Objective

To develop and agree the requirements of the hardware delivery validation, per the CNTT request, which may be included as part of the OVP Infrastructure testing requirements.

Notes 

There are a number of open questions that should reach community agreement BEFORE trying to reach agreement on specific tooling (basically, lets agree the WHAT before the HOW).  The following questions have inputs have been pulled from email discussions intended to drive input input this working session for Prague.  

Overall Objective:

1. Process, requirements (developed within CNTT RC), and tooling to enable automated checking of hardware and settings installed a lab that will be used for NFVI or VNF testing. 
2. First "release" is focused on "read-only" vie of the hardware / settings.  Future releases might add "read/write" configuration.

What specifically needs to be "checked" in the validation, in terms of parameters and configuration?  (RAM, Disks and Disk Sizes, CPU info, Network Interfaces, Network Connectivity, etc.)

Out of scope for HDV (possibly for Functest):

• MTU path verification

Note as per email discussion:-

“What needs to be validated",

We can share the details which p/m are validating as per  table above or any addition” 

the first goal is validation of the hardware against a bill of material or similar.  This would also check against minimums agreed / set by the CNTT, so the environment or lab can be vetted to meet the requirements for VNF certification, etc.

“How it is validated" 

We can present a small demo with our automated architecture approach”

What is the entry to the HDV (hardware delivery validation)? Is this information contained / pulled from the PDF type "file," if yes, does that "file" contain all required info? If not, then what?

• Mike:  Entry will be remote access into the host.  IPMI interface / logs used for verification.  Tool/discussion will be needed for access and automation.
• FQ: I would think the entry would be from PDF. 
• Vaibhav:  For Validation, Remote access to host will definitely be needed, but results need to be compared with the expected outcome (PDF, or a yaml contains all p/ms.
• dbalsige: The PDF/IDF information should be there before running validation. Validation would compare reality in Lab environment with PDF/IDF information. Therefore the PDF/IDF should contain all detailed information required for HDV.

When does the HDV occur, pre stack deployment, post stack deployment? How does this handle the cloud native environment (i.e. no open stack)?

• Mike:  Pre-software stack deployment.  i.e. RI Design complete (PDF) > Rack, Stack/Cabling > Network Config > “HVD” > then, passed on to software deployment team.
• FQ: Agree. HDV is before any software is deployed in the infrustructure.
• Vaibhav : Agree, it would be Pre-stack deployment to verify HDV.
• dbalsige: Agree. as early as possible. Some HDV tests (see above) will probably require booting an OS (e.g. introspection kernel + ramdisk) in my opinion. What about doing "in-between" stack validation, by either an CNTT-HDV-ramdisk before the final Operating System installation or even on the final Operating System? The PDF/IDF would also contain physical lab setup (different physical networks, underlay addressing, VLANs, NIC mappings, storage layout, etc...) but no stack specific (OpenStack or K8s) configuration. From that point on, the stack software (K8s or OpenStack) could be installed in an automated way. We would leave every option open and decouple the physical Lab properties from the stack software installation & configuration.

If the requirement is pre stack deployment, how is the validation done, i.e using the BMC interfaces?  (this will require significant hardware vendor input).

• Mike:  Yes, this Baseboard Management Controller (BMC), or Integrated Lights Out (iLO) management / NIC port, dedicated to accessing the host for remote management.
• [fq]we are using IPMI at first, and now also utilize redfish. It really requires significant hardware vendor input, and lots of adaptation effort
• Vaibhav : Our automated validation is also designed based on redfish and in my view each H/w vendors support that as well.
• dbalsige: In a perfect world the BMC approach could work. Completely depends on the H/W vendor, as mentioned above. Some HDV (e.g. basic network connectivity on all (bonded and DPDK) NICs is very hard to check from the BMC). In my opinion, booting an Operating system in some form is still the simplest approach to verify such H/W settings.

What are the required output / formats, etc.?

• Mike: Varies by test type: Either Boolean, Text, Size, Version/Value, OK (health), Serial #s, etc

Notes:

• Part of CNTT certification is checking the hardware
• What things are important to check?
• When do these things get checked (pre/post stack)?
• Potential futures:
  • Switches (check ports, vlan trunks, etc)
  • PDUs 
  • Intelligent racks
  • ...?