NFVRG R. Rosa
Internet-Draft C. Rothenberg
Intended status: Informational Unicamp
Expires: April 21, 2016 R. Szabo
Ericsson
October 19, 2015
VNF Benchmark-as-a-Service
draft-rorosz-nfvrg-vbaas-00
Abstract
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) promises the delivery of
flexible chaining of Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs) with
portability, elasticity, guaranteed performance, reliability among
others. Service providers expect similar behavior from NFV as their
current appliances based infrastructure, however, with the ease and
flexibility of operation and cost effectiveness. Managing for
predictable performance in virtualized environments is far from
straightforward. Considering resource provisioning, selection of an
NFV Infrastructure Point of Presence to host a VNF or allocation of
resources (e.g., virtual CPUs, memory) needs to be done over
virtualized (abstracted and simplified) resource views. In order to
support orchestration decisions, we argue that a framework for VNF
benchmarking is need.
Status of This Memo
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This Internet-Draft will expire on April 21, 2016.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Terms and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3. Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Problem Statement and Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. Proposed Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6. Use Case: Unify Modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
7. Related drafts and open source projects . . . . . . . . . . . 16
8. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
9. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
10. Acknowledgement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
11. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1. Introduction
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) pursues delivering Virtualized
Network Functions (VNFs) in NFV Infrastructure (NFVI) where
requirements of portability, performance, elasticity, among others,
are demanded by carriers and network operators [ETS14a].
Particularly, in the short term, performance and elasticity are
important factors to realize NFV concepts [BVLS15]. Associated to
these goals VNFs need to be deployed with predictable performance,
taking into account the variable processing overheads of
virtualization and the underlying available NFVI resources.
In essence, NFV Management and Orchestration (MANO) plane manages
infrastructure and network services resources [ETS14c]. This
involves taking into account performance considerations for VNF-FGs
allocation (e.g., fulfilling NFVI resources by orchestration
demands). Furthermore, when attempting to manage service assurance
of embedded VNF-FGs [PSPL15] MANO tasks may depend on analytics
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measurements for scaling and migration purposes. As a consequence
Network Function Virtualization Orchestrator (NFVO) needs a coherent
understanding of performance vs. resource needs for VNFs specific to
NFVI Points of Presence (PoPs).
In what follows we motivate the need for a VNF benchmarking, define
related terms and introduce a framework proposal.
2. Terms and Definitions
The reader is assumed to be familiar with the terminology as defined
in the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) NFV
document [ETS14b]. Some of these terms, and others commonly used in
this document, are defined below.
NFV: Network Function Virtualization - The principle of separating
network functions from the hardware they run on by using virtual
hardware abstraction.
NFVI PoP: NFV Infrastructure Point of Presence - Any combination of
virtualized compute, storage and network resources.
NFVI: NFV Infrastructure - Collection of NFVI PoPs under one
orchestrator.
VIM: Virtualized Infrastructure Manager - functional block that is
responsible for controlling and managing the NFVI compute, storage
and network resources, usually within one operator's
Infrastructure Domain (e.g. NFVI-PoP).
NFVO: NFV Orchestrator - functional block that manages the Network
Service (NS) lifecycle and coordinates the management of NS
lifecycle, VNF lifecycle (supported by the VNFM) and NFVI
resources (supported by the VIM) to ensure an optimized allocation
of the necessary resources and connectivity
VNF: Virtualized Network Function - a software-based network
function.
VNFD: Virtualised Network Function Descriptor - configuration
template that describes a VNF in terms of its deployment and
operational behaviour, and is used in the process of VNF on-
boarding and managing the lifecycle of a VNF instance.
VNF-FG: Virtualized Network Function Forwarding Graph - an ordered
list of VNFs creating a service chain.
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MANO: Management and Orchestration - In the ETSI NFV framework
[ETS14c], this is the global entity responsible for management and
orchestration of NFV lifecycle.
VBaaS: VNF Benchmark-as-a-Service - is a VNF Profile extraction
service of a Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM) overseeing
an NFVI PoP.
