| Aether 1.5 Release |
| ================== |
| |
| Highlights |
| ---------- |
| |
| The focus of this release is an update of Aether to support the 5G SD-Core. |
| This included a redesign of Aether modeling and workflows, integration of the |
| 5G SD-Core into Aether, and an update of the 4G SD-Core to be compliant with |
| the 5G Aether API. 4G Small Cells are readily available and deployed at |
| multiple Aether installations. The 5G Core is part of a Deutsche Telekom SD-RAN |
| trial and is being used with 5G-SA disaggregated RAN components (CU/DU/RU). |
| |
| Deployment of Aether has been demonstrated on Anthos and on Elastic Kubernetes |
| Service. Persistent test deployments are now maintained by ONF to further |
| evaluate Aether functionality on those platforms. |
| |
| |
| New Features and Improvements |
| ----------------------------- |
| |
| 4G and 5G Connectivity Service |
| """""""""""""""""""""""""""""" |
| |
| Aether supports mobile/cellular connectivity using both the 4G and the 5G |
| SD-Core. The Aether ROC may be used with both cores simultaneously. The 4G |
| modeling used by Aether-1.0 has been replaced with newer modeling that unifies |
| the 4G and 5G cores in a single modeling abstraction. |
| |
| Device Grouping and Network Slicing |
| """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" |
| |
| Aether supports a Network Slicing abstraction where similar connected devices |
| can be aggregated together into a Device-Group, and different Device Groups can |
| be allocated to different network slices (Virtual Connectivity Service - VCS). |
| |
| Grouping connected devices affords ease of management - devices in the same |
| group are configured together and afforded the same treatment in the network. |
| Separating device-groups into different slices affords isolation between |
| groups. The data plane connectivity for different slices are realized through |
| different User Plane Functions (UPFs). |
| |
| Furthermore, Aether supports Access Control - devices not part of any |
| Device-Group are rejected by the network. |
| |
| Aether Portal |
| """"""""""""" |
| |
| The Aether Portal is a modern secure Single Page Application implemented in |
| Angular. The portal integrates both control of the Aether Network and metrics |
| reported by Aether components in a single pane of glass with multi-tenancy |
| separation. The portal allows complex control operations to be batched together |
| as one transaction into a convenient “basket” and then atomically committed to |
| the configuration. All of the functions of the Portal are also available on a |
| secure REST API, with an OpenAPI 3 schema. |
| |
| Role-Based Access Control |
| """"""""""""""""""""""""" |
| |
| The Aether control API supports role-based access control, together with |
| external authentication using OpenID Connect. These access controls are used in |
| the Aether Portal to limit which enterprises a portal user is allowed to view |
| or modify. The Aether Portal supports multiple enterprises simultaneously. |
| |
| Flexible Kubernetes Deployment Options |
| """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" |
| |
| Fully managed Aether deployment using Rancher is officially supported. Together |
| with Rancher, Aether allows configuration, management, and monitoring of |
| Kubernetes clusters. These clusters can be used to host the Aether Connectivity |
| Service as well as customer edge applications. Support for other managed |
| Kubernetes services such as Google Anthos or Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service |
| should be considered beta and not officially supported. |
| |
| Testing |
| ------- |
| |
