MEF 55 - LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
MEF 55 - LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
MEF 55 - LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
Specification
MEF 55
March 2016
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Disclaimer
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implication or otherwise:
b) any warranty or representation that any MEF member companies will announce
any product(s) and/or service(s) related thereto, or if such announcements are
made, that such announced product(s) and/or service(s) embody any or all of the
ideas, technologies, or concepts contained herein; nor
c) any form of relationship between any MEF member companies and the recipient
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
Table of Contents
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. v
2 Abstract ................................................................................................................................... 1
4 Scope ....................................................................................................................................... 6
5 Compliance Levels.................................................................................................................. 7
6 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 8
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
10.5 Customer Viewing of Performance and Fault Reports and Metrics ........................... 32
12 References ............................................................................................................................. 40
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
List of Figures
Figure 1 LSO Engineering Methodology ..................................................................................... 10
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
List of Tables
Table 1 Contributing Member ...................................................................................................... vii
Table 5 Examples of High Level Interactions per LSO Management Interface Reference Point 48
Table 6 Mapping of LSO Reference Architecture and Framework Functional Areas to MEF 50
Related Processes .......................................................................................................................... 49
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
MEF Member
Alcatel-Lucent
AT&T
Avaya
CableLabs
Calix
CenturyLink
CENX
Ciena
Cisco
Comcast
Ericsson
Huawei
Iconectiv
Iometrix
Oracle
PCCW Global
RAD
Sprint
Verizon
Veryx Technologies
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
2 Abstract
LSO is an agile approach to streamlining and automating the service lifecycle in a sustainable
fashion for coordinated management and control across all network domains responsible for
delivering an end-to-end Connectivity Service (e.g., Carrier Ethernet, IP VPN, MPLS, etc.). This
document describes a Reference Architecture and Framework for orchestrating the service
lifecycle. It includes a set of functional management entities that enable cooperative service
lifecycle orchestration for Third Network Connectivity Services. The framework also provides
high level functional requirements and outlines high level operational threads describing
orchestrated Connectivity Service behavior as well as interactions among management and
control entities. The Management Interface Reference Points that characterize interactions
between LSO functional management entities are identified in the reference architecture. These
Management Interface Reference Points are described such that they can be realized by Interface
Profiles and further by APIs, which can be used to enable automated and orchestrated
Connectivity Services.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
4 Scope
The purpose of this document is to define a reference architecture that describes the functional
management entities needed to support LSO, and the Management Interface Reference Points
between them. LSO provides open and interoperable automation of management operations over
the entire lifecycle of Layer 2 and Layer 3 Connectivity Services. This includes design,
fulfillment, control, testing, problem management, quality management, billing & usage,
security, analytics and policy capabilities, over all the network domains that require coordinated
management and control in order to deliver the service. The reference architecture characterizes
the management and control domains and entities that enable cooperative LSO capabilities for
Connectivity Services. The LSO architecture and framework enables automated management
and control of end-to-end Connectivity Services that span multiple provider domains. For
example, a Service Provider may extend its footprint by using LSO to interact with potentially
several Operators to manage and control the access portions of end-to-end services.
The framework also outlines high level operational threads providing business rationale and
describing orchestrated Connectivity Service behavior as well as interactions among
management and control entities. This document describes the essential LSO capabilities for
Connectivity Services that need to be supported by the common product, service, and resource
abstractions and constructs. Such constructs will drive the information and data models that
enable the definition of open and interoperable APIs supporting LSO functionality (including
virtualized functions, e.g., SDN and NFV). From a services perspective, this framework is
intended to support current MEF services; however the framework is also extensible, providing
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
the flexibility to handle generic Connectivity Services as well by defining Connectivity Services
management constructs. The reference architecture work will also be cross referenced with the
efforts of other Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) and open-source projects (e.g.,
ONF, ETSI NFV, IEEE, ITU-T, IETF, TMF, OPNFV, ODL, OpenStack, etc.).
This framework also describes the engineering approach being followed to generate re-usable
engineering specifications and artifacts capturing the LSO requirements, capabilities,
functionality, behavior, processes, information, interfaces and APIs supporting management and
control of Connectivity Services.
5 Compliance Levels
The requirements in this document that apply to the high level functionality are specified in
Section 8. Items that are REQUIRED (contain the words MUST or MUST NOT) will be labeled
as [Rx]. Items that are RECOMMENDED (contain the words SHOULD or SHOULD NOT)
will be labeled as [Dx]. Items that are OPTIONAL (contain the words MAY or OPTIONAL)
will be labeled as [Ox].
