You can import the RAN BOM Artifacts into the TCA repository, either Airgap or Public (VMWare SaaS JFROG).

The BOM artifacts contain a list of recommended components and their versions to deploy a DU cellsite. This information within the BOM artifacts is used as a checklist to validate the cellsites.

Prerequisites

To perform this operation, you will require the system admin privilege.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the VMware Telco Cloud Automation user interface.
  2. Go to Administration > Configurations.
  3. Click BOM Artifacts.
  4. Click Repository Locations > Add Repository Location and provide the following information:
    • Name: Enter a name for the repository location.
    • Type: Select RAN.
    • Repository: By default, Enter Repository Details is selected. However, click Select Airgap Repository if you are using an air-gapped environment.
    • FQDN: Auto populates the repository URL.
    • Airgap Repository: Applicable only for an air-gapped environment. Select the partner system from the drop-down menu.
    • Note: Username and Password are not applicable for the VMware Telco Cloud Automation Release 3.0 as the artifacts are retrieved from the VMware SaaS repository.
    • Artifact Path: Auto populates the artifact path. The name of the artifact might change but the path remains constant.
  5. Click Add.
  6. Click Sync to:
    • List the artifacts in the Artifacts section.
    • Retrieve any changes to the artifacts from the repository.
    Note:
    • When you click Sync, you are prompted to enter the username and password, which is optional. Ignore the message and click Sync in the dialog box to proceed.
    • When you resync the repository location, there may be one or more deprecated artifacts. If workloads are deployed using the deprecated artifacts, ensure to use the newer version of the artifact for those workloads.
    • If you add multiple repository locations with the same name, version, and BOM type, TCA overrides such artifacts with the recently synced repositories.
    After you synchronize the repository location and retrieve the artifacts, you can do the following:
    • Delete a repository location - Expand Repository Locations and click Delete. Deleting a repository location does not delete the artifacts from the TCA database.
    • Delete an artifact - Click the vertical ellipse corresponding to the artifact and click Delete. This deletes the artifact only from the TCA database and not from the repository. You can resync the repository location to retrieve the deleted artifacts.

What to do next

Run a diagnosis on the cellsite using the RAN BOM checklist from the artifact to validate whether the cellsite is deployed according to the artifact recommendations or not.

VMware Telco Cloud Automation provides APIs to run the diagnosis and use the RAN checklist for validations. The validations include Server, Hardware (NIC Accelarator card), Drivers, Firmware, Kernel, custom packages and so on as mentioned in the BOM artifact. The APIs use the BOM reference as input. For more information on the APIs, see VMware Developer Documentation.