SDN and NFV Overview

Contents

1 SDN Overview
• SDN Overview

2 NFV Overview

Page 1 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Evolution of the Computer Era
Mainframe PC (compatible)

App

Dedicated Open interface

application
Windows Mac
(OS)
or Linux or OS
Dedicated OS

Dedicated hardware Open interface

Microprocessorr

Vertical integration and closed interfaces Horizontal integration and open interfaces
Small-scale industry applications Large-scale application across industries

Page 2 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Network Industry Development: Implications from the IT
Industry
⚫ The transformation of the IT industry has triggered the thinking of the network industry. The industry has proposed
the SDN concept and has made attempts to put SDN into commercial use, aiming to make networks more open,
flexible, and simple.
Computing Industry Openness Promotes Ecosystem Development What About Network Industry Changes

Cloud service Comprehensive

ECS EVS cloud services
Database
Various virtualization
Middleware technologies, …

operating systems,
OS middleware, database
FusionSphere Network application
software, etc.
Virtualization …

SDN controller
Server, storage Storage array PC …
device, PC x86/ARM server Hardware network device
…

Universal • Does the network industry build a

hardware Memory Hard … hierarchical and open ecosystem
x86/ARM chip disk according to the computing industry?

Page 3 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Current Situation of the Network Industry: Typical IP
Network - Distributed Network
⚫ The typical IP network is a distributed network with peer-to-peer control. Each network device has independent
forwarding, control, and management planes. The control plane of a network device exchanges packets of a routing
protocol to generate an independent data plane to guide packet forwarding.
⚫ The advantage of a typical IP network is that network devices are
Management
decoupled from protocols, devices from different vendors are Control plane
plane

compatible with each other, and network convergence is ensured in Forwarding plane

fault scenarios. Router-A

Forwarding table, protocol,

and algorithm

Management plane

Configuration commands
Control plane

Unknown Forwarding Management Management

Control plane Control plane
data frame behavior plane plane

Data forwarding Forwarding plane Forwarding plane

Forwarding plane Router-B Router-C

Receive frames
Send frames

Page 4 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Thinking in the Network Field: Problems Faced by Typical
Networks

Frequent network congestion Complex network technologies

?
Difficult O&M Slow service deployment

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 Frequent Network Congestion
Problem and Solution of Bandwidth-based Route Problem and Solution of Tunnel Establishment Based on Fixed
Selection Sequence
Tunnels are established in sequence: 1. A-E; 2. A-G; 3. C-H. Tunnel 3 fails
A B to be established due to insufficient bandwidth.
1G/5G 2 3

B C D
2G/10G

C A F G H E
6G/5G 1
Used bandwidth/Total D E Global path calculation and optimal tunnel path adjustment:
bandwidth

The network computes forwarding paths based on

2
bandwidth. The link from router C to router D is the B C D
shortest forwarding path. The volume of service traffic
from router C to router D exceeds the bandwidth, causing 3
packet loss. Although other links are idle, the algorithm
A 1 F G H E
still selects the shortest path for forwarding. The optimal
traffic forwarding path is C-A-D.

Page 6 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Complex Network Technologies
Many network protocols: Network technology Difficult network configuration: To be familiar
experts need to learn many RFCs related to with devices of a specific vendor, you need to
network devices. Understanding the RFCs takes a master tens of thousands of commands.
long time, and the number of RFCs is still Additionally, the number of commands is still
increasing. increasing.
RFC increase trends

242
212 205 185
152 129 150
124
79

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Page 7 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Difficulty in Locating and Analyzing Network Faults
Difficult to Spot Faults Difficult to Locate Faults
Manual packet Abnormal flows account for 3.65% of all flows on the network.
Manual fault
obtaining for locating Manual fault diagnosis
identification
faults

The network
faults that are
found upon user
complaints are
just the tip of the
iceberg.

