| Aether 2.1 Release |
| ================== |
| |
| Aether Highlights |
| ----------------- |
| |
| This release of Aether picks up new internal modeling and scalability enhancements. |
| The release has been primarily validated in the Aether-in-a-Box configuration, |
| but the basis for this release has seen fairly broad use in various configurations. |
| |
| As with 2.0, both 4G and 5G deployments are supported. The 5G User Plane Function (UPF) |
| can be deployed with both compute-based software, as well as the P4-based |
| hardware-accelerated UPF. Aether maintains backward compatibility with 4G, and |
| both 4G and 5G slices may make use of both software and hardware based UPFs. |
| P4 hardware and BESS software UPFs can be deployed side-by-side in a hybrid deployment. |
| |
| Features & Improvements |
| ----------------------- |
| |
| New 5G features |
| """"""""""""""" |
| |
| This release of Aether incorporates |
| `SD-Core 1.2 <https://docs.sd-core.opennetworking.org/sdcore-1.2/release/1.2.html>`__, which is the first |
| version of SD-Core focused on support for Cloud Native 5G Network Functions. All new functionality in this release |
| contributes to support of 5G Network functionality, including integration with 5G gNB small |
| cells from Sercomm; 5G small cell hardware from T&W running 5G-SA RAN stack from Radisys; |
| 5G slices with Application filtering; and a policy framework that supports QoS at multiple |
| levels - subscribers, applications and slices. For more details, please refer to the |
| `SD-Core 1.2 <https://docs.sd-core.opennetworking.org/sdcore-1.2/release/1.2.html>`__ Release notes. |
| |
| SD-Fabric Integration |
| """"""""""""""""""""" |
| |
| For this release, configurations incorporating SD-Fabric, and the P4 UPF have NOT been re-validated |
| (as this release has only been validated on Aether-in-a-Box). Users can continue to deploy these |
| configurations but should exercise caution to ensure the capabilities continue to operate as expected. |
| For more details, please refer to the `SD-Fabric 1.2 <https://docs.sd-fabric.org/sdfabric-1.2/release/1.2.0.html>`__ |
| Release notes. |
| |
| Configuration Model Improvement |
| """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" |
| |
| The Configuration model of ROC has been upgraded in Aether 2.1 so that the “site”, “application”, |
| “traffic-class”, and “template” are now at the highest level in the model. The connectivity-service |
| 4g/5g is now an attribute of slice. |
| |
| This change greatly simplifies the ROC API - for example the URL to retrieve a site is now: |
| |
| * ``aether/v2.1.x/aiab-enterprise/site/mysite`` |
| |
| where previously the equivalent would have been: |
| |
| * ``aether/v2.0.x/connectivity-service-v2/enterprises/enterprise/aiab-enterprise/site/mysite`` |
| |
| The configuration of the “enterprise” is handled now in onos-topo as an Entity. New enterprises can be |
| added with the ``entities.topo.onosproject.org`` CRD, and will subsequently be created in onos-topo by |
| the onos-operator. The ROC GUI remains unchanged, as it has absorbed these model changes into its internal functions. |
| |
| |
| Configuration System Improvements |
| """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" |
| |
| Aether’s ROC configuration system internals were redesigned and reimplemented to address various |
| instability issues and incorporate new patterns and architectures. The controllers at the core of onos-config |
| were `redesigned in |
| TLA+ <https://github.com/onosproject/onos-tlaplus/blob/master/Config/Config.pdf>`__ – a machine-checked formal |
| specification language – to develop a more stable and viable |
| architecture long-term, and the controllers were reimplemented according to the new design. On the northbound, |
| new gNMI extensions make onos-config’s handling of gNMI Set and Get requests configurable with support for various |