VNF-BP: VNF Benchmarking Profile - the specification how to measure
a VNF Profile. VNF-BP may be specific to a VNF or applicable to
several VNF types. The specification includes structural and
functional instructions, and variable parameters (metrics) at
different abstractions (e.g., vCPU, memory, bandwidth, delay;
session, transaction, tenants, etc.).
VNF Profile: is a mapping between virtualized resources (e.g., vCPU,
memory) and VNF performance (e.g., bandwidth, delay between in/out
or ports) at a given NFVI PoP. An orchestration function can use
the VNF Profile to select host for a VNF and to allocate the
desired resources to deliver a given (predictable) service
quality.
3. Motivation
Let us take an example where a VNF Developer creates a new code base
for a VNF. She is able to optimize her VNF for multiple execution
environments and offers these as a set of different but equivalent
implementations of VNF1 for Service Providers (SPs) (see Figure 1).
Orchestration managers (e.g., NFVO) must know adequate infrastructure
resources to allocate when deploying VNF1, specially if it belongs to
a network service (VNF-FG) with a target SLA, e.g., min throughput or
max latency. However, instances of VNF1 optimized for heterogeneous
NFVI PoPs may need different resources/settings for the same behavior
(performance). Orchestrator (NFVO) needs to take into account all
these requirements to embed VNFs and allocate proper infrastructure
resources in accordance with network service intents (SLAs).
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+---------+
,----. |Customers|
( VNF1 ) +----------+ +-+-------+
`----' | VNF | | SAP1 +----+ +----+
,----. |Developers| | O---|VNF1|---|VNF2|---O
( VNF2 )+--------+-+ | +----+ +----+ SAP2
`----' | | <========VNF-FG=======>
+-+-------+---+
| NFVO / VNFM |
| (Service |
| Provider) |
+-+----+----+-+
/ | \
V V V
+-------+ +-------+ +-------+
| VIM1 | | VIM2 | | VIM3 |
+-+-----+ +---+---+ +-----+-+
| | |
| | |
| | |
SAP1 +-----+-+ WAN +---+---+ WAN +-+-----+ SAP2
O-| PoP 1 |-----| PoP 2 |-----| PoP 3 |-O
+-------+ +-------+ +-------+
PoP1 PoP2 PoP3
Container Enhanced Baremetal
OS Hypervisor
Figure 1: NFV MANO: Customers and VNF Developers
4. Problem Statement and Challenges
Previous section motivates NFVO needs of knowledge about correlations
between VNFs performance and NFVI PoP resources.
Suppose that specifications, based on developers' definitions, exist
in VNF Descriptors [ETS14d] describing performance associated to
specific NFVI PoP resources. Such VNF, when deployed, may present
oscillations in its performance because of changes in the underlying
infrastructure (due to varying customers workloads, traffic
engineering, scaling/migration, etc). Therefore, we believe we need
descriptions on how to benchmark VNFs' resources and performance
characteristics (e.g., VNF Profiles) on demand and in a flexible
process supporting different NFVI PoPs, which could create service
level specification associations.
Some of the associated challenges are:
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Consistency: Will the VNF deployed at a NVFI PoP deliver the
performance given in the VNF Profile for the NFVI PoP under
different workloads? The performance of a VNF may not only depend
on the resources allocated to the VNF but on the overall workload
at the target NFVI PoP.
Stability: Benchmark measurements need to present consistent results
when applied over different NFVI PoPs. How express benchmarking
descriptions to fit in different virtualized environments? How to
uniformly handle service/resource definitions and metrics?
Goodness: A given VIM / NFVI PoP may virtualize (i.e., hide) certain
resource details; hence a benchmark evaluation might be executed
in a different resource set of the NFVI PoP unlike the final
production environment. How good benchmark results can correspond
to actual workloads in virtualized environments?
VNF benchmarking service description: How to define the VNF
benchmarking process at the abstraction of the corresponding
component (e.g., VIM)? How to offer benchmarking as a service to
be consumed by the different stakeholders?
VNF benchmarking versus monitoring: How can a VNF benchmarking
process complement continuous monitoring of NFVI? When does a VNF
benchmarking process surpass in performance and costs the
execution of continuous monitoring process? And for which type of
NFVI PoPs and/or VNFs is it necessary/sufficient?
