Network

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) Tools

June 16, 2023 Leave a Comment

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is an architectural approach that aims to virtualize and consolidate traditional network functions onto industry-standard servers, switches, and storage devices. NFV tools play a crucial role in deploying, managing, and orchestrating virtualized network functions.

Here are some popular NFV tools:

  1. OpenStack
  2. VMware vCloud NFV
  3. Red Hat OpenShift
  4. Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (NSO)
  5. Juniper Contrail Service Orchestration
  6. Nokia CloudBand
  7. Ciena Blue Planet
  8. HP NFV Director
  9. Enea NFV Core
  10. Wind River Titanium Cloud

1. OpenStack:

OpenStack is an open-source cloud computing platform that provides NFV capabilities. It offers various modules, such as Nova, Neutron, and Cinder, which can be used to manage virtualized network functions.

Key features:

  • Compute Service (Nova): Nova is the core compute service of OpenStack, providing virtual machine (VM) instance management. It allows users to provision and manage VMs on-demand, providing scalable compute resources.
  • Networking Service (Neutron): Neutron provides networking capabilities in OpenStack. It allows users to create and manage virtual networks, subnets, routers, and load balancers. Neutron supports various network models, including flat, VLAN, and overlay networks.
  • Object Storage Service (Swift): Swift is a highly scalable and redundant object storage service in OpenStack. It enables users to store and retrieve large amounts of unstructured data, such as images, videos, and backups. Swift offers data durability and availability across multiple storage nodes.

2. VMware vCloud NFV:

VMware vCloud NFV is a comprehensive NFV platform that provides virtual infrastructure management, service assurance, and orchestration capabilities. It enables operators to deploy and manage virtualized network functions in a scalable and efficient manner.

Key features:

  • NFV Infrastructure Management: vCloud NFV provides a centralized management platform for deploying, scaling, and managing virtualized network functions (VNFs) across the NFV infrastructure. It offers lifecycle management capabilities, including VNF onboarding, instantiation, scaling, and termination.
  • Service Orchestration: vCloud NFV enables the orchestration of complex network services through a visual interface. It allows service providers to define and manage service chains, which consist of multiple VNFs, to deliver end-to-end network services.
  • Multi-Tenancy and Segmentation: vCloud NFV supports multi-tenancy, allowing service providers to create isolated environments for different customers or departments. It provides network segmentation capabilities to ensure secure and dedicated network resources for each tenant.

3. Red Hat OpenShift:

Red Hat OpenShift is a container application platform that can be used for deploying and managing NFV applications. It provides orchestration and automation features for efficient management of virtualized network functions.

Key features:

  • Container Orchestration: OpenShift leverages Kubernetes as its underlying container orchestration engine. It provides automated deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications across a cluster of nodes. OpenShift simplifies the deployment and management of containers, ensuring high availability and scalability.
  • Developer Productivity: OpenShift offers an intuitive web-based user interface and a command-line interface (CLI) for developers to interact with the platform. It provides streamlined workflows for application development, allowing developers to focus on writing code without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
  • Source-to-Image (S2I): OpenShift’s Source-to-Image feature simplifies the process of building and deploying applications by automatically creating container images from source code. It supports various programming languages and frameworks, enabling developers to easily build and deploy their applications on the platform.

4. Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (NSO):

Cisco NSO is an orchestration tool that enables the deployment and management of network services in an NFV environment. It offers service modeling, service automation, and service orchestration capabilities.

Key features:

  • Service Orchestration: NSO offers a robust service orchestration framework that enables the automated provisioning and management of network services. It allows users to define service templates, workflows, and policies to simplify the deployment and configuration of complex network services.
  • Multi-Vendor Support: NSO supports multi-vendor network environments, allowing users to manage and orchestrate network devices from different vendors through a single interface. It abstracts the underlying network infrastructure and provides a vendor-agnostic layer for seamless integration and interoperability.
  • Network Configuration Management: NSO provides comprehensive network configuration management capabilities. It allows users to define and manage device configurations using YANG models, ensuring consistency and adherence to network policies. NSO supports configuration versioning, rollback, and audit trails for effective change management.

5. Juniper Contrail Service Orchestration:

Juniper Contrail Service Orchestration is a platform that provides lifecycle management and orchestration of virtual network functions (VNFs). It offers service chaining, policy enforcement, and automation capabilities for NFV deployments.

Key features:

  • Service Template Creation: Contrail Service Orchestration allows users to create service templates that define the desired configuration and behavior of network services. Service templates capture service requirements, dependencies, and policies, enabling consistent and repeatable service deployments.
  • Service Orchestration and Provisioning: The platform automates the provisioning of network services based on the defined service templates. It orchestrates the deployment and configuration of network devices and virtual resources, ensuring efficient and consistent service delivery.
  • Multi-Domain Support: Contrail Service Orchestration supports multi-domain environments, allowing the management and orchestration of network services across different administrative domains or geographic regions. It provides centralized control and visibility across the entire network infrastructure.

