Deploy SD-Core with Control Plane and User Plane Separation¶

This guide covers how to install a SD-Core 5G core network with Control Plane and User Plane Separation (CUPS).

Requirements¶

Juju >= 3.6
A Juju controller has been bootstrapped, and is externally reachable
A Control Plane Kubernetes cluster (version >= 1.25) configured with
- 1 available IP address for the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF)
- 1 available IP address for Traefik
A User Plane Kubernetes cluster (version >= 1.25) configured with
- 1 available IP address for the User Plane Function (UPF)
- Multus
- MACVLAN interfaces for Access and Core networks
1 Juju cloud per Kubernetes cluster named control-plane-cloud and user-plane-cloud respectively
Terraform
Git

Deploy SD-Core Control Plane¶

Create a Juju model to represent the Control Plane.

juju add-model control-plane control-plane-cloud

Get Charmed Aether SD-Core Terraform modules by cloning the Charmed Aether SD-Core Terraform modules Git repository. Inside the modules/sdcore-control-plane-k8s directory, create a control-plane.tfvars file to set the name of Juju model for the deployment:

git clone https://github.com/canonical/terraform-juju-sdcore.git
cd terraform-juju-sdcore/modules/sdcore-control-plane-k8s
cat << EOF > control-plane.tfvars
model      = "control-plane"
amf_config = {
  external-amf-ip       = "10.201.0.201"  # Change this value to match your environment configuration
  external-amf-hostname = "amf.core.local"  # Change this value to match your environment configuration
}

EOF

Initialize Juju Terraform provider:

terraform init

Deploy SD-Core Control Plane

terraform apply -var-file="control-plane.tfvars" -auto-approve

Integration with the AMF N2 interface¶

The AMF charm allows establishing the N2-plane connectivity through the fiveg_n2 charm interface.

See the example of deploying the fiveg_n2 requirer application using SD-Core GNBSIM K8s Operator.

Option 1: Integration within the same Juju model

It is assumed that the fiveg_n2 requirer application is already deployed in the same Juju model as the Charmed Aether SD-Core Control Plane.

To create a fiveg_n2 integration between the AMF and another application within the same Juju model, add the following section to the main.tf file in the terraform-juju-sdcore/modules/sdcore-control-plane-k8s directory:

resource "juju_integration" "fiveg-n2" {
  model = data.juju_model.sdcore.name

  application {
    name     = module.amf.app_name
    endpoint = module.amf.requires.fiveg_n2
  }

  application {
    name     = <THE `fiveg_n2` REQUIRER APP>
    endpoint = <THE `fiveg_n2` REQUIRER APP'S INTEGRATION ENDPOINT>
  }
}

Apply the changes:

terraform apply -var-file="control-plane.tfvars" -auto-approve

Option 2: Cross-model integration

In this option, it is assumed that the sdcore-control-plane-k8s has been deployed as part (a sub-module) of a bigger system. The sdcore-control-plane-k8s Terraform module exposes the fiveg_n2 cross-model relation offer endpoint through the output.tf file. To create a cross-model fiveg_n2 integration in the root module of your deployment, add the following section to the main.tf file:

resource "juju_integration" "fiveg-n2" {
  model = <NAME OF THE MODEL HOSTING THE N2 REQUIRER APPLICATION>

  application {
    name     = <THE `fiveg_n2` REQUIRER APP>
    endpoint = <THE `fiveg_n2` REQUIRER APP'S INTEGRATION ENDPOINT>
  }

  application {
    offer_url = module.sdcore-control-plane-k8s.amf_fiveg_n2_offer_url
  }
}

Apply the changes:

terraform apply -auto-approve

Deploy SD-Core User Plane¶

Create a Juju model.

juju add-model user-plane user-plane-cloud

Get Charmed Aether SD-Core Terraform modules by cloning the Charmed Aether SD-Core Terraform modules Git repository. Inside the modules/sdcore-user-plane-k8s directory, create a user-plane.tfvars file to set the name of Juju model for the deployment:

git clone https://github.com/canonical/terraform-juju-sdcore.git
cd terraform-juju-sdcore/modules/sdcore-user-plane-k8s
cat << EOF > user-plane.tfvars
model      = "user-plane"
upf_config = {
  cni-type          = "macvlan"
  access-gateway-ip = "10.202.0.1"  # Change this value to match your environment configuration
  access-interface  = "access"
  access-ip         = "10.202.0.10/24"  # Change this value to match your environment configuration
  core-gateway-ip   = "10.203.0.1"  # Change this value to match your environment configuration
  core-interface    = "core"
  core-ip           = "10.203.0.10/24"  # Change this value to match your environment configuration
  gnb-subnet        = "10.204.0.0/24"  # Change this value to match your environment configuration
}

EOF

Initialize Juju Terraform provider:

terraform init

Deploy SD-Core User Plane

terraform apply -var-file="user-plane.tfvars" -auto-approve

Integration with the UPF N4 interface¶

The UPF charm allows establishing the N4-plane connectivity through the fiveg_n4 charm interface. In Charmed Aether SD-Core the N4-plane connectivity between the UPF and the SMF is facilitated by the NMS (Network Management System). The NMS is part of the Charmed Aether SD-Core Control Plane.

Option 1: Integration within the same Juju model

It is assumed that the fiveg_n4 requirer application is already deployed in the same Juju model as the Charmed Aether SD-Core User Plane.

To create a fiveg_n4 integration between the UPF and another application within the same Juju model, add the following section to the main.tf file in the terraform-juju-sdcore/modules/sdcore-user-plane-k8s directory:

resource "juju_integration" "fiveg-n4" {
  model = data.juju_model.sdcore_upf.name

  application {
    name     = module.upf.app_name
    endpoint = module.upf.provides.fiveg_n4
  }

  application {
    name     = <THE `fiveg_n4` REQUIRER APP>
    endpoint = <THE `fiveg_n4` REQUIRER APP'S INTEGRATION ENDPOINT>
  }
}

Apply the changes:

terraform apply -var-file="user-plane.tfvars" -auto-approve

Option 2: Cross-model integration

In this option, it is assumed that the sdcore-user-plane-k8s has been deployed as part (a sub-module) of a bigger system. The sdcore-user-plane-k8s Terraform module exposes the fiveg_n4 cross-model relation offer endpoint through the output.tf file. To create a cross-model fiveg_n4 integration in the root module of your deployment, add the following section to the main.tf file:

resource "juju_integration" "fiveg-n4" {
  model = <NAME OF THE MODEL HOSTING THE N4 REQUIRER APPLICATION>

  application {
    name     = <THE `fiveg_n4` REQUIRER APP>
    endpoint = <THE `fiveg_n4` REQUIRER APP'S INTEGRATION ENDPOINT>
  }

  application {
    offer_url = module.sdcore-user-plane-k8s.upf_fiveg_n4_offer_url
  }
}

Apply the changes:

terraform apply -auto-approve