The key words “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”,
“SHOULD”, “SHOULD NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “MAY”, and “OPTIONAL” in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119. All key words use upper case, bold
text to distinguish them from other uses of the words. Any use of these key words (e.g., may and
optional) without [Rx], [Dx] or [Ox] is not normative.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
6 Introduction
LSO provides orchestration capabilities for the open and interoperable management and control
of Third Network Connectivity Services [MEF ThirdNetwork]. The LSO Reference Architecture
characterizes the management and control domains and entities that enable cooperative LSO
capabilities. This architecture also outlines high level operational threads describing orchestrated
Connectivity Service behavior as well as interactions among management entities. LSO
overcomes existing complexity by defining product, service, and resource abstractions that hide
the complexity of underlying technologies and network layers from the applications and users of
the services.
In this document, Section 7 discusses the LSO engineering methodology. The high level
functional requirements for LSO functional management entities are provided in Section 8.
Section 9 provides the LSO Reference Architecture that characterizes the management and
control domains and functional management entities that enable cooperative LSO capabilities.
High level Operational Threads describing the use cases for LSO behavior are identified in
Section 10. LSO Management Abstractions and constructs are described in Section 11.
References may be found in Section 12. Section 13 provides an informative appendix with
examples of high level interactions per LSO management interface reference point. Lastly,
Section 14 is an appendix providing a mapping of LSO reference architecture and framework
functional areas to MEF 50 related processes.
The Third Network vision is based on Network as a Service (NaaS) principles which make the
network appear as a user’s own virtual network, and enables the user to dynamically and on-
demand, create, modify and delete services via Customer web portals or software applications.
This is analogous to cloud-based services, such as infrastructure as a service (IaaS), where users
can dynamically create, modify or delete compute and storage resources.
The MEF Forum will achieve this vision by building upon its successful CE 2.0 foundation by
defining requirements for LSO [MEF LSO] and APIs in support of service ordering, fulfillment,
performance, usage, analytics and security across multi-operator networks. This approach
overcomes existing constraints by defining service abstractions that hide the complexity of
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
underlying technologies and network layers from the applications and users of the services, while
providing sufficient management and control capabilities.
In summary, the goal of the Third Network, based on NaaS principles, is to enable agile
networks that deliver assured Connectivity Services orchestrated across network domains.
In LSO, Connectivity Services are orchestrated by Service Providers across all internal and
external network domains from one or more network operators. These network domains may be
operated by communications Service Providers, data center operators, enterprises, wireless
network operators, virtual network operators, or content providers. LSO encompasses all
network domains that require coordinated end-to-end management and control to deliver
Connectivity Services. Within each provider domain, the network infrastructure may be
implemented with traditional WAN technologies, as well as NFV and/or SDN. LSO capabilities
not only dramatically decrease the time to establish and modify the characteristics of the
Connectivity Service, but also assure the overall service quality and security for these services.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
definition of Interface Profiles. Lessons learned from information models may be used to update
the Management Abstractions in LSO Reference Architecture.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
this phase will feed back into the Interface Profiles as well as the reference architecture and
framework.
An API specification defines how software components should interact with each other. In the
context of LSO, an API is the realization of an Interface Profile for a specific Management
Interface Reference Point. The information exchanged across an API is described within a data
model that is specified in a data modeling language, for example YANG or XSD. Such a data
model defines the structure of data that is conveyed between the two management entities that
bound the Management Interface Reference Point.
An API also defines the encoding format (e.g. JSON or XML) that is used to encode data into a
representation and format that can be exchanged across the interface according to the structure
described by the data model, and the protocol that is used to carry the encoded interface data
(e.g. NETCONF, RESTCONF or REST/HTTP). The protocol, along with the data model, also
defines the operations that are supported - for example, creating and deleting persistent managed
objects, reading and writing attributes of those objects, etc.
Note that in the context of LSO, an API does not constrain the implementation of either
management entity to a particular programming language; it simply describes the format and
semantics of messages passed between them.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
Requirements:
[R-LSO-RA-1]: LSO SHALL support the product lifecycle management process (i.e. as
defined in [MEF 50])
[R-LSO-RA-2]: LSO SHALL maintain catalog capabilities in support of:
- Product Specifications (from which Product Offering will be defined and exposed in a
product catalog)
- Service Specifications (for the Service and each Service Component)
- Product Instance to Service mapping rules for each Product Offering
- Service design and policy assignment
- Order Fulfillment Orchestration: deals with decomposing a customer order into one or
multiple service provisioning activities and orchestrating of all customer order-related
fulfillment activities;
- Service Configuration and Activation Orchestration: responsible for the design,
assignment, and activation activities for the end-to-end service and/or some or all Service
Components;
- Service Control Orchestration: permits the service to be dynamically changed within
specific bounds described in policies that are established at the time of provisioning;
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
- Service Delivery Orchestration: responsible for the service delivery via network
implementation delegation of each Service Component to their respective delivery system
or mechanism; and
- Service Activation Testing Orchestration (see Section 8.3): coordinates all service
activation testing activities, for parts and/or the complete end-to-end service.
Order Fulfillment Orchestration is triggered from a Customer order, generally originating from a
business application such as a Customer relationship management system or order entry system.
This set of functionality will deliver an order initiated rapid on-demand customer experience
provided all activities are automated. Its responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Requirements:
[R-LSO-RA-3]: LSO SHALL be able to decompose a Customer order into one or multiple
service provisioning activities (such as multiple service requests), and orchestrate these
provisioning activities.
[R-LSO-RA-4]: LSO SHALL ensure Customer order related provisioning activities are
assigned, managed and tracked efficiently to meet the agreed or estimated committed
availability time or date.
Note that LSO should enable staggered billing per site, for example, in cases where one
or more sites, in a multi-site Customer order, were to get into exception/fall-out stages for
a long duration or require longer duration manual activities.
[R-LSO-RA-5]: LSO SHALL be able to receive a completed Customer order, with content
based on a Product Offering and definition within a product catalog.
[D-LSO-RA-2]: LSO SHOULD support customer order revisions (add or modify order
elements, such as adding a new site to the Customer order, or modifying a site
bandwidth) in case they are submitted against an order which is still in progress.
[D-LSO-RA-3]: LSO SHOULD support customer order cancellation, including rollback,
intercepting the order fulfillment execution.
At a high level, the Service Configuration and Activation Orchestration is responsible for the
design of the end-to-end service, including the selection and routing of the Service over the
involved domains (e.g., Forwarding Domains) and the Service Component parameters, as well as
the calculation of the list of technical actions (“delivery orchestration plan” or plan of tasks
necessary to instantiate the Service) that must get executed for the implementation of the service.
Specifically, Service Configuration and Activation Orchestration encompasses allocation,
design, and configuration of specific Services or Service Components in support of Product
Instances to meet Customer requirements, or in response to requests from other processes to
alleviate specific service capacity shortfalls, availability concerns or failure conditions. In
support of Service Configuration and Activation Orchestration, LSO applies details from the
Product Offering and the Customer order to design the end-to-end Service, and identifies the
edge-to-edge Service Components that comprise the Service. Network Domain Controllers will
design and configure each Service Component within their domain.
Responsibilities of the Service Configuration and Activation Orchestration include, but are not
limited to:
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
- Managing service provisioning jeopardy conditions (e.g., Conditions that add to the risk
of missing a confirmed due date or activity required to continue processing the Service
Request, such as: capacity is not available, capability is not supported, etc.); and
- Tracking progress on service configurations and activations.
Requirements:
[R-LSO-RA-8]: LSO SHALL be able to determine the necessary Service Components and
configurations needed to support a Service.
[R-LSO-RA-9]: LSO SHALL be able to dynamically design and assign connectivity
resources to Services based on its understanding of the underlying network topology
(across one or multiple internal and/or external networks) in order to manage the
fulfillment and assurance of Connectivity Services.
[R-LSO-RA-10]: LSO SHALL own and manage a stateful inventory of services, network
topologies (forwarding domains bounded by external and internal interfaces on edge
network elements or network functions) and, optionally, resources, or have direct access
to such external sources (e.g., domain managers), used as metadata for the dynamic
computation of add / modify / delete orders or service control requests for Connectivity
Services.
[D-LSO-RA-5]: LSO SHOULD support the service view, network view, and topology
view abstractions (as described in Section 11 of this document).
[R-LSO-RA-11]: LSO SHALL be able to dynamically compute the list of technical actions
to be supplied to the Service Delivery Orchestration process (described in Section 8.2.3)
as an orchestration delivery plan (including the designed service layout, infrastructure
resource requirements, and associated schedule) resulting from service topology and/or
configuration changes to the stateful inventory in relation to part or all of one or more
Customer orders or Service Control requests.