• Traditional O&M networks rely on manual fault • Traditional O&M only monitors device indicators. Some
identification, location, and diagnosis. indicators are normal, but user experience is poor. There is
• More than 85% of network faults are found only after no correlated analysis of users and networks.
service complaints. Problems cannot be proactively • According to data center network (DCN) statistics, it takes
identified or analyzed. 76 minutes to locate a fault on average.

Page 8 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Slow Network Service Deployment
Network policy
Complex and inflexible network policy changes:
Network policies cannot be defined by user. Policy changes
are complex and cannot be flexibly adjusted.
Access Bandwidth QoS Other
policy policy policy policies
…
IP address-based, fixed location,
and CLI-based configuration

Service network
Long service deployment period:
New service deployment involves E2E device configuration
VN for office VN for scientific VN for video modification.
purposes research surveillance
End-to-end configuration using
commands

Physical network
Low physical network deployment efficiency:
The physical network does not support zero touch
provisioning (ZTP).

Command line-based
configuration by device

Page 9 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 SDN Origin
⚫ SDN was developed by the Clean Slate Program at Stanford University as an innovative new network architecture.
The core of SDN is to separate the control plane from the data plane of network devices to implement centralized
control of the network control plane and provide good support for network application innovation.
⚫ SDN has three characteristics in initial phase: forwarding-control separation, centralized control, and open
programmable interfaces.
SDN application

The control plane functions are

provided by the controller.
Control
OpenFlow controller
plane
Control
plane OpenFlow
OpenFlow interconnection
Forwarding
plane
Forwarding
plane
OpenFlow switches
OpenFlow switches have only the data plane.

Page 10 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Basic Concepts of OpenFlow
⚫ OpenFlow is an SBI protocol between a controller and a switch. It defines three types of messages:
Controller-to-Switch, Asynchronous, and Symmetric. Each message contains more subtypes.
Controller-to-Switch
OpenFlow Controller
This message is sent by the controller. It is used to manage
and query switch information.

Asynchronous

OpenFlow This message is initiated by a switch. When the status of the

switch changes, the switch sends this message to notify the
controller of the status change.

Symmetric

This message can be initiated by a switch or controller.

Symmetric messages include Hello, Echo, and Error messages.
OpenFlow switches

Page 11 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Flow Table Overview
⚫ OpenFlow switches forward packets based on flow tables.
⚫ Each flow entry includes the Match Fields, Priority, Counters, Instructions, Timeouts, Cookie, and Flags.
The Match Fields and Instructions are key fields for packet forwarding.
▫ The Match Fields is a field against which a packet is matched and can be customized.

▫ The Instructions field indicates OpenFlow processing when a packet matches a flow entry.

Match
Priority Counters Instructions Timeouts Cookie Flags
Fields

Flow table fields can be customized. The

following table is an example.
Ingress Ether Ether Ether VLAN TCP TCP
VLAN ID IP Src IP Dst
Port Source Dst Type Priority Src Port Dst Port
3 MAC1 MAC2 0x8100 10 7 IP1 IP2 5321 8080

Page 13 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Comparison Between Forwarding Modes
Typical Routing Protocol: OpenFlow:
Packet Forwarding Based on Routing Tables Packet Forwarding Based on Flow Tables
OpenFlow controller
Routing protocol
10.0.0.0/30 10.0.0.0/30
1.1.1.1 1.1.1.2

G0/0/1
Flow table
matching
process:
Table 0 Table 1 … Table N
Routing Destination Outbound
Protocol Next Hop
table Network Interface
Flow Match
Priority Counters Instructions Timeouts Cookie
10.0.0.0/30 OSPF 1.1.1.2 G0/0/1 table Fields

• In typical cases, network devices query routing tables to • OpenFlow is a network protocol. Switches running OpenFlow
guide traffic forwarding. forward traffic based on flow tables.
• Entries in a routing table are calculated by running a routing • Flow tables are calculated by the OpenFlow controller and then
protocol between network devices. delivered to switches.
• The length of the routing table is fixed. Network devices • A flow table has variable length and defines various matching
forward packets based on the longest match rule. A network and forwarding rules. A network device has multiple flow tables.
device has only one routing table.

