# 4 Infrastructure Capabilities, Measurements and Catalogue ## Table of Contents * [4.1 Capabilities and Performance Measurements](#41-Capabilities-and-Performance-Measurements) * [4.1.1 Exposed vs Internal](#411-Exposed-vs-Internal) * [4.1.2 Exposed Infrastructure Capabilities](#412-Exposed-Infrastructure-Capabilities) * [4.1.3 Exposed Infrastructure Measurements](#413-Exposed-Infrastructure-Measurements) * [4.1.4 Internal Infrastructure Capabilities](#414-Internal-Infrastructure-Capabilities) * [4.1.5 Cloud infrastructure management Capabilities](#415-Cloud-infrastructure-management-Capabilities) * [4.1.6 Cloud infrastructure management Measurements](#416-Cloud-infrastructure-management-Measurements) * [4.1.7 Acceleration/Offload API Requirements](#417-Acceleration/Offload-API-Requirements) * [4.2 Profiles and Workload Flavours](#42-Profiles-and-Workload-Flavours) * [4.2.1 Profiles](#421-Profiles) * [4.2.2 Profile Specifications & Capabilities Mapping](#422-Profile-Specifications-&-Capabilities-Mapping) * [4.2.3 Profile Extensions](#423-Profile-Extensions) * [4.2.4 Workload Flavours and Other Capabilities Specifications](#424-Workload-Flavours-and-Other-Capabilities-Specifications) * [4.2.5 Virtual Network Interface Specifications](#425-Virtual-Network-Interface-Specifications) * [4.2.6 Storage Extensions](#426-Storage-Extensions) ## 4.1 Capabilities and Performance Measurements This section describes the Capabilities provided by the Cloud Infrastructure, and the Performance Measurements (PMs) generated by the Cloud Infrastructure (i.e., without the use of external instrumentation). The Capability and PM identifiers conform to the following schema: **a.b.c** (E.g., "e.pm.001") a = Scope <(e)xternal | (i)nternal | (t)hird_party_instrumentation> b = Type <(cap) capability | (man) management | (pm) performance | (man-pm)> c = Serial Number ### 4.1.1 Exposed vs Internal The following definitions specify the context of the Cloud Infrastructure Resources, Capabilities and Performance Measurements (PMs). **Exposed:** Refers to any object (e.g., resource discovery/configuration/consumption, platform telemetry, interface, etc.) that exists in or pertains to, the domain of the Cloud Infrastructure and is made visible (aka “Exposed”) to a workload. When an object is exposed to a given workload, the scope of visibility within a given workload is at the discretion of the workload’s designer. From an infrastructure perspective, the Infra-resident object is simply being exposed to one or more virtual environments (i.e., workloads). It is the responsibility of the kernel or supervisor/executive within the resource instance (VM or container) to control how, when and where the object is further exposed within the resource instance, with regard to permissions, security, etc. An object(s) is by definition visible within its domain of origin. **Internal:** Effectively the opposite of Exposed; objects are exclusively available for use within the Cloud Infrastructure.

Exposed vs. Internal Scope

Figure 4-1: Exposed vs. Internal Scope

As illustrated in the figure above, objects designated as "Internal" are only visible within the area inside the blue oval (the Cloud Infrastructure), and only when the entity accessing the object has the appropriate permissions. Whereas objects designated as "Exposed" are potentially visible from both the area within the green oval (the Workloads), as well as from within the Cloud Infrastructure, again provided the entity accessing the object has appropriate permissions. Note: The figure above indicates the areas from where the objects are _visible_. It is not intended to indicate where the objects are _instantiated_. For example, the virtual resources are instantiated within the Cloud Infrastructure (the blue area), but are Exposed, and therefore are _visible_ to the Workloads, within the green area. ### 4.1.2 Exposed Infrastructure Capabilities This section describes a set of exposed Cloud Infrastructure capabilities and performance measurements. These capabilities and PMs are well known to workloads as they provide capabilities which workloads rely on. > _**Note**: It is expected that Cloud Infrastructure capabilities and measurements will expand over time as more capabilities are added and technology enhances and matures._ #### 4.1.2.1 Exposed Resource Capabilities **Table 4-1** below shows resource capabilities of the Cloud Infrastructure available to workloads. | Ref | Cloud Infrastructure Capability | Unit | Definition/Notes | |-----------|----------------------------------------|--------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | e.cap.001 | # vCPU | number | Max number of vCPUs that can be assigned to a single VM or Pod 1 | | e.cap.002 | RAM Size | MB | Max memory in MB that can be assigned to a single VM or Pod by the Cloud Infrastructure 2 | | e.cap.003 | Total per-instance (ephemeral) storage | GB | Max storage in GB that can be assigned to a single VM or Pod by the Cloud Infrastructure | | e.cap.004 | # Connection points | number | Max number of connection points that can be assigned to a single VM or Pod by the Cloud Infrastructure | | e.cap.005 | Total external (persistent) storage | GB | Max storage in GB that can be attached/mounted to VM or Pod by the Cloud Infrastructure |

