ETSI GR MEC 027 V2.1.1 (2019-11)

Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC); Study on MEC support for alternative virtualization technologies

DGR/MEC-0027ContainerStudy

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 18-Nov-2019
• Technical Committee: MEC - Multi-access Edge Computing
• Current Stage: 12 - Completion
• Due Date: 20-Nov-2019
• Completion Date: 19-Nov-2019

Standards Content (Sample)

ETSI GR MEC 027 V2.1.1 (2019-11)






GROUP REPORT
Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC);
Study on MEC support for
alternative virtualization technologies
Disclaimer
The present document has been produced and approved by the Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) ETSI Industry
Specification Group (ISG) and represents the views of those members who participated in this ISG.
It does not necessarily represent the views of the entire ETSI membership.

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2 ETSI GR MEC 027 V2.1.1 (2019-11)



Reference
DGR/MEC-0027ContainerStudy
Keywords
container, MEC

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3 ETSI GR MEC 027 V2.1.1 (2019-11)
Contents
Intellectual Property Rights . 4
Foreword . 4
Modal verbs terminology . 4
1 Scope . 5
2 References . 5
2.1 Normative references . 5
2.2 Informative references . 5
3 Definition of terms, symbols and abbreviations . 6
3.1 Terms . 6
3.2 Symbols . 6
3.3 Abbreviations . 6
4 Overview . 6
5 Virtualization Technologies . 6
5.1 Introduction . 6
5.2 Hypervisor-based solutions . 7
5.2.1 Overview . 7
5.2.2 Application to MEC . 7
5.3 OS containers . 7
5.3.1 Overview . 7
5.3.2 Application to MEC . 8
5.4 Higher-level containers . 9
5.4.1 Overview . 9
5.4.2 Application to MEC . 9
5.5 Nesting of virtualization technologies . 9
5.5.1 Overview . 9
5.5.2 Application to MEC . 10
5.6 Mixing of virtualization technologies. 11
5.6.1 Overview . 11
5.6.2 Application to MEC . 12
5.7 Mixing and nesting of virtualization technologies . 12
6 Impact of AVT on Framework and Reference Architecture . 13
6.1 Overview . 13
6.2 Gap Analysis . 13
6.3 Recommendations . 13
7 Impact of AVT on Management API Specifications . 13
7.1 Overview . 13
7.2 Gap Analysis . 14
7.3 Recommendations . 15
8 Impact of AVT on Service Exposure API Specifications . 15
8.1 Overview . 15
8.2 Gap Analysis . 15
8.3 Recommendations . 15
Annex A: MEC deployment considerations based on container . 16
A.1 Overview . 16
A.2 Application Deployment Suggestions . 16
History . 17

ETSI

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4 ETSI GR MEC 027 V2.1.1 (2019-11)
Intellectual Property Rights
Essential patents
IPRs essential or potentially essential to normative deliverables may have been declared to ETSI. The information
pertaining to these essential IPRs, if any, is publicly available for ETSI members and non-members, and can be found
in ETSI SR 000 314: "Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs); Essential, or potentially Essential, IPRs notified to ETSI in
respect of ETSI standards", which is available from the ETSI Secretariat. Latest updates are available on the ETSI Web
server (https://ipr.etsi.org/).
Pursuant to the ETSI IPR Policy, no investigation, including IPR searches, has been carried out by ETSI. No guarantee
can be given as to the existence of other IPRs not referenced in ETSI SR 000 314 (or the updates on the ETSI Web
server) which are, or may be, or may become, essential to the present document.
Trademarks
The present document may include trademarks and/or tradenames which are asserted and/or registered by their owners.
ETSI claims no ownership of these except for any which are indicated as being the property of ETSI, and conveys no
right to use or reproduce any trademark and/or tradename. Mention of those trademarks in the present document does
not constitute an endorsement by ETSI of products, services or organizations associated with those trademarks.
Foreword
This Group Report (GR) has been produced by ETSI Industry Specification Group (ISG) Multi-access Edge Computing
(MEC).
Modal verbs terminology
In the present document "should", "should not", "may", "need not", "will", "will not", "can" and "cannot" are to be
interpreted as described in clause 3.2 of the ETSI Drafting Rules (Verbal forms for the expression of provisions).
"must" and "must not" are NOT allowed in ETSI deliverables except when used in direct citation.

