openbaton/ase repository overview

Copyright © 2015-2016 Open Baton⁠. Licensed under Apache v2 License⁠.

⁠AutoScaling Engine

This external component provides an NFV-compliant AutoScaling Engine (ASE). In the following fundamentals are described such as installing the ASE, configuring it and how to use it such as creating AutoScaling policies.

The autoscaling-engine is implemented in java using the spring.io⁠ framework. It runs as an external component and communicates with the NFVO via Open Baton's SDK.

Additionally, the AutoScaling Engine uses the plugin mechanism to allow whatever Monitoring System you prefer. We use Zabbix⁠ as the monitoring system in the following that must be preinstalled and configured. Additional information about zabbix-plugin⁠ can be found here⁠.

Before starting this component you have to do the configuration of the AutoScaling Engine that is described in the next chapter⁠ followed by the guide of how to start⁠ and how to use⁠ it.

⁠Technical Requirements

• Preconfigured Open Baton environment (NFVO, VNFMs, VIM drivers)
• Running Zabbix server (if Zabbix is the monitoring system of choice)
• Preconfgiured and running zabbix plugin either located in the folder NFVO/plugins or autoscaling/plugins to let it start automatically; or started manually. (if Zabbix is the monitoring system of choice)

⁠How to install AutoScaling Engine

Different options are available for the installation of the AutoScaling Engine. Either you use the fully automated bootstrap where all configurations are done automatically where you can choose between the installation based on the debian package or on the source code which is suggested for development. Apart from the bootstrap you can also use the debian or the source code installation where you need to configure the AutoScaling Engine manually.

⁠Installation via bootstrap

Using the bootstrap gives a fully automated installation of this component including installation and configuration. If you use the bootstrap you should place your monitoring plugin of choice directly in the NFVO/plugins folder before starting the orchestrator to have it already available when starting the AutoScaling Engine.

The only thing to do is to execute the following command and follow the configuration process:

bash <(curl -fsSkl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/openbaton/autoscaling-engine/master/bootstrap)

Once you started the bootstrap you can choose between different options, such as installing this component via debian packages or via the source code (mainly for development)

⁠Installation via debian package

When using the debian package you need to add the apt-repository of Open Baton to your local environment with the following command if not yet done:

wget -O - http://get.openbaton.org/keys/public.gpg.key | apt-key add -
echo "deb http://get.openbaton.org/repos/apt/debian/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list

Once you added the repo to your environment you should update the list of repos by executing:

apt-get update

Now you can install the NSE by executing:

apt-get install openbaton-ase

⁠Installation from the source code

The latest stable version AutoScaling Engine can be cloned from this repository⁠ by executing the following command:

git clone https://github.com/openbaton/autoscaling.git

Once this is done, go inside the cloned folder and make use of the provided script to compile the project as done below:

./autoscaling-engine.sh compile

⁠Manual configuration of the AutoScaling Engine

This chapter describes what needs to be done before starting the AutoScaling Engine. This includes the configuration file and properties, and also how to make use of monitoring plugin.

⁠Configuration file

The configuration file must be copied to /etc/openbaton/openbaton-ase.properties by executing the following command from inside the repository folder:

cp src/main/resources/application.properties /etc/openbaton/openbaton-ase.properties

If done, check out the following chapter in order to understand the configuration parameters.

⁠Configuration properties

This chapter describes the parameters that must be considered for configuring the AutoScaling Engine.

⁠Monitoring plugin

The montoring plugin must be placed in the folder plugins. The zabbix plugin can be found here⁠ with additional information about how to use and how to compile it. If the plugin is placed in the folder mentioned before, it will be started automatically when starting the AutoScaling Engine. Additionally, you can place the plugin also in the NFVO/plugins folder to let it start automatically.

Note If the NFVO is already in charge of starting the plugin, you should avoid to start it a second time from the AutoScaling Engine. Once started it can be used by all components.

⁠Starting the AutoScaling Engine

How to start the ASE depends of the way you installed this component.

