The NSD information element is a deployment template whose instances are used by the NFVO for the lifecycle management of NSs. For all attributes in this class, the Producer is SDC and the Consumer is SDC/UUI/VFC Identifier of this NSD class. It globally uniquely identifies an instance of the NSD Identifies the designer of the NSD. Identifies the version of the NSD. Provides the human readable name of the NSD. Identifies an NSD in a version independent manner. This attribute is invariant across versions of NSD. References the NSD of a constituent nested NS. At least one between nestedNsd and vnfdId attributes shall be present. References the VNFD of a constituent VNF. References the PNFD of a constituent PNF. Provides the descriptor of a service access point of the network service. Provides the constituent VLDs. Cardinality of 0 means that the NS is a NF set with unspecified connectivity. Provides the descriptors of the applicable forwarding graphs. Specifies a rule to trigger a scaling action on a NS instantiated according to the NSD. NOTE 1: The rule is based on a combination of assertions on the values of virtualised resource-related performance metrics and VNF Indicators identified by the monitoredInfo attribute. NOTE 2: There may be multiple data sources (each identified as monitoredInfo) per rule Provides a life cycle management script written in a Domain Specific Language (DSL). Specifies a DF within the scope of an NSD. Provides a signature to prevent tampering. The NsVirtualLinkDesc class provides general information enabling the instantiation of virtual links. For all attributes in this class the Producer is SDC and the Consumer is SDC/UUI/VFC. Identifier of the NsVirtualLinkDesc information element. It uniquely identifies a VLD. The ConnectivityType information element specifies the protocol exposed by a VL and the flow pattern supported by the VL. Specifies properties for instantiating a VL according to a specific flavour. Specifies test access facilities expected on the VL (e.g. none, passive monitoring, or active (intrusive) loopbacks at endpoints). Provides human-readable information on the purpose of the virtual link (e.g. VL for control plane traffic). The NsDf class specifies the properties of a variant of an NS. NOTE: Every VNF, VL and nested NS whose descriptor is referenced by the NS DF shall be involved in an NS instantiation level of the parent NS. If no instances of a given VNF/nested NS have to be deployed at NS instantiation time, the numberOfInstances attribute in the corresponding VnfToLevelMapping/NsToLevelMapping datatype shall be set to 0. Identifies this NsDf class. It identifies a NS DF within the NSD. Assurance parameter against which this flavour is being described. The key can be a combination of multiple assurance parameters with a logical relationship between them. The parameters should be present as a monitoredInfo attribute in the NSD. VNF profile to be used for the NS flavour. PNF profile to be used for the NS flavour. VL profile to be used for the NS flavour. The scaling aspects supported by this DF of the NS. Specifies affinity or anti-affinity relationship applicable between the VNF instances created using different VNFDs, the Virtual Link instances created using different NsVirtualLinkDescs or the nested NS instances created using different NSDs in the same affinity or anti-affinity group. Describes the details of an NS level. NOTE: Every VNF, VL and nested NS whose descriptor is referenced by the NS DF shall be involved in an NS instantiation level of the parent NS. If no instances of a given VNF/nested NS have to be deployed at NS instantiation time, the numberOfInstances attribute in the corresponding VnfToLevelMapping/NsToLevelMapping datatype shall be set to 0. Additional parameters for NS Lifecycle Management operations. Specifies a NS Profile supported by this NS DF. Specifies the order in which instances of the VNFs and/or nested NSs have to be created. Identifies either a virtualised resource-related performance metric or a VNF Indicator. Specifies the priority for the NS instance. If present, specifies the service availability level for the NS instance created from this DF. The VnfProfile class specifies a profile for instantiating VNFs of a particular NS DF according to a specific VNFD and VNF DF. Identifier of this vnfProfile class. It uniquely identifies a VnfProfile. Reference to the VNFD. Identifies a flavour within the VNFD. Identifier of the instantiation level of the VNF DF to be used for instantiation. If not present, the default instantiation level as declared in the VNFD shall be used. Minimum number of instances of the VNF based on this VNFD that is permitted to exist for this VnfProfile. Maximum number of instances of the VNF based on this VNFD that is permitted to exist for this VnfProfile. Specifies affinity and anti-affinity rules applicable between