Page 14 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Essential Requirements of SDN
⚫ The essence of SDN is to make networks more open, flexible, and simple. It builds a centralized brain
for a network and implements fast service deployment, traffic optimization, or network service
openness through centralized control in the global view.
⚫ SDN has the following benefits:
▫ Provides centralized management, simplifying network management and O&M.

▫ Shields technical differences, simplifies network configuration, and reduces O&M costs.

▫ Offers automatic optimization, improving network utilization.

▫ Deploys services rapidly, shortening the service rollout time.

▫ Builds an open network, supporting open and programmable third-party applications.

SDN transforms network architecture.

Page 15 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 SDN Network Architecture
⚫ The SDN network architecture consists of the orchestration application layer, controller layer, and device layer.
Different layers are connected through open interfaces. From the perspective of the controller layer, SBIs oriented to
the device layer and NBIs oriented to the orchestration application layer are distinguished. OpenFlow is one of SBI
protocols.
Orchestration application layer Service
App collaboration

NBI

Service
Controller layer
orchestration

SBI

Device layer Data

forwarding

Page 16 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Huawei SDN Network Architecture
⚫ Huawei SDN network architecture supports various SBIs and NBIs, including OpenFlow, OVSDB, NETCONF, PCEP,
RESTful, SNMP, BGP, JSON-RPC, and RESTCONF interfaces.
Network Cloud
EMS Orchestration Apps
Applications platform

NBI plane RESTful SNMP MTOSI/CORBA Kafka/SFTP RESTCONF

Open NBI

Open SBI
PCEP NETCONF OpenFlow BGP-LS OVSDB SNMP BGP Json-RPC
Telemetry
Interface Interface Interface Interface Interface Interface Interface Interface

Forwarding Security
AP Switch CPE Router VNF
device gateway

Page 17 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Huawei SDN Solution - Integrating Management, Control,
and Analysis to Build an Intent-Driven Network
Application Cloud Self-help Mobile Third-party …
layer platform portal app app

Network
management
and control Manager Controller Analyzer
layer

AP AP
DC Fabric

Campus Campus
CPE CPE
Network
WAN/DCI WAN/DCI
layer

DC Fabric

Branch SD-WAN
CPE Branch
CPE

Page 18 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Introduction to iMaster NCE
⚫ Huawei iMaster NCE is the industry intelligent network automation platform that integrates
management, control, analysis, and AI capabilities.
SDN-based automatic service Unified data base Full lifecycle management
configuration/deployment Detection, location, and Simulation verification and
AI-based intelligent analysis, troubleshooting monitoring optimization
prediction, and troubleshooting
Planning + Construction +
Manager + Controller +
Automation + Intelligence Maintenance +
Analyzer
Optimization

2 3 4

Autonomous Driving
NMS Controller Analyzer Network System

Network =

Page 19 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 iMaster NCE Application

DC iMaster NCE-Fabric *

Enterprise
iMaster NCE-Campus *
campus

SD-WAN iMaster NCE-WAN

IP WAN iMaster NCE-IP

WAN
iMaster NCE-T
transmission

* iMaster NCE-Fabric and iMaster NCE-

Campus are introduced in this document.

