The new release v2.1 software update to Aether, the ONF’s open source private 4G/5G connected edge platform, focused on incorporating internal modeling and scalability enhancements. The release has been primarily validated for Aether-in-a-Box (AiaB) configurations.
New Features and Enhancement Highlights
5G
SD-Core v1.2 capabilities have been added into the Aether v2.1. All new functionality in the release contributes to support of 5G network functionality which includes:
- Integration with 5G gNB small cells from Sercomm
- 5G small cells from T&W running 5G-SA RAN stack from Radisys
- 5G slices with Application filtering
- A policy framework that supports QoS at multiple levels - subscribers, applications and slices.
Configuration Model Improvement
The Configuration model of ROC has been enhanced in Aether 2.1 such that the “site”, “application”, “traffic-class”, and “template” are now at the highest level in the model. The connectivity-service 4g/5g is now an attribute of slice. These changes were made to greatly simplify the ROC API.
Configuration of the “enterprise” is handled now in onos-topo as an Entity. New enterprises can be added with the “entities.topo.onosproject.org” CRD, and will subsequently be created in onos-topo by the onos-operator.
The ROC GUI remains unchanged, as it has absorbed these model changes into its internal functions.
Configuration System Improvements
Aether’s ROC configuration system internals were redesigned and reimplemented to address various instability issues and incorporate new patterns and architectures. The controllers at the core of onos-config were redesigned in TLA+ – a machine-checked formal specification language – to develop a more stable and viable architecture long-term, and the controllers were reimplemented according to the new design. On the northbound, new gNMI extensions make onos-config’s handling of gNMI Set and Get requests configurable with support for various consistency strategies when propagating changes to gNMI targets. On the southbound, support was added for handling non-persistent targets (recovering target configuration after restarts).
Support for Complex Validation Rules
Support for complex validation rules (“guardrails”) have been added to prevent misconfiguration of the system. These guardrails are specified using Aether’s yang modeling language, allowing new rules to be modified easily as needed.
Aether Resources
- Aether Wiki - Get links to project web pages, mailing lists, slack channel, project meetings, repositories, documentation and more!
- Aether v2.1 release notes
Join Live Techinar
Join us for a live virtual techinar on February 16th at 9am PST to learn about the Aether v2.1 release from project leads and collaborators. Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask questions during the live Q&A. Click here to register.