- This includes any Customer or system requests such as create, modify, move, delete,
rollback, change administration status, etc. against any or all parts of the End-to-End
Connectivity Service and/or its constructs. (Note that technical actions may be related
to one or multiple internal networks managed by the Service Provider, but also
targeted to external networks managed by Wholesale Providers)
While Order Fulfillment Orchestration deals with establishing or modifying a service through the
ordering process, Service Control permits the service to be dynamically changed within specific
bounds described in policies that are established at the time of ordering. After a service is
provisioned and established, LSO may enable Service Control to Customers / parties, such as the
ability to modify attributes subject to schedule policies and service constraint policies with for
example specified ranges of valid values. Such dynamic behavior and associated constraints are
defined based on the Product Offering and Product implemented by the Service. Service Control
relates to capabilities such as turning on or off connections, throttling bandwidth or other QoS
characteristics, etc.
Service Control Orchestration is triggered from a service configuration change request, for
service aspects defined as “dynamic” (e.g., as defined in MEF 47), or from a Customer initiated
service control request, a scheduled service change event, or any other automated control means.
This function allows Customers and/or systems to actively control the dynamic behavior of the
Services (including both connections and interfaces), constrained by Customer and service
policies in terms of service status or service configuration change actions allowed or not, and
with approved characteristics value ranges or sets. As examples, LSO may support the throttling
up or down the bandwidth associated with specific connections (including on a per CoS basis)
within defined constraints (e.g., bounds or ranges), and turning on and off specific service access
points within established service interfaces in accordance with their specified service policies .
Service Control Orchestration responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Requirements:
[R-LSO-RA-13]: LSO SHALL be able to receive a service control request, with policy-
constrained content based on subsets of service specifications, defined within a technical
catalog, or based on service administration status change.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
[R-LSO-RA-14]: LSO SHALL be able to decompose a service control request into one or
multiple Service configuration and activation activities, and orchestrate these
configuration and activation activities.
[R-LSO-RA-15]: LSO SHALL be able to determine the necessary Service Components and
configurations needed to support a Service instance
[R-LSO-RA-16]: LSO service control orchestration SHALL ensure Customer Service
configuration and activation activities are assigned, managed and tracked efficiently to
meet the agreed or estimated committed availability time or date.
[R-LSO-RA-17]: LSO SHALL support changing the administrative state (e.g., enabled or
disabled) of a Service and each of its Service Components.
[D-LSO-RA-7]: LSO SHOULD support service control request revisions (add or modify
request elements, such as modifying a site bandwidth) in case they are submitted against
a request which is still in progress.
[D-LSO-RA-8]: LSO SHOULD support service control request cancellation, including
rollback, intercepting the service control request execution.
Service Delivery Orchestration is responsible for coordinated execution of the service delivery
orchestration plan, considering dependencies and such, generated by Service Configuration and
Activation Orchestration, delegating and tracking the actual Service Components implementation
to various delivery or implementation systems or methods, such as:
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
Requirements:
LSO may be used to orchestrate and control the different systems capable of conducting tests and
reporting on Connectivity Services. These systems may be implemented within the network
infrastructure, the element control managers or can be deployed on demand, in the form of
virtual machines.
As the different locations and network elements involved in the fulfillment of end-to-end
Connectivity Services may not all be available at the same time, the Service Testing
Orchestration flexibility allows for real-time staggered testing, from simple unit level
connectivity tests, to end-to-end comprehensive Service Activation Testing.
Customer acceptance is received from the Customer. The Customer may view their particular
services test results, or under special agreement with their Service Provider, be able to perform a
set of predefined service acceptance tests.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
Requirements:
[R-LSO-RA-24]: LSO SHALL facilitate and coordinate end-to-end service tests, and issue
testing requests, via APIs, to systems capable of conducting and reporting on Service
Component tests.
Requirements:
[R-LSO-RA-25]: LSO SHALL support alarm surveillance: detection of errors and faults
and correlation to services.
[R-LSO-RA-26]: LSO SHALL orchestrate service level fault verification, isolation, and
testing.
[R-LSO-RA-27]: LSO SHALL evaluate and present the service impact of specific failure
conditions (e.g., specifying which services are negatively impacted by a specific fault on
a network resource)
[R-LSO-RA-28]: LSO SHALL report correlated alarms, performance degradations, trouble
reports, etc. to the Customer, including the potential root cause and identified impact on
services.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
Requirements:
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
Requirements:
[R-LSO-RA-41]: LSO SHALL support the reporting of the usage of service capabilities and
associated resources.