5. Proposed Approach
Definition: VNF Benchmarking as a Service (VBaaS) -- a standalone
service that can be hosted by orchestration managers (e.g., NFVO)
to report a VNF Profile. VBaas might take inputs consisting of
VNF-FGs determining VNFs to be evaluated under specific NFVI
targets. As output, VBaaS returns a Service Graph based on the
VNF-Benchmark Profile (VNF-BP) containing different parameters
used to evaluate all required candidates (PoPs) for the specified
VNF. Such interactions are abstracted by the VBaaS API. A VBaaS
Service Graph is deployed by orchestration managers (NFVO), VBaaS
receives benchmarking results and builds VNF Profiles. VNF
performance values or VNF resource values can be provided, and
VBaaS can only complement the VNF-FG missing parts to build VNF-
BPs, or report an existing up-to-date VNF Profile for pre-defined
values.
In comparison with Figure 1, the VBaaS approach introduces two
information bases, a VBaaS component and an API to interact with
NFVO, as shown in Figure 2. On one hand, the Network Function
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Information Base (NF-IB) holds the VNF Profiles and on the other hand
the VBaaS-IB holds the VNF Benchmark Profiles (VNF-BPs).
Definition: VNF Profile -- is a mapping between virtualized
resources of a certain NFVI PoP (e.g., virtual machine with vCPU,
memory) and VNF performance (e.g., throughput, delay, packet loss
between in/out or ports).
An orchestration function can use the VNF Profile to select hosts for
VNFs in a VNF-FG and to allocate the necessary resources to deliver a
given (predictable) service quality (SLA).
Figure 2 shows an example VNF1 and VNF2, which are implemented by a
VNF Developer, who provides metrics for VBaaS build VNF-BPs. The
VNF-BP is then used by VBaaS when NFVO needs to evaluate the
available NFVI-PoPs for different resources configuration. In this
case, NFVO instantiates the VNF-FG (VBaaS Service Graph) as defined
in VNF1-BP; configures the variable parameters in the configuration
template, e.g., CPU and memory values and handles the configuration
file to the measurement controller (part of the VNF-FG definition) to
execute the benchmarking. The measurement controller make the
measurement agents execute the benchmark tests (the execution
environment might also be monitored by the agents) and reports the
results back to the VBaaS. As a result, resource and performance
associations for the VNF is created for the evaluated the NFVI PoPs
into the NF-IB. Figure 2 shows, as an example, that VNF1 needs 2CPU
(cores) and 8GByte of memory to handle up 10Mbps input rate with
transaction delay less than 200ms at NFVI PoP1.
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SAP1+----+ +----+
O--|VNF1|--|VNF2|--O
{VNF1{ +----+ +----+SAP2
VNF-FG, <========VNF-FG=======>
Metrics{ ,----. +---------+
{vCPU, mem}-> ( VNF2 ) ,----. |Customers|
{BW, Delay}}} `----' ( VNF1 ) +-+-------+
,-------. `----' |
/VBaaS-IB:\ +----------+ |
\ VNF-BPs / | VNF | |
`---+---' +--|Developers| |
| | +--------+-+ |
_____+___ | | |
| |<------+ +---+--------++
| VBaaS |<------------->| NFVO / VNFM |
|___ _____| VBaaS | (Service |
+ API | Provider) |
| +-+------+----+
,----+-----. | | \
/ NF-IB: \ V V V
\VNF-Profiles/ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+
'----------' |VIM1 | |VIM2 | |VIM3 |
{VNF1: {10Mbps,200ms}{ ++----+ +--+--+ +-----+
{{2CPU, 8GB}@PoP1} | | |
{{8CPU, 16GB}@PoP2} | | |
{{4CPU, 4GB}@PoP3}}} | | |
{20Mbps,300ms}...} +--+--+ WAN ++----+ WAN +-----+
{VNF2:{10Mbps,200ms}{ O-|PoP 1|-----|PoP 2|-----|PoP 3|-O
{{8CPU, 16GB}@PoP1} SAP1 +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ SAP2
...}} PoP1 PoP2 PoP3
Container Enhanced Baremetal
OS Hypervisor
Figure 2: NFV MANO and VBaaS Approach
On the left side of the NFVO in Figure 2 is the resulting NF-IB by
the application of VBaaS-IB profiles on the extraction of VNFs
performance characteristics in different NFVI PoPs. Basically, a VNF
profile corresponds to performance metrics in different environments.
