Home > Communication Service Provider Solutions > Converged Core > Guides > Dell Technologies 5G Core Validated Design with Oracle and VMware Reference Architecture Guide > 5G Core architecture
The 5G Core solution that Dell Technologies, VMware, and Oracle have validated is intended to simplify the deployment of a 5G core network for CSPs, offering flexible design choices and reducing the time that it takes to design, test, and integrate components from multiple partners.
The architecture includes a basic set of 5G core NFs: PCF, BSF, NRF, NSSF, and SCP. These NFs provide the policy, signaling, and routing frameworks of the 5G SBA, which means that other network functions from Oracle and other vendors can be added to support a variety of additional 5G use cases.
The 5G core NFs are deployed on a common cloud infrastructure, including a Tanzu Kubernetes cluster. A common database tier NF provides the data management layer for configuration and state data of all the NFs. Common tools are used to operate the solution.
The following figure shows the NFs that were used to validate the 5G Core solution:
In accordance with 3GPP standards, each NF exposes its functionality through a Service Based Interface (SBI), which employs a well-defined REST interface using HTTP/2. All the NFs expose their SBI interfaces on a common service network.
The NFs register their profile to the NRF, specify the services that are supported, and query the NRF to discover the NFs that are available for the service required. Also, an NF may subscribe to the NRF to be notified about status changes of other NFs.
A cURL-based tool is used to simulate other network functions that are not yet included in the solution, but are required in a complete 5G Core deployment such as AMF and SMF. The cURL simulator makes it possible to generate custom HTTP2 messages, simulating the request from an NF such as AMF or SMF according to standardized 3GPP procedures. The simulated AMF or SMF behaves as a consumer NF sending a request to a producer NF such as PCF, BSF, NSSF.
The following figure shows the logical network architecture of the 5G Core solution:
The SCP may be used to route messages between consumer and producer NFs (also known as “indirect communications”), optimizing traffic routing with additional capabilities such as load-balancing and alternate routing. This requires the consumer NF to send a request to the SCP, which then routes the request to the target NF. The SCP supports indirect communications in accordance with 3GPP Release-16 Model C and D. In Model C, the consumer NF communicates directly with the NRF to discover the target producer NFs, and then uses SCP to route the requests; in Model D, the discovery of the target is offloaded to the SCP also. Model C has been tested with all the NFs.