[R-LSO-RA-42]: LSO SHALL assemble Service Component usage data to compose an
end-to-end view of service usage.
[R-LSO-RA-43]: LSO SHALL capture control based service events (change in bandwidth,
etc.).
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
Requirements:
In order to ensure the integrity and security of the management and control mechanisms
supported within LSO:
[D-LSO-RA-14]: LSO SHOULD provide role based access control for users.
Requirements:
[R-LSO-RA-48]: LSO SHALL support the fusion and analysis of information among
management and control functionality across management domains.
[R-LSO-RA-49]: In support of analytics, LSO SHALL assemble a relevant and complete
operational picture of the Services, Service Components, and the associated supporting
network infrastructure, both physical and virtual.
[R-LSO-RA-50]: LSO SHALL ensure that information is visible and accessible when
needed and where needed to accelerate decision-making.
[R-LSO-RA-51]: LSO SHALL support prediction and trending of service growth and
resource demand as compared to available resource capacity.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
In LSO, service design policies may enable the design and creation of end-to-end network
services, and are aimed at being automated to adhere to the NaaS paradigm as described in the
Third Network Vision. Furthermore, service objectives may be implemented as sets of policies
with event-triggered conditions and associated actions, as well as intent-based policies. Such
policies would adjust the behavior of services and service resources – including bandwidth,
traffic priority, and traffic admission controls – allowing Connectivity Services to adapt rapidly
to dynamic conditions in order to satisfy critical, ever-changing needs and priorities.
Requirements:
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
Requirements:
[R-LSO-RA-52]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Customer to browse the product
catalog for Product Offerings.
[R-LSO-RA-53]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Customer to develop, place and
track orders.
[R-LSO-RA-54]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Customer to request
modification of their Service, including rules guiding the dynamic service characteristics.
[R-LSO-RA-55]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Customer to provide Customer
acceptance feedback and view Customer acceptance testing information.
[R-LSO-RA-56]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Customer to view service
performance and fault information.
[R-LSO-RA-57]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Customer to place and track
trouble reports.
[R-LSO-RA-58]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Customer to view usage and
billing information.
[R-LSO-RA-59]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Partner to provide product
catalog information for Product Offerings.
[R-LSO-RA-60]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Service Provider to develop,
place and track orders with the Partner.
[R-LSO-RA-61]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Service Provider to modify their
Service, including rules guiding the dynamic service characteristics with the Partner.
[R-LSO-RA-62]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Service Provider to request test
initiation and view test result information from the partner.
[R-LSO-RA-63]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Partner to provide service
performance and fault information.
[R-LSO-RA-64]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Partner to receive trouble reports
and provide trouble status updates.
[R-LSO-RA-65]: LSO SHALL provide capabilities for the Partner to provide usage and
billing information.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE
CANTATA Business SONATA Business
(CUS:BUS)
Applications (BUS:BUS) Applications
Network Infrastructure
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
This section gives some examples of SDO defined architectural elements that provide
functionality within the scope of the LSO ICM functional management entity, namely the ONF
SDN Controller, the ETSI NFV Management and Orchestration Network Functions
Virtualization Orchestrator, and MEF EMS (or Subnetwork Manager). MEF’s UNITE effort
provides coordination between the MEF Forum and other SDOs (e.g., ONF, ETSI, etc.).
ONF SDN Controller [ONF TR-504]: The functionality in charge of translating the
network requirements from the SDN Application layer down to the SDN Datapaths and
providing the SDN Applications with an abstract view of the network including statistics
and events.
ETSI NFV Management and Orchestration - NFV Orchestrator [ETSI GS NFV-MAN
001]: The functionality that manages the Network Service (NS) lifecycle and coordinates
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
the management of NS lifecycle, VNF lifecycle (supported by the VNF Manager) and
Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) resources (supported by the
Virtualized Infrastructure Manager) to ensure an optimized allocation of the necessary
resources and connectivity.
EMS or Subnetwork Manager: The ICM may also be implemented by traditional
subnetwork managers (aka WAN Managers) and EMSs that manage the connectivity
across specific network domains or subnetworks [MEF 15].
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
NOTE: For more details about the types of interactions envisioned for each Management
Interface Reference Point, Table 5, entitled, Examples of High Level Interactions per LSO
Management Interface Reference Point, may be found in Appendix I (Section 13).