For example, VNF1 to offer 10Mbps bandwidth with 200ms latency needs
(if deployed) in PoP1 2CPU (cores) and 8GB of memory, meanwhile in
PoP2 requires 8CPU and 16GB. Similar results can be presented for
VNF2, if catalogued as a VNF profile. In this scenario, VBaaS can be
seen featuring VNFs in different PoPs in an on-demand composition of
profiles, for example, to be used in provisioning VNF-FGs containing
VNF1 or VNF2, attending PoPs 1, 2 or 3 resources consumption. Such
profiles present performance metrics of VNFs in different NFVI PoPs
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when, for example, NFVOs need to deploy particular VNF-FGs that
contain elements already certified in NF-IB profiles.
Definition: VNF Benchmarking Profile (VNF-BPs) -- the specification
of how to measure the VNF Profile for a given VNF. The
specification includes structural (e.g., measurement components
defined as a VNF-FG) and functional (e.g., measurement process
definitions and configurable parameters) instructions, and
variable parameters (metrics) at different abstractions (e.g.,
vCPU, memory, bandwidth, delay; session, transaction, tenants,
etc.).
Note: a VNF-BP may be specific to a VNF or applicable to several VNF
types.
Figure 3 presents details of VBaaS API regarding the interactions
with NFVO and the construction of VBaaS Service Graphs based on VNF-
BPs. As a VNF-FG (deployment request), NFVO demands VNF1 allocated
to a specific PoP1 and the remaining virtualized view of the current
resources for the VNF-FG deployment (e.g., interconnected PoPs).
VBaaS (Manager Service) looks for VNF1-BP in VBaaS-IB, complements
the requested VNF-FG with benchmark instances (described below) to
perform evaluations and monitor resources in VNF1 and PoP1. NFVO
receiving a VNF-FG reply (deployment order of a VBaaS Service Graph)
instantiates it as a normal provisioning process of network services.
Benchmark reports of the deployed VNF-FG are sent to VBaaS and it
defines the construction of the VNF-Profile associated with that
evaluation.
We believe in the existence of VBaaS instances (VNFs) which compose a
VBaaS Service Graph to perform probing and monitoring activities on
selected targets (VNF in a specific NFVI PoP). Those are defined as
Manager, Monitor and Agent, described in details below.
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+----+
{VNF1{ |VNF1|
VNF-FG, +-+--+ +-------------+
Metrics{ | | NFVO / VNFM |
{vCPU, mem}-> | Target | (Service |
{BW, Delay}}} +-+--+ | Provider) |
,-------. |PoP1| +----+ +-------------+
/VBaaS-IB:\ +----+<->|PoPs| VBaaS |(VNF-FG
\ VNF-BPs / +----+ API(1)| Deploy)
`---+---' VNF-FG V
| Request +-------------+
|----+----|<------------------| NFVO / VNFM |
| VBaaS | API(2) | (Service |
|-------+-|------------------>| Provider) |<-+VBaaS API(1)
| VNF-FG +-------------+ |( VNF
API|(3) Reply | Benchmark)
V +----+ +----------------+
+-------+ |VNF1| | VNF Developers |
|Manager| +--------+-+--+ +----------------+
+-+-----+----->|Monitors| |
+-+--+ |API +--------+-+--+
|PoP4| |(4) |PoP1|
+----+ | +-+--+
| +--------+ | +--------+
'->| Agents +-----'-----+ Agents |
+---+----+ Probes +---+----+
+-+--+ +-+--+
|PoP2| |PoP3|
+----+ +----+
Figure 3: VBaaS APIs
Agent -- executes active probes using benchmark tools to collect
network and system performance metrics by interacting with other
agents. While a single Agent is capable of performing localized
benchmarks (e.g., Stress tests on CPU, memory, I/O), the
interaction among distributed agents enable the generation and
collection of end-to-end metrics (e.g., packet loss, delay).
