NSP software selection

Introduction

The NSP software offerings are logically organized using the following terminology:

• software suite—defines the available software for a general network management realm such as operations, resource management, or automation

• package (base package or feature package)—a defined a set of functions within a software suite that are purchased and licensed together

• installation option—enables features within a feature package during containerized NSP installation

Planning your deployment lists the available NSP software suites, feature packages, and installation options.

NSP software suites

An NSP software suite is a grouping of feature packages that are associated with a broad aspect of network management. Feature packages other than the mandatory NSP Platform feature package are in one of the following software suites:

• Network Operations

• Resource Control

• Network Programming

NSP feature packages

The NSP functions in a software suite are organized as feature packages that are selectively available for purchase. Each feature package contains a set of related functions; for example, basic or enhanced capabilities, or management capacities related to network type or scope. You can combine multiple feature packages from different software suites in an NSP deployment.

The NSP base packages are feature packages that provide core platform functionality and management features that are common across all product suites.

Note: A feature package may require the functions of one or more other feature packages in the same software suite; however, no such dependencies exist between feature packages in separate software suites.

Note: A feature package must be purchased to receive Nokia support for the associated NSP functions.

NSP installation options

The containerized software components associated with a feature package are installed by enabling one or more installation options in the NSP configuration during system deployment. Selectively enabling installation options allows you to highly customize your NSP deployment and reduce the platform requirements of the deployment.

The NSP Installation and Upgrade Guide describes how to enable and configure installation options in a containerized NSP deployment.

Platform

The Platform feature package provides a core set of services that are used by all other feature packages, including authentication and authorization, databases, centralized logging and system health monitoring, service registration, and a message bus.

The Platform feature package includes the following installation options:

• Base Services

• Logging and Monitoring

• Pluggable Network Adaptation

• REST Event Forwarder

Base Services and Logging and Monitoring are enabled by default. Pluggable Network Adaptation and REST Event Forwarder are optional.

Two mediation types are included in the Platform feature package:

• Classic Mediation

• Model-Driven Mediation

You must select either one or both of these mediation types when using the Platform Sizing Tool.

Classic Mediation comprises the following functions:

• mediation services for SNMP-managed Nokia NEs via the Network Function Manager - Packet (NFM-P) component

• control-plane management services for network infrastructure management and service assurance functions via the Control Plane Assurance Manager, or CPAM

The Platform feature package also includes NSP Flow Collectors and NSP Flow Collector Controllers that direct the flow-collection activity. An NSP Flow Collector is a scalable component that collects AA Cflowd or System Cflowd statistics directly from NEs. The statistics records are stored in a database for reporting by NSP functions such as Analytics, or forwarded to one or more remote target servers for processing by in-house systems or third-party tools.

Base Services

Base Services is a mandatory installation option within the Platform feature package that provides the minimum level of services used by all other feature packages. The embedded services include:

• browser-based graphical UI that provides operator access to NSP functions

• user access, management, and monitoring functions

  • single sign-on user authentication for system access

  • role- and resource-based user authorization and access control

  • user activity tracking and logging

• system and operator resources

  • persistent storage using relational and graph databases

  • distributed event streaming

  • subscription-based event forwarding

  • REST/RESTCONF API gateway

  • central online help

• security functions such as TLS certificate monitoring and expiry management

Logging and Monitoring

Logging and Monitoring is an installation option of the Platform feature package that provides centralized collection and viewing of application logs for troubleshooting the NSP deployment. Logging and Monitoring also includes visualization of various NSP operational metrics using System Health.

Note: Logging and Monitoring is enabled by default. At the direction of Nokia in rare scenarios, the option may be disabled.

You can optionally enable the forwarding of NSP log entries to a Splunk or syslog server; see “Centralized logging” in the NSP Installation and Upgrade Guide for information.

Pluggable Network Adaptation

Pluggable Network Adaptation is an optional Platform installation option that provides vendor-agnostic mediation services to network devices over the following management interface types:

• NETCONF

• SNMP

• CLI

• gRPC

Mediation is managed through run-time loadable adaptors that provide backward- and forward-compatible interfaces to devices as the NSP evolves. The Pluggable Network Adaptation mediation services are provided by the NSP Model-Driven Mediation (MDM) framework, and are available to other NSP functions.

REST Event Forwarder

REST Event Forwarder is an optional Platform installation option that provides functionality to manage on-the-fly notifications coming from external controllers. Enabling this option is required for managing T-BTS via Mantaray NM without installing Simplified RAN Transport.