Increasing Network Agility through Intelligent Orchestration The Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator advantage ORACLE WHITE PAPER OCTOBER 2015
Table of Contents Introduction 1 Network Virtualization is the Key 1 ETSI NFV Architecture 2 Oracle NFV Architecture 2 Oracle Communications Network Virtualization Value Proposition 3 Oracle s Pragmatic Approach to Network Virtualization 3 VNF Orchestration 3 Plugin Interface of the Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator 4 VNF Scaling in Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator 5 Physical and Composite Network Functions in Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator 5 Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator in Use 5 Conclusion 8 For More Information 8 INCREASING NETWORK AGILITY THROUGH INTELLIGENT ORCHESTRATION
Introduction Modern communication networks are complex systems built with an increasingly broad variety of technologies to serve a wide assortment of devices that provide an ever-greater range of services. Communications service providers struggle with keeping their networks performing up to user expectations. Usage patterns vary rapidly, sometimes unexpectedly, even from hour to hour. A large gathering such as for a sporting event or a convention might require increased capacity just for the few hours or days. This variability creates network challenges for operators. Can the operator justify deploying equipment sized for handling peak usage permanently that might be used only for the duration of the event? If not, can they even justify the cost of a truck roll to deploy equipment temporarily? What is a cost-conscious and yet customer-focused operator to do? Surely, there must be a better way. To counter this challenge, many operators have turned to Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). By placing core network functions in large concentrated data centers, NFV is a way to rationalize and simplify operations as well as speeding up innovation cycles. In this paper we discuss how NFV technology is making an operator s job easier by automatically matching capacity to demand, decreasing CapEx and OpEx, and increasing user satisfaction. Network Virtualization is the Key Virtualization of network functions came into a sharp focus with a 2012 publication of a white paper from a group of network operators and the formation of European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Industry Specifications Group (ISG). In the white paper, these operators argue for a software based approach to network functions that had traditionally been performed on purpose-built hardware. In addition to the well understood advantages of virtualization which include increased network agility, elasticity, freedom from proprietary hardware, virtualization, with its lowered cost of entry, promises other benefits as well such as faster introduction of new services. This enables accelerated innovation cycles and the introduction of niche services that previously might have been overlooked because of perceived limited popularity. In addition, new deployment models allow further efficiencies and decreased complexity of network with potential to reduce monitoring and management costs. Scalability availability on demand helps in SLA maintenance and improves userexperience. Until now, virtualization in the networking world has meant recreating previously hardware-bound network functions as virtual machines running on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) servers. This in itself is a tremendous achievement that has spurred innovation in virtualization technology to support these functions. These technologies cut through layers of software introduced as a result of virtualization and provide faster access to network I/O without making multiple copies of data. Virtualizing network functions is merely a start on the road to a fully virtualized network. Network functions as virtual machines (VMs) that may be spun-up or down in response to traffic situations has the potential to accelerate automation in the network. Management tools have been developed that monitor the state of the network and control the lifecycle of these virtualized network functions (VNFs). 1 INCREASING NETWORK AGILITY THROUGH INTELLIGENT ORCHESTRATION
These management functions are referred to as orchestration. Orchestration of VNFs has the potential to autocorrect temporary imbalances in network capacity. Working at a service level they can also automate more complex tasks. ETSI NFV Architecture Figure 1 shows the building blocks of ETSI defined architecture for NFV. This remains the de-facto industry standard with most vendors developing products that fit into one or more blocks of this reference architecture. Figure 1: ETSI NFV Architecture Oracle NFV Architecture Figure 2 shows Oracle Communications products that span the NFV entities defined by ETSI. The panel on the left shows the NFV infrastructure elements including the base hardware, hypervisor, VNFs, and element management system for VNFs. The right panel contains management and network orchestration (MANO) elements. Figure 2: Oracle's NFV Architecture 2 INCREASING NETWORK AGILITY THROUGH INTELLIGENT ORCHESTRATION
Oracle defines three orchestration levels: Virtual Infrastructure Manager (VIM) such as Oracle OpenStack that manages the creation of virtual machines (VMs); VNF Managers, such as Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator which instructs VIM to create VMs as necessary; and Service Orchestrator, such as Oracle Communications Network Service Orchestration Solution, which operates at an even higher level and works with Application Orchestrator and VIM to create all VNFs necessary to offer complete services. Oracle Communications Network Virtualization Value Proposition Oracle Communications has a wide portfolio of industry recognized network products ranging from session border controllers, IMS SIP and Diameter based signaling core, and application servers. Oracle Communications has recognized the value of virtualization and has taken an aggressive stance in virtualizing this portfolio. Moreover they have introduced orchestration products at both the VNF and service levels. Oracle s Pragmatic Approach to Network Virtualization Different operators have different approaches towards introduction of virtualization in their networks. Most have a substantial installed base of purpose-built physical network functions (PNFs). These operators want a cap-and-grow model where they can cap their investment in PNFs and grow using VNFs. Such a model requires that PNFs and VNFs coexist. For greenfield operators or for existing operators venturing into a whole new segment, building out their network as much as possible with VNFs might be the operating model. Oracle has designed its VNFs and orchestrators to support both virtualization deployment models. VNF Orchestration The answer to both network automation and virtualization operating models lies in the capabilities of the VNF orchestrator. Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator fulfills this role, not only managing the lifecycle of VNFs, but also managing both PNFs and VNFs uniformly. Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator key features may be summarized as follows:» Orchestrates complete lifecycle of application instances» Scales applications in or out based on communications key performance indicators (KPIs)» Maintains configuration templates for placing newly created VNFs into active service» Manages both physical and virtualized network functions» Provides a plugin architecture to manage both Oracle and third-party PNFs and VNFs 3 INCREASING NETWORK AGILITY THROUGH INTELLIGENT ORCHESTRATION
