What is ONAP?
ONAP was created as an open-source automation platform for the telecom community. ONAP provided many network automation use cases and functionalities to the telecom industry. ONAP was structured to deliver a platform, but now ONAP is a collection of network automation functions.
ONAP allows Operators/Vendors/communities to pick-and-choose desired ONAP functions, based on ONAP Streamlining evolution:
Component modularity
CD-based pick-and-choose component deployment
Individual and autonomous component building
Simplified and agile-based release process
ONAP has been aligned with industry / de facto standards
AI/ML intent-based network automation, based on 3GPP, TMForum, ETSI...
Network slicing support, based on 3GPP
Security enhancements thru Ingress, IAM, Service Mesh and Kubernetes
ETSI NFV-aligned models, APIs and functions
ONAP TSC Initiative Action Points
ONAP TSC defined three major initiative action points:
ONAP TSC is setting up ONAP strategies and roadmaps for ONAP future focus areas and releases
Lightweight ONAP Core with function aggregation capabilities
Component interface normalization and/or standardization
Evaluate innovative solutions and technologies to ensure that ONAP remains the best fit
Secure CI/CD, Repository-based, Declarative intents
AI/ML-based network provisioning configuration, optimization…
Collaborate with other communities and standard organizations for complete and secure network automation solutions
O-RAN, O-RAN SC, Nephio, 5G Super Blueprint
3GPP, TMForum, ETSI, IETF, others
ONAP Focus Areas
Manage “Right-size & Focused” functions, which can be used by operators/vendors, and industry
Continuation of ONAP Streamlining evolutions
Removal of unmaintained ONAP components
Removal of any dependencies of unmaintained ONAP components
Component interface normalization / standardization for functional aggregations, based on use cases
Component catalogs / documentation to guide functional aggregations on demand
Seek collaborations with other open-source projects, especially O-RAN, O-RAN SC and Nephio
Use cases, interface models and specifications for interacting with O-RAN SC and Nephio
For core components such as DCAE, Policy Framework, CPS, SDN-C/R, UUI, AI/ML Intent-driven network automation, SO and A1 Adapter. Update them with normalized interfaces, possibly AI-based intents
Enhancements of streamlining OOM scripts for security and CD-based individual component deployment
Becoming an integral part of initiatives such as the O-RAN SC, Nephio and 5G Super Blueprint
ONAP Core Components
Oslo ONAP Component Architecture
The following diagram depicts Oslo ONAP Component Architecture:
ONAP Core Components
The remaining ONAP components/projects are now ONAP Core components:
Portal-NG : is a GUI platform provides the ability to integrate different ONAP GUIs
Use-Case UI (UUI) : provides the capability to instantiate the blueprint Use Cases and visualize the state. It also provides intent-based network management, leveraging genAI/ML
SDC : provides a design time tool for common model/catalog onboarding design and distribution
Policy Framework : provides the ability for the creation and management of policies. Its CLAMP (Closed Loop Automation Management Platform) provides the run-time control loop management
SO : Service Orchestrator and its modular sub-components provide the service orchestration, network service, network slicing and VFN/CNF/PNF in the ONAP architecture
AAI : provides real-time views of Resources and Services and their relationships. It also provides services to register externally used services
CPS : provides storage for real-time configuration and operational parameters
DCAE : provides the capability to collect events, and host analytics applications (supporting VES events)
Multi-VIM/Cloud : provides mediation capabilities to connect to different infrastructure providers (including K8s plugin for CNF)
CDS : is a framework to automate resource resolution for instantiation and configuration (Day 0, Day 1, Day 2)
CCSDK : provides a common set of reusable code that can be used across multiple controllers (for building/plug-in controller personas)
SDNC : provides a network controller capability for establishing network connections and configuring VNFs/CNFs. It is based on CCSDK
ONAP Shared Services
Security Framework : provides security capabilities for external and inter-component secure communications, authentication and authorization
Logging Framework (PoC) : provides general-purpose logging collection/aggregation/persistence/visualization, by leveraging open-source log collector, aggregator, database and visualizer (e.g., FluentBit, FluentD, ElasticSearch, Kibana)
ONAP Infrastructure Service
Infrastructure Service supports the foundation of ONAP applications to run and includes computing, networking, storage, security and other essential resources. In ONAP, Service Mesh is placed in the Infrastructure Service layer for secured ONAP application communications
Service Mesh is an infrastructure layer to handle communication between microservices in a distributed system. In ONAP, Istio Service Mesh with Envoy proxies as the sidecars manages all incoming and outgoing network/application traffic for ONAP applications with mTLS, authentication and authorization
ONAP Core Component Use Cases and Integration
China Telecom Use Cases for Intent-Driven Closed Loop Autonomous Network
The following diagram depicts China Telecom use cases for Intent-driven closed loop autonomous network, where the core ONAP components are selected and integrated.
Huawei and China Mobile Incident API Enhancements
The following diagram depicts the Incident API enhancements by Huawei and China Mobile.
The management system is overwhelmed by the frequency and quantity of alarms, KPI, trace information with the growth of new service and service complexity.
Several incident reports/alarms could be collected and aggregated into a single incident