* for researchers to exercise their experimental research;
* for the SLICES community to build the SLICES infrastructure.
# File Structure: to be done.
# Architecture
The 5G architecture is a sophisticated and flexible framework designed to support
the diverse requirements of modern wireless communication. It is primarily divided
into two main segments: the 5G Core (5GC) and the 5G Radio Access Network (RAN).
The 5G Core is responsible for overall network control and management, handling
into two main segments: the 5G Core (5GC) and the 5G Radio Access Network (RAN).\
The **5G Core** is responsible for overall network control and management, handling
functions such as user authentication, data routing, mobility management, and service
delivery. Key components of the 5G Core include the AMF, AUSF, NRF, SMF, UDM, and UPF,
which collectively ensure seamless and secure network operations.
responsible for specific aspects of user management, authentication, data storage,
network inventory, session management, and subscription data.
AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function): Manages user equipment access and mobility within the network.
AUSF (Authentication Server Function): Handles authentication and security procedures for user devices.
Database: Stores and manages data required for network operations and user information.
NRF (Network Repository Function): Maintains an inventory of network functions and their capabilities.
SMF (Session Management Function): Manages session establishment, modification, and release for user devices.
UDM (Unified Data Management): Manages user subscription data and profiles.
UDR (Unified Data Repository): Provides a unified database for storing subscriber data and policy information.
On the other hand, the 5G RAN comprises the infrastructure that connects user devices to the 5G Core,
which collectively ensure seamless and secure network operations. It is responsible for specific aspects of user management, authentication, data storage,
network inventory, session management, and subscription data. Following is a small description of what each component does \
AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function): Manages user equipment access and mobility within the network. \
AUSF (Authentication Server Function): Handles authentication and security procedures for user devices. \
Database: Stores and manages data required for network operations and user information. \
NRF (Network Repository Function): Maintains an inventory of network functions and their capabilities. \
SMF (Session Management Function): Manages session establishment, modification, and release for user devices. \
UDM (Unified Data Management): Manages user subscription data and profiles. \
UDR (Unified Data Repository): Provides a unified database for storing subscriber data and policy information. \
On the other hand, the **5G RAN** comprises the infrastructure that connects user devices to the 5G Core,
primarily through base stations known as gNodeBs (gNBs). These gNBs manage radio
communications, including signal processing, scheduling, and handovers, ensuring efficient
and reliable connectivity. By separating the architecture into the 5G Core and 5G RAN,
the network can be more easily managed, scaled, and optimized to meet the varied needs
of different applications and services. Further information on the RAN control plane will
be added later to provide a comprehensive understanding of its specific components
and requirements.
and requirements.\
The CU encloses the higher layers that have less delay constraints than the
lower layers components that are implemented in the DU because they need to be
located close to the radio units because of short control loop. As a result,
The Central Unit (CU) encloses the higher layers that have less delay constraints than the
lower layers components that are implemented in the Distributed Unit (DU) because they need to be
located close to the radio units (short control loop). As a result,
DU are typically distributed all over the operator infrastructure, each DU being
in charge of a cell or a few cells, while the CU is located in regional
locations and in charge of multiple DU.
...
...
@@ -96,40 +95,15 @@ impact on the infrastructure hosting the RAN.
## Technologies and Tools Used
The 5G experimentations consist of three groups of components: Platform Components: Hardware and Operating System, Control Plane Components, and User Plane Components.
The 5G experimentations consist of three groups of components:
- Platform Components (Hardware and Operating System)
- Control Plane Components
- User Plane Components
#### Platform Components:
The Platform Components encompass the essential hardware and operating system requirements necessary for deploying and running 5G functions.
#### Operating system
Linux is expected to be as the operating system supporting the environment, the
following distributions are recommended (they are proved to work well in all
deployments):
* Ubuntu Jammy LTS (22.04 LTS)
* Debian bookworm (stable 12)
* RHEL 9
* Rocky Blue Onyx (9.x)
Rocky Linux is proposed here as an alternative to RHEL when the RHEL commercial
licensing is not adequate.
Given the long term vision of the SLICES project, it is better to avoid using
older version of distributions, however the following version can be used
* Ubuntu Focal LTS (20.04 LTS)
* Debian bullseye (oldstable 11)
* RHEL 8
Even though other Linux distributions could be used, our experience has shown
that CentOS, Fedora, and SUSE distributions may cause operational issues without
bringing significant advantages for the particular case of this blueprint.
To provision servers in a reproducible and automatic way, it is recommanded to
follow a *Metal-as-a-Service* (MaaS) approach. Canonical MAAS [[^maas]] in
conjuction with Packer [[^packer]] have proven to be reliable solutions but
home-made PXE based solutions are valuable too.
#### Hardware
##### Hardware
The operating system can be run directly on in-prem servers, with the following
constraints:
...
...
@@ -181,6 +155,36 @@ Google Cloud Platform (GCP) have proven to be adequate.
> compatibility with current best practices, and the absence of unadapted
> licensing or pricing.
##### Operating system
Linux is expected to be as the operating system supporting the environment, the
following distributions are recommended (they are proved to work well in all
deployments):
* Ubuntu Jammy LTS (22.04 LTS)
* Debian bookworm (stable 12)
* RHEL 9
* Rocky Blue Onyx (9.x)
Rocky Linux is proposed here as an alternative to RHEL when the RHEL commercial
licensing is not adequate.
Given the long term vision of the SLICES project, it is better to avoid using
older version of distributions, however the following version can be used
* Ubuntu Focal LTS (20.04 LTS)
* Debian bullseye (oldstable 11)
* RHEL 8
Even though other Linux distributions could be used, our experience has shown
that CentOS, Fedora, and SUSE distributions may cause operational issues without
bringing significant advantages for the particular case of this blueprint.
To provision servers in a reproducible and automatic way, it is recommanded to
follow a *Metal-as-a-Service* (MaaS) approach. Canonical MAAS [[^maas]] in
conjuction with Packer [[^packer]] have proven to be reliable solutions but
home-made PXE based solutions are valuable too.
The figure below represents a minimal cluster setup for operating this