| Aether uses automated testing based on Jenkins and Robot Framework. The tests |
| performed are described below. |
| |
| SD-Core Tests |
| """"""""""""" |
| |
| * 4G |
| |
| * Functional Coverage: Attach,detach, dataplane traffic, handover, TAU, |
| paging, error scenarios, few failure/restart of network functions |
| |
| * Scale and Performance tests utilizing BESS |
| |
| * 5G |
| |
| * Functional Coverage: register, deregister, dataplane traffic scenarios, |
| handover, TAU, DDN, few error scenarios, few failure/restart of network |
| functions |
| |
| * Scale tests (BESS) |
| |
| Jenkins jobs for functional and scale tests can be found on `Aether Jenkins - |
| SD-Core System Tests |
| <https://jenkins.aetherproject.org/view/SD%20Core%20System%20Tests/>`_ |
| |
| ROC |
| """ |
| |
| * Functional API and GUI test coverage |
| |
| Jenkins jobs: `Aether Jenkins - ROC System Tests |
| <https://jenkins.aetherproject.org/view/ROC%20System%20Tests/>`_ |
| |
| |
| System Tests |
| """""""""""" |
| |
| * 4G and 5G Sanity Test coverage: |
| |
| * Configure ROC with related models for 4G and 5G |
| * Validate for attach/register UE, pings, detach/degister UE |
| |
| Jenkins Jobs: `Aether Jenkins - Aether System Tests |
| <https://jenkins.aetherproject.org/view/Aether%20System%20Tests/>`_ |
| |
| Documentation |
| ------------- |
| |
| Aether documentation is available at `docs.aetherproject.org |
| <https://docs.aetherproject.org>`_ |
| |
| |
| Known Issues and Limitations |
| ---------------------------- |
| |
| * A given UE may participate in a 4G core or a 5G core, but not both. |
| |
| * 4G UEs may each participate in a single DeviceGroup, and 4G DeviceGroups may |
| each participate in a single VCS. This restriction does not apply to 5G UEs. |
| |
| * Application filtering is modeled in the API and the GUI, but application |
| filtering is not active in the data plane. |
| |
| * Disabling/deleting a device group from a VCS does not restrict UE from |
| getting attached to the network [SDCORE-467] |
| |
| Component Versions in the 1.5 Release |
| ------------------------------------- |
| |
| Helm Chart Versions and their component charts and containers: |
| |
| * atomix-controller: ``0.6.8`` |
| |
| * atomix-controller: ``v0.6.1`` |
| |
| * atomix-raft: ``0.1.9`` |
| |
| * atomix-raft-storage-controller: ``v0.9.2`` |
| |
| * aether-roc-umbrella: ``1.3.9`` |
| |
| * config-models/aether-3.x: ``3.0.13`` |
| |
| * aether-roc-api: ``v0.7.14`` |
| |
| * aether-roc-gui: ``v0.7.22`` |
| |
| * onos-config: ``v0.9.2`` |
| |
| * onos-topo: ``v0.8.3`` |
| |
| * sdcore-adapter: ``v0.1.36`` |
| |
| * sdcore-helm-chart: ``0.6.2`` |
| |
| * omec-control-plane: ``0.6.25`` |
| |
| * hssdb: ``c3po-hssdb:master-9a5f565`` |
| * hss: ``c3po-hss:master-9a5f565`` |
| * mme: ``nucleus:master-86d2678`` |
| * spgwc: ``spgw:master-6aad2f2`` |
| * pcrf: ``c3po-pcrf:pcrf-b29af70`` |
| * pcrfdb: ``c3po-pcrfdb:pcrf-b29af70`` |
| * config4g: ``5gc-webui:onf-release3.0.5-bf0b54f`` |
| |
| * omec-sub-provision: ``0.0.6`` |
| |
| * simapp: ``simapp:main-7d20738`` |
| |
| * 5g-control-plane: ``0.2.21`` |
| |
| * amf: ``5gc-amf:onf-release3.0.5-921b890`` |
| * nrf: ``5gc-nrf:onf-release3.0.5-3471442`` |
| * smf: ``5gc-smf:onf-release3.0.5-e991983`` |
| * ausf: ``5gc-ausf:onf-release3.0.5-85ea075`` |
| * nssf: ``5gc-nssf:onf-release3.0.5-c372b24`` |
| * pcf: ``5gc-pcf:onf-release3.0.5-95ae49f`` |
| * udr: ``5gc-udr:onf-release3.0.5-bc3b287`` |
| * udm: ``5gc-udm:onf-release3.0.5-40055e8`` |
| * webui: ``5gc-webui:onf-release3.0.5-bf0b54f`` |
| |
| * omec-user-plane: ``0.3.36`` |
| |
| * bess: ``upf-epc-bess:master-fcdbc95`` |
| * pfcpiface: ``upf-epc-pfcpiface:master-fcdbc95`` |