About NFVIS

Cisco NFVIS

Cisco Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure Software (Cisco NFVIS) is a Linux-KVM based infrastructure software that

  • helps service providers and enterprises design, deploy and manage network services, and

  • dynamically deploys virtualized network functions on supported Cisco devices.

Benefits of Cisco NFVIS

The Cisco NFVIS platform provides several key benefits for network function virtualization and service deployment.

  • Consolidates multiple physical network appliances into a single server running multiple VMs.

  • Deploys services quickly and in a timely manner.

  • VM life cycle management and provisioning.

  • Life cycle management to deploy and chain VMs dynamically on the platform.

  • Programmable APIs configured through Netconf interface, REST APIs and command-line interface as all the configurations are exposed through YANG models.

Supported hardware platforms

This reference provides information about the hardware platforms supported by Cisco NFVIS, specifically focusing on Cisco UCS Rack Servers across different generations.

Table 1. Supported PIDs

Server Model

Minimum Supported Release

Supported PIDs

Cisco UCS C M6 Rack Server

Cisco NFVIS Release 4.18.2a

  • BE6K-M6-XU

  • BE6K-M6-K9

  • BE7M-M6-K9

  • BE7M-M6-XU

  • BE7H-M6-K9

  • BE7H-M6-XU

Cisco UCS C M5 Rack Server

Cisco NFVIS Release 4.18.2a

  • BE6M-M5-K9

  • BE6M-M5-XU

  • BE6H-M5-K9

  • BE6H-M5-XU

  • BE7M-M5-K9

  • BE7M-M5-XU

  • BE7H-M5-K9

  • BE7H-M5-XU

Cisco UCS C M7 Rack Server

Cisco NFVIS Release 4.18.2a

  • BE6K-M7-K9

  • BE6K-M7-XU

  • BE7M-M7-K9

  • BE7M-M7-XU

  • BE7H-M7-K9

  • BE7H-M7-XU

  • CE1400V-M7-K9

Cisco UCS C M8

Cisco NFVIS Release 26.2.1

  • BE6K-M8-K9

  • BE6K-M8-XU

  • BE7M-M8-K9

  • BE7M-M8-XU

  • BE7H-M8-K9

  • BE7H-M8-XU

Note

For UCS C-Series M5 and M6 servers, if the rack servers have LOM (LAN on Motherboard) ports, the WAN bridge will be created on port GE0-0, which is a LOM port, and GE0-1 will be the LAN bridge on a LOM port. For UCS C-Series M7 Rack Servers, however, there are no LOM ports. Hence, the first slot in the chassis with a NIC inserted will have the WAN bridge and the LAN bridge.

Supported VMs

This reference lists the virtual machines that are supported by the system, including various Cisco Unified Communications applications and services.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager VMs

  • Cisco Unified CM (UCM)

  • Cisco Unified CM Session Management Edition (SME)

  • Cisco IM and Presence (IMP)

  • Cisco Unity Connection (CUC)

  • Cisco Emergency Responder (CER)

  • Cisco Expressway (X15.4)

  • Webex Calling Dedicated Instance Enhanced Survivability Node (DI ESN)

Meetings VMs

  • Video Mesh (VMN)

  • Hybrid Data Security (HDS)

  • Cisco Meeting Server v4.x (CMS)

  • Cisco Meeting Management v4.x (CMM)

Contact Center VMs

  • Unified Contact Center Express (UCCX)

  • Customer Collaboration Platform (CCP)

Key tasks you can perform using Cisco NFVIS

This reference describes the key tasks that you can perform using Cisco NFVIS for VM management, network operations, and system monitoring.

Cisco NFVIS supports these key operational tasks:

  • Perform VM image registration and deployment

  • Create new networks and bridges, and assign ports to bridges

  • Perform service chaining of VMs

  • Perform VM operations

  • Verify system information including CPU, port, memory, and disk statistics

The APIs for performing these tasks are explained in the API Reference for Cisco Enterprise NFVIS.