T-NOVA : An open-source MANO stack for NFV infrastructures

One of the primary challenges associated with network functions virtualization (NFV) is the automated management of the service lifecycle. In this paper, we present a full software-based management and orchestration (MANO) stack which operates with OpenStack and OpenDaylight controllers and has the in-built functionality to automate the key phases of the NFV service lifecycle, namely resource discovery and matching, service mapping, service deployment, and monitoring. The MANO stack is being implemented by the EU FP7 project T-NOVA, with the components being released as open-source software. Service mapping and service deployment solutions developed in the scope of T-NOVA are presented in detail. As a proof-of-concept, we evaluate the performance of a virtualized traffic classifier network function, demonstrating the gains of virtualized hardware acceleration.