2. Architecture Requirements¶
2.1. Introduction¶
This chapter will use the requirements defined in the overall Reference Model and only make additional entries in section 2.3 if there are additional requirements needed for this Reference Architecture.
2.2. Definitions¶
The key words “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”, “SHOULD”, “SHOULD NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “MAY”, and “OPTIONAL” in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC2119.
2.3. Reference Model Requirements¶
The tables below contain the requirements from the Reference Model to cover the Basic and High-Performance profiles. The table also includes a reference to the specification from Component Level Architecture and from Security Guidance to ensure traceability. If the related Specification does not exist, the reference will read “N/A” (and in bold “N/A” for mandatory requirements).
To ensure alignment with the infrastructure profile catalogue, the following requirements are referenced through:
Those relating to Cloud Infrastructure Software Profiles
Those relating to Cloud Infrastructure Hardware Profiles
Those relating to Cloud Infrastructure Management
Those relating to Cloud Infrastructure Security
2.3.1. Cloud Infrastructure Software Profile Capabilities¶
Reference Model Section |
Reference |
Description |
Requirement for Basic Profile |
Requirement for High-Performance Profile |
Specification Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
4.1.2 |
e.cap.001 |
Max number of vCPU that can be assigned to a single Pod by the Cloud Infrastructure |
At least 16 |
At least 16 |
ra2.ch.011 |
4.1.2 |
e.cap.002 |
Max memory in MB that can be assigned to a single Pod by the Cloud Infrastructure |
at least 32 GB |
at least 32 GB |
ra2.ch.012 |
4.1.2 |
e.cap.003 |
Max storage in GB that can be assigned to a single Pod by the Cloud Infrastructure |
at least 320 GB |
at least 320 GB |
ra2.ch.010 |
4.1.2 |
e.cap.004 |
Max number of connection points that can be assigned to a single Pod by the Cloud Infrastructure |
6 |
6 |
ra2.ntw.003 |
4.1.2 |
e.cap.005 |
Max storage in GB that can be attached / mounted to Pod by the Cloud Infrastructure |
Up to 16TB (1) |
Up to 16TB (1) |
N/A |
4.2.2 |
e.cap.006 |
CPU pinning support |
Not required |
Must support |
ra2.k8s.009 |
4.2.2 |
e.cap.007 |
NUMA support |
Not required |
Must support |
ra2.k8s.006 |
4.1.2 |
e.cap.008 |
IPSec Acceleration using the virtio-ipsec interface |
Not required |
Optional |
N/A |
4.1.2 |
e.cap.009 |
Crypto Acceleration using the virtio-crypto interface |
Not required |
Optional |
N/A |
4.1.2 |
e.cap.010 |
Transcoding Acceleration |
Not required |
Not required |
N/A |
4.1.2 |
e.cap.011 |
Programmable Acceleration |
Not required |
Not required |
N/A |
4.1.2 |
e.cap.012 |
Enhanced Cache Management: L=Lean; E=Equal; X=eXpanded |
E |
E |
N/A |
4.2.2 |
e.cap.013 |
SR-IOV over PCI-PT |
Not required |
Must support |
ra2.ch.002 ra2.ch.003 ra2.k8s.007 ra2.ntw.004 ra2.ntw.008 |
4.1.2 |
e.cap.014 |
Hardware coprocessor support (GPU/NPU) |
Not required |
Not required |
N/A |
4.1.2 |
e.cap.015 |
SmartNICs |
Not required |
Optional |
N/A |
4.1.2 |
e.cap.016 |
FPGA/other Acceleration H/W |
Not required |
Optional |
ra2.k8s.007 ra2.ntw.012 |
4.1.2 |
e.cap.017 |
Ability to monitor L2-L7 data from workload |
n/a (2) |
*n/a (2) * |
N/A |
4.1.4 |
i.cap.014 |
Specifies the proportion of CPU cores consumed by the Cloud Infrastructure system on the worker nodes. If SMT is used, it indicates the number of consumed SMT threads. |
2 |
2 |
ra2.k8s.008 |
4.1.4 |
i.cap.015 |
Indicates the memory consumed by Cloud Infrastructure on the worker nodes |
16 GB |
16 GB |
|
4.1.4 |
i.cap.016 |
Number of virtual cores per physical core; also known as CPU overbooking ratio that is required |
1:1 |
1:1 |
ra2.ch.004 ra2.ch.005 |
4.1.4 |
i.cap.017 |
QoS enablement of the connection point (vNIC or interface) |
Not required |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.4 |
i.cap.018 |
Support for huge pages |
Not required |
Must support |
ra2.ch.001 |
4.1.4 |
i.pm.001 |
Monitor worker node CPU usage, per nanosecond |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.4 |
i.pm.002 |
Monitor pod CPU usage, per nanosecond |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.4 |
i.pm.003 |
Monitor worker node CPU utilisation (%) |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.4 |
i.pm.004 |
Monitor pod CPU utilisation |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.4 |
i.pm.005 |
Measure external storage IOPs |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.4 |
i.pm.006 |
Measure external storage throughput |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.4 |
i.pm.007 |
Measure external storage capacity |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
4.2.2 |
i.os.001 |
Host operating system must provide drivers etc. to support listed capabilities. |
Must support |
Must support |
ra2.ch.004 |
Table 2-1: Reference Model Requirements: Internal Performance Measurement Capabilities Capabilities and Performance Measurements
(1) Defined in the .bronze
configuration in RM section Storage Extensions
(2) In Kubernetes based infrastructures packet monitoring is out of the scope for the infrastructure.
