Canonical's Wajeeha Hamid Invites Network Operators to an Open Source MANO Hackfest

Canonical's Wajeeha Hamid has penned a piece on open-source management and network orchestration (MANO, OSM), detailing how the OSM onboarding process can work for telecommunications operators looking to decouple network functionality from proprietary hardware using Ubuntu Linux, OSM Release 9, and Juju charms - and announces an onboarding hackfest to give network operators hands-on experience.

"It seems like ages that NFV is trying to fulfil the promises of reducing CAPEX (capital expenditure) and OPEX (operating expenses) by decoupling Network Functions (NFs) from the hardware and ensuring stability," product manager Wajeeha Hamid explains in a post for the Ubuntu blog. "However, despite the huge traction it has gained, there are still obstacles that must be overcome before NFV can be part of day-to-day operations in industrial deployments.

"Telcos need to build complex virtualized network functions while maintaining a high quality of service (QoS) so onboarding them cost-effectively and implementing the process for management and orchestration remains one of the biggest challenges. Right now, this process can take up to weeks, and operators and vendors are striving to cut it to a day."

To highlight this, Hamid demonstrates a functional workflow for onboarding network functions - virtualised, containerised, or physical - into OSM. "The stages for onboarding NFs (network functions) in OSM include creating the NF package that specifies Day-0 (basic instantiation), Day-1 (service initialization), and Day-2 (runtime operations) configurations," Hamid writes. "The Day-1 and Day-2 configurations are described in scripts called charms to run operations according to the functional requirements. These charms are then integrated into the network function descriptors/package and onboarded to OSM."

As well as covering the overall onboarding process, Hamid has announced the Open Source Mano Hackfest, in which participants can gain hands-on experience in network function packaging and onboarding to OSM Release 9. "Bring your own network functions to the upcoming VNF onboarding hackfest," Hamid writes, "to have hands-on experience of onboarding under the full-week supervision from OSM experts."

Those interested in registering for the OSM hackfest ahead of its opening in Map can do so on the event website. Canonical has also released a white-paper detailing the future of mobile connectivity, as exemplified by the LimeNET family of software-definable radio base stations, in partnership with Lime Microsystems; this is available for download on the Canonical website now.