Page 20 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Huawei CloudFabric DCN Autonomous Driving
Network Solution
⚫ Based on iMaster NCE-Fabric, DCNs provide full-lifecycle services from planning, construction, O&M, to optimization.
Service Intent/Strategy Integrated planning and construction:
• The planning tool interconnects with iMaster NCE-Fabric to implement
Simplification elements integrated planning and construction.
• Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP)

Analyzer
Simplified deployment
• Service intent self-understanding and conversion
+AI • Network change simulation and evaluation, eliminating human errors
Controller Manager

Intelligent O&M:
• Rapid fault detection and location based on knowledge graph and expert
experience
Telemetry & ERSPAN • Fast fault rectification based on expert experiences and simulation analysis
NETCONF & SNMP
Real-time optimization:
• AI-Fabric-oriented local traffic inference and online model training and
optimization
VM VM VM • User behavior prediction and resource optimization suggestions
VM VM VM
VM VM VM

Page 21 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Simplified ZTP Deployment
Network administrator ZTP deployment process:
1. The network administrator clicks the icon on iMaster NCE to start
1
the ZTP task.
2. A device automatically obtains an IP address to access iMaster
5
NCE.

3. iMaster NCE determines the device role (spine or leaf node),

2 3 4 delivers configurations such as the management IP address,
SNMP configuration, and NETCONF configuration to online
devices, and manages the devices through the management IP
Spine
address.
4. iMaster NCE globally delivers interconnection configurations as
VXLAN well as OSPF or BGP configurations.

5. The device goes online successfully, and the administrator views

Leaf
network-wide information on iMaster NCE.

Note: The DC uses the spine-leaf architecture.

Page 22 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Network Intent Self-understanding and Fast Service
Deployment
Network design Configuration delivery Service verification

2 to 3 days 10 minutes 1 to 2 days

iMaster NCE-Fabric
Verification result analysis

Intent conversion Network design Simulation verification Network configuration

Work order
Built-in model:
Intent model ✓ ACL deployment 10 minutes
✓ Network provisioning

Huawei iMaster NCE-Fabric supports automatic and fast deployment of virtualization, cloud
computing, and container networks.

Page 23 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Network Change Simulation and Change Risk Prediction

Configuration to be
Resource
changed
sufficiency
Live network
configuration Access
Live network topology
connectivity
information
Network Formal verification Impact on
Live network resource original services
modeling algorithm
information

Data collection/upload Modeling and Computing Verification result

• Establish physical, logical, and • Check whether resources on the live
application network models. network are sufficient and whether the
• Use the formal verification algorithm network is connected.
for computing. • Analyze and display the impact of changes
on original services.

Page 24 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 AI-powered Intelligent O&M for DCNs
Collection Analysis Decision

Intelligent analysis engine

Knowledge BGP OSPF
flapping Interface
flapping
Huawei's 30+ years inference engine flapping

of O&M IS-IS
expert experience Router ID
flapping BFD
flapping
Manual
conflict
rectification
Exception
detection Intent-based
Continuous learning
and training Root cause loop closing
based on real site analysis
Knowledge Knowledge Knowledge Knowledge
faults
Risk prediction
Recommended
Model application emergency plan:
DC holographic data • Port isolation
Service flow
Data cleaning
AI exception Network object • Configuration rollback
data/Telemetry data identification modeling • Capacity expansion
recommendation

Page 25 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Huawei CloudCampus Autonomous Driving Network
Solution
Fast network deployment, improving deployment efficiency by 600%
Analyzer One-stop management
platform • Device plug-and-play: simplified device deployment, scenario navigation, and
template-based configuration
Manager Controller
• Simplified network deployment: Network resource pooling, multi-purpose
network, and automatic service provisioning
Design Deployment Policy

Fast service provisioning, improving user experience by 100%

• Free mobility: GUI-based policy configuration, allowing users to access the

NETCONF/YANG network anytime and anywhere without changing the roaming permission
Large- or medium- Small- or medium- and user experience
sized campus Campus sized campus • Intelligent terminal identification: Anti-spoofing for terminal access, with an
interconnection intelligent terminal identification accuracy of over 95%
• Intelligent HQoS: Application-based scheduling and shaping, and refined
VN for office purposes bandwidth management, ensuring service experience of key users
WAN/
Internet Fast intelligent O&M, improving network performance by over 50%
VN for R&D

