‒ Faster solutions (time-to-market)‒ Lower development cost‒ Feedback to ETSI ISG NFV

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� APIs: important for plug-n-play, especially for open platforms

� Google, FB, Microsoft, eg. WebRTC

� They can enable plethora of innovative (eg, ad-hoc/customized) services and lead to new business models for the telcos

‒ Monetization opportunities (eg., consumers, enterprise, VNOs, etc)

� SPs: From function/service-based to app-based models

‒ Deploy resources (including VNFs on-demand) as an app/user needs them

‒ Example: different mobile apps may require different connectivity mode (4G, WiFi, multiple WiFis, etc)

‒ Example: customer-tailored, brokerage-based services (eg., VoIP calls)

‒ Managed services (the evolution of VPNs)

� Integrate (network and business) intelligence: write your own VNF!

The Role of APIs

� Smart mobile devices and IoT will precipitate the adoption of APIs for telco Apps

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Load Balancer

WAN Acceleration

DPI

Switch

Firewall

Load Balancer

WAN Acceleration

DPI

Switch

Firewall

Load Balancer

WAN Acceleration

DPI

Switch

Firewall

Infrastructure today

Collection of heterogeneous networks(with lots of duplication)

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FW LB DPI OSV SDN CTR

FW LB DPI OSV SDN CTR

FW LB DPI OSV SDN CTR

VM VM VM VM VM

VM VM VM VM VM

M&O

NV

SDN CTR

EMS

OVS

NFV removes the physical boundaries and constraints in your infrastructure

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� Goal: engage researcher centers/labs, academia in NFV (alongside with industry) to encourage new research and teaching courses

� Potential topics:

• Service Chaining & Service Insertion algorithms & protocols. Optimization mechanisms

• NFV Orchestration algorithms

• NFV Controllers. SDN Controllers for NFV

• Abstractions for carrier-grade networks & services (imperative/declarative programming languages)

• Traffic steering/dispatching

‒ Pure virtualized environment

‒ Hybrid (virtualized/non-virtualized) environment

• Consolidation of VNFs & Multipurpose VNFs

• Nested VNFs algorithms

• Security

NFV Research & Education

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• Performance studies, e.g.,

‒ Resources requirements

‒ Latency & locality in software implementation

‒ Optimization techniques

‒ System bottlenecks

‒ Portability

• Cost (Benefit) Analysis studies

• BC/DR: fault-tolerance, resilience, redundancy

• NFV system configuration patterns

• Complexity of NFV systems

• Energy Efficient NFV architectures

• Service Assurance

‒ Tests & diagnostics (eg, fault isolation, fault-correlation‒ Predictive analytics (e.g., fault prediction)

• New VNFs, new network architectures, new topologies

• NFV Federation

• E2E Architecture

• Open Source collaborative projects

• Cross-disciplinary research, domain cross-pollination

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SmartEPC: NFV+SDN PoC @ OSV (Net2 Studio)

• Easier to integrate SDN-based solutions, such as “smart traffic

offloading”‒ Offload traffic based on various & different criteria (e.g., per customer, traffic)

‒ Embed OF agents in VNFs (running on VMs)

• Better management of EPC. Mobile flow characterization

• Does not require vendor to make drastic changes Orange Silicon Valley

ANDSF

Evolved Packet Core

SDN CTRL

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NFV will be profoundly transformative

christos.kolias@orange.com