Table 4-1: Exposed Resource Capabilities of Cloud Infrastructure

1. In a Kubernetes based environment this means the CPU limit of a pod. 2. In a Kubernetes based environment this means the memory limit of a pod. #### 4.1.2.2 Exposed Performance Optimisation Capabilities **Table 4-2** lists performance optimisation capabilities exposed to workloads by the Cloud Infrastructure. | Ref | Cloud Infrastructure Capability | Unit | Definition/Notes | |-----------|-------------------------------------------|--------|-------------------------------------------------------------| | e.cap.006 | CPU pinning | Yes/No | Indicates if Cloud Infrastructure supports CPU pinning | | e.cap.007 | NUMA alignment | Yes/No | Indicates if Cloud Infrastructure supports NUMA alignment | | e.cap.008 | IPSec Acceleration | Yes/No | IPSec Acceleration | | e.cap.009 | Crypto Acceleration | Yes/No | Crypto Acceleration | | e.cap.010 | Transcoding Acceleration | Yes/No | Transcoding Acceleration | | e.cap.011 | Programmable Acceleration | Yes/No | Programmable Acceleration | | e.cap.012 | Enhanced Cache Management | Yes/No | If supported, L=Lean; E=Equal; X=eXpanded. L and X cache policies require CPU pinning to be active | | e.cap.013 | SR-IOV over PCI-PT | Yes/No | Traditional SR-IOV. These Capabilities generally require hardware-dependent drivers be injected into workloads | | e.cap.014 | GPU/NPU | Yes/No | Hardware coprocessor. These Capabilities generally require hardware-dependent drivers be injected into workloads | | e.cap.015 | SmartNIC | Yes/No | Network Acceleration | | e.cap.016 | FPGA/other Acceleration HW | Yes/No | These Capabilities generally require hardware-dependent drivers be injected into workloads |

Table 4-2: Exposed Performance Optimisation Capabilities of Cloud Infrastructure

Enhanced Cache Management is a compute performance enhancer that applies a cache management policy to the socket hosting a given virtual compute instance, provided the associated physical CPU microarchitecture supports it. Cache management policy can be used to specify the static allocation of cache resources to cores within a socket. The "Equal" policy distributes the available cache resources equally across all of the physical cores in the socket. The "eXpanded" policy provides additional resources to the core pinned to a workload that has the "X" attribute applied. The "Lean" attribute can be applied to workloads which do not realise significant benefit from a marginal cache size increase and are hence willing to relinquish unneeded resources. In addition to static allocation, an advanced Reference Architecture implementation can implement dynamic cache management control policies, operating with tight (~ms) or standard (10s of seconds) control loop response times, thereby achieving higher overall performance for the socket. #### 4.1.2.3 Exposed Monitoring Capabilities Monitoring capabilities are used for the passive observation of workload-specific traffic traversing the Cloud Infrastructure. As with all capabilities, Monitoring may be unavailable or intentionally disabled for security reasons in a given Cloud Infrastructure deployment. If this functionality is enabled, it must be subject to strict security policies. Refer to the Reference Model Security chapter for additional details. **Table 4-3** shows possible monitoring capabilities available from the Cloud Infrastructure for workloads. | Ref | Cloud Infrastructure Capability | Unit | Definition/Notes | |-----------|---------------------------------|--------|---------------------------------------------| | e.cap.017 | Monitoring of L2-7 data | Yes/No | Ability to monitor L2-L7 data from workload |

Table 4-3: Exposed Monitoring Capabilities of Cloud Infrastructure

### 4.1.3 Exposed Infrastructure Performance Measurements The intent of the following PMs is to be available for and well known to workloads. #### 4.1.3.1 Exposed Performance Measurements The following table of exposed Performance Measurements shows PMs per VM or Pod, vNIC or vCPU. Network test setups are aligned with ETSI GS NFV-TST 009 [14]. Specifically exposed PMs use a single workload (PVP) dataplane test setup in a single host. | Ref | Cloud Infrastructure Measurement | Unit | Definition/Notes | |----------|----------------------------------|-------|---------------------| | e.pm.xxx | Place Holder | Units | Concise description |