⁠Debian packages

If you installed the ASE with the debian packages you can start it with the following command:

openbaton-ase start

For stopping it you can just type:

openbaton-ase stop

⁠Source code

If you are using the source code you can start the ASE easily by using the provided script with the following command:

./autoscaling-engine.sh start

Once the AutoScaling Engine is started, you can access the screen session by executing:

screen -r openbaton

For stopping you can use:

./autoscaling-engine.sh kill

Note Since the AutoScaling Engine subscribes to specific events towards the NFVO, you should take care about that the NFVO is already running when starting the AutoScaling Engine. Otherwise the AutoScaling Engine will wait for 600 seconds for the availability of the NFVO before terminating automatically.

⁠How to use the AutoScaling Engine

This guide shows you how to make use of the AutoScaling Engine. In particular, it describes how to define AutoScaling Policies.

⁠Creating AutoScaling Policies

A AutoScaling Policy defines conditions and actions in order to allow automatic scaling at runtime. The list of AutoScalePolicies are defined at the level of the VNFD/VNFR. An example of an AutoScalePolicy can be found below followed by descriptions for each parameter.

"auto_scale_policy":[
  {
    "name":"scale-out",
    "threshold":100,
    "comparisonOperator":">=",
    "period":30,
    "cooldown":60,
    "mode":"REACTIVE",
    "type":"WEIGHTED",
    "alarms": [
      {
        "metric":"system.cpu.load[percpu,avg1]",
        "statistic":"avg",
        "comparisonOperator":">",
        "threshold":0.70,
        "weight":1
      }
    ],
    "actions": [
      {
        "type":"SCALE_OUT",
        "value":"2",
        "target":"<target>"
      }
    ]
  }
]

This AutoScalePolicy indicates an scaling-out operation of two new VNFC Instances if the averaged value of all measurement results of the metric cpu load is greater than the threshold of 0.7 (70%). This condition is checked every 30 seconds as defined via the period. Once the scaling-out is finished it starts a cooldown of 60 seconds. For this cooldown time further scaling requests are rejected by the AutoScaling Engine.

The following table describes the meanings of the parameters more in detail.

⁠Alarms

An alarm defines the conditions in order to trigger the the automatic scaling.

⁠Actions

An Action defines the operation that will be executed (if possible) when the scaling conditions are met that are defined in the Alarms.

⁠Action types

Actions types are the operations that can be executed when defined conditions are met. The following list shows which actions are supported at the moment and what they will do.

⁠Issue tracker

Issues and bug reports should be posted to the GitHub Issue Tracker of this project

⁠What is Open Baton?

Open Baton is an open source project providing a comprehensive implementation of the ETSI Management and Orchestration (MANO) specification and the TOSCA Standard.

Open Baton provides multiple mechanisms for interoperating with different VNFM vendor solutions. It has a modular architecture which can be easily extended for supporting additional use cases.

It integrates with OpenStack as standard de-facto VIM implementation, and provides a driver mechanism for supporting additional VIM types. It supports Network Service management either using the provided Generic VNFM and Juju VNFM, or integrating additional specific VNFMs. It provides several mechanisms (REST or PUB/SUB) for interoperating with external VNFMs.

It can be combined with additional components (Monitoring, Fault Management, Autoscaling, and Network Slicing Engine) for building a unique MANO comprehensive solution.

⁠Source Code and documentation

The Source Code of the other Open Baton projects can be found here⁠ and the documentation can be found here⁠

⁠News and Website

Check the Open Baton Website⁠

Follow us on Twitter @openbaton⁠

⁠Licensing and distribution

Copyright [2015-2016] Open Baton project

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");

you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0⁠

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

⁠Support

The Open Baton project provides community support through the Open Baton Public Mailing List and through StackOverflow using the tags openbaton.

⁠Supported by

• NUBOMEDIA⁠
• Mobile Cloud Networking⁠
• CogNet⁠