This Telco Cloud Reference Architecture Guide provides guidance for designing and deploying a Telco Cloud Platform 5G Edition (Core) or Telco Cloud Platform RAN solution. This guide replaces the existing individual reference architecture guides for the Telco Cloud Infrastructure (Cloud Director and OpenStack Editions), Telco Cloud Platform 5G Edition, and Telco Cloud Platform RAN solutions.
You can use this combined telco cloud reference architecture guide as a single reference point for Telco Cloud network designs that encompass multiple components distributed across the VMware Telco Cloud Platform ecosystem.
Intended Audience
This guide is intended for telecommunications and solution architects, sales engineers, field consultants, advanced services specialists, and customers who are responsible for the design, deployment, and operations of Telco Clouds, Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs), Cloud Native (or containerized) Network Functions (CNFs).
Acronyms and Definitions
The following table lists the acronyms used in this guide.
Acronym |
Definition |
|---|---|
AMF |
Access and Mobility Management Function |
AUSF |
Authentication Server Function |
BSS |
Business Support System |
CAPV |
Cluster API Provider vSphere |
CBRS |
Citizens Broadband Radio Service |
CMK |
CPU Manager for Kubernetes |
CNCF |
Cloud Native Computing Foundation, a Linux Foundation project designed to help advance the container technology |
CNF |
Cloud Native Network Function, executing within a Kubernetes environment |
CNI |
Container Network Interface |
CNS |
Cloud Native Storage, a storage solution that provides comprehensive data management for Kubernetes stateful applications. |
CNTT |
Common NFVI Telco Task Force |
CPI |
Cloud Provider Interface |
CRAN |
Cloud (or Centralized) Radio Access Network |
CSAR |
Cloud Service Archive |
CSI |
Container Storage Interface. vSphere CSI exposes vSphere storage to containerized workloads on container orchestrators such as Kubernetes. It enables vSAN and other types of vSphere storage. |
CSP |
Communications Service Provider |
C-VDS |
Converged VDS, a vSphere managed Virtual Distributed Switch that is leveraged by NSX (formerly NSX-T Data Center) |
CVDS (E) |
Converged VDS, a vSphere managed Virtual Distributed Switch that is leveraged by NSX and configured with Enhanced Data Path switching |
DHCP |
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol |
DPDK |
Data Plane Development Kit, an Intel-led packet processing acceleration technology |
DRAN |
Distributed Radio Access Network |
EDP |
Enhanced Data Path |
ETSI |
European Telecommunications Standards Institute |
K8s |
Kubernetes |
LCM |
Life Cycle Management |
NFV |
Network Functions Virtualization |
NFVI |
Network Functions Virtualization Infrastructure |
NRF |
NF Repository Function |
OSS |
Operational Support System |
PCIe |
Peripheral Component Interconnect Express |
PCF |
Policy Control Function |
PCRF |
Policy and Charging Rule Function |
PSA |
Pod Security Admission |
PV |
Persistent Volume |
PVC |
Persistent Volume Claim |
QCI |
Quality of Service Class Identifier |
RAN |
Radio Access Network |
RRU |
Remote Radio Unit |
RU |
Radio Unit |
SMF |
Session Management Function |
SBA |
Service-Based Architecture |
SBI |
Service-Based Interface |
SR-IOV |
Single Root Input/Output Virtualization |
STP |
Spanning Tree Protocol |
SVI |
Switched Virtual Interface |
SVNFM |
Specialized VNF Manager |
TCA |
Telco Cloud Automation |
TCA-CP |
Telco Cloud Automation-Control Plane |
ToR Switch |
Top-of-Rack Switch |
UDM |
Unified Data Management |
UDR |
Unified Data Repository |
VDS |
vSphere Distributed Switch |
VNF |
Virtual Network Function |
VNFM |
Virtual Network Function Manager |
