ETSI releases a standard for NFV Deployment Templates
January 2019 by Emmanuelle Lamandé
The ETSI Industry Specification Group (ISG) on
Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) ended 2018 on a bright note, with the
publication of the first version of ETSI GS NFV-SOL 001, the specification of NFV
descriptors based on the Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud
Applications (TOSCA).
This was a highly-anticipated document in the industry, considering the prominent
role VNF deployment templates play in an NFV system. Together with ETSI GS NFV-SOL
004, the specification of the structure and format of a VNF package, this new
specification provides the foundations of an open ecosystem.
Conformance to these specifications is a key enabler to foster a truly open
ecosystem, where Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs) can be on-boarded and managed
by independently developed management and orchestration systems. Encouraging
interoperability within an open ecosystem was a key objective for ETSI NFV when it
was launched in 2012 by global carriers.
ETSI GS NFV-SOL 001 specifies rules for structuring and filling NFV descriptors
according to the TOSCA Simple Profile in YAML specification. It is applicable to
Virtualized Network Function Descriptors (VNFD), Network Service Descriptors (NSD)
and Physical Network Function Descriptors (PNFD).