VNF instances created from this profile. Identifier(s) of the affinity or anti-affinity group(s) the VnfProfile belongs to. NOTE: Each identifier references an affinity or anti-affinity group which expresses affinity or anti-affinity relationships between the VNF instance(s) created using this VnfProfile and the VNF instance(s) created using other VnfProfile(s) in the same group. Defines the connection information of the VNF, it contains connection relationship between a VNF connection point and a NS virtual Link. If present, specifies the service availability level for the VNF instance created from this profile. The PnfProfile class describes additional data for a given PNF instance used in a DF. Identifier of this PnfProfile class. It uniquely identifies a PnfProfile. References a PNFD. Defines the connection information of the PNF, it contains connection relationship between a PNF connection point and a NS virtual Link. The VirtualLinkProfile class specifies a profile for instantiating VLs of a particular NS DF according to a specific VLD and VL DF. Uniquely identifies this VirtualLinkProfile class. Uniquely references a VLD. Identifies a flavour within the VLD. Specifies affinity and anti-affinity rules applicable between VLs instantiated from the referenced VLD. Identifies an affinity or anti-affinity group the VLs instantiated according to the VlProfile belong to. NOTE : Each identifier references an affinity or anti-affinity group which expresses affinity or anti-affinity relationship between the VL(s) using this VirtualLinkProfile and the VL(s) using other VirtualLinkProfile(s) in the same group. Specifies the maximum bitrate requirements for a VL instantiated according to this profile. NOTE: These attributes are used to control scaling boundaries. Specifies the minimum bitrate requirements for a VL instantiated according to this profile. NOTE: These attributes are used to control scaling boundaries. The NsScalingAspect class describes the details of an NS scaling aspect. An NS scaling aspect is an abstraction representing a particular "dimension" or "property" along which a given NS can be scaled. Defining NS levels, in this context also known as NS scale levels, within an NS scaling aspect allows to scale NS instances "by steps", i.e. to increase/decrease their capacity in a discrete manner moving from one NS scale level to another. Scaling by a single step does not imply that exactly one instance of each entity involved in the NS scale level is created or removed. Identifier of this NsScalingAspect class. It Uniquely identifies the NS scaling aspect in an NSD. Provides a human readable name of the NS scaling aspect. Provides a human readable description of the NS scaling aspect. Describes the details of an NS level. NOTE: Only a subset of the VNFs, VLs and nested NSs whose descriptor is referenced by the NS DF may be involved in an NS scale level of the parent NS. The NsLevel class describes the details of an NS level. An NS level consists of a list of involved entities, i.e. VNFs, VLs and/or nested NSs. For each involved VNF/nested NS, the number of instances required by the NS level is specified. For each involved VL, the bitrate requirements corresponding to the NS level are specified. NS levels shall be used in the context of NS instantiation and in this case they are referred to as NS instantiation levels. Every VNF, VL and nested NS whose descriptor is referenced by the NS DF shall be involved in an NS instantiation level of the parent NS. If no instances of a given VNF/nested NS have to be deployed at NS instantiation time, the numberOfInstances attribute in the corresponding VnfToLevelMapping/NsToLevelMapping datatype shall be set to 0. NS levels may be used in the context of NS scaling and in this case they are referred to as NS scale levels. Only a subset of the VNFs, VLs and nested NSs whose descriptor is referenced by the NS DF may be involved in an NS scale level of the parent NS. Identifier of this NsLevel class. It uniquely identifies an NS level within the DF. Human readable description of the NS level. Specifies the profile of the VNFs involved in this NS level and, for each of them, the required number of instances. Specifies the profile of the VLs involved in this NS level and, for each of them, the needed bandwidth. Specifies the profile of the nested NSs involved in this NS level and, for each of them, the required number of instances. The NsProfile class specifies the profile to be used for a nested NS. Identifies an NS profile. Identifies the NSD applicable to NS instantiated according to this profile. Identifies the applicable NS DF within the scope of the NSD. Identifies the NS level within the referenced NS DF to be used in the context of the parent NS instantiation. If not present, the default NS instantiation level as declared in the referenced NSD shall be used. Minimum number of nested NS instances based on the referenced NSD that is permitted to exist for this NsProfile. Maximum number of nested NS instances based on the referenced NSD that is permitted to exist for this NsProfile. Identifies an affinity or anti-affinity group the NSs created according to this NsProfile belong to. Defines the connection information of the NS, it contains connection relationship between an NS SAP and a NS virtual Link of the composite NS. The SAPD class specifies the information used to instantiate the service access points of an NS. A Sapd inherits from the Cpd class. All attributes of the Cpd are also attributes of the Sapd. References the descriptor of VNF external connection points or the descriptor of PNF external connection points or the descriptor of the SAP of a nested NS of this NS, which the SAPs instantiated from this SAPD are mapped to. References the descriptor of the NS VL instance to which the SAP instantiated from this SAPD connects to. The Vnffgd information element specifies a topology of connectivity of a NS and optionally forwarding rules applicable to the traffic conveyed over this topology. Identifier of this Vnffgd information element. It uniquely identifies a VNFFGD. References the VnfProfile of a constituent VNF. NOTE 1: The list of constituent VNFs, PNFs, and nested NS SAPs of a VNFFG can be identical to the list of constituent VNFs, PNFs and nested NSs of the parent NSD, or can be a subset of it. NOTE 2: The presence of a VNFD or PNFD identifier in a VNFFGD does not imply that all connection points instantiated from all embedded CPDs are connected to the VNFFG instantiated using the VNFFGD. References the pnfProfile of a constituent PNF. NOTE 1: The list of constituent VNFs, PNFs, and nested NS SAPs of a VNFFG can be identical to the list of constituent VNFs, PNFs and nested NSs of the parent NSD, or can be a subset of it. NOTE 2: The presence of a VNFD or PNFD identifier in a VNFFGD does not imply that all connection points instantiated from all embedded CPDs are connected to the VNFFG instantiated using the VNFFGD. References the nsProfile of a constituent NS. NOTE 1: The list of constituent VNFs, PNFs, and nested NS SAPs of a VNFFG can be identical to the list of constituent VNFs, PNFs and nested NSs of the parent NSD, or can be a subset of it. NOTE 2: The presence of a VNFD or PNFD identifier in a VNFFGD does not imply that all connection points instantiated from all embedded CPDs are connected to the VNFFG instantiated using the VNFFGD. References the virtualLinkProfile of a constituent VL. NOTE 1: The list of constituent VNFs, PNFs, and nested NS SAPs of a VNFFG can be identical to the list of constituent VNFs, PNFs and nested NSs of the parent NSD, or can be a subset of it. NOTE 2: The presence of a VNFD or PNFD identifier in a VNFFGD does not imply that all connection points instantiated from all embedded CPDs are connected to the VNFFG instantiated using the VNFFGD. NfpPositionElement associated with one of the constituent VNF Profile, PNF Profile or NS Profile of a nested NS. The network forwarding path associated to the VNFFG. The SecurityParameters information element contains the signature of an NSD instance together with information required to validate the signature. Provides the signature of the signed part of the descriptor. Specifies the algorithm used to compute the signature. Provides a certificate or a reference to a certificate to validate the signature. The Nfpd class associates traffic flow criteria to a list of descriptors associated to the connection points and service access points to be visited by traffic flows matching these criteria. Identifies this nfpd class within a VNFFGD. Provides an NFP classification and selection rule. The rule may be expressed as a criteria constructed out of atomic assertions linked by Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT. NOTE: Examples of atomic assertions are assertions on packet header fields’ values, date and time ranges, etc. References the descriptor of a connection point to be traversed by the traffic flows matching the criteria. This shall be a connection point attached to one of the constituent VNFs and PNFs of the parent VNFFG, or a SAP of one of the constituent nested NSs of the parent VNFFG. NOTE: When multiple values are provided, the order is significant and specifies the sequence of connection points to be traversed. The VnfIndicatorData information element identifies a VNF indicator in a VNFD. Identifies a VNFD. Identifies a VNF indicator within the VNFD. The MonitoringParameter information element specifies a virtualised resource related performance metric to be monitored. Unique identifier of this monitoring parameter information element. Human readable name of the monitoring parameter. Defines the virtualised resource-related performance metric. NOTE: The NFVO collects the performance reports