Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Pre-deployment Testing; Report on Validation of NFV Environments and Services

The present document is an informative report on methods for pre-deployment testing of the functional components of an NFV environment. The NFV components addressed in the present document include Virtual Network Functions (VNFs), the NFV Infrastructure (NFVI) and the NFV Management and Orchestration (NFV MANO). The recommendations focus on lab testing and the following aspects of pre-deployment testing:

1. Assessing the performance of the NFVI and its ability to fulfil the performance and reliability requirements of the VNFs executing on the NFVI.
2. Data and control plane testing of VNFs and their interactions with the NFV Infrastructure and the NFV MANO.
3. Validating the performance, reliability and scaling capabilities of Network Services.