VNF Manager deployment Prerequisites¶

Upon purchasing a VFNM solution, customer will receive an email with a VNFM install package download URL, as well as an associated product license key, which is used only for obtaining support. For the purpose of this lab, VNFM package has already been downloaded and stored in Openstack Glance. To learn more about Glance procedures, see Openstack Glance

Prerequisites¶

In addition to the VNFM install package, the following supported components have been downloaded from downloads.f5.com and stored in Glance:

BIG-IQ 6.0.1 and F5-BIQ-VE-LIC-MGR-LIC license key–This activates the BIG-IQ License Manager utility that manages licensing for BIG-IPs (utility pools) during orchestration.
BIG-IP 13.1.1 and F5-BIG-MSP-LOADV6-LIC license key–Use the Utility License, automatic method (if connected to the Internet) or the manual method (if not connected).

F5 VNFM Solutions¶

F5 offers the following VNFM solutions with built-in services. This lab uses Gi LAN Solution Blueprint

Solution	Description
Gi LAN	VNFM is comprised of an F5 blueprint with specific parameters plus a Gi LAN inputs YAML file that defines those parameters with your system requirements. These components use plugins, enabling you to automatically deploy all the necessary pieces to create a highly-available set of services, deployed in service layers. These layers auto-scale virtual machines and services to provide a complete and fully configured lifecycle management workflow: Install (push button) Auto-Scale (out and in) Auto-Heal (with quarantine of instances for troubleshooting) Update (push button) Upgrade (push button) Delete (push button)
Gi Firewall	VNFM is comprised of an F5 blueprint with specific parameters plus this solution also uses the same Gi LAN inputs YAML file as the previous solution, which defines those parameters with your system requirements. These components use plugins enabling you to utilize firewall protection services only like, DDoS mitigation, DNS security, and intrusion protection
VNFM Base	VNFM is comprised of a base F5 blueprint and a base inputs YAML file, lacking monitoring and resource collecting parameters, plus a VNFM Base inputs file that defines those base parameters with your system requirements.

Solution

Description

Gi LAN

VNFM is comprised of an F5 blueprint with specific parameters plus a Gi LAN inputs YAML file that defines those parameters with your system requirements. These components use plugins, enabling you to automatically deploy all the necessary pieces to create a highly-available set of services, deployed in service layers. These layers auto-scale virtual machines and services to provide a complete and fully configured lifecycle management workflow:

Install (push button)
Auto-Scale (out and in)
Auto-Heal (with quarantine of instances for troubleshooting)
Update (push button)
Upgrade (push button)
Delete (push button)

Gi Firewall

VNFM is comprised of an F5 blueprint with specific parameters plus this solution also uses the same Gi LAN inputs YAML file as the previous solution, which defines those parameters with your system requirements. These components use plugins enabling you to utilize firewall protection services only like, DDoS mitigation, DNS security, and intrusion protection

VNFM Base

VNFM is comprised of a base F5 blueprint and a base inputs YAML file, lacking monitoring and resource collecting parameters, plus a VNFM Base inputs file that defines those base parameters with your system requirements.

F5 blueprint¶

A blueprint is a model of your application’s topology and its operations implementation written in a YAML Domain Specific Language (DSL). The F5 blueprint defines all node types and the relationship between each node, for example:

imports:
 - gilan_vnfd.yaml

 inputs:
   pgw_min_instance_number:
   type: integer
   default: 1
 pgw_max_instance_number:
 type: integer
 default: 1000

pdn_min_instance_number:
 type: integer
 default: 1
pdn_max_instance_number:
 type: integer
 default: 1000

vnf_min_instance_number:
 type: integer
 default: 1
vnf_max_instance_number:
 type: integer
 default: 1000

node_templates:

pgw_lbs_ve_config:
 type: f5.gilan.nodes.Configuration
 properties:
   port: 443
   ssl: true
   verify: false
 interfaces:
   cloudify.interfaces.lifecycle:
     configure:
       inputs:
         template_file: templates/check-all-services.yaml
         params:
           username: { get_secret: bigip_username }
           password: { get_secret: bigip_admin_password }
           host: { get_attribute: [ SELF, target_host_ip ] }
 relationships:
   - type: cloudify.relationships.contained_in
     target: pgw_lbs_ve
     source_interfaces:
       cloudify.interfaces.relationship_lifecycle:
         preconfigure:
           implementation: gilan.gilan_plugin.relationship_lifecycle.copy_runtime_properties
           inputs:
             properties:
               - value: {get_attribute: [TARGET, ip]}
                 name: target_host_ip
   - type: cloudify.relationships.depends_on
     target: pgw_lbs_ve_revoke_license

Nodes—-all components in your network are listed in the nodes section (YAML list) in the blueprint YAML file, which defines the application topology of those components and the relationship between them.
Workflows—-the different automation processes for the application are defined in the workflow section of the blueprint YAML file. Workflows are orchestration algorithms written in an executable language (for example, Python) using dedicated, APIs. VNFM workflows are delivered by way of plugins.
Plugins-—communicate with external services, such as: cloud services like OpenStack, container-management systems like Kubernetes, configuration management tools like Ansible, and other communication protocols like HTTP and SSH.

What’s Next?

Deploy VNFM orchestration

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