corresponding to metric defined in this attribute from the VIMs and VNFMs using one or more PM Jobs. An attribute that describes the periodicity at which to collect the performance information. This information element is a container for all additional parameters that affect the invocation of NS Lifecycle Management operations, structured by operation. Additional parameters for the Instantiate NS operation. Additional parameters for the Scale NS operation. Additional parameters for the Heal NS operation. This information element defines attributes that represent additional parameters for invocation of the Instantiate Ns operation. Array of KVP requirements for additional parameters of NS to be passed when invoking the Instantiate Ns operation. This information element defines attributes that represent additional parameters for invocation of the Scale Ns operation. Array of KVP requirements for additional parameters of NS to be passed when invoking the Instantiate Ns operation. This information element defines attributes that represent additional parameters for invocation of the Heal Ns operation. Array of KVP requirements for additional parameters of NS to be passed when invoking the Instantiate Ns operation. The CpdInConstituentElement information element enables identifying a CPD or SAPD in the context of an NS constituent. References the profile of an NS constituent. References the VNF external CPD for a given VnfProfile, or the PNF external CPD for a given PnfProfile, or a NS SAPD for a given NsProfile identified by the constituentBaseElementId. The Dependencies information element provides indications on the order in which VNFs associated to different VNF Profiles and/or nested NSs associated to different NS Profiles are to be instantiated. References a VnfProfile or NsProfile. NOTE: NFV Management and Orchestration functions shall instantiate VNFs from the VnfProfile and/or nested NSs from the NsProfile referenced in the primary attribute before instantiating VNFs from the VnfProfile and/or nested NSs from the NsProfile referenced in the secondary attribute. References a VnfProfile or NsProfile. NOTE: NFV Management and Orchestration functions shall instantiate VNFs from the VnfProfile and/or nested NSs from the NsProfile referenced in the primary attribute before instantiating VNFs from the VnfProfile and/or nested NSs from the NsProfile referenced in the secondary attribute This class provides run-time information about an NS VL instance. Virtualised network resource(s) realizing this VL. Respresents the port of a NS VL. A composition of Network Functions and defined by its functional and behavioural specification. NOTE: The Network Service (NS) contributes to the behaviour of the higher layer service, which is characterized by at least performance, dependability, and security specifications. The end-to-end network service behaviour is the result of the combination of the individual network function behaviours as well as the behaviours of the network infrastructure composition mechanism. Identifier of this NetworkService, identifying the NS instance. Human readable name of the NS instance. Human readable description of the NS instance Reference to consistituent VNFs and PNFs on this NS. NOTE: Cardinality of zero is only valid for a non-instantiated NS. Information on the VLs of this NS. NOTE: Cardinality of zero is only valid for a non-instantiated NS. Information on the SAPs of this NS. Reference to information on nested NSs of this NS. Information on the VNFFGs of this NS. Provides information on a Service Access Point (SAP) of a NS The LifeCycleManagementScript information element specifies a script for the NS. Describes NS lifecycle event(s) or an external stimulus detected on an NFVO reference point. NOTE 1: A minimum set of NS lifecycle events triggered internally by the NFVO includes: start instantiation, end instantiation, start scaling, end scaling, start healing, end healing, start termination, end termination, start update, end update. NOTE 2: A minimum set of external stimulus includes: the receipt of request message of instantiation, scaling, healing, termination, update of NS. Includes an NS LCM script (e.g., written in a DSL) triggered to react to one of the events listed in the event attribute. The VirtualLinkDf datatype specifies properties for instantiating a VL according to a specific flavour. Identifies this VirtualLinkDF datatype within a VLD. Specifies quality of service parameters applicable to a VL. Specifies one of the three levels defined in ETSI GS NFV-REL 001: • Level 1 • Level 2 • Level 3 The NsQoS datatype specifies quality of service parameters applicable to a NS VL. Specifies the maximum latency in ms. Specifies the maximum jitter in ms. Specifies the maximum packet loss ratio. Specifies the priority level in case of congestion on the underlying physical links. The MonitoredData