2.3.2. Virtual Network Interface Specifications¶
The required number of connection points to a Pod is described in e.cap.004
above. This section describes the
required bandwidth of those connection points.
Reference Model Section |
Reference |
Description |
Requirement for Basic Profile |
Requirement for High-Performance Profile |
Specification Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
4.2.5 |
n1, n2, n3, n4, n5, n6 |
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Gbps |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
4.2.5 |
nn10, n20, n30, n40, n50, n60 |
10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 Gbps |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
4.2.5 |
n25, n50, n75, n100, n125, n150 |
25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150 Gbps |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
4.2.5 |
nn50, n100 , n150, n200, n250 , n300 |
50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300 Gbps |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
4.2.5 |
n100, n200, n300, n400, n500, n600 |
100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 Gbps |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
Table 2-2: Reference Model Requirements: Network Interface Specifications Virtual Network Interface Specifications
2.3.3. Cloud Infrastructure Software Profile Requirements¶
Reference Model Section |
Reference |
Description |
Requirement for Basic Profile |
Requirement for High-Performance Profile |
Specification Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
5.1.1 |
infra.com. cfg.001 |
CPU allocation ratio |
1:1 |
1:1 |
ra2.ch.005 ra2.ch.006 |
5.1.1 |
infra.com. cfg.002 |
NUMA awareness |
Not required |
Must support |
ra2.k8s.006 |
5.1.1 |
infra.com. cfg.003 |
CPU pinning capability |
Not required |
Must support |
ra2.k8s.009 |
5.1.1 |
infra.com. cfg.004 |
Huge pages |
Not required |
Must support |
ra2.ch.001 |
5.1.2 |
infra.stg. cfg.002 |
Storage Block |
Must support |
Must support |
ra2.stg.004 |
5.1.2 |
infra.stg. cfg.003 |
Storage with replication |
Not required |
Must support |
N/A |
5.1.2 |
infra.stg. cfg.004 |
Storage with encryption |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
5.1.2 |
infra.stg. acc.cfg.00 1 |
Storage IOPS oriented encryption |
Not required |
Must support |
N/A |
5.1.2 |
infra.stg. acc.cfg.00 2 |
Storage capacity oriented encryption |
Not required |
Not required |
N/A |
5.1.3 |
infra.net. cfg.001 |
IO virtualisation using virtio1.1 |
Must support (1) |
Must support (1) |
N/A |
5.1.3 |
infra.net. cfg.002 |
The overlay network encapsulation protocol needs to enable ECMP in the underlay to take advantage of the scale-out features of the network fabric.(2) |
Must support VXLAN, MPLSoUDP, GENEVE, other |
No requirement specified |
N/A |
5.1.3 |
infra.net. cfg.003 |
Network Address Translation |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
5.1.3 |
infra.net. cfg.004 |
Security Groups |
Must support |
Must support |
ra2.k8s.014 |
5.1.3 |
infra.net. cfg.005 |
SFC support |
Not required |
Must support |
N/A |
5.1.3 |
infra.net. cfg.006 |
Traffic patterns symmetry |
Must support |
Must support |
N/A |
5.1.3 |
infra.net. acc.cfg.00 1 |
vSwitch optimisation |
Not required |
Must support DPDK (3) |
ra2.ntw.010 |
5.1.3 |
infra.net. acc.cfg.00 2 |
Support of HW offload |
Not required |
Optional, SmartNic |
N/A |
5.1.3 |
infra.net. acc.cfg.00 3 |
Crypto acceleration |
Not required |
Optional |
N/A |
5.1.3 |
infra.net. acc.cfg.00 4 |
Crypto Acceleration Interface |
Not required |
Optional |
N/A |
Table 2-3: Reference Model Requirements: Cloud Infrastructure Software Profile Requirements Virtual Networking
(1) Might have other interfaces (such as SR-IOV VFs to be directly passed to a VM or a Pod) or NIC-specific drivers on guest machines transiently allowed until more mature solutions are available with an acceptable level of efficiency to support telecom workloads (for example regarding CPU and energy consumption).