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
There are three main abstracted management views in the LSO environment:
Product View The product domain is specific to the interaction between the Customer
and the Product Offerings of a Service Provider. The Product Instance involves the
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
Service View A Product Instance is realized as one or more Services and associated
resources; thus Services are tightly bound to Product Instances and may be viewed to
represent the Customer experience of the Product Instance that has been realized within
the Service Provider’s infrastructure. A Service is visible and directly usable by the
Customer, but may be divided within the Service Provider's infrastructure into one or
more Service Components, for instance corresponding to forwarding domains at the
resource layer or to underlying access services that the Service Provider has purchased
from a Partner domain. Service Components are not visible to the Customer. Software
systems implementing service related functionality have traditionally been operational
support systems in the service management domain or service management systems.
Note: in the TM Forum SID [TMF GB922], a Service is refered to as a Customer Facing
Service (CFS) and a Service Component is referred to as a Resource Facing Service
(RFS).
Resource View Services are delivered via resources in the network, whether physical or
logical. Physical resources are actual hardware, and logical resources can be viewed as
functionality provided by specific pieces of hardware. The resource view can be further
sub-divided into the Network and Topology View and the Element and Equipment View.
The Network and Topology View encompasses all the functions across network
elements, on the basis of administrative network domains. The Element and Equipment
View pertains to the management of a specific set of devices. Software systems
implementing Network and Topology View functionality have traditionally been
operational support systems in the network management domain or network management
systems. The Element and Equipment View focuses on the physical and logical
resources within a single network element, or group of similar network elements.
Software systems implementing Element and Equipment View functionality have
traditionally been operational support systems in the element management domain or
element management systems.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
The Product Specifications can be used by Service Providers to create differentiated Product
Offerings. For example, for Carrier Ethernet these specifications may define traditional E-LINE,
E-LAN, and E-TREE product characteristics for EVC based services, as well as specialty E-
Access and E-TRANSIT characteristics for OVC based services. These Product Specifications
will define the characteristics of UNI / ENNI service interfaces, the EVC / OVC as Connectivity
Services, and the associated service access points, or endpoints of the connection.
For the most part, these product characteristics will map 1-to-1 to the service characteristics
found in a Service Specification in the Service View, and, in the case of Ethernet Services,
reflect the service attributes found in the MEF 6.x, MEF 10.x, and MEF 26.x technical
specifications. The linkage from the Product View and the Service View is precisely through the
Product Specification to the Service Specification, and from the Product Instance to the Service.
Tables 3 and 4 below show an example of part of a Product Offering definition, e.g. "Super
Metro Ethernet Line" being offered by Service Provider "World Telco". In this case, the Product
Offering corresponds to an EPL service. Note: the definition of the Product Offering is
applicable to ALL Product Instances that are created Service Provider
Serv Comp– UNI to ENNI Serv Comp– ENNI to INNI Serv Comp – UNI to INNI
I U
U E
N 3rd Party Access N Service Provider N Service Provider N
I
N N
I
Operator I Core Operations I Access Operations
U E
N 3rd Party Access N
N
I
Operator I
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
The Network Control Domain represents the scope of control that a particular Network Domain
Controller or WAN controller has with respect to a particular network, i.e., encompassing a
designated set of interconnected (virtual) network elements. The topology of the network may be
defined based on Forwarding Domains (FDs) and Links, which represent adjacency between
FDs. The FD is the topological component which represents the opportunity to enable
forwarding between points represented by Logical Termination Points (LTPs). The LTP
encapsulates the termination, adaptation and OAM functions of one or more transport layers.
The FD contains instances of Forwarding Constructs (FCs) of one or more layer networks (e.g.,
OCh, ODU, ETH, and MPLS), thus defining the transport for any given Service. The FD
provides the context for instructing the formation, adjustment and removal of FCs. The FD
supports recursive aggregation such that the internal construction of an FD can be exposed as
multiple lower level FDs and associated Links (partitioning).
The FC effects forwarding of transport characteristic (layer protocol) information between two or
more LTPs. The association of the FC to LTPs is made via Endpoints (essentially the ports of the
FC).
The FC can represent many different structures including point-to-point (P2P), point-to-
multipoint (P2MP), rooted-multipoint (RMP) and multipoint-to-multipoint (MP2MP) bridge and
selector structure for linear, ring or mesh protection schemes.