Consider here the possibility of one end be the VNF itself where,
for example, one-way packet delay is evaluated. For instance, it
can be used for probe measurements of throughput and latency in a
multi-point distributed topology. Agent's APIs are open and
extensible (e.g., to plug-and-bench new tools and metrics) and
receive configuration and run-time commands from the Manager for
synchronization purposes (e.g., test duration/repetition) with
other Agent and Monitor instances.
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Monitor -- when possible it is placed inside the target VNF and NFVI
PoP to perform active and passive monitoring and metric collection
based on benchmarks evaluated according to Agents` workloads. For
instance, to monitor CPU utilization of NFVI PoP considering
packet length traffic variations sent by Agents. Different from
the active approach of Agents that can be seen as generic
benchmarking VNFs, monitors observe particular properties
according to NFVI PoPs and VNFs capabilities. Monitors can plug-
and-bench new tools/metrics and maintain an interface with Manager
to synchronize its activities with Agents. Besides, they can be
instantiated, if allowed, inside the target VNF (e.g., as a plug-
in process in a virtualized environment) to check internal
behaviours, alongside the VNF deployment environment, i.e., NFVI
PoP, or in both places.
Manager -- is responsible for (i) the coordination and
synchronization of activities between agents and monitors, (ii)
collecting all benchmark raw results, and (iii) aggregating the
inputs to construct a profile report that correlates different
metrics as required by the VNF-BP. Therefore, it executes the
main configuration, operation and management actions to deliver
the results as specified by NFVI PoPs or VNF-BPs (e.g.,
instantiation of agents and monitors activities along- side tools
and metrics configuration). Manager uses APIs to read and set
configuration parameters for benchmarking instances such as metric
parameters (e.g., bandwidth or packet loss probes) according to
the VBaaS process. APIs are also used to receive benchmark
instructions from VBaaS and send the reports of finished benchmark
procedures.
The benchmarking process, however, can be offered as a service (see
API (1) in right side of Figure 3). For example, a NFVO may be able
to handle a VBaaS-IB and offer a VNF Benchmarking as a Service to its
client, e.g., another NFVO. Similarly, a second NFVO may store
benchmark measurements in its NF-IB so it can report it to multiple
clients if it shares resources among other NFVOs. Alternatively, an
NFVO may offer to it's developers the VNF Benchmarking as a Service,
to assess the performance of a VNF in the operator's environment.
This may be part of a DevOps primitive (e.g., VNFs continuous
integration).
6. Use Case: Unify Modelling
Unify looks for a generic description of compute and network
resources as a yang model named virtualizer [Szab15]. It allows the
aggregation of resources (e.g., nodes capabilities and NF instances)
and their abstractions in a structure nicknamed Big Switch with Big
Software (BiS-BiS) (joint software and network resource abstraction
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with a joint control API), which allows recursive control plane
structuring for multi-domain hierarchies. For example, supported
network functions of a joint compute and network virtualization (a
BiS-BiS node) can be described with their associated resources and
performance mapping, e.g., {cpu, memory, storage} -> {bandwidth,
delay} (see Figure 5 based on virtualizer xml example in [Szab15]).
In this example, the interface between NFVOs (Producer and Consumer
of VBaaS API (1)), as shown in Figure 3, is described by the UNIFY
virtualization model [Szab15]. Figure 4 shows an example netconf
message exchange over the domain virtualization model. First the
consumer reads in (1) and (2) the virtualization view, which includes
the supported NFs reported in the capabilities section. Next in (3)
the consumer requests a capability report of NF1 at a given
virtualized node (UUID001), by defining the required delay and
bandwidth performance parameters of the NF1 (see Figure 5. This is a
dimensioning request according to [ETS14t], i.e., the VBaaS service
must evaluate and provide cpu, memory and storage values at the given
virtualized node to deliver the given network performance
characteristics. The start of the VBaaS process is acknowledged by a
(4) rpc-ok. Once the VBaaS process completes a notification is sent
(5) to the consumer, which reads in (6) and (7) the updates to the
NF1 capability report, i.e., the missing cpu, memory and storage
parameters (see Figure 6).
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+--------------+ VBaaS +--------------+
|Orchestration | API-1 |Orchestration |
| (NFVO |<---------->| (NFVO |
| Consumer) | | Producer) |
+------+-------+ +------+-------+
| 1)get-config() |
|------------------------->>|
| 2)rpc-reply(virt) |
|<<-------------------------+
| |
| 3)edit-config(NF1@cap) |
+------------------------->>|
| 4) rpc-ok |
|<<-------------------------+--+
| | |
| | VBaaS
| 5)<notification> | |
|<<-------------------------+<-+
| 6)get-config(NF1@cap) |
|------------------------->>|
| 7)rpc-reply(NF1@cap) |
|<<-------------------------+
Figure 4: Sequence Diagram of VBaaS API (1) - Multi-Domain
Interaction
<virtualizer xmlns="http://fp7-unify.eu/framework/virtualizer">
<id>UUID001</id>
<name>Single node simple VBaaS request</name>
<nodes>
<node>
<id>UUID11</id>
<name>single Bis-Bis node</name>
<type>BisBis</type>
<ports>
...
</ports>
<resources>
<cpu>12</cpu>
<mem>64 GB</mem>
<storage>20 TB</storage>
</resources>
<capabilities>
<supported_NFs>
<node>
<id>NF1</id>
<name>vFirewall</name>
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<type>Stateful virtual firewall C</type>
<ports>
<port>
<id>1</id>
<name>in</name>
<port_type>port-abstract</port_type>
<capability>...</capability>
</port>
<port>
<id>2</id>
<name>out</name>
<port_type>port-abstract</port_type>
<capability>...</capability>
</port>
</ports>
<resources>
<cpu> ? </cpu>
<mem> ? </mem>
<storage> ? </storage>
</resources>
<links>
<link>
<id>int0</id>
<name>internal horizontal</name>
<src>../../ports/port[id=1]</src>
<dst>../../ports/port[id=2]</dst>
<resources>
<delay> 20 us </delay>
<bandwidth> 10 GB </bandwidth>
</resources>
</link>
</links>
</node>
</supported_NFs>
</capabilities>
</node>
</nodes>
</virtualizer>
Figure 5: VBaaS_Request(NF-FG-1)
<virtualizer xmlns="http://fp7-unify.eu/framework/virtualizer">
<id>UUID001</id>
<name>Single node simple VBaaS report</name>
<nodes>
<node>
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<id>UUID11</id>
<name>single Bis-Bis node</name>
<type>BisBis</type>
<capabilities>
<supported_NFs>
<node>
<id>NF1</id>
<name>vFirewall</name>
<type>Stateful virtual firewall C</type>
<ports>
<port>
<id>1</id>
<name>in</name>
<port_type>port-abstract</port_type>
<capability>...</capability>
</port>
<port>
<id>2</id>
<name>out</name>
<port_type>port-abstract</port_type>
<capability>...</capability>
</port>
</ports>
<resources>
<cpu>2</cpu>
<mem>8 GB</mem>
<storage>20 GB</storage>
</resources>
<links>
<link>
<id>int0</id>
<name>internal horizontal</name>
<src>../../ports/port[id=1]</src>
<dst>../../ports/port[id=2]</dst>
<resources>
<delay> 20 us </delay>
<bandwidth> 10 GB </bandwidth>
</resources>
</link>
</links>
</node>
</supported_NFs>
</capabilities>
</node>
</nodes>
</virtualizer>
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Figure 6: VBaaS_Request(NF-FG-2)
Following the above example and the terminology of [ETS14t], the
different tasks of performance verification, benchmarking and
dimension can be mapped as follows:
Verification: Both {cpu, memory, storage} and {delay, bandwidth}
parameters are provided and the VBaaS system verifies if the given
association is correct or not. In the case of a failure the entry
might be removed or updated with correct values.
Benchmarking: Where {cpu, memory, storage} parameters are provided
and the VBaaS service fills-in the corresponding {delay,
bandwidth} performance parameters. Note, such request might
create more entries, like an entry with minimal delay and an entry
with maximum bandwidth.
Dimensioning: Where {delay, bandwidth} performance parameters are
provided and the VBaaS service fills-in the corresponding {cpu,
memory, storage} resource parameters (as shown in the above
example).