6. Nokia CloudBand:

Nokia CloudBand is an NFV management and orchestration platform that helps operators deploy and manage virtualized network functions. It provides service modeling, resource allocation, and policy enforcement capabilities.

Key features:

  • Cloud Orchestration: CloudBand offers powerful orchestration capabilities for deploying and managing cloud resources and services. It automates the provisioning and scaling of virtualized infrastructure, virtual network functions (VNFs), and cloud applications, ensuring efficient resource utilization.
  • Multi-Vendor Support: CloudBand supports multi-vendor environments, allowing the integration and management of diverse cloud infrastructure components and services. It provides interoperability with various virtualization platforms, networking technologies, and third-party solutions, ensuring flexibility and choice.
  • Service Catalog and Lifecycle Management: CloudBand provides a service catalog that allows users to define and manage a catalog of cloud-based services. It supports service lifecycle management, including service onboarding, versioning, and retirement, ensuring controlled and efficient service deployment.

7. Ciena Blue Planet:

Ciena Blue Planet is an orchestration platform that offers network automation, service orchestration, and virtualization capabilities. It enables operators to automate and manage the lifecycle of virtualized network functions.

Key features:

  • Network Orchestration: Blue Planet provides comprehensive network orchestration capabilities, allowing users to automate the provisioning, configuration, and management of network resources and services. It enables the creation of service templates, workflows, and policies for efficient and consistent service deployments.
  • Multi-Domain Support: Blue Planet supports the management and orchestration of network resources and services across multiple domains, including physical and virtual environments, different vendors, and diverse network technologies. It provides a unified view and control of the entire network infrastructure.
  • Service Catalog Management: Blue Planet offers a service catalog that allows users to define and manage a catalog of network services. It enables service modeling, onboarding, versioning, and publication, providing a centralized repository for service definitions and configurations.

8. HP NFV Director:

HP NFV Director is a management and orchestration platform specifically designed for NFV deployments. It provides end-to-end lifecycle management of virtualized network functions, including deployment, scaling, and monitoring.

Key features:

  • Virtualized Infrastructure Management: NFV Director enables the management of virtualized infrastructure resources such as compute, storage, and networking. It provides a centralized view and control over the virtual infrastructure, allowing administrators to efficiently allocate resources and ensure optimal performance.
  • VNF Lifecycle Management: NFV Director supports the entire lifecycle of virtual network functions (VNFs), including onboarding, deployment, scaling, and retirement. It provides a catalog of pre-validated VNFs and simplifies the process of deploying and managing them on the virtual infrastructure.
  • Orchestration and Automation: NFV Director offers comprehensive orchestration and automation capabilities for service deployment and management. It enables the creation of service templates, workflows, and policies to automate the provisioning, configuration, and scaling of network services.

9. Enea NFV Core:

Enea NFV Core is an NFV infrastructure management and orchestration platform that simplifies the deployment and management of virtualized network functions. It offers scalability, security, and resource optimization features.

Key features:

  • NFV Infrastructure Management: Enea NFV Core provides management capabilities for the NFV infrastructure, including virtual compute, storage, and networking resources. It allows administrators to efficiently provision, monitor, and manage these resources, ensuring optimal performance and resource utilization.
  • VNF Lifecycle Management: NFV Core supports the complete lifecycle management of virtual network functions (VNFs). It facilitates VNF onboarding, deployment, scaling, and retirement, making it easier to manage and orchestrate VNFs in a virtualized environment.
  • Orchestration and Automation: NFV Core offers powerful orchestration and automation capabilities for service deployment and management. It enables the creation of service templates, workflows, and policies to automate the provisioning, configuration, and scaling of network services.

10. Wind River Titanium Cloud:

Wind River Titanium Cloud is an NFV infrastructure software platform that provides a reliable and high-performance environment for virtualized network functions. It offers management and orchestration capabilities for NFV deployments.

Key features:

  • High Availability and Fault Tolerance: Titanium Cloud provides high availability features to ensure continuous service operation. It offers fault tolerance mechanisms, such as redundant components and automatic failover, to minimize service disruptions and maximize uptime.
  • Carrier-Grade Reliability: Titanium Cloud is designed to meet the stringent reliability requirements of carrier-grade and critical infrastructure deployments. It incorporates robust fault management, error detection, and fault recovery mechanisms to ensure reliable operation.
  • Performance Optimization: Titanium Cloud optimizes the performance of virtualized network functions (VNFs) by leveraging real-time performance enhancements and advanced resource management techniques. It provides mechanisms to allocate resources dynamically based on workload demands, ensuring optimal performance and efficient resource utilization.
Rajesh Kumar
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