• Real-time experience visualization: Telemetry-based network experience

visualization at each moment, for each user, and in each area
• Precise fault analysis: Proactively identifying 85% of typical network issues
VN for office Security Security Security
and providing suggestions, and comparing and analyzing real-time data to
services group 1 group 2 group 3 • Access control policy predict faults
• Bandwidth • Intelligent network optimization: Predictive optimization of wireless
VN for R&D networks based on historical data, improving network-wide performance by
Security Security • Priority
services group 4 group 5 over 50% (Source: Tolly Certification)

Page 26 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Device Plug-and-Play
Deployment Through the Registration
Deployment by Scanning Bar Codes DHCP-based Deployment
Query Center

1 1 1 2
Registration
query center

4 4 3 5
3 4

DHCP server
3

2 2

1. Pre-configuration
1. Pre-configuration
1. Pre-configuration 2. Information synchronization
2. Obtaining registration information through
2. Deployment by scanning bar codes 3. Obtaining registration information through the
the DHCP server
3. Automatic device registration and login registration query center
3. Automatic device registration and login
4. Automatic configuration delivery 4. Automatic device registration and login
4. Automatic configuration delivery
5. Automatic configuration delivery

Page 27 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Free Mobility:
Policy Management Based on Security Groups
⚫ Free mobility: Enables users to have consistent network rights and security policies regardless of their
locations and IP addresses.
Security group
1 Use security groups. A security group is
Security group Security group
for server a group of users for which the same
for sales users for R&D users
resources security policy is used.

2 Define security group-based permission

Right policy Experience policy
control policies and user experience policies
Deliver security policies
and deliver the policies to network devices.

3 A security group is authorized to a user

after the user passes access authentication.
Campus
network After user traffic enters a network, network
4
devices enforce policies based on the source
and destination security groups of the
Access authentication Access authentication Access authentication traffic.

User A User B User C

Page 28 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Wired and Wireless Convergence
WLAN Construction Mode 1: Standalone AC WLAN Construction Mode 2: AC Card
• This mode poses a wireless
traffic bottleneck and
increases faulty nodes. AC Card

• Wired and wireless • An AC card is installed on a

Independent AC
management is switch to provide AC functions.
independent. • Hardware-level convergence.
• Wired and wireless
authentication points are
separated.

Wired and wireless authentication point separation, distributed policy control, separation of control and data traffic forwarding, and
troubleshooting and management difficulties.

Wired and Wireless Convergence (Native AC)

Native AC The switch integrates the AC function, eliminating wireless traffic forwarding bottlenecks and reducing
fault nodes. Wired and wireless devices are centrally managed.
• Unified management and converged forwarding of wired and wireless services
• Converged management for wired and wireless users and gateway convergence
• Converged authentication points for wired and wireless access
• Unified wired and wireless policy execution

Page 29 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Intelligent Terminal Identification, Ensuring Secure
Access
Requirements
and Challenges Huawei supports identification of
1000+ office or IoT terminals.
A university
Built-in terminal
50+ types of smart terminals fingerprint library

Terminal information is
collected by IT
departments of colleges: >>
MAC address collection is
difficult and error-prone.

An enterprise >>
100+ authentication faults
reported per day Terminal-type-based Terminal-type-based Terminal-type-based

It is difficult to locate Automatic authentication Automatic authorization Spoofing detection

Printer Camera IP phone and PC
access spoofing. • MAC address authentication, • Is automatically added to the • Report a terminal spoofing alarm.
without entering any MAC address video surveillance group.
• Is configured as the VIP user.