7. Related drafts and open source projects
Definetly, VBaaS intersects IETF Benchmarking Methodology Work Group
(BMWG) goals. For example, in [Mor15], "Considerations for
Benchmarking Virtual Network Functions and Their Infrastructure"
presents relevant statements concerning, for example, % of
utilization of NFVI PoPs resources; noisy behavior caused by VNFs
operations and misbehavior in NFVI PoPs; long-term tests which
represent service continuity guarantees for VNFs; and considerations
on how shared resources dependencies may affect consistent benchmark
results. All these NFV benchmarking aspects are relevant for VBaaS,
as well other current [Tah15] and future recommendations from BMWG.
The main DevOps Principles for Software Defined Infrastructures
(SDIs) (e.g., NFV and SDN), well explained in [Meir15], are
associated with the main design concepts of VBaaS. By definition,
DevOps principles look for deployment with repeatable and reliable
processes (VNF-BPs), as well modular, e.g., VNF Profiles assisting
orchestration decisions. Besides, it also stands for development and
testing procedures to assist VNF Developers (VBaaS API) specify
modular applications/components (VNF-BPs) against production-like
systems. In addition, DevOps intends to define ways of monitor and
validate operational quality of services before and after services
deployment, e.g., respectively applying VNF-BPs in multiple NFVI PoPs
and over instantiated VNFs. All these aspects illustrate how VBaaS
can help in amplifying the cycle between VNFs continuous changes of
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development and Operators desires for infrastructure stability and
reliability, therefore, helping the consolidation of DevOps
principles in SDIs.
In OPNFV (Open Platform for NFV) community, projects dedicated to VIM
and NFVI tests are being developed, such as vSwitchPerf, Pharos,
Functest, among others. Specifically, Yardstick [Yard15] is closely
related with VBaaS, because it stands for a common definition of
tests to verify the infrastructure compliance when running VNF
applications. While VBaaS is still building its concepts, Yardstick
already defined requirements, methodologies (including metrics for
compute, network and storage domains), besides functional code. The
specification of yaml files to define structures like scenarios,
contexts and runners, as a Yardstick nomenclature to compose tests,
represents associations with VNF-BPs concepts. As Yardstick future
work intends to apply tests in compute and storage domains, and store
tests results, it is on its way the possible intersection with VBaaS
concepts, like VNF Profiles.
T-NOVA [TNOVA15] pursues the definition of a marketplace for VNFs
(and turn them instanced as a service). Regarding the description of
capabilities for the allocation of VNFs, T-NOVA intends to allow
network services and functions, by a variety of developers, to be
published and brokered/traded, allowing customers to browse and
select services that best match their needs (negotiating SLAs and
billing models). One of the main marketplace functions is the
publication of resources and network function advertisements in order
to compose and package NFV services. VBaaS can enhance VNFs
capabilities publication and certification models of their
performance when constructing a diverse set of VNF-Profiles.
Consequently, VNF flavors can be defined by an enhanced set of VBaaS
capabilities for smarter placements, e.g., exposing VBaaS interfaces
for developers evolve VNF-Profiles.
Unify [Szab15] presents a recursive compute and network joint
virtualization and programming view of generic infrastructures (e.g.,
data centers), considering NFV as an example. Big Switch with Big
Software (BiS-BiS) represents the abstraction of such virtualization.
The draft presents an Yang model to describe a Network Function
Forwarding Graph (NF-FG) representing NFV resources. Complementary,
as part of main Unify goals, problem statements and challenges about
the unification of carrier and cloud networks [Csas15] show the need
for a high level of programmability beyond policy and service
descriptions. As presented, VBaaS can contribute for such
abstractions since it detaches from monolithic views of
infrastructure resources allowing the recursive definitions of VBaaS
Service Graphs and, consequently, the decomposition of benchmark
tasks in multiple domains. Besides, as stated by Unify measurements
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and analytics challenges, VBaaS poses as a solution of tools for
planning, testing, and reliability assurance of NFVIs.
8. IANA Considerations
This memo includes no request to IANA.
9. Security Considerations
TBD
10. Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the support of Ericsson Research,
Brazil.
This work is partially supported by FP7 UNIFY, a research project
partially funded by the European Community under the Seventh
Framework Program (grant agreement no. 619609). The views expressed
here are those of the authors only. The European Commission is not
liable for any use that may be made of the information in this
document.
