SMI on Bare Metal - Overview

The SMI extends the deployment of Virtual Network Functions (VNF) and Cloud-Native Network Functions (CNFs) to bare metal servers (Cisco UCS-C servers) with the current release. Also, the SMI supports vertically integrated deployment on bare metal servers.

The following are some of the significant features deploying SMI on Bare Metal servers:

  • Elimination of VIM-related overhead on Bare Metal servers

  • Zero touch deployment for both VNF and CNF based applications

  • Automated infrastructure upgrades

  • Exposed API for deployment, configuration, and management to enable automation.

  • Addresses edge deployment

    • Provides single compute user plane to run at remote sites

  • Scales out without any additional overhead

  • Ground up API (NETCONF, REST) driven design and architecture

    • All the interfaces are compliant with northbound NFVO (for instance, NSO).

  • Simplification and remote management

  • Removes shared storage from the architecture

  • Single monitoring endpoint for both server and application health

Note
The SMI has the ability to run virtual machines for legacy applications. Currently, it supports only User Plane Function (UPF). Future releases will support legacy (Cisco and partner) virtual applications.