This section describes how to install and activate TCA-CP and VMware Telco Cloud Automation Manager components.

VMware Telco Cloud Automation manager connects with Telco Cloud Automation Control Plane (TCA-CP) to communicate with the VIMs. TCA-CP is deployed as an OVA. The VIMs are cloud platforms such as vCloud Director, vSphere, Kubernetes Cluster, or VMware Integrated OpenStack. A dedicated instance of TCA-CP is required for each VIM.

Telco Cloud Automation communicates with the NSX manager through the VIM layer. A single instance of the NSX manager is used to support multiple VIM types.

Aria Automation Orchestrator registers with TCA-CP to run customized workflows for CNF onboarding and day 2 life cycle management.

Deployment Models: Telco Cloud Automation supports VM-based and HA-based cloud-native deployment models. This section describes how to install and activate TCA-CP and VMware Telco Cloud Automation Manager components using the VM-based deployment. For more information about HA-based deployment, see Deploying HA-based Cloud-Native Telco Cloud Automation Using Scripts and Deploying HA-based Telco Cloud Automation Using Infrastructure Automation.

Airgap is supported in both the VM-based and HA-based deployment models. To ensure that your Telco Cloud Automation environment is secure, you can isolate its network from the unsecured public Internet or local area networks. This means, your system does not have any network interfaces connected to external networks. For more information about setting up an airgap environment, see the Airgap Server Deployment Topologies.