Some of the frequently used abbreviations that are used in this guide are listed here with their descriptions.
NFV
Network Functions Virtualization - The process of decoupling a network function from its proprietary hardware appliance and running it as a software application in a virtual machine.
VNF
Virtual Network Function - Is a part of the NFV architecture that handles specific network functions running on one or more virtual machines.
Network Service
Individual VNFs can be combined to create a full-scale networking communication service.
CNF
Cloud-Native Network Function - A CNF is a containerized network function that uses cloud-native principles. CNFs, when running inside telecommunications premises, create a private cloud where the same public cloud principles are used effectively.
NFVI
Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure - Is the foundation of the overall NFV architecture. It provides the physical compute, storage, and networking hardware that hosts the VNFs. Each NFVI block can be thought of as an NFVI node and many nodes can be deployed and controlled geographically.
MANO
Management and Orchestration - Manages the resources in the infrastructure and the orchestration and life cycle of VNFs.
VIM
Virtualized Infrastructure Manager - Is a functional block of the MANO and is responsible for controlling, managing, and monitoring the NFVI compute, storage, and network hardware, the software for the virtualization layer, and the virtualized resources. The VIM manages the allocation and release of virtual resources, and the association of virtual to physical resources, including the optimization of resources.
NFVO
NFV Orchestrator - Is a central component of an NFV-based solution. It brings together different functions to make a single orchestration service that encompasses the whole framework and has a well-organized resource use.
VNFM
NFD
Network Function Descriptor - Is a deployment template that describes a network function deployment and operational requirement. It is used to create a network function where life-cycle management operations are performed.
Network Function Catalog
Is a functional building block within a network infrastructure. It has well-defined external interfaces and a well-defined functional behavior.
Network Services Catalog
A Network Services (NS) Catalog is a list of all usable network resources. You can store the deployment templates for a network service here.
SVNFM
Specific VNFM. SVNFMs are tightly coupled with the VNFs they manage.
GVNFM
Generic VNFM.
Kubernetes Pods
Kubernetes Pods are inspired by pods found in nature (pea pods or whale pods). The Pods are groups of containers that share networking and storage resources from the same node. They are created with an API server and placed by a controller. Each Pod is assigned an IP address, and all the containers in the Pod share storage, IP address, and port space (network namespace).
CSI
Container Storage Interface. A specification designed to enable persistent storage volume management on Container Orchestrators (COs) such as Kubernetes. The specification allows storage systems to integrate with containerized workloads running on Kubernetes. Using CSI, storage providers, such as VMware, can write and deploy plug-ins for storage systems in Kubernetes without a need to modify any core Kubernetes code.
CNI
Container Network Interface. The CNI connects Pods across nodes, acting as an interface between a network namespace and a network plug-in or a network provider and a Kubernetes network.
TCA-CP
VMware Telco Cloud Automation Control Plane. Previously known as VMware HCX for Telco Cloud.
