ETSI GR MEC 017 V1.1.1 (2018-02)

Mobile Edge Computing (MEC); Deployment of Mobile Edge Computing in an NFV environment

DGR/MEC-0017MECinNFV

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 20-Feb-2018
• Technical Committee: MEC - Multi-access Edge Computing
• Current Stage: 12 - Completion
• Due Date: 25-Feb-2018
• Completion Date: 21-Feb-2018

Standards Content (Sample)

ETSI GR MEC 017 V1.1.1 (2018-02)






GROUP REPORT
Mobile Edge Computing (MEC);
Deployment of Mobile Edge Computing in an NFV environment
Disclaimer
The present document has been produced and approved by the Mobile 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 017 V1.1.1 (2018-02)



Reference
DGR/MEC-0017MECinNFV
Keywords
MEC, NFV
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3 ETSI GR MEC 017 V1.1.1 (2018-02)
Contents
Intellectual Property Rights . 5
Foreword . 5
Modal verbs terminology . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 References . 6
2.1 Normative references . 6
2.2 Informative references . 6
3 Definitions and abbreviations . 7
3.1 Definitions . 7
3.2 Abbreviations . 7
4 Introduction . 8
5 Reference Architecture . 8
5.1 Overview and assumptions . 8
5.2 MEC reference architecture in NFV environments . 9
5.3 Realization of the mobile edge platform as a VNF . 10
5.4 Realization of the Data Plane . 11
6 Key issues . 12
6.1 Issue #1: Mapping of ME app VNFs to Network Services . 12
6.1.1 Problem description . 12
6.1.2 Solution(s). 12
6.1.3 Evaluation . 13
6.1.4 Proposal . 13
6.2 Issue #2: Usage of NFV Network Service . 13
6.2.1 Problem description . 13
6.2.2 Solution(s). 14
6.2.3 Evaluation . 14
6.2.4 Proposal . 14
6.3 Issue #3: Communication between MEAO and NFVO via Mv1 . 14
6.3.1 Problem description . 14
6.3.2 Solution(s). 14
6.3.3 Evaluation . 16
6.3.4 Proposal . 16
6.4 Issue #4: Communication between VNFM and MEPM-V via Mv2 . 16
6.4.1 Problem description . 16
6.4.2 Solution(s). 16
6.4.3 Evaluation . 17
6.4.4 Proposal . 17
6.5 Issue #5: Communication between VNFM and ME app instance via Mv3. 18
6.5.1 Problem description . 18
6.5.2 Solution(s). 18
6.5.3 Evaluation . 18
6.5.4 Proposal . 19
6.6 Issue #6: AppD vs. VNFD for ME app VNFs . 19
6.6.1 Problem description . 19
6.6.2 Solution(s). 19
6.6.3 Evaluation . 20
6.6.4 Proposal . 20
6.7 Issue #7: VNF Package vs. MEC application package . 21
6.7.1 Problem description . 21
6.7.2 Solution(s). 21
6.7.3 Evaluation . 21
6.7.4 Proposal . 21
6.8 Issue #8: VNF package onboarding. 21
ETSI

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4 ETSI GR MEC 017 V1.1.1 (2018-02)
6.8.1 Problem description . 21
6.8.2 Solution(s). 21
6.8.3 Evaluation . 22
6.8.4 Proposal . 22
6.9 Issue #9: Managing traffic redirection. 22
6.9.1 Problem description . 22
6.9.2 Solution(s). 23
6.9.3 Evaluation . 23
6.9.4 Proposal . 24
6.10 Issue #10: Comparison of AppD and VNFD data structures . 24
6.10.1 Problem description . 24
6.10.2 Solution(s). 24
6.10.3 Evaluation . 25
6.10.4 Proposal . 25
6.11 Issue #11: NFV construct that corresponds to Mobile Edge Host . 25
6.11.1 Problem description . 25
6.11.2 Solution(s). 26
6.11.3 Evaluation . 26
6.11.4 Proposal . 26
6.12 Issue #12 : ME App VNF Instance Relocation . 26
6.12.1 Problem description . 26
6.12.2 Solution(s). 26
6.12.3 Evaluation . 26
6.12.4 Proposal . 26
6.13 Issue #13: Application instantiation . 27
6.13.1 Problem description . 27
6.13.2 Solution(s). 27
6.13.3 Evaluation . 27
6.13.4 Proposal . 27
6.14 Issue #14: Application instance termination. 27
6.14.1 Problem description . 27
6.14.2 Solution(s). 28
6.14.3 Evaluation . 28
6.14.4 Proposal . 28
7 Recommendation . 28
7.1 Way forward . 28
7.2 Architecture impact . 29
7.3 Needed normative work . 29
7.3.1 General . 29
7.3.2 Normative work suggested to be performed in ETSI NFV . 29
7.3.3 Normative work suggested to be performed in ETSI MEC . 30
7.4 Items that require further study . 30
8 Conclusion . 31
History . 32