Figure 3: Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator Figure 3 shows Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator s architectural elements.» Orchestrator Engine configures and modifies VNF components to automatically deploy VNF instances» Network Function Groups maintains all VNF components which share identical policies, rules, and images» Virtual Image Repository maintains all VNF component images» KPI Thresholds scales one or more VNF components based on thresholds configured on individual VNF components. Capacity planners assigned to each VNF component group process KPI statistics for scaling decisions» Monitoring displays device metrics for a better understanding of capacity planning» Cloud Administration provides access to individual device configuration parameters, KPI thresholds for VNF components and configuration of additional orchestration engines Plugin Interface of the Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator One of the distinguishing features in Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator is its ability to manage all kinds of network functions physical, virtualized, ones built by Oracle, and even ones built by other vendors. Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator provides an open plugin development kit (PDK) which developers may incorporate into their network functions. Figure 4 shows the open plugin framework. This framework:» Simplifies complex interactions into independent plugin applications» Promotes fast development with no professional services help necessary» Allows plugin development independently from Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator release cycles 4 INCREASING NETWORK AGILITY THROUGH INTELLIGENT ORCHESTRATION
Figure 4: Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator Plugin Framework The plugin itself requires the network function to communicate critical information related to its performance and operational status to the orchestrator so that it can make appropriate decisions regarding the function. VNF Scaling in Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator The network function plugin allows Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator to monitor the function s operational status such as the average processor load. This direct connection through the plugin framework has proven to be more accurate than those obtained from other sources such as the hypervisor; as these indirect sources are not able to distinguish between the needs of individual network functions. When the load for a network function exceeds its set upper limit, which can happen during traffic peaks, Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator makes a request to create another instance of the network function. Note that a load balancer may also need to be added so that the incoming traffic can be balanced between the function instances, and that the new instance would need to be configured using a separate element management system. Physical and Composite Network Functions in Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator A unique feature that distinguishes Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator is its ability to manage physical network functions. Through the plugin, it can monitor the operational status of the function and when it exceeds a set threshold, it instantiates the corresponding virtualized function, placing both in a cluster. In the same manner, composite functions consisting of virtualized and physical network functions may be defined and Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator can manage them as a single entity. Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator in Use Let us walk through an example of a VNF manager creating VNF instances on demand in an IMS network. In this use-case, Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator is setup to manage an IMS core VNFs. A traffic generator sends SIP registration messages towards the IMS core. When the number of these registrations overload the single initial IMS core instance, a new instance is required along with a load-balancer to distribute the registrations over the two instances. When Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator determines that a new instance is required, it:» Indicates to the VIM that a new IMS core VM needs to be created and specifies its hardware footprint and the image that needs to be loaded onto the VM» Instructs the Element Management System (EMS) to configure the new instance of the IMS core appropriately» Determines if the load balancer network function needs to be initiated. The load-balancer would need to be brought up if this is the second instance of the IMS core and both instances would need to share the incoming traffic 5 INCREASING NETWORK AGILITY THROUGH INTELLIGENT ORCHESTRATION
Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator allows setting of upper and lower processor load thresholds for scaling in and out of VNFs. It also allows setting of minimum and maximum number of VNFs in a cluster so as to guarantee redundancy levels without the function using more than its fair share of available resources. Figure 5: Low Load Conditions - One CSM Instance is Sufficient Figure 5 shows endpoint registrations being sent to the S-CSCF built into an instance of IMS core VM. In the diagram, the graph shows the number of registered endpoints over time. The rows above the graph depict the number of IMS core VMs. As can be seen in Figure 5, there is one instance of IMS core VM at this instant. 6 INCREASING NETWORK AGILITY THROUGH INTELLIGENT ORCHESTRATION
Figure 6: Higher Load Conditions CSM Instance is Fully Loaded In Figure 6, the number of registrations has increased to a level that overloads the single IMS core instance as can be seen by the red line indicator in the upper part of the figure. Figure 7: Even Higher Load Conditions - An Additional CSM Instance is created Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator senses this increased load on the lone IMS core instance through the KPIs reported through the plugin and creates another IMS core instance along with a load balancer. New 7 INCREASING NETWORK AGILITY THROUGH INTELLIGENT ORCHESTRATION
registration traffic that has by now increased further is sent to the newly created IMS core instance as can be seen in Figure 7. Conclusion NFV technology has the potential to fundamentally change how communications networks are built and administered. It has the ability to make networks agile and flexible providing greater capacity for traffic and service, increase user satisfaction and experience while reducing operator CapEx and OpEx. Oracle Communications Applications Orchestrator enhances NFV to manage both PNFs and VNFs separately or together as Composite Network Functions (CNFs) with the Plugin Development Kit that allows for rapid integration of any VNF, PNF, or CNF. With these kinds of NFV tools, communications service providers may rapidly build out networks that give them a competitive advantage. For More Information ETSI NFV ISG: http://www.etsi.org/technologies-clusters/technologies/nfv Oracle Communications Application Orchestrator: http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/communications/application-orchestrator Oracle Communications Products and Solutions: http://www.oracle.com/communications Oracle Communications Email: oraclecommunications_ww@oracle.com 8 INCREASING NETWORK AGILITY THROUGH INTELLIGENT ORCHESTRATION
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