ETSI

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5 ETSI GR MEC 027 V2.1.1 (2019-11)
1 Scope
The present document focuses on identifying the additional support that needs to be provided by MEC when MEC
applications run on alternative virtualization technologies, such as containers. The present document collects and
analyses the use cases relating to the deployment of such alternative virtualization technologies, evaluates the gaps from
the currently defined MEC functionalities, and identifies new recommendations. As ETSI NFV is also working on
alternative virtualization technologies, the MEC work should be aligned with NFV where applicable. The present
document also recommends the necessary normative work to close any identified gaps.
2 References
2.1 Normative references
Normative references are not applicable in the present document.
2.2 Informative references
References are either specific (identified by date of publication and/or edition number or version number) or
non-specific. For specific references, only the cited version applies. For non-specific references, the latest version of the
referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
NOTE: While any hyperlinks included in this clause were valid at the time of publication, ETSI cannot guarantee
their long term validity.
The following referenced documents are not necessary for the application of the present document but they assist the
user with regard to a particular subject area.
[i.1] ETSI GS MEC 001: "Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) Terminology".
[i.2] ETSI GS MEC 003: "Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) Framework and reference
architecture".
[i.3] ETSI GS MEC 010-2: "Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC); MEC Management; Part 2:
Application lifecycle, rules and requirements management".
[i.4] ETSI GS MEC 011: "Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC); Edge Platform Application
Enablement".
[i.5] ETSI GR NFV-IFA 029: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) Release 3; Architecture;
Report on the Enhancements of the NFV architecture towards "Cloud-native" and "PaaS".
[i.6] ETSI GS NFV-EVE 004: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Virtualisation Technologies;
Report on the application of Different Virtualisation Technologies in the NFV Framework".
[i.7] ETSI GS NFV 003 (V1.4.1): "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Terminology for main
concepts in NFV".
[i.8] ETSI GS NFV-INF 007: " Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Infrastructure; Methodology
to describe Interfaces and Abstractions".
[i.9] ETSI GS MEC 012: "Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC); Radio Network Information API".
ETSI

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3 Definition of terms, symbols and abbreviations
3.1 Terms
For the purposes of the present document, the terms given in ETSI GS MEC 001 [i.1] apply.
3.2 Symbols
Void.
3.3 Abbreviations
For the purposes of the present document, the abbreviations given in ETSI GS MEC 001 [i.1] and the following apply:
AVT Alternative Virtualization Technology
4 Overview
The present document identifies the MEC features in order to enable the necessary support when MEC applications
utilize alternative virtualization technologies, such as containers.
Clause 5 provides an overview of alternative virtualization technologies (AVTs), in a way that is heavily based on and
aligned with NFV analysis in ETSI GS NFV-EVE 004 [i.6].
Clause 6 provides an analysis of impact of AVTs on MEC framework and reference architecture and provides a gap
analysis against MEC framework and reference architecture specification (ETSI GS MEC 003 [i.2]). Recommendations
for further work are provided.
Clause 7 provides an analysis of impact of AVTs on MEC management APIs and provides a gap analysis against
relevant MEC specifications. Recommendations for further work are provided.
Clause 8 provides an analysis of impact of AVTs on MEC service exposure APIs and provides a gap analysis against
relevant MEC specifications. Recommendations for further work are provided.
Annex A provides MEC deployment considerations based on container technology, and provides some guidance for
application design when deployed on container.
5 Virtualization Technologies
5.1 Introduction
The ETSI MEC architectural framework as described in ETSI GS MEC 003 [i.2] introduces the virtualisation
infrastructure of MEC host either as a generic or as a NFV Infrastructure (NFVI). Neither the generic virtualization
infrastructure nor the NFVI restricts itself to using any specific virtualisation technology. Several virtualisation
technologies are described in ETSI GS NFV-EVE 004 [i.6], including hypervisor-based solutions, OS containers,
higher-level containers, nesting of virtualization technologies, mixing of virtualization technologies and mixing and
nesting of virtualization technologies. This clause first introduces these several virtualisation technologies briefly and
then analyse their impact on ETSI MEC architecture implementation.
ETSI

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7 ETSI GR MEC 027 V2.1.1 (2019-11)
5.2 Hypervisor-based solutions
5.2.1 Overview
The following text is based on clause 4.2.1 of ETSI GS NFV-EVE 004 [i.6] with minor changes.
A hypervisor is a software program that partitions the resources of a single hardware host and creates Virtual Machines
(VM) isolated from each other. Each virtual machine appears to have the host's processor, memory and other resources,
all to itself.
Each VM is assigned a virtualised CPU (vCPU), a virtualised NIC (vNIC) and a virtualised storage device (vStorage)
created by the hypervisor. In practice, a vCPU may be a time sharing of a real CPU and/or in the case of multi-core
CPUs, it may be an allocation of one or more cores to a VM. It is also possible that the hypervisor emulates a CPU
instruction set that is different from the native CPU instruction set. However, emulation will significantly impact
performance.
The hypervisor software runs either directly on top of the hardware (bare metal hypervisor, also known as Type I
hypervisor) or on top of a hosting operating system (hosted hypervisor, also known as Type II hypervisor).
5.2.2 Application to MEC
Existing ETSI MEC specifications assume hypervisor based virtualization to be the default virtualization approach.
5.3 OS containers
5.3.1 Overview
The following text is based on clause 4.3.1 of ETSI GS NFV-EVE 004 [i.6] with no changes.
Container-based virtualisation, also called Operating System (OS)-level virtualisation, is an approach to virtualisation
which allows multiple isolated user space instances on top of a kernel space within the OS. The isolated guests are
called containers.
Figure 1 provides a high-level comparison of the software architectures for hypervisor solutions where the VNFC
software image loaded in the virtualisation container includes both a guest OS kernel and the actual application, and OS
container solutions where the VNFC software image loaded in the virtualisation container only includes the actual
network application.

Figure 1: Hypervisor vs. OS Container solutions
The OS virtualisation technology allows partially shared execution context for different containers. Such a shared
execution context is frequently referred to as a container pod. A pod might include shared file systems, shared network
interfaces and other shared
...