ETSI

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5 ETSI GR MEC 017 V1.1.1 (2018-02)
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) Mobile 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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1 Scope
The present document describes solutions that allow the deployment of MEC in a NFV environment. For each solution,
it describes the motivation for the solution, its architectural impacts and the necessary work to enable it. The document
provides recommendations as for where the specification work needs to be done.
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 NFV-MAN 001: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Management and
Orchestration".
[i.2] ETSI GS NFV-INF 003: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Infrastructure; Compute
Domain".
[i.3] ETSI GS NFV-INF 004: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Infrastructure; Hypervisor
Domain".
[i.4] ETSI GS NFV-INF 005: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Infrastructure; Network
Domain".
[i.5] ETSI GS MEC 003: "Mobile Edge Computing (MEC); Framework and Reference Architecture".
[i.6] ETSI GS NFV-IFA 013: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Management and
Orchestration; Os-Ma-Nfvo reference point - Interface and Information Model Specification".
[i.7] ETSI GS NFV-IFA 011: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Management and
Orchestration; VNF Packaging Specification".
[i.8] 3GPP TR 32.842: "Telecommunication management; Study on network management of
virtualised networks".
[i.9] ETSI GS NFV-IFA 009: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Management and
Orchestration; Report on Architectural Options".
[i.10] ETSI GS MEC 010-2: "Mobile Edge Computing (MEC); Mobile Edge Management; Part 2:
Application lifecycle, rules and requirements management".
[i.11] ETSI GS NFV-IFA 014: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Management and
Orchestration; Network Service Templates Specification".
[i.12] ETSI GS NFV-IFA 008: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Management and
Orchestration; Ve-Vnfm reference point - Interface and Information Model Specification".
ETSI

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7 ETSI GR MEC 017 V1.1.1 (2018-02)
[i.13] ETSI GS MEC 010-1: "Mobile Edge Computing (MEC); Mobile Edge Management; Part 1:
System, host and platform management".
[i.14] ETSI GS NFV-SOL 002: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Protocols and Data Models;
RESTful protocols specification for the Ve-Vnfm Reference Point".
[i.15] IETF RFC 6241: "Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF)".
[i.16] IETF RFC 8040: "RESTCONF Protocol".
[i.17] ETSI GS MEC 002: "Mobile Edge Computing (MEC); Technical Requirements".
[i.18] ETSI GS NFV-IFA 006: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Management and
Orchestration; Vi-Vnfm reference point - Interface and Information Model Specification".
[i.19] ETSI GS NFV-IFA 007: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Management and
Orchestration; Or-Vnfm reference point - Interface and Information Model Specification".
[i.20] ETSI GS NFV-IFA 018: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Acceleration Technologies;
Network Acceleration Interface Specification; Release 3".
[i.21] OpenStack documentation, Service function chaining.
NOTE: Available at: https://docs.openstack.org/newton/networking-guide/config-sfc.html.
[i.22] ETSI GS NFV-SOL 005: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) Release 2; Protocols and Data
Models; RESTful protocols specification for the Os-Ma-nfvo Reference Point".
3 Definitions and abbreviations
3.1 Definitions
For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions apply:
ME app VNF: mobile edge application that appears like a VNF towards the ETSI NFV MANO components
3.2 Abbreviations
For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations apply:
DNS Domain Name System
DOPFR Dynamic Optimization of Packet Flow Routing
EM Element Manager
ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute
GS Group Specification
GTP GPRS Tunnelling Protocol
HOT Heat Orchestration Template
IP Internet Protocol
LCM Life Cycle Management
MANO Management and Orchestration
ME Mobile Edge
MEAO Mobile Edge Application Orchestrator
MEC Mobile Edge Computing
MEO Mobile Edge Orchestrator
MEPM Mobile Edge Platform Manager
MEPM-V Mobile Edge Platform Manager - NFV
NFP Network Forwarding Path
NFV Network Functions Virtualisation
NFVI Network Functions Virtualisation Infrastructure
NFVO Network Functions Virtualisation Orchestrator
ETSI

