VNFmanagers

VNFmanager is a conceptual or actual software component within a Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) architecture responsible for the lifecycle management of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). VNFs are software implementations of network functions that traditionally ran on dedicated hardware appliances, such as firewalls, routers, or load balancers. VNFmanagers play a crucial role in enabling the dynamic and flexible deployment, scaling, and termination of these VNFs.

The primary responsibilities of a VNFmanager typically include instantiating VNFs, which involves launching the virtual machines or containers that host the VNF software. It also handles the configuration and onboarding of VNFs, ensuring they are properly set up and integrated into the network. Furthermore, VNFmanagers are tasked with scaling VNFs, both scaling out (adding more instances) and scaling in (removing instances) based on network demand or performance metrics. They also manage the termination or deletion of VNFs when they are no longer needed.

In some NFV frameworks, the VNFmanager might interact with other components like the NFV Orchestrator (NFVO) and the Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM). The NFVO provides the overall orchestration of network services composed of multiple VNFs, while the VIM manages the underlying compute, storage, and network resources. The VNFmanager, in this context, acts as an enabler for the NFVO's directives, executing specific VNF operations on the virtualized infrastructure. The specific implementation and scope of a VNFmanager can vary depending on the NFV platform and vendor.