Page 30 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 HQoS: User- and Application-based QoS Policy
User- and application-based QoS policies ensure experience of high-priority users and applications
Requirements and
Challenges 1
1. Define VIP users and
Traditional QoS common users, and
policies are invalid application priorities.
for video services. 3 2. Schedule users and
application queues based on
priorities of users and
(Example) Building >> 2 applications.
surveillance scenario: 3. Support native AC or
Wireless video services independent AC deployment.
of common users
increase, occupying a
large number of
network resources and
causing network
congestion. VIP Common
users Video
users
Camera
surveillance Mobile phone and tablet

Page 31 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 AI-Powered Intelligent O&M of Campus Networks
As-Is: Device-Centered Network Management To-Be: User Experience-Centered AI-Powered Intelligent O&M

Intelligent network analyzer

NMS • Visualized user experience
Traditional • Topology management management
NMS • Performance • User journey playback
management Telemetry • Potential fault identification
SNMP • Alarm management Second-level network • Root cause identification
Minute-level network • Predictive network optimization
• Configuration data collection
data collection management

Experience visualization: Telemetry-based second-level data collection, visualized

experience of each user and each application in real time
• Device-centric O&M method: User experience cannot be Minute-level potential fault identification and root cause location
detected. • Identify potential faults based on dynamic baselines and big data correlation
• Fault-triggered responses: Potential faults cannot be analysis.
• Accurately locate root causes of faults through KPI association analysis and
identified.
protocol tracing.
• Rely on professional engineers to locate faults onsite.
Predictive network optimization: AI is used to intelligently analyze the AP load
trend and implement predictive optimization on the wireless network.

The efficiency is improved by using algorithms. With scenario-based continuous learning and expert experience, intelligent O&M frees
O&M personnel from complex alarms and noises, making O&M more automated and intelligent.

Page 32 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 AI-Powered Intelligent Radio Calibration
Traditional radio calibration Tested and verified by
AI-powered
cannot achieve intelligent radio authoritative organizations
expected results calibration
Phase 1: Manual Calibration Average downlink rate per terminal:

Based on engineers' experience, the 198 Mbit/s

calibration is time-consuming and 58%
error-prone, and the calibration 125 Mbit/s
result is unstable.
Radio calibration Real-time and historical
simulation data collection
>> Before radio After AI-powered
calibration smart radio
Smart radio calibration
Calibration calibration and Counter
closed-loop Average Wi-Fi channel interference
Phase 2: Automatic Calibration
5.5%
Calibration based on real-time radio 49%
interference does not consider device Single-user performance
2.8%
load changes, and the calibration
bandwidth selection

Number of users

Objects
Power adjustment
Optimal channel

result cannot be ensured.

Frequency
selection

Channel usage
Time
Signal interference ratio Before radio After AI-powered
Channel/Frequency calibration smart radio
bandwidth/Power calibration

Page 33 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Contents

1 SDN Overview

2 NFV Overview
• NFV Overview

Page 34 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 NFV Background: Thinking from IT Industry Transformation
⚫ The IT industry transformation brings thinking on network architecture and device architecture in the
network industry. The network architecture layer involves the SDN controller and the device
architecture layer involves the device deployment mode.
IT Industry Transformation
• In recent years, IT technologies such as virtualization
Network?
and cloud computing have been booming, and
applications deployed on hardware have been gradually
migrated to the cloud. Applications are deployed on
private clouds, public clouds, or hybrid clouds as
software. • Thinking about the network industry: Can network
App App
applications be deployed in a software-based
OS OS manner?
App
• In the context, Network Functions Virtualization
Virtualization/ VM VM
Cloudification
(NFV) is introduced.
OS

Page 35 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Origin of NFV
⚫ In October 2012, 13 top carriers (including AT&T, Verizon, VDF, DT, T-Mobile, BT, and Telefonica)
released the first version of NFV White Paper at the SDN and OpenFlow World Congress. In addition,
the Industry Specification Group (ISG) was founded to promote the definition of network virtualization
requirements and the formulation of the system architecture.
⚫ In 2013, the ETSI NFV ISG conducted the first phase of research and completed the formulation of
related standards. The ETSI NFV ISG defined NFV requirements and architecture and sorts out the
standardization processes of different interfaces.