(2) In Kubernetes based infrastructures network separation is possible without an overlay (e.g.: with IPVLAN)
(3) This feature is not applicable for Kubernetes based infrastructures due to lack of vSwitch however workloads need access to user space networking solutions.
2.3.4. Cloud Infrastructure Hardware Profile Requirements¶
Reference Model Section |
Reference |
Description |
Requirement for Basic Profile |
Requirement for High-Performance Profile |
Specification Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
5.4.1 |
infra.hw. cpu.cfg. 001 |
Minimum number of CPU sockets |
2 |
2 |
ra2.ch.008 |
5.4.1 |
infra.hw. cpu.cfg. 002 |
Minimum number of Cores per CPU |
20 |
20 |
ra2.ch.008 |
5.4.1 |
infra.hw. cpu.cfg. 003 |
NUMA Alignment |
N |
Y |
ra2.ch.008 |
5.4.1 |
infra.hw. cpu.cfg. 004 |
Simultaneous Multithreading/ Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMT/SMP) |
Must support |
Optional |
ra2.ch.004 |
5.4.1 |
infra.hw. cac.cfg. 001 |
GPU |
Not required |
Optional |
N/A |
5.4.2 |
infra.hw. stg.hdd. cfg.001 |
Local Storage HDD |
No requirement specified |
No requirement specified |
N/A |
5.4.2 |
infra.hw. stg.ssd. cfg.002 |
Local Storage SSD |
Should support |
Should support |
ra2.ch.009 |
5.4.3 |
infra.hw. nic.cfg. 001 |
Total Number of NIC Ports available in the host |
4 |
4 |
ra2.ch.013 |
5.4.3 |
infra.hw. nic.cfg. 002 |
Port speed specified in Gbps (minimum values) |
10 |
25 |
ra2.ch.014 ra2.ch.015 |
5.4.3 |
infra.hw. pci.cfg. 001 |
Number of PCIe slots available in the host |
8 |
8 |
ra2.ch.016 |
5.4.3 |
infra.hw. pci.cfg. 002 |
PCIe speed |
Gen 3 |
Gen 3 |
ra2.ch.016 |
5.4.3 |
infra.hw. pci.cfg. 003 |
PCIe Lanes |
8 |
8 |
ra2.ch.016 |
5.4.3 |
infra.hw. nac.cfg. 001 |
Cryptographic Acceleration |
Not required |
Optional |
N/A |
5.4.3 |
infra.hw. nac.cfg. 002 |
A SmartNIC that is used to offload vSwitch functionality to hardware |
Not required |
Optional (1) |
N/A |
5.4.3 |
infra.hw. nac.cfg. 003 |
Compression |
Optional |
Optional |
N/A |
Table 2-4: Reference Model Requirements: Cloud Infrastructure Hardware Profile Requirements Network Acceleration Configurations
(1) There is no vSwitch in case of containers, but a SmartNIC can be used to offload any other network processing.
