| Introduction |
| ============== |
| |
| Aether is an open source 5G edge cloud platform that supports |
| enterprise deployments of Private 5G. Information about the Aether |
| project can be found on the ONF website, and an introduction to the |
| Aether architecture can be found in a companion book: |
| |
| .. _reading_private5g: |
| .. admonition:: Further Reading |
| |
| `Aether: An ONF Project <https://opennetworking.org/aether/>`_. |
| |
| L. Peterson, O. Sunay, and B. Davie. `Private 5G: A Systems |
| Approach <https://5g.systemsapproach.org>`__. 2023 |
| |
| |
| Getting Started with Aether |
| --------------------------- |
| |
| There are two ways to get started with Aether: |
| |
| * Deploy and operate Aether on your own cluster with :doc:`Aether OnRamp </onramp/overview>`. |
| |
| * Setup an Aether software development environment with :doc:`Aether-in-a-Box </developer/aiab>`. |
| |
| Other Aether guides included on this site include: |
| |
| * :doc:`Runtime Operations </operations/gui>`: Learn how |
| to operate Aether's 5G connectivity service. |
| |
| * :doc:`Test Automation </testing/about_system_tests>`: Learn how Aether |
| components are tested. |
| |
| Note that Aether was originally deployed as a centrally-manged, |
| ONF-operated cloud service, with the expectation that organizations |
| would participate in Aether by connecting their edge site to this |
| operational deployment.\ [#]_ That service is now being deprecated in |
| favor of users bringing up their own Aether sites using :doc:`OnRamp |
| </onramp/overview>`. If you are looking for the original guide |
| describing how to connect a site to Aether, it is still available in |
| `Version 2.1 of the Aether Docs |
| <https://docs.aetherproject.org/aether-2.1/edge_deployment/overview.html>`__. |
| The operational issues described in that guide motivate many of the |
| mechanisms available in the Aether platform today, but now refactored |
| for others to apply to their deployments. |
| |
| .. [#] The original Aether service supported the Pronto research |
| project, with edge clusters built on top of an SDN-controlled |
| and fully programmable switching fabric. That fabric is no |
| longer included in Aether OnRamp. |
| |
| |
| Aether Components |
| ------------------------ |
| |
| Aether uses components from several ONF projects. Information about |
| these projects can be found at the following sites: |
| |
| * SD-Core |
| |
| * `SD-Core Website <https://opennetworking.org/sd-core/>`_ |
| * :doc:`SD-Core Documentation <sdcore:index>` |
| |
| * SD-RAN |
| |
| * `SD-RAN Website <https://opennetworking.org/open-ran/>`_ |
| * :doc:`SD-RAN Documentation <sdran:index>` |
| |
| * SD-Fabric |
| |
| * `SD-Fabric Website <https://opennetworking.org/sd-fabric/>`_ |
| * :doc:`SD-Fabric Documentation <sdfabric:index>` |
| |
| More information about 5G and Aether's architecture can be found in |
| the :doc:`Private 5G: A Systems Approach <sysapproach5g:index>` book. |
| |
| Community |
| --------- |
| |
| Information about participating in the Aether community and |
| development process can be found on the `ONF Wiki |
| <https://wiki.opennetworking.org/display/COM/Aether>`_. Join the |
| discussion about Aether on Slack in the `ONF Community Workspace |
| <https://onf-community.slack.com/>`__. |