The Network Element represents a network device in the data plane or a virtual network element
visible in the interface where virtualization is needed. In the direct interface from an SDN
controller to a network device in the data plane, the Network Element defines the scope of
control for the resources within the network element, e.g., internal transfer of user information
between the external terminations (ports), encapsulation, multiplexing / demultiplexing, and
OAM functions, etc. The Network Element provides the scope of the naming space for
identifying objects representing the resources within the Network Element.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
Where virtualization is employed, the Network Element represents a Virtual Network Element
(VNE). The mapping of the VNE to the Network Elements is the internal matter of the Network
Domain Controller that offers the view of the VNE. Network Element instances can be created
(or deleted) for providing (or removing) virtual views of the combination of slices of network
elements in the data plane.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
12 References
ECMA
[ECMA-404] ETSI, The JSON Data Interchange Format, ECMA-404, October 2013.
ETSI
[ETSI GS NFV 003] ETSI, Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Terminology for Main
Concepts in NFV, ETSI GS NFV 003, V1.2.1, December 2014.
[ETSI GS NFV-MAN 001] ETSI, Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Management and
Orchestration, ETSI GS NFV-MAN 001, V1.1.1, December 2014.
IETF
[IETF RFC 3444] IETF, On the Difference between Information Models and Data Models, RFC
3444, January 2003.
[IETF RFC 7159] IETF, The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data Interchange Format, RFC
7159, March 2014.
[IETF RFC 7230] IETF, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/1.1): Message Syntax and Routing,
RFC 7230, June 2014.
MEF Forum
[MEF 4] MEF Forum, Metro Ethernet Network Architecture Framework - Part 1: Generic
Framework, MEF 4, April 2004.
[MEF 7.2] MEF Forum, Carrier Ethernet Management Information Model, MEF 7.2, April 2013.
[MEF 10.3] MEF Forum, Ethernet Service Attributes Phase 3, MEF 10.3, October 2013.
[MEF 11] MEF Forum, User Network Interface (UNI) Requirements and Framework, MEF 11,
November 2004.
[MEF 15] MEF Forum, Requirements for Management of Metro Ethernet Phase 1 Network
Elements, MEF 15, November 2005.
[MEF 17] MEF Forum, Service OAM Framework and Requirements – Phase 1, MEF 17, April
2007.
[MEF 26.1] MEF Forum, External Network Network Interface (ENNI) – Phase 2, MEF 26.1,
January 2012.
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following statement: "Reproduced with permission of the MEF Forum." No user of this document is
Page 40
authorized to modify any of the information contained herein.
LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
[MEF 28] MEF Forum, External Network Network Interface (ENNI) Support for UNI Tunnel
Access and Virtual UNI, MEF 28, October 2010.
[MEF 30.1] MEF Forum, Service OAM Fault Management Implementation Agreement Phase 2,
MEF 30.1, April 2013.
[MEF 35.1] MEF Forum, Service OAM Performance Monitoring Implementation Agreement,
MEF 35.1, May 2015.
[MEF 48] MEF Forum, Carrier Ethernet Service Activation Testing (SAT), MEF 48, October
2014.
[MEF 50] MEF Forum, Carrier Ethernet Service Lifecycle Process Model, MEF 50, December
2014.
[MEF ThirdNetwork] MEF Forum, The Third Network Vision and Strategy Based on Network
as a Service Principles, Whitepaper, November 2014.
[MEF LSO] MEF Forum, The Third Network: Lifecycle Service Orchestration Vision,
Whitepaper, February 2015.
[OMG UML] Object Management Group, OMG Unified Modeling Language TM (OMG UML),
Version 2.5, March 2015.
[ONF TR-504] Open Networking Forum, SDN Architecture Overview, TR-504, Version 1.1,
November 2014.
[ONF TR-512] Open Networking Forum, Core Information Model (CoreModel), TR-512,
Version 1.0, March 2015.
TM Forum
[TMF GB922] TM Forum, Information Framework (SID), GB922, Release 15.0.0, September
2015.
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following statement: "Reproduced with permission of the MEF Forum." No user of this document is
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
[TMF GB929D] TM Forum, Frameworx Standard, Application Framework, The Digital Services
Systems Landscape, Addendum D, Release 14.5.1, March 2015.
W3C
[W3C XML] W3C, Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 (Fifth Edition), November 2008.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
LSO
Management
High Level Interaction Examples (non-exhaustive)
Interface
Reference Point
Supports Product related management interactions between the Service
Provider’s Business Applications and the Customer Application Coordinator.
Customer Application Coordinator browses the product catalog for Product
Offerings that are available for the Customer to select.
Based on Product Offerings, Customer Application Coordinator develops,
places, tracks, and changes Product Orders.