| consistency strategies when propagating changes to gNMI targets. On the southbound, support was added for handling |
| non-persistent targets (recovering target configuration after restarts). For additional information, please see the |
| `README |
| file <https://github.com/onosproject/onos-config/blob/master/docs/README.md>`__ for the configuration system. |
| |
| Support for complex validation rules |
| """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" |
| |
| Aether support for complex validation rules (“guardrails”) has been added to prevent misconfiguration of the system. |
| These guardrails are specified using Aether’s yang modeling language, allowing new rules to be modified |
| easily as needed. |
| |
| Aether Testing |
| -------------- |
| |
| Aether uses automated testing based on Jenkins and Robot Framework. The |
| tests performed are described below. |
| |
| Aether-in-a-Box Deployment Tests: |
| |
| * https://jenkins.aetherproject.org/view/aiab-test/ |
| |
| SD-Core Tests (manual testing): |
| |
| * 4G |
| |
| * Functional coverage: attach, detach, dataplane traffic, handover, |
| TAU, paging, error scenarios, failure/restart of network |
| functions |
| |
| * 5G |
| |
| * Functional Coverage: register, deregister, dataplane traffic |
| scenarios, handover, TAU, DDN, few error scenarios, few |
| failure/restart of network functions, application filtering, |
| QoS |
| |
| ROC: |
| |
| * Functional API |
| |
| * Related Jenkins jobs |
| |
| * https://jenkins.aetherproject.org/view/ROC%20System%20Tests/ |
| |
| Documentation |
| ------------- |
| |
| Aether documentation is available at |
| `docs.aetherproject.org <http://docs.aetherproject.org>`__. |
| |
| Limitations and Known Issues |
| ---------------------------- |
| |
| * The P4 UPF does not support Slice MBR, which requires leaving out the |
| `configuration endpoint` configuration for P4 UPFs. |
| Additionally, only 1 slice can currently use a P4 UPF. The next |
| release of Aether will remove both limitations. |
| |
| * IMSIs should not be removed from Simapp. They may be added at any |
| time. |
| |
| * When running the ROC GUI in the Firefox browser, it is possible to enter |
| non-numeric characters in to numeric fields. |
| |
| * Application filtering is not available for some combinations of 5G UEs and |
| 5G gNBs. For 5G slices, it is recommended that default behavior be set to |
| ALLOW-ALL and application filtering rules not be added at this time. |
| |
| * Kubespray is no longer supported for Aether-in-a-Box deployments due to software component incompatibilities. |
| |
| * An intermittent issue was observed where a UE may not be issued an IP address.This was observed on a few |
| occasions during the 2.1 release, but root cause has been determined. It continues to be under investigation. |
| |
| Aether 2.1.0 Release |
| -------------------- |
| |
| Aether 2.1.0 is the base release of the 2.1 branch. |
| |
| Aether 2.1.0 Component Versions |
| """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""" |
| |
| ROC: |
| |
| * atomix-runtime: 0.1.9 |
| |
| * onos-operator: 0.5.6 |
| |
| * aether-roc-umbrella: 2.1.33 |
| |
| `SD-Core 1.2.1: <https://docs.sd-core.opennetworking.org/sdcore-1.2/release/1.2.html>`__ |
| |
| * sdcore-helm-chart: 0.12.5 (Umbrella Helm Chart) |
| |
| * Omec-control-plane : 0.12.0 |
| |
| * Omec-sub-provision : 0.6.0 |
| |
| * 5g-control-plane : 0.8.8 |
| |
| * 5g-ran-sim: 0.6.5 |
| |
| UPF: bess-upf: 0.1.0 |
| |
| `SD-Fabric 1.2: <https://docs.sd-fabric.org/sdfabric-1.2/release/1.2.0.html>`__ |
| |
| * sdfabric: 1.2.0 |
| |
| Hardware and Vendor Dependencies: |
| |
| * Sercomm eNB: Firmware version 3922 |
| |
| * gNB using T&W hardware with Radisys software: |
| |
| * Radisys 5G-SA RAN stack: TRILLIUM_5GNR_NXP_GNB_AIO_QCOM_SUB6_WITH_DPDK_BIN_REL_2.4.3 |
| |
| * T&W gNB: 5G Sub-6GHz Small Cell (N78, 8GB DDR, With housing), Model SDQ001-RU (N78) |
| |
| * Mobile UE for 5G testing: MOTO G 5G (2022), Google Pixel 4 |