Page 36 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 NFV Value
⚫ NFV aims to address issues such as complex deployment and O&M and service innovation
difficulties due to large numbers of telecom network hardware devices. NFV brings the
following benefits to carriers while reconstructing telecom networks:
▫ Shortened service rollout time

▫ Reduced network construction cost

▫ Improved network O&M efficiency

▫ Open ecosystem

Page 37 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Key NFV Technologies: Virtualization
⚫ Virtualization is the foundation of NFV, and cloudification is the key.
⚫ On traditional telecom networks, each NE is implemented by dedicated hardware, resulting in high costs and
difficult O&M. Virtualization features partition, isolation, encapsulation, and independence from hardware, which
can meet NFV requirements. Carriers use virtualization to run software-based NEs on universal infrastructures.
Partition Isolation

Multiple VMs can concurrently run VMs that run on the same server are
on a single physical server. isolated from each other.

Encapsulation Hardware independence

All data of a VM is saved in files. A VM VMs can run on any servers without
can be moved and replicated by moving any modifications.
and replicating the files.
Page 38 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Key NFV Technology: Cloudification
⚫ As defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), cloud computing is a model that allows
users to obtain resources (for example, networks, servers, storage devices, applications, services) in a shared
compute resource pool based on their needs anytime, anywhere. This model enables fast resource provisioning and
release, and minimizes the resource management workload and interactions with service providers.
⚫ Cloud computing has many advantages. Cloudification of network functions on carriers' networks mainly uses
resource pooling and rapid elastic scaling. Characteristics of Cloud Computing
1 On-demand self-service 2 Broad network access 3 Resource pooling 4 Rapid elasticity 5 Measured service

Buy

Page 39 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Introduction to the NFV Architecture
⚫ The NFV architecture includes the network functions virtualization infrastructure (NFVI), a virtualized network
function (VNF), and management and orchestration (MANO). In addition, the NFV architecture needs to support
the existing business support system (BSS) or operations support system (OSS).

OSS/BSS: is an existing operation/O&M support

system.

MANO:
VNF: uses cloud resources to construct software NEs. Provides functions
such as service
orchestration, service
management, and
resource
NFVI: provides cloud-based resource pools. management.

Page 40 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Standard NFV Architecture
⚫ ETSI defines the standard NFV architecture, which consists of the NFVI, VNF, and MANO. The NFVI includes the
universal hardware layer and virtualization layer. The VNF is implemented using software, and the MANO
implements management and orchestration of an NFV architecture. NFV Management and Orchestration
MANO
Os-Ma
OSS/BSS NFV
Orchestrator

VNF Or-Vnfm
EM 1 EM 2 EM 3 Ve-Vnfm Service,VNF and
VNF Infrastructure
VNF 1 VNF 2 VNF 3 Manager(s) Description
Vn-Nf
NFVI Vi-Vnfm
Virtualization Layer
Virtual Virtual Virtual Nf-Vi Virtualized Or-Vi
Computing Storage Network Infrastructure
Vi-Ha Manager(s)
Hardware
Computing Storage Network

Execution reference points Other reference points Main NFV reference points
Page 41 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Functional Modules of the NFV Architecture
⚫ Main functional modules defined in the standard NFV architecture:

OSS or Management system for a service provider. It is not a functional component in the NFV architecture, but the MANO
BSS must provide an interface for interoperation with the OSS or BSS.

MANO NFV management and orchestration. The MANO includes the VIM, VNFM, and NFVO, and provides unified management
and orchestration for VNFs and the NFVI.
• VIM: NFVI management module that runs on an infrastructure site. The VIM provides functions such as resource
discovery, virtual resource management and allocation, and fault handling.
• VNFM: It controls the VNF lifecycle (including instantiation, configuration, and shutdown).
• NFVO: It orchestrates and manages all the software resources and network services on an NFV network.

VNF VNFs refer to VMs as well as service NEs and network function software deployed on the VMs.