2.3.5. Edge Cloud Infrastructure Hardware Profile Requirements¶
In the case of Telco Edge Cloud Deployments, hardware requirements can differ from the above to account for environmental and other constraints. The Reference Model Hybrid Multi-Cloud Architecture includes considerations specific to deployments at the edge of the network. The infrastructure profiles “Basic” and “High Performance” as per Profiles and Workload Flavours still apply, but a number of requirements of the above table are relaxed as follows:
Reference Model Section |
Reference |
Description |
Requirement for Basic Profile |
Requirement for High-Performance Profile |
Specification Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
8.x.x |
cpu.cfg. 001 |
sockets |
|||
8.x.x |
infra.hw. cpu.cfg. 002 |
Minimum number of Cores per CPU |
1 |
1 |
ra2.ch.008 |
8.x.x |
infra.hw. cpu.cfg. 003 |
NUMA Alignment |
N |
Y (1) |
ra2.ch.008 |
Table 2-5: Reference Model Requirements: Edge Cloud Infrastructure Hardware Profile Requirements. Telco Edge Cloud: Infrastructure Profiles.
(1) immaterial if the number of CPU sockets (infra.hw.cpu.cfg.001) is 1.
2.3.6. Cloud Infrastructure Management Requirements¶
Reference Model Section |
Reference |
Description |
Requirement (common to all Profiles) |
Specification Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
4.1.5 |
e.man.001 |
Capability to allocate virtual compute resources to a workload |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.5 |
e.man.002 |
Capability to allocate virtual storage resources to a workload |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.5 |
e.man.003 |
Capability to allocate virtual networking resources to a workload |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.5 |
e.man.004 |
Capability to isolate resources between tenants |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.5 |
e.man.005 |
Capability to manage workload software images |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.5 |
e.man.006 |
Capability to provide information related to allocated virtualised resources per tenant |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.5 |
e.man.007 |
Capability to notify state changes of allocated resources |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.5 |
e.man.008 |
Capability to collect and expose performance information on virtualised resources allocated |
Must support |
N/A |
4.1.5 |
e.man.009 |
Capability to collect and notify fault information on virtualised resources |
Must support |
N/A |
Table 2-6: Reference Model Requirements: Cloud Infrastructure Management Requirements Cloud Infrastructure Management Capabilities.
2.3.7. Cloud Infrastructure Security Requirements¶
Reference Model Section |
Reference |
Description |
Specification Reference |
---|---|---|---|
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.001 |
The Platform must maintain the specified configuration. |
|
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.002 |
All systems part of Cloud Infrastructure must support password hardening as defined in CIS Password Policy Guide. Hardening: CIS Password Policy Guide |
5.3.1 Node Hardening: Securing Kubernetes Hosts |
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.003 |
All servers part of Cloud Infrastructure must support a root of trust and secure boot. |
|
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.004 |
The Operating Systems of all the servers part of Cloud Infrastructure must be hardened by removing or disabling unnecessary services, applications and network protocols, configuring operating system user authentication, configuring resource controls, installing and configuring additional security controls where needed, and testing the security of the Operating System. (NIST SP 800-123) |
5.2 Principles and 5.3 Node Hardening |
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.005 |
The Platform must support Operating System level access control |
5.3 Node Hardening |
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.006 |
The Platform must support Secure logging. Logging with root account must be prohibited when root privileges are not required. |
5.3.2 Restrict direct access to nodes |
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.007 |
All servers part of Cloud Infrastructure must be Time synchronized with authenticated Time service. |
|
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.008 |
All servers part of Cloud Infrastructure must be regularly updated to address security vulnerabilities. |
5.3.3 Vulnerability assessment |
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.009 |
The Platform must support Software integrity protection and verification and must scan source code and manifests. |
5.4 Securing Kubernetes orchestrator |
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.010 |
The Cloud Infrastructure must support encrypted storage, for example, block, object and file storage, with access to encryption keys restricted based on a need to know. Controlled Access Based on the Need to Know |
|
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.011 |
The Cloud Infrastructure should support Read and Write only storage partitions (write only permission to one or more authorized actors). |
|
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.012 |
The Operator must ensure that only authorized actors have physical access to the underlying infrastructure. |
|
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.013 |
The Platform must ensure that only authorized actors have logical access to the underlying infrastructure. |
5.4 Securing Kubernetes orchestrator |
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.014 |
All servers part of Cloud Infrastructure should support measured boot and an attestation server that monitors the measurements of the servers. |
|
7.9.1 |
sec.gen.015 |
Any change to the Platform must be logged as a security event, and the logged event must include the identity of the entity making the change, the change, the date and the time of the change. |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.001 |
The Platform must support authenticated and secure access to API, GUI and command line interfaces. |
5.4 Securing Kubernetes orchestrator |
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.002 |
The Platform must support Traffic Filtering for workloads (for example, Firewall). |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.003 |
The Platform must support Secure and encrypted communications, and confidentiality and integrity of network traffic. |
5.4.3 Use Transport Layer Security and Service Mesh |
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.004 |
The Cloud Infrastructure must support authentication, integrity and confidentiality on all network channels. |
5.4.3 Use Transport Layer Security and Service Mesh |
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.005 |
The Cloud Infrastructure must segregate the underlay and overlay networks. |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.006 |
The Cloud Infrastructure must be able to utilise the Cloud Infrastructure Manager identity lifecycle management capabilities. |
5.2 Principles |
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.007 |
The Platform must implement controls enforcing separation of duties and privileges, least privilege use and least common mechanism (Role-Based Access Control). |
5.2 Principles 5.4 Securing Kubernetes orchestrator |
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.008 |
The Platform must be able to assign the Entities that comprise the tenant networks to different trust domains. Communication between different trust domains is not allowed, by default. |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.009 |
The Platform must support creation of Trust Relationships between trust domains. |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.010 |
For two or more domains without existing trust relationships, the Platform must not allow the effect of an attack on one domain to impact the other domains either directly or indirectly. |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.011 |
The Platform must not reuse the same authentication credential (e.g., key-pair) on different Platform components (e.g., on different hosts, or different services). |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.012 |
The Platform must protect all secrets by using strong encryption techniques, and storing the protected secrets externally from the component |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.013 |
The Platform must provide secrets dynamically as and when needed. |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.014 |
The Platform should use Linux Security Modules such as SELinux to control access to resources. |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.015 |
The Platform must not contain back door entries (unpublished access points, APIs, etc.). |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.016 |
Login access to the platform’s components must be through encrypted protocols such as SSH v2 or TLS v1.2 or higher. Note: Hardened jump servers isolated from external networks are recommended |
5.4 Securing Kubernetes orchestrator |
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.017 |
The Platform must provide the capability of using digital certificates that comply with X.509 standards issued by a trusted |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.018 |
The Platform must provide the capability of allowing certificate renewal and revocation. |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.019 |
The Platform must provide the capability of testing the validity of a digital certificate (CA signature, validity period, non revocation, identity). |
|
7.9.2 |
sec.sys.020 |
The Cloud Infrastructure architecture should rely on Zero Trust principles to build a secure by design environment. |
|
7.9.3 |
sec.ci.001 |
The Platform must support Confidentiality and Integrity of data at rest and in-transit. by design environment. |
5.4 Securing Kubernetes orchestrator |
7.9.3 |
sec.ci.002 |
The Platform should support self-encrypting storage devices. data at rest and in-transit. by design environment. |
|
7.9.3 |
sec.ci.003 |
The Platform must support Confidentiality and Integrity of data related metadata. |
|
7.9.3 |
sec.ci.004 |
The Platform must support Confidentiality of processes and restrict information sharing with only the process owner (e.g., tenant). |
|
7.9.3 |
sec.ci.005 |
The Platform must support Confidentiality and Integrity of process-related metadata and restrict information sharing with only the process owner (e.g., tenant). |
|
7.9.3 |
sec.ci.006 |
