How to setup a Sinefa probe as a VNF

A Sinefa probe can be deployed as a virtual network function (VNF) on a variety of network function virtualization (NFV) platforms. Sinefa probes are optimized for both KVM and VMware based platforms and contain inbuilt features to facilitate mass, automated deployment in VNF environments.

Key Features

• Available as an optimized virtual image for both KVM and VMware
• Low initial RAM, CPU and storage footprint starting at 1 vCPU, 2GB RAM and 8GB storage
• Scale up CPU and RAM for higher bandwidth deployments
• Flexible interface configuration for internal health/liveness, management, in-path (service chained) and out-of-path provisioning
• Day zero configuration via HTTP REST API or ISO image
• API first architecture
• Multi-tenanted, cloud-based management and visualization

Sinefa Image

To download the Sinefa probe image, login to your Sinefa account at https://ui.sinefa.com or create an account if you don't already have one.

Go to the Settings | Probes page. Click the "Add Probe" button and scroll down to the "Deploy a Virtual or Software Probe" section. Click the link to download a virtual probe then click "Download KVM Image File" or "Download OVA Image File".

This will download the Sinefa Probe image in either OVA (VMware OVF + VMDK disk image) or QCOW2 (KVM disk image) format.

Resources

Sinefa probes require different resources depending on the amount of bandwidth been monitored. Below is a guide to the amount vCPU, RAM and storage that should be provisioned:

Bandwidth: <100Mbps
vCPU: 2
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 16GB

Bandwidth: <500Mbps
vCPU: 4
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 16GB

Bandwidth: <1Gbps
vCPU: 8
RAM: 10GB
Storage: 16GB

Bandwidth: <10Gbps
vCPU: 16
RAM: 24GB
Storage: 16GB

Bandwidth: <40Gbps
vCPU: 32
RAM: 32G
Storage: 16GB

Data sent to the cloud is up to 0.5% of the data been monitored.

Network Interfaces

Depending on the NFV platform, there may be specific requirements for the order and purpose of network interfaces. The examples below are generic in nature and should be adjusted accordingly. Sinefa supports 2 modes of operation, in-path (e.g. service chained) and out-of-path (e.g. mirror port). The following examples show the typical VNF network interface configuration for each mode:

In-path (traffic flows through the VNF's LAN and WAN interfaces)

Interface 1: Internal VNF management/health/liveness
Interface 2: Probe management (e.g. access to the cloud/Internet) 
Interface 3: LAN/Inside
Interface 4: WAN/Outside

Out-of-path (a copy of each packet is sent to the VNF's MIRROR interface)

Interface 1: Internal VNF management/health/liveness
Interface 2: Probe management (e.g. access to the cloud/Internet) 
Interface 3: MIRROR

All VNF interfaces should be configured as virtio (KVM) or vmxnet3 (VMware).

Zero-day Configuration

Sinefa probes can be automatically configured either by using an HTTP REST API or by attaching an ISO image containing a configuration file. Configuration that can be automated this way includes:

• Interfaces (LAN/WAN bridges, MIRROR port monitoring)
• Networking (DHCP, static IP, DNS, default gateway, proxy)
• Security (account registration, probe admin password)

Once the Sinefa probe has enough configuration to connect to the Sinefa cloud servers, all other configuration can be performed online at https://ui.sinefa.com or by using our cloud API.

What next?

How it Works
Probe Networking Setup