NFVI NFV infrastructure, including required hardware and software. The NFVI provides a running environment for VNFs.
• Hardware layer: includes hardware devices that provide compute, network, and storage resources.
• Virtualization layer: abstracts hardware resources to form virtual resources, such as virtual compute, storage, and
network resources. The virtualization function is implemented by Hypervisor [1].

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 NFV Architecture Interfaces
⚫ Main interfaces of the standard NFV architecture:
Interface Description
Is used between the virtualization layer and hardware layer. The virtualization layer meets basic hardware compatibility
Vi-Ha requirements.
Is used between a VM and the NFVI. It ensures that VMs can be deployed on the NFVI to meet performance, reliability, and
Vn-Nf scalability requirements. The NFVI meets VMs' OS compatibility requirements.

Is used between the virtualization layer management software and NFVI. It provides management of virtual computing,
Nf-Vi storage, and network systems of NFVI, virtual infrastructure configuration and connections, as well as system usage,
performance monitoring, and fault management.

Is used between the VNFM and a VNF, implementing VNF lifecycle management, VNF configuration, VNF performance, and
Ve-Vnfm fault management.

OS-Ma Manages lifecycles of network services and VNFs.

Is used for interaction between the service application management system or service orchestration system and virtualization
Vi-Vnfm layer management software.
Sends configuration information to the VNFM, configures the VNFM, and connects the orchestrator and VNFM. It exchanges
Or-Vnfm information with the NFVI resources allocated to VNFs and information between VNFs.

Is used to send resource reservation and resource allocation requests required by the orchestrator and exchange virtual
Or-Vi hardware resource configurations and status information.

Page 43 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Huawei's NFV Solution
⚫ In the Huawei NFV architecture, functions of the virtualization layer and VIM are implemented by the HUAWEI
CLOUD Stack NFVI platform. HUAWEI CLOUD Stack can virtualize compute, storage, and network resources and
centrally manage, monitor, and optimize physical virtualization resources.
⚫ Huawei provides cloud-based solutions for carriers' wireless networks, bearer networks, transport networks, access
networks, and core networks.
VNF MANO
Cloud CloudOpera
CloudBB CloudEdge CloudCore 5G Core
DSL/OLT NFVO

VNFM
NFVI
HUAWEI CLOUD Stack
FusionSphere
FusionCompute FusionStorage FusionNetwork OpenStack + OM

Hardware
Computing Storage Network

Page 44 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 FAQ
⚫ Q1: What is the relationship between SDN and NFV in the industry?
⚫ A: Both SDN and NFV involve network transformation and the NFV concept was proposed at
the SDN and OpenFlow World Congress. However, they are independent of each other. SDN
mainly affects the network architecture, and NFV mainly affects the NE deployment mode.

⚫ Q2: What is the relationship between SDN and NFV in Huawei solutions?
⚫ A: Huawei provides different solutions for SDN and NFV, but they are associated. Huawei
NFVI solution is provided by HUAWEI CLOUD Stack.

Page 45 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Quiz
1. (Multiple) Which of the following statements about Huawei SDN solution are true? ( )
A. The solution supports various SBI protocols, such as RESTful, NETCONF, and OVSDB.

B. OpenFlow can be used as the SBI protocol.

C. The solution integrates management, control, and analysis to build a simplified network.

D. The solution provides open and programmable network interfaces to support third-party
application development and system interconnection.

2. Please briefly describe the benefits of NFV.

Page 46 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Summary
⚫ With the transformation and development of the network industry, SDN and NFV
are proposed.

⚫ SDN is an innovation of network architecture. It uses a controller to make networks

more open, flexible, and simple.

⚫ NFV is an innovation in the deployment of telecom network devices. Based on

virtualization and cloud computing, NFV helps reconstruct telecom networks.

Page 47 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 More Information
⚫ For more information about OpenFlow, visit https://www.opennetworking.org/ .

⚫ For more information about Huawei SDN solution, see the HCIP course.

Page 48 Copyright © 2020 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Thank You
www.huawei.com

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