Table 4-4: Exposed Performance Measurements of Cloud Infrastructure

### 4.1.4 Internal Infrastructure Capabilities This section covers a list of implicit Cloud Infrastructure capabilities and measurements. These capabilities and metrics are hidden from workloads (i.e., workloads may not know about them) but they will impact the overall performance and capabilities of a given Cloud Infrastructure solution. >_**Note**: It is expected that implicit Cloud Infrastructure capabilities and metrics will evolve with time as more capabilities are added as technology enhances and matures._ #### 4.1.4.1 Internal Resource Capabilities **Table 4-5** shows resource capabilities of Cloud Infrastructure. These include capabilities offered to workloads and resources consumed internally by Cloud Infrastructure. | Ref | Cloud Infrastructure Capability | Unit | Definition/Notes | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------|------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------| | i.cap.014 | CPU cores consumed by the Cloud Infrastructure overhead on a worker (compute) node | % | The ratio of cores consumed by the Cloud Infrastructure components (including host OS) in a compute node to the total number of cores available expressed as a percentage | | i.cap.015 | Memory consumed by the Cloud Infrastructure overhead on a worker (compute) node | % | The ratio of memory consumed by the Cloud Infrastructure components (including host OS) in a worker (compute) node to the total available memory expressed as a percentage |

Table 4-5: Internal Resource Capabilities of Cloud Infrastructure

#### 4.1.4.2 Internal SLA capabilities **Table 4-6** below shows SLA (Service Level Agreement) capabilities of Cloud Infrastructure. These include Cloud Infrastructure capabilities required by workloads as well as required internal to Cloud Infrastructure. Application of these capabilities to a given workload is determined by its Cloud Infrastructure Profile. | Ref | Cloud Infrastructure capability | Unit | Definition/Notes | |-----------|----------------------|--------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | i.cap.016 | CPU allocation ratio | N:1 | Number of virtual cores per physical core; also known as CPU overbooking ratio | | i.cap.017 | Connection point QoS | Yes/No | QoS enablement of the connection point (vNIC or interface) |

Table 4-6: Internal SLA capabilities to Cloud Infrastructure

#### 4.1.4.3 Internal Performance Optimisation Capabilities **Table 4-7** below shows possible performance optimisation capabilities that can be provided by the Cloud Infrastructure. These include capabilities exposed to workloads as well as internal capabilities to Cloud Infrastructure. These capabilities will be determined by the Cloud Infrastructure Profile used by the Cloud Infrastructure. | Ref | Cloud Infrastructure capability | Unit | Definition/Notes | |-----------|---------------------------------|--------|---------------------------------------| | i.cap.018 | Huge pages | Yes/No | Indicates if the Cloud Infrastructure supports huge pages |

Table 4-7: Internal performance optimisation capabilities of Cloud Infrastructure

#### 4.1.4.4 Internal Performance Measurement Capabilities **Table 4-8** shows possible performance measurement capabilities for the Cloud Infrastructure. The availability of these capabilities will be determined by the Cloud Infrastructure Profile used by the workloads. | Ref | Cloud Infrastructure Measurement | Unit | Definition/Notes | |----------|--------------------------------------------|-------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | i.pm.001 | Host CPU usage | nanoseconds | Per Compute node. It maps to ETSI GS NFV-TST 008 V3.2.1 [5] clause 6, processor usage metric (Cloud Infrastructure internal). | | i.pm.002 | Virtual compute resource (vCPU) usage | nanoseconds | Per VM or Pod. It maps to ETSI GS NFV-IFA 027 v2.4.1 [6] Mean vCPU usage and Peak vCPU usage (Cloud Infrastructure external). | | i.pm.003 | Host CPU utilisation | % | Per Compute node. It maps to ETSI GS NFV-TST 008 V3.2.1 [5] clause 6, processor usage metric (Cloud Infrastructure internal). | | i.pm.004 | Virtual compute resource (vCPU) utilisation | % | Per VM or Pod. It maps to ETSI GS NFV-IFA 027 v2.4.1 [6] Mean vCPU usage and Peak vCPU usage (Cloud Infrastructure external). | | i.pm.005 | Measurement of external storage IOPS | Yes/No | | | i.pm.006 | Measurement of external storage throughput | Yes/No | | | i.pm.007 | Available external storage capacity | Yes/No | |

Table 4-8: Internal Measurement Capabilities of Cloud Infrastructure

### 4.1.5 Cloud Infrastructure Management Capabilities The Cloud Infrastructure Manager (CIM) is responsible for controlling and managing the Cloud Infrastructure compute, storage, and network resources. Resources are dynamically allocated based on workload requirements. This section covers the list of capabilities offered by the CIM to workloads or service orchestrator. Table 4-9 shows capabilities related to resources allocation. | Ref | Cloud Infrastructure Management Capability | Unit | Definition/Notes | |-----------|--------------------------------------------|-----------------|------------------------------------------------------------------| | e.man.001 | Virtual Compute allocation | Yes/No | Capability to allocate virtual compute resources to a workload | | e.man.002 | Virtual Storage allocation | Yes/No | Capability to allocate virtual storage resources to a workload | | e.man.003 | Virtual Networking resources allocation | Yes/No | Capability to allocate virtual networking resources to a workload | | e.man.004 | Multi-tenant isolation | Yes/No | Capability to isolate resources between tenants | | e.man.005 | Images management | Yes/No | Capability to manage workload software images | | e.man.010 | Compute Availability Zones | list of strings | The names of each Compute Availability Zone that was defined to separate failure domains | | e.man.011 | Storage Availability Zones | list of strings | The names of each Storage Availability Zone that was defined to separate failure domains |

Table 4-9: Cloud Infrastructure Management Resource Allocation Capabilities

### 4.1.6 Cloud Infrastructure Management Performance Measurements Table 4-10 shows performance measurement capabilities. | Ref | Cloud Infrastructure Management Capability | Unit | Definition/Notes | |-----------|--------------------------------------------|--------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | e.man.006 | Virtual resources inventory per tenant | Yes/No | Capability to provide information related to allocated virtualised resources per tenant | | e.man.007 | Resources Monitoring | Yes/No | Capability to notify state changes of allocated resources | | e.man.008 | Virtual resources Performance | Yes/No | Capability to collect and expose performance information on virtualised resources allocated | | e.man.009 | Virtual resources Fault information | Yes/No | Capability to collect and notify fault information on virtualised resources |

Table 4-10: Cloud Infrastructure Management Performance Measurement Capabilities

#### 4.1.6.1 Resources Management Measurements **Table 4-11** shows resource management measurements of CIM as aligned with ETSI GR NFV IFA-012 [15]. The intention of this table is to provide a list of measurements to be used in the Reference Architecture specifications, where the values allowed for these measurements in the context of a particular Reference Architecture will be defined. | Ref | Cloud Infrastructure Management Measurement | Unit | Definition/Notes | |--------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|--------|------------------| | e.man-pm.001 | Time to create Virtual Compute resources (VM/container) for a given workload | Max ms | | | e.man-pm.002 | Time to delete Virtual Compute resources (VM/container) of a given workload | Max ms | | | e.man-pm.003 | Time to start Virtual Compute resources (VM/container) of a given workload | Max ms | | | e.man-pm.004 | Time to stop Virtual Compute resources (VM/container) of a given workload | Max ms | | | e.man-pm.005 | Time to pause Virtual Compute resources (VM/container) of a given workload | Max ms | | | e.man-pm.006 | Time to create internal virtual network | Max ms | | | e.man-pm.007 | Time to delete internal virtual network | Max ms | | | e.man-pm.008 | Time to update internal virtual network | Max ms | | | e.man-pm.009 | Time to create external virtual network | Max ms | | | e.man-pm.010 | Time to delete external virtual network | Max ms | | | e.man-pm.011 | Time to update external virtual network | Max ms | | | e.man-pm.012 | Time to create external storage ready for use by workload | Max ms | |

Table 4-11: Cloud Infrastructure Resource Management Measurements

### 4.1.7 Acceleration/Offload API Requirements HW Accelerators and Offload functions with abstracted interfaces are preferred and can functionally be interchanged, but their characteristics might vary. It is also likely that the CNFs/VNFs and the Cloud Infrastructure will have certification requirements for the implementations. A SW implementation of these functions is also often needed to have the same abstracted interfaces for the deployment situations when there are no more HW Accelerator or Offload resources available. For Accelerators and Offload functions with externally exposed differences in their capabilities or management functionality these differences must be clear through the management API either explicit for the differing functions or implicit through the use of a unique APIs. Regardless of the exposed or internal capabilities and characteristics, the operators generally require a choice of implementations for Accelerators and Offload function realisation, and, thus, the need for ease of portability between implementations and vendors. The following table of requirements are derived from the VNF/CNF applications, Cloud Infrastructure and Telco Operators needs to have multiple realisations of HW Acceleration and Offload functions that can also be implemented through SW when no special hardware is available. These requirements should be adopted in Reference Architectures to ensure that the different implementations on the market are as aligned as possible in their interfaces and that HW Acceleration and Offload functions get an efficient ecosystem of accelerators that compete on their technical merits and not through obscure or proprietary interfaces. **Table 4-12** shows Acceleration/Offload API Capabilities. | Ref | Acceleration/Offload API Capability | Unit | Definition/Notes | |-----------|--------------------------------------------|--------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | e.api.001 | VNF/CNF usage of Accelerator standard i/f | Yes/No | VNF/CNF shall use abstracted standardised interfaces to the Acceleration/Offload functions. This would enable use of HW and SW implementations of the accelerated/offloaded functions from multiple vendors in the Cloud Infrastructure. | | e.api.002 | Virtualisation Infrastructure SW usage of Accelerator standard i/f | Yes/No | Virtualisation Infrastructure SW shall use abstracted standardised interfaces to the HW-Acceleration/Offload function enabling multiple HW and SW implementations in the HW Infrastructure Layer of the accelerated functions from multiple vendors. | | e.api.003 | Accelerators offering standard i/f to HW Infra Layer | Yes/No | Acceleration/Offload functions shall offer abstracted standardised interfaces for the Virtualisation Infrastructure and VNF/CNF applications. | | e.api.004 | Accelerators offering virtualised functions | Yes/No | Acceleration/Offload functions for VNFs/CNFs should be virtualised to allow multiple VNFs/CNFs to use the same Acceleration/Offload instance. | | e.api.005 | VNF/CNF Accelerator management functions access rights | Yes/No | VNF/CNF management functions shall be able to request Acceleration/Offload invocation without requiring elevated access rights. | | e.api.006 | Accelerators offering standard i/f to VNF/CNF management | Yes/No | VNF/CNF management functions should be able to request Acceleration/Offload invocation through abstracted standardised Management interfaces. | | e.api.007 | VNFs/CNFs and Virtualisation Infrastructure Accelerator portability | Yes/No | VNFs/CNFs and Virtualisation Infrastructure SW should be designed to handle multiple types of Accelerator or Offload Function realisations even when their differences are exposed to the infrastructure or applications layers. | | e.api.008 | VNFs/CNFs and Virtualisation Infrastructure Accelerator flexibility | Yes/No | VNFs/CNFs and Virtualisation Infrastructure SW shall be able to use any assigned instance and type of Accelerator or Offload Function that they are certified for. |

Table 4-12: Acceleration/Offload API Capabilities

## 4.2 Profiles and Workload Flavours Section 4.1 enumerates the different capabilities exposed by the infrastructure resources. Not every workload is sensitive to all listed capabilities of the cloud infrastructure. In Chapter 2, the analysis of the use cases led to the definition of two [profiles](./chapter02.md#241-profiles-top-level-partitions) and the need for specialisation through [profile extensions](./chapter02.md#242-profile-extensions-specialisations). Profiles and Profile Extensions are used to configure the cloud infrastructure nodes. They are also used by workloads to specify the infrastructure capabilities needed by them to run on. Workloads would specify the [flavours and additional capabilities](#424-workload-flavours-and-other-capabilities-specifications) information. In this section we will specify the capabilities and features associated with each of the defined profiles and extensions. Each Profile (for example, Figure 4-2), and each Extension associated with that profile, specifies a predefined standard set of infrastructure capabilities that workload vendors can use to build their workloads for deployment on conformant cloud infrastructure. A workload can use several profiles and associated Extensions to build its overall functionality as discussed below.

node_workload_profiles

Figure 4-2:Cloud infrastructure Profiles.

The two [profiles]( ./chapter02.md#241-node-profiles-top-level-partitions) are: Basic (B): for Workloads that can tolerate resource over-subscription and variable latency. High Performance (H): for Workloads that require predictable computing performance, high network throughput and low network latency. The availability of these two (2) profiles will facilitate and accelerate workload deployment. The intent of the above profiles is to match the cloud infrastructure to the workloads most common needs, and allow for a more comprehensive configuration using profile-extensions when needed. These profiles are offered with [extensions](#423-profile-extensions), that specify capability deviations, and allow for the specification of even more capabilities. The Cloud Infrastructure will have nodes configured as with options, such as virtual interface options, storage extensions, and acceleration extensions. The justification for defining these two profiles and a set of extensible profile-extensions was provided in Section [2.4 Profiles, Profile Extensions & Flavours](./chapter02.md#24-profiles--flavours) and includes: * Workloads can be deployed by requesting compute hosts configured as per a specific profile (Basic or High Performance) * Profile extensions allow a more granular compute host configuration for the workload (e.g., GPU, high, speed network, Edge deployment) * Cloud infrastructure "scattering" is minimised * Workload development and testing optimisation by using pre-defined and commonly supported (telco operators) profiles and extensions * Better usage of Cloud Objects (Memory; Processor; Network; Storage) Workload flavours specify the resource sizing information including network and storage (size, throughput, IOPS). Figure 4.3 shows three resources (VM or Pod) on nodes configured as per the specified profile ('B' and 'H'), and the resource sizes.

workload_design

Figure 4-3:Workloads built against Cloud Infrastructure Profiles and Workload Flavours.

A node configuration can be specified using the syntax: > \[.\][.\] where the specifications enclosed within "[" and "]" are optional, and the 'extra profile specs' are needed to capture special node configurations not accounted for by the profile and profile extensions. Examples, node configurations specified as: B, B.low-latency, H, and H.very-high-speed-network.very-low-latency-edge. A workload needs to specify the configuration and capabilities of the infrastructure that it can run on, the size of the resources it needs, and additional information (extra-specs) such as whether the workload can share core siblings (SMT thread) or not, whether it has affinity (viz., needs to be placed on the same infrastructure node) with other workloads, etc. The capabilities required by the workload can, thus, be specified as: > \[.\][.\].\[.\] where the \ are specified as defined in section [4.2.4.3 Workload Flavours and Other Capabilities Specifications Format](#4243-workload-flavours-and-other-capabilities-specifications-format) below. ### 4.2.1 Profiles #### 4.2.1.1 Basic Profile Hardware resources configured as per the Basic profile (B) such that they are only suited for workloads that tolerate variable performance, including latency, and resource over-subscription. Only Simultaneous Multi-Threading (SMT) is configured on nodes supporting the Basic profile. With no NUMA alignment, the vCPUs executing processes may not be on the same NUMA node as the memory used by these processes. When the vCPU and memory are on different NUMA nodes, memory accesses are not local to the vCPU node and thus add latency to memory accesses. The Basic profile supports over subscription (using CPU Allocation Ratio) which is specified as part of sizing information in the workload profiles. #### 4.2.1.2 High Performance Profile The high-performance profile (H) is intended to be used for workloads that require predictable performance, high network throughput requirements and/or low network latency. To satisfy predictable performance needs, NUMA alignment, CPU pinning, and huge pages are enabled. For obvious reasons, the high-performance profile doesn’t support over-subscription. ### 4.2.2 Profiles Specifications & Capability Mapping | Ref | Capability | Basic | High Performance | Notes | |-----|---------|----------|----------|--------| | e.cap.006 | CPU pinning | No | Yes | Exposed performance capabilities as per Table 4-2. | | e.cap.007 | NUMA alignment | No | Yes | | | e.cap.013 | SR-IOV over PCI-PT | No | Yes | | | i.cap.018 | Huge page support | No | Yes | Internal performance capabilities as per Table 4-7. | | e.cap.018 | Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) | Yes | Optional | | | e.cap.019 | vSwitch Optimisation (DPDK) | No | Yes| DPDK doesn't have to be used if some other network acceleration method is being utilised. | | e.cap.020 | CPU Architecture | \ | \ | Values such as x64, ARM, etc. | | e.cap.021 | Host Operating System (OS) | \ | \ | Values such as a specific Linux version, Windows version, etc. | | e.cap.022 | Virtualisation Infrastructure Layer1 | \ | \ | Values such as KVM, Hyper-V, Kubernetes, etc. when relevant, depending on technology. | | i.cap.019 | CPU Clock Speed | \ | \ | Specifies the Cloud Infrastructure CPU Clock Speed (in GHz). | | i.cap.020 | Storage encryption | Yes | Yes | Specifies whether the Cloud Infrastructure supports storage encryption. | > 1 See [Figure 5-1](./chapter05.md#51-cloud-infrastructure-software-profile-description). ### 4.2.3 Profile Extensions Profile Extensions represent small deviations from or further qualification of the profiles that do not require partitioning the infrastructure into separate pools, but that have specifications with a finer granularity of the profile. Profile Extensions provide workloads a more granular control over what infrastructure they can run on. | Profile Extension Name | Mnemonic | Applicable to Basic Profile | Applicable to High Performance Profile | Description | Notes | |----|----|----|----|----|----| | Compute Intensive High-performance CPU | compute-high-perf-cpu | ❌ | ✅ | Nodes that have predictable computing performance and higher clock speeds. | May use vanilla VIM/K8S scheduling instead. | | Storage Intensive High-performance storage | storage-high-perf | ❌ | ✅ | Nodes that have low storage latency and/or high storage IOPS. | | | Compute Intensive High memory | compute-high-memory | ❌ | ✅ | Nodes that have high amounts of RAM. | May use vanilla VIM/K8S scheduling instead. | | Compute Intensive GPU | compute-gpu | ❌ | ✅ | For Compute Intensive workloads that requires GPU compute resource on the node | May use Node Feature Discovery. | | Network Intensive | high-speed-network | ❌ | ✅ | Nodes configured to support SR-IOV. | | | Network Intensive High speed network (25G) | high-speed-network | ❌ | ✅ | Denotes the presence of network links (to the DC network) of speed of 25 Gbps or greater on the node. | | | Network Intensive Very High speed network (100G) | very-high-speed-network | ❌ | ✅ | Denotes the presence of network links (to the DC network) of speed of 100 Gbps or greater on the node. | | | Low Latency - Edge Sites | low-latency-edge | ✅ | ✅ | Labels a host/node as located in an Edge site, for workloads requiring low latency (specify value) to final users or geographical distribution. | | | Very Low Latency - Edge Sites | very-low-latency-edge | ✅ | ✅ | Labels a host/node as located in an Edge site, for workloads requiring low latency (specify value) to final users or geographical distribution. | | | Ultra Low Latency - Edge Sites | ultra-low-latency-edge | ✅ | ✅ | Labels a host/node as located in an Edge site, for workloads requiring low latency (specify value) to final users or geographical distribution. | | | Fixed function accelerator | compute-ffa | ❌ | ✅ | Labels a host/node that includes a consumable fixed function accelerator (non-programmable, e.g., Crypto, vRAN-specific adapter). | | | Firmware-programmable adapter | compute-firmware programmable | ❌ | ✅ | Labels a host/node that includes a consumable Firmware-programmable adapter (e.g., Network/storage adapter). | | | SmartNIC enabled | network-smartnic | ❌ | ✅ | Labels a host/node that includes a Programmable accelerator for vSwitch/vRouter, Network Function and/or Hardware Infrastructure. | | | SmartSwitch enabled | network-smartswitch | ❌ | ✅ | Labels a host/node that is connected to a Programmable Switch Fabric or TOR switch. | | ### 4.2.4 Workload Flavours and Other Capabilities Specifications The workload requests a set of resource capabilities needed by it, including its components, to run successfully. The GSMA document OPG.02 "Operator Platform Technical Requirements" [34] defines "Resource Flavour" as this set of capabilities. A Resource Flavour specifies the resource profile, any profile extensions, and the size of the resources needed (workload flavour), and extra specifications for workload placement; as defined in [Section 4.2 Profiles and Workload Flavours](#42-profiles-and-workload-flavours) above. This section provides details of the capabilities that need to be provided in a resource request. The [profiles](#421-profiles), the [profile specifications](#422-profiles-specifications--capability-mapping) and the [profile extensions](#423-profile-extensions) specify the infrastructure (hardware and software) configuration. In a resource request they need to be augmented with workload specific capabilities and configurations, including the [sizing of requested resource](#4241-workload-flavours-geometry-sizing), extra specifications including those related to the placement of the workload [section 4.2.4.2](#4242-workloads-extra-capabilities-specifications), virtual network [section 4.2.5](#425-virtual-network-interface-specifications) and storage extensions [section 4.2.6](#426-storage-extensions). #### 4.2.4.1 Workload Flavours Geometry (Sizing) Workload Flavours (sometimes also referred to as “compute flavours”) are sizing specifications beyond the capabilities specified by node profiles. Workload flavours represent the compute, memory, storage, and network resource sizing templates used in requesting resources on a host that is conformant with the profiles and profile extensions. The workload flavour specifies the requested resource’s (VM, container) compute, memory and storage characteristics. Workload Flavours can also specify different storage resources such as ephemeral storage, swap disk, network speed, and storage IOPs. Workload Flavour sizing consists of the following: | Element | Mnemonic | Description | |-----|----|-----| | cpu | c | Number of virtual compute resources (vCPUs). | | memory | r | Virtual resource instance memory in megabytes. | | storage - ephemeral | e | Specifies the size of an ephemeral/local data disk that exists only for the life of the instance. Default value is 0.
The ephemeral disk may be partitioned into boot (base image) and swap space disks. | | storage - persistent | d | Specifies the disk size of persistent storage. |

