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Quickstart: Design a Network Service Design (NSD) for Ubuntu Virtual Machine (VM) as a Virtualized Network Function (VNF)

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This quickstart describes how to use the az aosm Azure CLI extension to create and publish a basic Network Service Design.

Prerequisites

An Azure account with an active subscription is required. If you don't have an Azure subscription, follow the instructions here Start free to create an account before you begin.

It's also assumed that you followed the prerequisites in Quickstart: Publish Ubuntu Virtual Machine (VM) as Virtual Network Function (VNF).

Create input file

Create an input file for publishing the Network Service Design. Execute the following command to generate the input configuration file for the Network Service Design (NSD).

az aosm nsd generate-config

Once you execute this command an input.json file generates.

Note

Edit the input.json file, replacing it with the values shown in the sample. Save the file as input-vnf-nsd.json.

{
    "location": "uksouth",
    "publisher_name": "ubuntu-publisher",
    "publisher_resource_group_name": "ubuntu-publisher-rg",
    "acr_artifact_store_name": "ubuntu-acr",
    "network_functions": [
        {
            "name": "ubuntu-vm-nfdg",
            "version": "1.0.0",
            "publisher_offering_location": "uksouth",
            "type": "vnf",
            "multiple_instances": false,
            "publisher": "ubuntu-publisher",
            "publisher_resource_group": "ubuntu-publisher-rg"
        }
    ],
    "nsd_name": "ubuntu-nsdg",
    "nsd_version": "1.0.0",
    "nsdv_description": "Plain ubuntu VM"
}
Variable Description
publisher_name Name of the Publisher resource you want your definition published to. Created if it doesn't exist.
publisher_resource_group_name Resource group for the Publisher resource. Created if it doesn't exist.
acr_artifact_store_name Name of the ACR Artifact Store resource. Created if it doesn't exist.
location Azure location to use when creating resources.
network-functions publisher: The name of the publisher that this NFDV is published under.
publisher_resource_group: The resource group that the publisher is hosted in.
name: The name of the existing Network Function Definition Group to deploy using this NSD.
version: The version of the existing Network Function Definition to base this NSD on. This NSD is able to deploy any NFDV with deployment parameters compatible with this version.
publisher_offering_location: The region that the NFDV is published to.
type: Type of Network Function. Valid values are cnf or vnf.
multiple_instances: Valid values are true or false. WhetherControls if the NSD should allow arbitrary numbers of this type of NF. If set to false only a single instance is allowed. Only supported on VNFs. For CNFs, set to false.
nsd_name Network Service Design Group Name. The collection of Network Service Design Versions. Created if it doesn't exist.
nsd_version Version of the NSD to be created. The format should be A.B.C.
nsdv_description Description of the NSDV.

Build the Network Service Design (NSD)

Initiate the build process for the Network Service Definition (NSD) using the following command:

az aosm nsd build -f input-vnf-nsd.json

After the build process completes, review the following generated files to gain insights into the NSD's architecture and structure.

These files are created in a subdirectory called nsd-bicep-templates:

Files Description
artifact_manifest.bicep A bicep template for creating the Publisher and artifact stores.
configMappings A directory containing files that convert the config group values inputs to the deployment parameters required for each NF.
nsd_definition.bicep A bicep template for creating the NSDV itself.
schemas A directory containing files that define to the inputs required in the config group values for this NSDV.
ubuntu-vm-nfdg_nf.bicep A bicep template for deploying the NF. Uploaded to the artifact store.

Publish the Network Service Design (NSD)

To publish the Network Service Design (NSD) and its associated artifacts, issue the following command:

az aosm nsd publish -f input-vnf-nsd.json

When the Publish process is complete navigate to your Publisher Resource Group to observe and review the resources and artifacts that were produced.

These resources are created:

Resource Name Resource Type
ubuntu-nsdg The Network Service Design.
1.0.0 (ubuntu-nsdg/1.0.0) The Network Service Design Version.
ubuntu-vm-nfdg-nf-acr-manifest-1-0-0 Publisher Artifact Manifest.
ubuntu_nsdg_ConfigGroupSchema The Configuration Group Schema.

Next steps: