High-level Architecture
The figure below shows the technologies that enable the Akraino Edge Stack. At the bottom of the stack different hardware and software components can be selected based on deployment needs at a particular edge site. The Akraino Portal at the Regional site provides a menu-driven user interface to select a blueprint for the edge site. Once a blueprint is selected, end-to-end edge automation is used to build the site. Building a site entails making sure network connectivity exists for all compute and control nodes in the rack and between racks including connectivity to network racks.
Akranio utilizes Platform for Intelligent Network Control (PINC) to provide network automation which includes bootstrapping the network devices in the CLOS fabric and providing needed configuration for fabric connectivity. Once network readiness is achieved, Akraino can start the build process for the given site with the chosen blueprint using the portal. Akraino leverages open source AirShip to provide deployment automation for the under cloud as well as the deployment of OpenStack components. Both PINC and AirShip leverage Network Augmentation Resource Automation (NARAD) for inventory management.
The Akraino portal provides the ability to trigger the end-to-end testing framework leveraging OPNFV (Yardstick), OpenStack Tempest and Shaker, Heptico Sonobuoy allows testing at the various layers – infrastructure, under cloud and other layers enabling the deployment of resilient Akraino Edge Cloud sites. Akraino Edge Stack will provide the capability to deploy Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) at select sites.
ONAP supports inventory, catalog, orchestration, analytics, policy, mediation, optimization and exposure functionality for deploying VNFs. It provides both design time and run-time capabilities. The design time framework is a comprehensive development environment with tools, techniques, and repositories for defining/describing resources, services, and products. The runtime execution framework executes the rules and policies distributed by the design and creation environment.
ONAP can be leveraged for on-boarding VNFs where deployed. VNF can also be deployed through the Akraino portal directly, where ONAP is not deployed.
As part of End-to-End Edge automation, Akraino has developed Dawn which is a DMTF Redfish API based automation to bootstrap OS on a bare metal server offering the capability of true Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP). AirShip deployment automation is leveraged next to bring up the under cloud components. ONAP can optionally be installed and can on-board VNFs. ONAP is not always needed in which case VNFs can be on-boarded using OpenStack. It must be noted that all of these deployments and on-boarding VNF is achieved by a trigger from Akraino portal. The portal leverages the Camunda workflow engine to execute a set of scripts that operate on declarative configuration management principles.
