To instantiate a VNF, follow the steps listed in this section. Starting from VMware Telco Cloud Automation version 1.9, you can use vApp templates for VMware Cloud Director based clouds.

Prerequisites

  • Upload or create a network function.
  • Upload all required images and templates to your vCenter Server instance.
  • To use a vApp template, upload the required vApp template to its corresponding catalog in VMware Cloud Director.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the VMware Telco Cloud Automation web interface.
  2. Select Catalog > Network Function.
  3. Select the desired VNF and click Instantiate.
    The Create Network Function Instance page is displayed.
  4. In the Inventory Detail tab, enter the following information:
    • Name - Enter a name for your network function instance.
    • Description - Provide a description.
    • Select Cloud - Select a cloud from your network on which to instantiate the network function.
      Note: You can select the node pool only if the network function instantiation requires infrastructure customization and the required CSAR file is already included.
      1. On the Select Cloud, select the cloud and click Next.
      2. On the Select Node Pool, select the node pool and click Next.
      3. On the Customization Required , review the node configuration. If you do not require node customization, then in the Advanced Settings, select Skip Node Customization.
      4. Click OK to save the changes.
    For a VMware Cloud Director based cloud, you can use either a vApp template or a template from the vSphere Client. For a vSphere based cloud, you can only select a vSphere Client template.
    • Select Compute Profile - Select a compute profile from the drop-down menu. For allocating compute profiles for each VDC, click Advanced Configuration.
    • Select Storage Profile (Optional) - Select a specific storage profile from the list of storage profiles that are defined in the compute profile.
    • Prefix (Optional) - Enter a prefix. All entities that are created for this VNF are prefixed with this text. Prefixes help in personalizing and identifying the entities of a VNF.
    • Instantiation Level - Select the level of instances to create. The default level is 0.
    • Tags (Optional) - Select the key and value pairs from the drop down menus. To add more tags, click the + symbol.
    • Templates - You can select the templates for the network function instantiation from the following options:
      • vApp - To use vApp templates, select this option and select the appropriate catalog from VMware Cloud Director in Select Catalog.
      • VNF - To use a single vApp template, select this option and select the appropriate catalog from VMware Cloud Director in Select Catalog.
      • vCenter - To use the existing VM template available in vCenter, select this option.
    • Select Catalog - The option appears when you select vApp or VNF in Templates. You can use this option to select the appropriate catalog from VMware Cloud Director.
    • Grant Validation - When you deploy a VNF, Grant validates whether the required images are available on the target system. It also validates whether the required resources such as CPU, memory, and storage capacity are available for a successful deployment. To configure Grant, go to Advanced Settings > Grant Validation and select one of the options:
      • Enable: Run validation and feasibility checks for the target cloud. Fail fast if the validation fails.
      • Enable and Ignore: Run validation and feasibility checks for the target Kubernetes cluster. Ignore failures.
      • Disable: Do not run validation or feasibility checks for the target cloud.
      Note:
      1. When selecting VNF as templates, Grant Validation fails if the following conditions are not met:
        • The number of VMs inside the vApp template and the number of VDUs inside the VNF does not match.
        • The names of VMs inside the vApp template and the names of VDUs inside the VNF does not match.
      2. The image_name property is ignored if VNF is selected as template.
      3. vApp networks in the vApp template are retained if the vApp network name matches with the virtual internal network name defined in the VNF.
      4. If there is no match for the vApp network name, the vApp network is deleted.
    • Auto Rollback - During a failure, the Auto Rollback option allows you to retain the Helm release and Kubernetes resources. To configure Auto Rollback, go to Advanced Settings > Auto Rollback and select one of the options:
      • Enable: During failure, do not retain Helm release and Kubernetes resources.
      • Disable: During failure, retain Helm release and Kubernetes resources for debugging.
  5. Click Next.
  6. In the Network Function Properties tab, the Connection Point Network Mapping table lists the details of all the VDUs and connection points that are available:
    1. To map a network to the VDU, click the Options (…) button against the VDU and select one of the following options:
      • Auto Create Network (For internal connection points only): By default, VMware Telco Cloud Automation creates an internal network.
      • Select Existing Network

        You can provide the mapping between connection points and an existing network. VMware Telco Cloud Automation creates and manages the network.

      • Refer From Workflow

        This option is available only for pre-instantiated workflows. You use Refer From Workflow option, to refer to the network not created or managed through VMware Telco Cloud Automation. It uses the network details obtained from the pre-instantiated workflow to create the VM. For details on external network reference, see External Network Referencing.

      • Map Network to Connection Point <Connection-Point-Name>: Map the network to a specific connection point.
      • Map Network to All Connection Points: Map the network to all the external connection points.
    2. Click OK.
  7. Click Next.
  8. The Inputs tab displays the following types of inputs to be provided:
    • The required OVF properties for each VDU within the VNF. Depending on the instantiation level that you have selected, there can be multiple instances deployed for each VDU. Ensure that you enter the correct information for each VDU.
    • The Helm inputs for each Helm chart within a CNF.
    • Any pre-workflows or post-workflows that are defined as a part of the Network Function.
    Provide the appropriate information and click Next.
  9. In the Review tab, review the configuration.
  10. Click Instantiate.

Results

VMware Telco Cloud Automation creates the virtual machines and networks required by your network function on the cloud that you specified. To view a list of all instantiated functions, select Inventory > Network Function. To track and monitor the progress of the instantiation process, click the Expand icon on the network function and navigate further. When Instantiated is displayed in the State column for a network function, it indicates that the instantiation process is completed successfully and the function is ready to use.

To view more details about an instantiated VNF, go to Inventory > Network Function and click the VNF. The General Info tab displays all the details about the instantiated VNF.

If you no longer want to use an instantiated network function, click the Options (three dots) icon and select Terminate. Then select the network function and click Delete.