Placement module (PLA) User's Guide

Introduction

To use the placement functionality of OSM several steps needs to be taken to configure and enable the function.

  1. OSM needs to be installed with the PLA module included
  2. Create the price lists for compute and transport links
  3. Create the inventory of PoP interconnecting links
  4. Update the PLA container with price list and inventory file
  5. Usage - Instantiate the service using the placement engine

Install OSM including PLA

PLA is an optional module in OSM. It is installed together with OSM by adding --pla to the install script.

$ ./install_osm.sh --pla

Create the price lists

The price list for compute determines the price for each VNF at each VIM (or Point of Presence - PoP). The file (vnf_price_list.yaml) is written in Yaml. There are two different structures possible for the price list file. In the first alternative prices for a specific VIM are directly associated with a vnfd. In the second alternative prices for a specific VIM are also associated with a OSM project id. The latter alternative makes it possible for different OMS users to have different price models depending on their associated OMS project.

###vnf_price_lists.yaml - Alternative one

- vnfd: testVnfOne
  prices:
    - vim_url: http://10.234.12.47:5000/v3
      vim_name: OpenStack1
      price: 10
    - vim_url: http://10.234.12.44:5000/v3
      vim_name: OpenStack2
      price: 9
- vnfd: hackfest_multivdu-vnf
  prices:
    - vim_url: http://10.234.12.47:5000/v3
      vim_name: OpenStack1
      price: 17
    - vim_url: http://10.234.12.44:5000/v3
      vim_name: OpenStack2
      price: 18

###vnf_price_list.yaml - Alternative two

- vnfd: testVnfOne
    project_alfa:
      prices:
        - vim_url: http://10.234.12.47:5000/v3
          vim_name: OpenStack1
          price: 10
        - vim_url: http://10.234.12.44:5000/v3
          vim_name: OpenStack2
          price: 9
    project_beta:
      prices:
        - vim_url: http://10.234.12.47:5000/v3
          vim_name: OpenStack1
          price: 9
        - vim_url: http://10.234.12.44:5000/v3
          vim_name: OpenStack2
          price: 10
- vnfd: hackfest_multivdu-vnf
    project_alfa:
      prices:
        - vim_url: http://10.234.12.47:5000/v3
          vim_name: OpenStack1
          price: 17
        - vim_url: http://10.234.12.44:5000/v3
          vim_name: OpenStack2
          price: 18
    project_beta:
      prices:
        - vim_url: http://10.234.12.47:5000/v3
          vim_name: OpenStack1
          price: 7
        - vim_url: http://10.234.12.44:5000/v3
          vim_name: OpenStack2
          price: 8

The price list for transport links between VIMs (PoP Interconnecting Link – PiL). In current release the price is given per link without any consideration to BW or other QoS parameter. The file (pil_price_list.yaml) is written in Yaml and is exemplified below. Note: In current OSM release the link characteristics are hard coded into this file, in future releases this data should be retrieved from the infrastructure by monitoring mechanisms.

pil:
  - pil_description: Link between OpenStack1 and OpenStack2
    pil_price: 12
    pil_latency: 120
    pil_jitter: 12
    pil_endpoints:
      - OpenStack1
      - OpenStack2
  - pil_description: Link between OpenStack1 and OpenStack3
    pil_price: 13
    pil_latency: 130
    pil_jitter: 13
    pil_endpoints:
      - OpenStack1
      - OpenStack3
  - pil_description: Link between OpenStack1 and OpenStack4
    pil_price: 14
    pil_latency: 140
    pil_jitter: 14
    pil_endpoints:
      - OpenStack1
      - OpenStack4
  - pil_description: Link between OpenStack2 and OpenStack3
    pil_price: 23
    pil_latency: 230
    pil_jitter: 23
    pil_endpoints:
      - OpenStack2
      - OpenStack3
  - pil_description: Link between OpenStack2 and OpenStack4
    pil_price: 24
    pil_latency: 240
    pil_jitter: 24
    pil_endpoints:
      - OpenStack2
      - OpenStack4
  - pil_description: Link between OpenStack3 and OpenStack4
    pil_price: 34
    pil_latency: 340
    pil_jitter: 34
    pil_endpoints:
      - OpenStack3
      - OpenStack4

Create the inventory file

The VIMs configured in OSM are assumed to be connected to each other with transport links - PiLs. In current release the inventory file describes the available PiLs with latency and jitter. If there is no PiL in the inventory file for any pair of PoPs the placement engine will not be able to use that relation for a VL.

Update the PLA container

Copy the price lists and inventory files to the PLA container using the following commands:

$ docker cp vnf_price_list.yaml $(docker ps -qf name=osm_pla):/placement/.

$ docker cp pil_price_list.yaml $(docker ps -qf name=osm_pla):/placement/.

Instantiate the service

When creating a NS instance, it is possible to pass instantiation parameters to OSM using the --config option of the client or the config parameter of the UI. To invoke the placement engine following directives are used.

--config '{placement-engine: PLA}'

Usage examples

Basic usage

$ osm ns-create --ns_name ThreeVNFTest --nsd_name three_vnf_constrained_nsd --vim_account OpenStack1 --config '{placement-engine: PLA}'

Using PLA support from the GUI network service create form:

Instantiate with PLA support

With pinning of member-vnf-index: "3" to vim_account: OpenStack3

To enable automatic placement with one (or multiple) VNFs at a pre-determined place (e.g. near CPE), PLA has the ability do placement with one or multiple VNFs pinned to datacenter(s). The pinning is done in the same way as explained in section Multi-site deployments in the OSM wiki.

Example NS instantiation using CLI command (pinning one of three VNFs in the used NSD): $ osm ns-create --ns_name ThreeVnfTest2 --nsd_name three_vnf_constrained_nsd --vim_account OpenStack1 --config '{placement-engine: PLA, vnf: [{member-vnf-index: “3", vim_account: OpenStack3}]}'

With constraints as instantiation parameters

It is also possible to provide constraints as instantiation parameters. Such constraints are included in a dictionary belonging to the constraints key as follows:

config: {placement-engine: PLA, constraints: {<constraints specifications>}}

vld constraints as instantiation parameters

Currently the supported type of constraints is placed on the vlds, and is identified with the vld-constraints key in the constraints specifications. Each vld that is given constraints have the form {id: <id from nsd>, link-constraints: {latency: <max allowed latency>, jitter: <max allowed jitter>}. It is not necessary to place constraints on all links, it is also possible to freely mix the supported constraint types latency and jitter as desired.

Example NS instantiation using CLI command with constraints put on vld_1 and vld_2

$ osm ns-create --ns_name ThreeVnfTest2 --nsd_name three_vnf_constrained_nsd --vim_account OpenStack1 --config '{placement-engine: PLA, vnf: [{member-vnf-index: “3", vim_account: OpenStack3}], constraints: {vld-constraints: [{id:vld_1, link-constraints: {latency: 120, jitter: 20}}, {id:vld_2, link-constraints: {latency: 120, jitter: 20 }}]}}'