CANTATA Customer Application Coordinator requests modification of Product
(CUS:BUS) Instances.
Customer Application Coordinator receives information about the
scheduled maintenance that may impact their Product Instances.
Customer Application Coordinator places and tracks trouble reports.
Customer Application Coordinator queries and views usage and billing
information.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
LSO
Management
High Level Interaction Examples (non-exhaustive)
Interface
Reference Point
Supports service related management interactions between the Customer
Application Coordinator and the Service Provider’s Service Orchestration
Functionality.
Customer Application Coordinator controls Service by requesting changes
to dynamic parameters as permitted by service policies.
Customer Application Coordinator queries operational state of the Service.
Customer Application Coordinator requests change to administrative state
or permitted attributes of a Service.
ALLEGRO Customer Application Coordinator provides and views customer
(CUS:SOF) acceptance testing information.
Customer Application Coordinator views Service performance and fault
information.
Customer Application Coordinator receives Service specific event
notifications from the Service Provider.
Customer Application Coordinator receives Service specific performance
information from the Service Provider.
Customer Application Coordinator request test initiation and receive test
results from the Service Provider.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
LSO
Management
High Level Interaction Examples (non-exhaustive)
Interface
Reference Point
Supports Product related cross domain interactions between the Service
Provider’s Business Applications and the Partner’s Business Applications.
Service Provider browses the Partner’s product catalog (e.g., wholesale
catalog) for Product Offerings that are available for the Service Provider to
select. This may include some geographical and service information to
support availability queries of a Product Offerings at some geographical
area.
Service Provider develops (based on Product Offerings), places, tracks, and
SONATA changes Product Orders with the Partner
(BUS:BUS)
Service Provider requests modification of Product Instances.
Service Provider receives Product Instance performance and fault
information provided by the Partner.
Service Provider receives information from the Partner about the
scheduled maintenance that may impact their Product Instances.
Service Provider places and tracks trouble reports.
Service Provider exchanges usage and billing information.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
LSO
Management
High Level Interaction Examples (non-exhaustive)
Interface
Reference Point
Supports control related management interactions between the Service
Provider and the Partner.
Service Provider controls aspects of the Service within the Partner domain
(on behalf of the Customer) by requesting changes to dynamic parameters
as permitted by service policies.
Service Provider queries operational state of the Service.
Service Provider requests change to administrative state or permitted
attributes of a Service.
INTERLUDE Service Provider request creation of connectivity between two Service
(SOF:SOF) Interfaces as permitted by established business arrangement.
Service Provider queries the Partner for detailed information related to
Services provided by the Partner to the Service Provider.
Service Provider receives Service specific event notifications from the
Partner.
Service Provider receives Service specific performance information from
the Partner.
Service Provider request test initiation and receive test results from the
Partner.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
LSO
Management
High Level Interaction Examples (non-exhaustive)
Interface
Reference Point
Supports interactions between the Business Applications and the Service
Orchestration Functionality.
Business Applications request service feasibility determination.
Business Applications request reservation of resources related to a
potential Service.
Business Applications request activation of Service.
Business Applications receive Service activation tracking status updates.
LEGATO Business Applications receive request to initiate Product Order with a
(BUS:SOF) Partner provider (for off net portions of the service).
Business Applications receive usage events due to a Customer initiating
dynamic activity on their Service (e.g., increase in bandwidth).
Business Applications receive a summary of Service quality and usage
information.
Business Applications receive Service Activation Testing results.
Business Applications receive capability information about the Service
layer.
Supports the management of the network infrastructure, including network
and topology view related management functions.
SOF requests ICM to create network connectivity or functionality
associated with specific Service Components of an end-to-end Connectivity
PRESTO Service within the domain managed by each ICM
(SOF:ICM) SOF receives topology, connectivity and routing information from ICM
SOF receives performance and fault information from ICM.
SOF queries ICM for Resource Inventory (including capabilities)
information.
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LSO Reference Architecture and Framework
LSO
Management
High Level Interaction Examples (non-exhaustive)
Interface
Reference Point
Support the management of discrete network resources, including element
view related management functions.
ICM requests implementation of cross-connections or network functions
on specific elements via the ECM functionality responsible for managing
ADAGIO the element.
(ICM:ECM) ICM requests the change in administrative state of specific resources
management by the ECM.
ICM discovers element level configuration information from the ECM.
ICM receives element level fault and performance information from ECM.
Table 5 Examples of High Level Interactions per LSO Management Interface Reference
Point
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