During the European Open Networking Summit in Antwerp, we showcased Network Service Mesh (NSM) on the Cloud Native Network Function (CNF) testbed for the first time.
In a joint presentation with CNF Testbed project lead Taylor Carpenter, Taylor and I covered how we enabled NSM, described the ongoing work project, and shared several core use cases. Taylor focused on how the testbed operates while I focused on NSM.
As you may know, the CNF testbed was initiated by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) to offer a ‘playground’ for both showcasing and experimenting with new technologies being developed to advance open source network virtualization. It is considered a major effort within the CNCF Telecom User Group and is shaping up to be of significant value for the entire networking community. NSM joins existing Testbed code and test cases offered for networked data packaged through manually-deployed Kubernetes containers (through Cloud native Network Functions) and via OpenStack-based virtual machines (through Virtual Network Functions).
NSM, meanwhile, is a CNCF sandbox project that allows you to run networking workloads for domains not covered by the Kubernetes default in a declarative, cloud native manner. Essentially, it allows you to describe how you want your virtualized networking to appear and then automatically deploys it in Kubernetes, leveraging Kubernetes’ schedule and lifecycle management mechanisms.
Enabling NSM on the CNF Testbed makes it easier for potential users to experiment with NSM as they develop new approaches to virtualized networking. It also offers sets of reproducible scripts for specific use cases that anyone can download and deploy as is, or evolve to meet their specific needs.
If you missed the presentation, check out NSM website and the CNF testbed github; let us know how we are doing and share any ideas you have for how we can help you achieve your networking goals. And of course we’re always happy to hear from anyone interested in getting involved in the project. We’re especially hoping to hear from service providers who might want to deploy NSM. Is NSM on the way to delivering what you need, and what would you like to see us do next?
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