Table 4-12: Workload Flavour Geometry Specification.

The flavours syntax consists of specifying using the pairs separated by a colon (“:”). For example, the flavour specification: {cpu: 4; memory: 8 Gi; storage-permanent: 80Gi}. #### 4.2.4.2 Workloads Extra Capabilities Specifications In addition to the sizing information, a workload may need to specify additional capabilities. These include capabilities for workload placement such as latency, workload affinity and non-affinity. It also includes capabilities such as workload placement on multiple NUMA nodes. The extra specifications also include the [Virtual Network Interface Specifications](#425-virtual-network-interface-specifications) and [Storage Extensions](#426-storage-extensions). | Attribute | Description | |----------|---------------------------| | CPU Allocation Ratio | Specifies the maximum CPU allocation (a.k.a. oversubscription) ratio supported by a workload. | | Compute Intensive | For very demanding workloads with stringent memory access requirements, where the single NUMA bandwidth maybe a limitation. The Compute Intensive workload profile is used so that the workload can be spread across all NUMA nodes. | | Latency | Specifies latency requirements used for locating workloads. | | Affinity| Specifies workloads that should be hosted on the same computer node. | | Non-Affinity | Specifies workloads that should not be hosted on the same computer node. | | Dedicated cores | Specifies whether or not the workload can share sibling threads with other workloads. Default is No such that it allows different workloads on different threads. | | Network Interface Option | See [Section 4.2.5](#425-virtual-network-interface-specifications). | | Storage Extension | See [Section 4.2.6](#426-storage-extensions). | #### 4.2.4.3 Workload Flavours and Other Capabilities Specifications Format The complete list of specifications needed to be specified by workloads is shown in the Table 4-13 below. | Attribute | Mnemonic | Applicable to Basic Profile | Applicable to High Performance Profile | Description | Notes | |----------|------|------|------------|--------------|-------------| | CPU | c | ✅ | ✅ | Number of virtual compute resources (vCPUs). | Required | | memory | r | ✅ | ✅ | Virtual resource instance memory in megabytes. | Required | | storage - ephemeral | e | ✅ | ✅ | Specifies the size of an ephemeral/local data disk that exists only for the life of the instance. Default value is 0.
The ephemeral disk may be partitioned into boot (base image) and swap space disks. | Optional | | storage - persistent | d | ✅ | ✅ | Specifies the disk size of persistent storage. | Required | | storage - root disk | b | ✅ | ✅ | Specifies the disk size of the root disk. | Optional | | CPU Allocation Ratio | o | ✅ | ❌ | Specifies the CPU allocation (a.k.a. oversubscription) ratio. Can only be specified for Basic Profile. For workloads that utilise nodes configured as per High Performance Profile, the CPU Allocation Ratio is 1:1. | Required for Basic profile | | Compute Intensive | ci | ❌ | ✅ | For very demanding workloads with stringent memory access requirements, where the single NUMA bandwidth maybe a bandwidth. The Compute Intensive workload profile is used so that the workload can be spread across all NUMA nodes. | Optional | | Latency | l | ✅ | ✅ | Specifies latency requirements used for locating workloads. | Optional | | Affinity| af | ✅ | ✅ | Specifies workloads that should be hosted on the same computer node. | Optional | | Non-Affinity | naf | ✅ | ✅ | Specifies workloads that should not be hosted on the same computer node. | Optional | | Dedicate cores | dc | ❌ | ✅ | Specifies whether or not the workload can share sibling threads with other workloads. Default is No such that it allows different workloads on different threads. | Optional | | Network Interface Option | n | ✅ | ✅ | See [below](#425-virtual-network-interface-specifications). | Optional | | Storage Extension | s | ✅ | ✅ | See [below](#426-storage-extensions). | Optional | | Profile Name | pn | ✅ | ✅ | Specifies the profile "B" or "H". | Required | | Profile Extension | pe | ❌ | ✅ | Specifies the [profile extensions](#423-profile-extensions). | Optional | | Profile Extra Specs | pes | ❌ | ✅ | Specifies special node configurations not accounted for by the profile and profile extensions. | Optional | Table 4-13: Resource Flavours (complete list of Workload Capabilities) Specifications ### 4.2.5 Virtual Network Interface Specifications The virtual network interface specifications extend a Flavour customisation with network interface(s), with an associated bandwidth, and are identified by the literal, “n”, followed by the interface bandwidth (in Gbps). Multiple network interfaces can be specified by repeating the “n” option. Virtual interfaces may be of an Access type, and thereby untagged, or may be of a Trunk type, with one or more 802.1Q tagged logical interfaces. Note, tagged interfaces are encapsulated by the Overlay, such that tenant isolation (i.e., security) is maintained, irrespective of the tag value(s) applied by the workload. Note, the number of virtual network interfaces, aka vNICs, associated with a virtual compute instance, is directly related to the number of vNIC extensions declared for the environment. The vNIC extension is not part of the base Flavour. ``` :: <”n”> ``` | Virtual Network Interface Option | Interface Bandwidth | |------------------------------------|-----------------------------------| | n1, n2, n3, n4, n5, n6 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Gbps | | n10, n20, n30, n40, n50, n60 | 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 Gbps | | n25, n50, n75, n100, n125, n150 | 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150 Gbps | | n50, n100, n150, n200, n250, n300 | 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300 Gbps | | n100, n200, n300, n400, n500, n600 | 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 Gbps |

Table 4-14: Virtual Network Interface Specification Examples

### 4.2.6 Storage Extensions Persistent storage is associated with workloads via Storage Extensions. The storage qualities specified by the Storage Extension pertain to "Platform Native - Hypervisor Attached" and "Platform Native - Container Persistent" storage types (as defined in section "3.6.3 Storage for Tenant Consumption"). The size of an extension can be specified explicitly in increments of 100GB (Table 4-15), ranging from a minimum of 100GB to a maximum of 16TB. Extensions are configured with the required performance category, as per Table 4-15. Multiple persistent Storage Extensions can be attached to virtual compute instances. >_*Note:*_ This specification uses GB and GiB to refer to a Gibibyte (230 bytes), except where explicitly stated otherwise. | .conf | Read IO/s | Write IO/s | Read Throughput (MB/s) | Write Throughput (MB/s) | Max Ext Size | |---------|------------|------------|------------------------|-------------------------|--------------| | .bronze | Up to 3K | Up to 1.5K | Up to 180 | Up to 120 | 16TB | | .silver | Up to 60K | Up to 30K | Up to 1200 | Up to 400 | 1TB | | .gold | Up to 680K | Up to 360K | Up to 2650 | Up to 1400 | 1TB |

Table 4-15: Storage Extensions

>_*Note:*_ Performance is based on a block size of 256KB or larger.