The Platform must support Confidentiality and Integrity of workload resource utilization (RAM, CPU, Storage, Network I/O, cache, hardware offload) and restrict information sharing with only the workload owner (e.g., tenant). |
|
7.9.3 |
sec.ci.007 |
The Platform must not allow Memory Inspection by any actor other than the authorized actors for the Entity to which Memory is assigned (e.g., tenants owning the workload), for Lawful Inspection, and by secure monitoring services. |
|
7.9.3 |
sec.ci.008 |
The Cloud Infrastructure must support tenant networks segregation. |
5.7 Create and define Network Policies |
7.9.3 |
sec.ci.009 |
For sensitive data encryption, the key management service should leverage a Hardware Security Module to manage and protect cryptographic keys. |
|
7.9.4 |
sec.wl.001 |
The Platform must support Workload placement policy. |
|
7.9.4 |
sec.wl.002 |
The Cloud Infrastructure must provide methods to ensure the platform’s trust status and integrity (e.g. remote attestation, Trusted Platform Module). |
|
7.9.4 |
sec.wl.003 |
The Platform must support secure provisioning of workloads. |
5.4 Securing Kubernetes orchestrator |
7.9.4 |
sec.wl.004 |
The Platform must support Location assertion (for mandated in-country or location requirements). |
|
7.9.4 |
sec.wl.005 |
The Platform must support the separation of production and non-production Workloads. |
5.4 Securing Kubernetes orchestrator |
7.9.4 |
sec.wl.006 |
The Platform must support the separation of Workloads based on their categorisation (for example, payment card information, healthcare, etc.). |
5.4 Securing Kubernetes orchestrator |
7.9.4 |
sec.wl.007 |
The Operator must implement processes and tools to verify VNF authenticity and integrity. |
5.13 Trusted Registry |
7.9.5 |
sec.img.001 |
Images from untrusted sources must not be used. |
5.13 Trusted Registry |
7.9.5 |
sec.img.002 |
Images must be scanned to be maintained free from known vulnerabilities. |
5.13 Trusted Registry |
7.9.5 |
sec.img.003 |
Images must not be configured to run with privileges higher than the privileges of the actor authorized to run them. |
5.11 Run-Time Security |
7.9.5 |
sec.img.004 |
Images must only be accessible to authorized actors. |
|
7.9.5 |
sec.img.005 |
Image Registries must only be accessible to authorized actors. |
|
7.9.5 |
sec.img.006 |
Image Registries must only be accessible over secure networks that enforce authentication, integrity and confidentiality. |
5.13 Trusted Registry |
7.9.5 |
sec.img.007 |
Image registries must be clear of vulnerable and out of date versions. |
5.13 Trusted Registry |
7.9.5 |
sec.img.008 |
Images must not include any secrets. Secrets include passwords, cloud provider credentials, SSH keys, TLS certificate keys, etc. |
5.12 Secrets Mgmt. |
7.9.5 |
sec.img.009 |
CIS Hardened Images should be used whenever possible. |
|
7.9.5 |
sec.img.010 |
Minimalist base images should be used whenever possible. |
|
7.9.6 |
sec.lcm.001 |
The Platform must support Secure Provisioning, Availability, and Deprovisioning (Secure Clean-Up) of workload resources where Secure Clean-Up includes tear-down, defense against virus or other attacks. |
|
7.9.6 |
sec.lcm.002 |
Cloud operations staff and systems must use management protocols limiting security risk such as SNMPv3, SSH v2, ICMP, NTP, syslog and TLS v1.2 or higher. |
5.4 Securing Kubernetes orchestrator |
7.9.6 |
sec.lcm.003 |
The Cloud Operator must implement and strictly follow change management processes for Cloud Infrastructure, Cloud Infrastructure Manager and other components of the cloud, and Platform change control on hardware. |
|
7.9.6 |
sec.lcm.004 |
The Cloud Operator should support automated templated approved changes. |
|
7.9.6 |
sec.lcm.005 |
Platform must provide logs and these logs must be regularly monitored for anomalous behavior. |
5.10 Enable Logging and Monitoring |
7.9.6 |
sec.lcm.006 |
The Platform must verify the integrity of all Resource management requests. |
|
7.9.6 |
sec.lcm.007 |
The Platform must be able to update newly instantiated, suspended, hibernated, migrated and restarted images with current time information. |
5.4 Securing Kubernetes orchestrator |
7.9.6 |
sec.lcm.008 |
The Platform must be able to update newly instantiated, suspended, hibernated, migrated and restarted images with relevant DNS information. |
|
7.9.6 |
sec.lcm.009 |
The Platform must be able to update the tag of newly instantiated, suspended, hibernated, migrated and restarted images with relevant geolocation (geographical) information. |
|
7.9.6 |
sec.lcm.010 |
The Platform must log all changes to geolocation along with the mechanisms and sources of location information (i.e. GPS, IP block, and timing). |
|
7.9.6 |
sec.lcm.011 |
The Platform must implement Security life cycle management processes including the proactive update and patching of all deployed Cloud Infrastructure software. |
|
7.9.6 |
sec.lcm.012 |
The Platform must log any access privilege escalation. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.001 |
Platform must provide logs and these logs must be regularly monitored for events of interest. The logs must contain the following fields: event type, date/time, protocol, service or program used for access, success/failure, login ID or process ID, IP address and ports (source and destination) involved. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.002 |