11. Informative References
[BVLS15] B. Han, V. Gopalakrishnan, L. Ji, and S. Lee, "Network
function virtualization: Challenges and opportunities for
innovations", Communications Magazine, IEEE, vol. 53, no.
2, pp. 90-97 , February 2015.
[Csas15] R. Szabo, A. Csaszar, K. Pentikousis, M. Kind, D. Daino,
Z. Qiang, H. Woesner, "Unifying Carrier and Cloud
Networks: Problem Statement and Challenges", March 2015,
<https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-unify-nfvrg-challenges-
01>.
[ETS14a] ETSI, "Architectural Framework - ETSI GS NFV 002 V1.2.1",
Dec 2014, <http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi\_gs/
NFV/001\_099/002/01.02.01-\_60/gs\_NFV002v010201p.pdf>.
[ETS14b] ETSI, "Terminology for Main Concepts in NFV - ETSI GS NFV
003 V1.2.1", Dec 2014,
<http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV/001_099-
/003/01.02.01_60/gs_NFV003v010201p.pdf>.
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[ETS14c] ETSI, "Management and Orchestration - ETSI GS NFV-MAN 001
V1.1.1", Dec 2014, <http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/
NFV-MAN/001_099/001/01.01.01_60/
gs_NFV-MAN001v010101p.pdf>.
[ETS14d] ETSI, "Virtual Network Functions Architecture - ETSI GS
NFV-SWA 001 V1.1.1", Dec 2014,
<http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV-
SWA/001_099/001/01.01.01_60/gs_NFV-SWA001v010101p.pdf>.
[ETS14t] ETSI, "NFV Pre-deployment Testing - ETSI GS NFV TST001
V0.0.13", Sept 2015,
<http://docbox.etsi.org/ISG/NFV/Open/DRAFTS/TST001_-_Pre-
deployment_Validation/NFV-TST001v0013.zip>.
[Meir15] C. Meirosu, A. Manzalini, J. Kim, R. Steinert, S. Sharma,
G. Marchetto, I. Papafili, K. Pentikousis, S. Wright,
"DevOps for Software-Defined Telecom Infrastructures",
July 2015,
<http://www.ietf.org/id/draft-unify-nfvrg-devops-02.txt>.
[Mor15] A. Morton, "Considerations for Benchmarking Virtual
Network Functions and Their Infrastructure", February
2015, <http://tools.ietf.org/html/
draft-morton-bmwg-virtual-net-03>.
[PSPL15] E. Paik and M-K. Shin and S. Pack and S. Lee, "Resource
Management in Service Chaining", March 2015,
<http://tools.ietf.org/html/
draft-lee-nfvrg-resource-management-service-chain-01>.
[Szab15] R. Szabo, Z. Qiang, M. Kind, "Towards recursive
virtualization and programming for network and cloud
resources", July 2015, <https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-
unify-nfvrg-recursive-programming-01>.
[Tah15] M. Tahhan, B. O'Mahony, A. Morton, "Benchmarking Virtual
Switches in OPNFV", July 2015,
<https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-vsperf-bmwg-vswitch-
opnfv-00>.
[TNOVA15] T-NOVA, "T-NOVA Results", July 2015,
<http://www.t-nova.eu/results/>.
[Yard15] OPNFV, "Project: Yardstick - Infrastructure Verification",
July 2015, <https://wiki.opnfv.org/yardstick>.
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Authors' Addresses
Raphael Vicente Rosa
University of Campinas
Irinyi Jozsef u. 4-20
Budapest 1117
Hungary
Email: raphaelvrosa@dca.fee.unicamp.br
URI: http://www.intrig.dca.fee.unicamp.br/
Christian Esteve Rothenberg
University of Campinas
Av. Albert Einstein, 400
Campinas 13083-852
Brasil
Email: chesteve@dca.fee.unicamp.br
URI: http://www.dca.fee.unicamp.br/~chesteve/
Robert Szabo
Ericsson Research, Hungary
Irinyi Jozsef u. 4-20
Budapest 1117
Hungary
Email: robert.szabo@ericsson.com
URI: http://www.ericsson.com/
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