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8 ETSI GR MEC 017 V1.1.1 (2018-02)
NS Network Service
NSD Network Service Descriptor
OASIS Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards
OSS Operations Support System
PM Performance Management
PNF Physical Network Function
PNFD Physical Network Function Descriptor
PoP Point of Presence
QCI Quality Class Indicator
SFC Service Function Chaining
SPID Subscriber Profile ID
TEID Tunnel Endpoint ID
TOSCA Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Applications
UE User Equipment
VIM Virtualised Infrastructure Manager
VL Virtual Link
VM Virtual Machine
VNF Virtualised Network Function
VNFC VNF Component
VNFD VNF Descriptor
VNFFG VNF Forwarding Graph
VNFM Virtual Network Function Manager
YAML YAML Ain't Markup Language
4 Introduction
Mobile network operators are expected to virtualise their networks using Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV), and
want to use the introduced virtualisation infrastructure to consolidate network elements (Virtualised Network Functions
- VNFs), Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) components and Mobile Edge (ME) applications on top of that infrastructure.
Sharing the introduced elements (infrastructure, but also management functions) to the maximum possible degree
allows to make maximum use of the investments into virtualisation. The present document will analyse different
scenarios of MEC deployments in NFV environments w.r.t. their architectural impact and the needed specification
work. The present document will help to identify normative specification work to enable MEC deployments in NFV
environments. It will also help operators that plan to deploy MEC and NFV feature at the same time, to make the right
decision by providing detailed information around solution aspects.
5 Reference Architecture
5.1 Overview and assumptions
This clause defines a reference architecture of how ETSI MEC can be deployed in a NFV environment. The basic
assumptions are:
1) The ME platform is deployed as a VNF. For that purpose, the procedures defined by ETSI NFV are used. It is
not expected that these procedures need to be modified for use with ETSI MEC. Clause 5.2 further elaborates
on this.
2) The ME applications appear like VNFs towards the ETSI NFV MANO components. This allows re-use of
ETSI NFV MANO functionality. It is, however, expected that ETSI MEC might not use the full set of MANO
functionality, and requires certain additional functionality. Such a specific ME application is denoted by the
name "ME app VNF" in the remainder of the present document.
3) The virtualisation infrastructure is deployed as a NFVI and its virtualised resources are managed by the VIM.
For that purpose, the procedures defined by ETSI NFV Infrastructure specifications, i.e. ETSI
GS NFV-INF 003 [i.2], ETSI GS NFV-INF 004 [i.3], ETSI GS NFV-INF 005 [i.4], can be used. It is not
expected that these procedures need to be modified for use with ETSI MEC.
ETSI

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9 ETSI GR MEC 017 V1.1.1 (2018-02)
5.2 MEC reference architecture in NFV environments
It is assumed that the ME app VNFs will be managed like individual VNFs, allowing that a MECinNFV deployment
can delegate certain orchestration and Life Cycle Management (LCM) tasks to the NFVO and VNFM functional blocks,
as defined by ETSI NFV MANO.
One goal of the present study is to describe that actual mapping, to elaborate on a high level how MEC orchestration
procedures and ME application LCM procedures can be realized in such an environment.
The Mobile Edge Platform Manager (MEPM), as defined in the MEC reference architecture ETSI GS MEC 003 [i.5], is
transformed into a "Mobile Edge Platform Manager - NFV" (MEPM-V) that delegates the LCM part to one or more
VNFM(s). The Mobile Edge Orchestrator (MEO), as defined in the MEC reference architecture ETSI GS MEC 003
[i.5], is transformed into a "Mobile Edge Application Orchestrator" (MEAO) that uses the NFVO for resource
orchestration, and for orchestration of the set of ME app VNFs as one or more NFV Network Services (NSs).
Figure 5.2-1 illustrates the realization of the ETSI MEC reference architecture in an ETSI NFV environment.

Figure 5.2-1: MEC reference archite
...