Definition of terms

Different SDOs and communities use different terminology related to NFV/Cloud/SDN. This list tries to define an OPNFV terminology, mapping/translating the OPNFV terms to terminology used in other contexts.

NFV

Network Function Virtualization

NFVI

Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure; totality of all hardware and software components which build up the environment in which VNFs are deployed.

VIM

Virtualized Infrastructure Manager; functional block that is responsible for controlling and managing the NFVI compute, storage and network resources, usually within one operator’s Infrastructure Domain, e.g. NFVI Point of Presence (NFVI-PoP).

Virtual Machine (VM)

Virtualized computation environment that behaves very much like a physical computer/server.

Virtual network

Virtual network routes information among the network interfaces of VM instances and physical network interfaces, providing the necessary connectivity.

VNF

Virtualized Network Function. Implementation of an Network Function that can be deployed on a Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI).