Home > Communication Service Provider Solutions > Converged Core > Guides > Dell Technologies 5G Core Validated Design with Oracle and VMware Reference Architecture Guide > 5GC NFs on VMware Telco Cloud Platform
The 5G Core solution is built on the cloud infrastructure that is described in Chapter 3 Cluster Design. This includes VMware Telco Cloud Platform on Dell telco-grade infrastructure. The solution leverages the Telco Cloud Automation tool that is included in the Telco Cloud Platform suite for the LCM of Oracle’s cloud-native NFs. Other Oracle tools and Rest APIs are used for configuration management, while multiple open-source observability tools are used to collect and analyze log files, metrics, and trace files. Software images and Helm charts are uploaded on a common Harbor repository.
A CNF descriptor is created through the Telco Cloud Automation UI, which provides a wizard to set inputs such as preinstallation scripts to be run, the location of the Harbor repository for Helm charts, and binary files and custom YAML files to be used for NF instantiation.
At the end of the process, a CSAR archive is created for the NF. The archive is automatically onboarded in the Telco Cloud Automation catalog and made available to be instantiated on a Kubernetes cluster through the same Telco Cloud Automation interface, as shown in the following figure:
Oracle 5G NFs provide multiple options for configuration management. All NFs provide a REST API interface to configure the services and manageable objects according to a defined interface specification. Any REST client can be used for the purpose.
Configuration tasks in each NF are managed by a dedicated microservice, which exposes an external IP address through a load balancer. The PCF also provides a UI through the same IP, which allows the same NF configuration as is available through the REST API. This UI is normally used for configuration of the PCF, which requires a large number of options and possible settings compared to other NFs.
The following figure shows the configuration options:
Use the UI to define all PCF global parameters with the same granularity as through the REST API.
From the same PCF console, you can access the Policy Design Studio application, which is used to design operator-defined policies. The Policy Design Studio enables users to build powerful logic using intuitive building blocks. Operators can use various building blocks to design logic such as conditions (for example, IF statements checking parameters in an incoming request) or actions (for example, installing a PCC rule when the condition is met). Multiple blocks can be mixed to handle common use cases conveniently.
The following figure shows the design options that are available through the PCF UI:
Another option for Oracle NF configuration is to use the Cloud Native Core Console (CNCC), a single screen for configuring and managing multiple NFs. CNCC is deployed as an additional application on the same Kubernetes cluster. It includes a UI or API portal for NF configuration, and an Identity and Access Management (CNCC IAM) module. The IAM module acts as a local identity provider and broker for external identity providers and manages required authentication and authorization procedures such as creating and assigning roles to users.
The following figure shows the Oracle CNCC Welcome page:
Currently, CNCC supports configuration of PCF, UDR, BSF, NRF, SEPP, and SCP.