datatype identifies information to be monitored during the lifetime of a network service instance. NOTE: One and only one of the attributes shall be included (i.e. there is a XOR relationship between the attributes). Provides information on a VNF Indicator to be monitored. Specifies the virtualised resource related performance metric to be monitored on an NS level or VNF level. The VnfToLevelMapping datatype specifies the profile to be used for a VNF involved in a given NS level and the required number of instances. Identifies the profile to be used for a VNF involved in an NS level. Specifies the number of VNF instances required for an NS level. NOTE 1: It shall be in the range of minNumberOfInstances-maxNumberOfInstances, as specified in the referenced VnfProfile. NOTE 2: When the corresponding NS level is used in the context of NS instantiation, the numberOfInstances attribute specifies the number of VNF instances to be deployed. NOTE 3: When the corresponding NS level is used in the context of NS scaling, the numberOfInstances attribute does not specify the number of VNF instances to be added/removed when reaching that NS scale level. The actual number of VNF instances to be added/removed can be derived by subtracting the numberOfInstances declared in the source NS scale level from the numberOfInstances declared in the target NS level of the scaling request. The NsToLevelMapping datatype specifies the profile to be used for a nested NS involved in a given NS level and the required number of instances. Identifies the profile to be used for a nested NS involved in the NS level. Specifies the number of nested NS instances required for the NS scale level. NOTE 1: It shall be in the range of minNumberOfInstances-maxNumberOfInstances, as specified in the referenced NsProfile. NOTE 2: When the corresponding NS level is used in the context of NS instantiation, the numberOfInstances attribute specifies the number of nested NS instances to be deployed. NOTE 3: When the corresponding NS level is used in the context of NS scaling, the numberOfInstances attribute does not specify the number of nested NS instances to be added/removed when reaching that NS scale level. The actual number of nested NS instances to be added/removed can be derived by subtracting the numberOfInstances declared in the source NS scale level from the numberOfInstances declared in the target NS level of the scaling request. The VirtualLinkToLevelMapping datatype specifies the profile to be used for a VL involved in a given NS level and bitrate requirements. Identifies the profile to be used for a VL involved in an NS level. Specifies the bit rate requirements for the NS level. NOTE: It shall be in the range of minBitrateRequirements - maxBitrateRequirements, as specified in the referenced VirtualLinkProfile. The NsVirtuallLinkConnectivity datatype describes connection information between a connection point and a NS virtual Link. Reference an NS VL profile. References the descriptor of a connection point on a VNF/PNF or a SAP which connects to virtual links instantiated from the profile identified in the virtualLinkProfileId attribute. The NfpPositionElement information element references one or two CPD(s) or SAPD(s) for a given VnfProfile, PnfProfile or NsProfile. The usage of profiles enables differentiating the CPDs or SAPDs specified in the same VNFD/PNFD/NSD that are applicable to different VNF/PNF/NS instances derived from the same VNFD/PNFD/NSD. Identifier of this NfpPositionElement information element. It uniquely identifies an NfpPositionElemen. Specifies a CPD or SAPD in the context of a profile of an NS constituent element When only one value is provided, the ingress and egress traffic is associated to a single CPD or SAPD. When two values are provided, the ingress CP/SAP is associated to the first value and the egress CP/SAP is associated to the second value The NfpPositionDesc information element references one or more CPDs or SAPDs and provides rules on how to route traffic flows among CP or SAP instances instantiated from these descriptors. Identifier of this NfpPositionDesc element. References one or a pair of CPDs or SAPDs Specifies a rule to apply to forward traffic to CP or SAP instances corresponding to the referenced CPD(s) and SAPD(s). The minimum list of rules to be supported shall include: • ALL = Traffic flows shall be forwarded simultaneously to all CP or SAP instances created from the referenced CP profile(s). • LB = Traffic flows shall be forwarded to one CP or SAP instance created from the referenced CP profile(s) selected based on a load-balancing algorithm. Provides input parameters to configure the forwarding behaviour (e.g. identifies a load balancing algorithm). Specifies the protocols that the VL uses (Ethernet, MPLS, ODU2, IPV4, IPV6, Pseudo-Wire). Specifies the flow pattern of the connectivity (Line, Tree, Mesh, etc.).