Onboarding a VNF which includes a VNFC composed of manageable software elements
The instant solution includes at least one element or action described or depicted herein.
1. A method for on-boarding a Virtual Network Function (VNF) comprising a Virtual Network Function Component (VNFC) including a plurality of independently manageable Virtual Network Function Component (VNFC) software elements, the method comprising:
receiving, by a hardware-implemented server executing a Service Design and Creation (SDC) module, an archive, created by a VNF provider, the archive containing contents of a VNF package including a VNF Descriptor (VNFD) file containing a plurality of VNFC element descriptor files, each VNFC element descriptor file corresponding to one of the plurality of independently manageable VNFC software elements, and the archive containing VNFC software element artifacts;
on-boarding, by the SDC module, the VNFD file and the VNFC software element artifacts; and
enabling, by the SDC module, the VNF in a catalog of the SDC module.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the VNFC software element artifacts comprise:
a VNF specific lifecycle management (LCM) script file;
a VNFC element specific lifecycle script file;
a Virtualized Container (VC) upgrade scrip file;
a VC image binary file; and
a VNFC element software load.
3. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
identifying, by the SDC module, a manifest file in the archive, the manifest file listing an entire contents of the archive; and
processing, by the SDC module, a signing certificate located in the archive based on the manifest file.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing, by the SDC module, the VNFD file and the VNFC software element artifacts in the catalog of the SDC module.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing, by the SDC module, the VNFD file and the VNFC software element artifacts in a remote database specified in a VC image descriptor file of the VNFD.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the enabling the VNF in the catalog of the SDC module further comprises:
automatically enabling the VNF in the catalog of the SDC module based on a completion of the method for on-boarding.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a filesystem structure of the VNF Package conforms to a version of the Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Application (TOSCA) standard.
8. An apparatus for on-boarding a Virtual Network Function (VNF) comprising a Virtual Network Function Component (VNFC) including a plurality of independently manageable Virtual Network Function Component (VNFC) software elements, the apparatus comprising:
a hardware-implemented server executing a Service Design and Creation (SDC) module configured to:
receive an archive, created by a VNF provider, containing contents of a VNF package including a VNF Descriptor (VNFD) file containing a plurality of VNFC element descriptor files, each VNFC element descriptor file corresponding to one of the plurality of independently manageable VNFC software elements, and the archive containing VNFC software element artifacts;
on-board the VNFD file and the VNFC software element artifacts; and
enable the VNF in a catalog of the SDC module.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the VNFC software element artifacts comprise:
a VNF specific lifecycle management (LCM) script file;
a VNFC element specific lifecycle script file;
a Virtualized Container (VC) upgrade scrip file;
a VC image binary file; and
a VNFC element software load.
10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the SDC module is further configured to:
identify a manifest file in the archive, the manifest file listing an entire contents of the archive; and
process a signing certificate located in the archive based on the manifest file.
11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the SDC module is further configured to:
store the VNFD file and the VNFC software element artifacts in the catalog of the SDC module.
12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the SDC module is further configured to:
store the VNFD file and the VNFC software element artifacts in a remote database specified in a VC image descriptor file of the VNFD.
13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein, when the SDC module enables the VNF, the SDC module is further configured to:
automatically enable the VNF in the catalog of the SDC module based on a completion of the method for on-boarding.
14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein a filesystem structure of the VNF Package conforms to a version of the Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Application (TOSCA) standard.
15. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for on-boarding Virtual Network Function (VNF) comprising a Virtual Network Function Component (VNFC) including a plurality of independently manageable Virtual Network Function Component (VNFC) software elements that when read by a processor of a hardware-implemented server executing a Service Design and Creation (SDC) module cause the processor to:
receive an archive, created by a VNF provider, containing contents of a VNF package including a VNF Descriptor (VNFD) file containing a plurality of VNFC element descriptor files, each VNFC element descriptor file corresponding to one of the plurality of independently manageable VNFC software elements, and the archive containing VNFC software element artifacts;
on-board the VNFD file and the VNFC software element artifacts after on-boarding of the VNFD file; and
enable the VNF in a catalog of the SDC module.
16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the VNFC software element artifacts comprise:
a VNF specific lifecycle management (LCM) script file;
a VNFC element specific lifecycle script file;
a Virtualized Container (VC) upgrade scrip file;
a VC image binary file; and
a VNFC element software load.
17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instruction further cause to processor to:
identify a manifest file in the archive, the manifest file listing an entire contents of the archive; and
process a signing certificate located in the archive based on the manifest file.
18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instruction further cause to processor to:
store the VNFD file and the VNFC software element artifacts in the catalog of the SDC module.
19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instruction further cause to processor to:
store the VNFD file and the VNFC software element artifacts in a remote database specified in a VC image descriptor file of the VNFD.
20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein, when the processor enables the VNF, the instructions further cause the processor to:
automatically enable the VNF in the catalog of the SDC module based on a completion of the on-boarding process.