Microservices in Network Functions Virtualization for Telecom

Hello Folks, Welcome back to Learnizo Global. We discussed network functions virtualization (NFV) and services in our previous articles. NFV is a means of building applications and services that can be deployed with software to run on any industry-standard hardware platform, rather than relying on proprietary infrastructure solutions. In this article, we will learn what Microservices are and how they can be used to build network functions virtualization (NFV) services.

What are Microservices?

By using Microservices, Large complicated software systems can be broken down into simpler subcomponents and can be distributed across many computing servers or in the cloud.

This allows the applications to be managed and coordinated over a large virtualized infrastructure.

Microservices are modular, distributed software components that can be deployed in the cloud. Microservices develop software systems as a suite of independently deployable, small, modular services.  In a microservice architecture, each service runs a unique process and communicates through well-defined, lightweight mechanisms such as HTTP/REST and JSON.

Why Microservices in NFV?

The goals of NFV and microservices are similar. Prior to NFV, network applications and services were often deployed using specialized, proprietary hardware and software that could only work in specific installations. This was an inflexible system. NFV allows the software and services to be virtualized, or run in a cloud model, so they can be deployed in any environment with a standardized infrastructure, often referred to as NFV Infrastructure (NFVI). Microservices are also designed for cloud deployment using standard hardware and operating systems, allowing distributed applications to be installed on cloud infrastructure while ensuring maximum flexibility.

Microservices applications are often more flexible and lightweight because they can run as a collection of smaller software components that share an operating system (OS) that may be hosting other applications using the same system. This is known as OS virtualization, in which the OS is split up to run many microservices applications at once. The approach is similar to the way server virtualization breaks up a server into compartments for different users using virtual machines (VMs). However, microservices in some cases are more efficient than VMs because they can share an OS, whereas each VM requires its own OS. This means that microservices can launch applications while consuming fewer resources.

Microservices include specific approaches such as Docker and Linux containers, which have been popularized in the Linux world. All of these systems are designed to implement microservices to solve the problems of building large, complex applications operating in the cloud. For example, software development teams can focus on smaller components of the software applications by breaking them into blocks of microservices. Software platforms can also be updated more quickly because they can be updated incrementally, without reloading the entire suite of applications.

Some IT and network architects like the idea of using microservices specifically for NFV for these reasons.

DevOps and Telecom

Microservices are part of the frequently adopted set of tools known as DevOps, which aims to build a more incremental, dynamic method of building, testing, and deploying software applications. The DevOps method relies on more rapid-fire development and testing, often updating applications weekly if not daily.

DevOps and microservices got their start in the IT world, specifically for use in developing large cloud platforms. But they are not finding their way into the telecommunications market to build services using a cloud model. The most popular method for doing that in the telecom world is via NFV.

Microservices Architecture in the Telecom Cloud

Microservices architecture in the telecom cloud aims to develop and deploy applications composed of independent, autonomous, and modular pieces of code.

Rather than building software as a monolithic application, this means the application can be built as distributed application based on software components that work across the cloud.

Microservices architecture aims to take the cloud computing model into telecommunications infrastructure by building software that can run on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware to deliver virtual network functions (VNFs).

Why Microservices Architecture in the Telco Cloud?

Microservices architecture helps speeding up developing, testing, deployment, and enabling software to be fixed in real-time, rather than awaiting a longer upgrade cycle. Linux containers and Docker are specific platforms for launching microservices.

In addition, open-source initiatives are moving towards microservices and containers. The Linux Foundation hosts two groups, the Open Container Initiative, and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, to help promote the use of container technology and microservices in the telecommunications world.  Members include Amazon, AT&T, Cisco, Google, Oracle, Verizon, and VMware. Microservices are deployed using management platforms, of which Docker is a popular example, that communicates with each other using common code and application programming interfaces (APIs).

The attraction of using a microservices architecture is that applications can be tested in an iterative and distributed model, without taking applications offline. In the cloud world, large-scale applications have been developed, tested, and deployed with more agility using this distributed model. Network operators are looking to use microservices architectures to build a more agile model of software that could be used to improve customer service, boost resource utilization, and integrate with the other software and 3rd party applications.