Security logs must be time synchronised. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.003 |
The Platform must log all changes to time server source, time, date and time zones. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.004 |
The Platform must secure and protect Audit logs (containing sensitive information) both in-transit and at rest. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.005 |
The Platform must Monitor and Audit various behaviours of connection and login attempts to detect access attacks and potential access attempts and take corrective actions accordingly. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.006 |
The Platform must Monitor and Audit operations by authorized account access after login to detect malicious operational activity and take corrective actions accordingly. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.007 |
The Platform must Monitor and Audit security parameter configurations for compliance with defined security policies. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.008 |
The Platform must Monitor and Audit externally exposed interfaces for illegal access (attacks) and take corrective security hardening measures. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.009 |
The Platform must Monitor and Audit service handling for various attacks (malformed messages, signalling flooding and replaying, etc.) and take corrective actions accordingly. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.010 |
The Platform must Monitor and Audit running processes to detect unexpected or unauthorized processes and take corrective actions accordingly. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.011 |
The Platform must Monitor and Audit logs from infrastructure elements and workloads to detected anomalies in the system components and take corrective actions accordingly. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.012 |
The Platform must Monitor and Audit Traffic patterns and volumes to prevent malware download attempts. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.013 |
The monitoring system must not affect the security (integrity and confidentiality) of the infrastructure, workloads, or the user data (through back door entries). |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.014 |
The Monitoring systems should not impact IAAS, PAAS, and SAAS SLAs including availability SLAs. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.015 |
The Platform must ensure that the Monitoring systems are never starved of resources and must activate alarms when resource utilisation exceeds a configurable threshold. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.016 |
The Platform Monitoring components should follow security best practices for auditing, including secure logging and tracing. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.017 |
The Platform must audit systems for any missing security patches and take appropriate actions. |
5.3.3 Vulnerability assessment |
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.018 |
The Platform, starting from initialization, must collect and analyze logs to identify security events, and store these events in an external system. |
5.3.4 Patch management |
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.019 |
The Platform’s components must not include an authentication credential, e.g., password, in any logs, even if encrypted. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.020 |
The Platform’s logging system must support the storage of security audit logs for a configurable period of time. |
|
7.9.7 |
sec.mon.021 |
The Platform must store security events locally if the external logging system is unavailable and shall periodically attempt to send these to the external logging system until successful. |
|
7.9.8 |
sec.oss.001 |
Open source code must be inspected by tools with various capabilities for static and dynamic code analysis. |
5.3.3 Vulnerability assessment |
7.9.8 |
sec.oss.002 |
The CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) must be used to identify vulnerabilities and their severity rating for open source code part of Cloud Infrastructure and workloads software. |
|
7.9.8 |
sec.oss.003 |
Critical and high severity rated vulnerabilities must be fixed in a timely manner. Refer to the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) to know a vulnerability score and its associated rate (low, medium, high, or critical). |
|
7.9.8 |
sec.oss.004 |
A dedicated internal isolated repository separated from the production environment must be used to store vetted open source content. |
5.13 Trusted Registry |
7.9.8 |
sec.oss.005 |
A Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) should be provided or build, and maintained to identify the software components and their origins. |
|
7.9.9 |
sec.arch.00 1 |
Threat Modelling methodologies and tools should be used during the Secure Design and Architecture stage triggered by Software Feature Design trigger. It may be done manually or using tools like open source OWASP Threat Dragon |
|
7.9.9 |
sec.arch.00 2 |
Security Control Baseline Assessment should be performed during the Secure Design and Architecture stage triggered by Software Feature Design trigger. Typically done manually by internal or independent assessors. |
|
7.9.10 |
sec.code.00 1 |
SAST -Static Application Security Testing must be applied during Secure Coding stage triggered by Pull, Clone or Comment trigger. Security testing that analyses application source code for software vulnerabilities and gaps against best practices. Example: open source OWASP range of tools. |
|
7.9.10 |
sec.code.00 2 |
SCA – Software Composition Analysis should be applied during Secure Coding stage triggered by Pull, Clone or Comment trigger. Security testing that analyses application source code or compiled code for software components with known vulnerabilities. Example: open source OWASP range of tools. |
|
7.9.10 |
sec.code.00 3 |
Source Code Review should be performed continuously during Secure Coding stage. Typically done manually. |
|
7.9.10 |
sec.code.00 4 |
Integrated SAST via IDE Plugins should be used during Secure Coding stage triggered by Developer Code trigger. On the local machine: through the IDE or integrated test suites; triggered on completion of coding be developer. |
|
7.9.10 |
sec.code.00 5 |
SAST of Source Code Repo should be performed during Secure Coding stage triggered by Developer Code trigger. Continuous delivery pre-deployment: scanning prior to deployment. |
|
7.9.11 |
sec.bld.001 |
SAST -Static Application Security Testing should be applied during the Continuous Build, Integration and Testing stage triggered by Build and Integrate trigger. Example: open source OWASP range of tools. |
|
7.9.11 |
sec.bld.002 |
SCA – Software Composition Analysis should be applied during the Continuous Build, Integration and Testing stage triggered by Build and Integrate trigger. Example: open source OWASP range of tools. |
|
7.9.11 |
sec.bld.003 |
Image Scan must be applied during the Continuous Build, Integration and Testing stage triggered by Package trigger. Example: A push of a container image to a container registry may trigger a vulnerability scan before the image becomes available in the registry. |
|
7.9.11 |
sec.bld.004 |
DAST – Dynamic Application Security Testing should be applied during the Continuous Build, Integration and Testing stage triggered by Stage & Test trigger. Security testing that analyses a running application by exercising application functionality and detecting vulnerabilities based on application behaviour and response. Example: OWASP ZAP. |
|
7.9.11 |
sec.bld.005 |
Fuzzing should be applied during the Continuous Build, Integration and testing stage triggered by Stage & Test trigger. Fuzzing or fuzz testing is an automated software testing technique that involves providing invalid, unexpected, or random data as inputs to a computer program. Example: GitLab Open Sources Protocol Fuzzer Community Edition. |
|
7.9.11 |
sec.bld.006 |
IAST – Interactive Application Security Testing should be applied during the Continuous Build, Integration and Testing stage triggered by Stage & Test trigger. Software component deployed with an application that assesses application behaviour and detects presence of vulnerabilities on an application being exercised in realistic testing scenarios. Example: Contrast Community Edition. |
|
7.9.12 |
sec.del.001 |
Image Scan must be applied during the Continuous Delivery and Deployment stage triggered by Publish to Artifact and Image Repository trigger. Example: GitLab uses the open-source Clair engine for container image scanning. |
|
7.9.12 |
sec.del.002 |
Code Signing must be applied during the Continuous Delivery and Deployment stage triggered by Publish to Artifact and Image Repository trigger. Code Signing provides authentication to assure that downloaded files are form the publisher named on the certificate. |
|
7.9.12 |
sec.del.003 |
Artifact and Image Repository Scan should be continuously applied during the Continuous Delivery and Deployment stage. Example: GitLab uses the open source Clair engine for container scanning. |
|
7.9.12 |
sec.del.004 |
Component Vulnerability Scan must be applied during the Continuous Delivery and Deployment stage triggered by Instantiate Infrastructure trigger. The vulnerability scanning system is deployed on the cloud platform to detect security vulnerabilities of specified components through scanning and to provide timely security protection. Example: OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP). |
|
7.9.13 |
sec.run.001 |
Component Vulnerability Monitoring must be continuously applied during the Runtime Defence and Monitoring stage and remediation actions must be applied for high severity rated vulnerabilities. Security technology that monitors components like virtual servers and assesses data, applications, and infrastructure for security risks. |
|
7.9.13 |
sec.run.002 |
RASP – Runtime Application Self- Protection should be continuously applied during the Runtime Defence and Monitoring stage. Security technology deployed within the target application in production for detecting, alerting, and blocking attacks. |
|
7.9.13 |
sec.run.003 |
Application testing and Fuzzing should be continuously applied during the Runtime Defence and Monitoring stage. Fuzzing or fuzz testing is an automated software testing technique that involves providing invalid, unexpected, or random data as inputs to a computer program. Example: GitLab Open Sources Protocol Fuzzer Community Edition. |
|
7.9.13 |
sec.run.004 |
Penetration Testing should be continuously applied during the Runtime Defence and Monitoring stage. Typically done manually. |
|
7.9.14 |
sec.std.001 |
The Cloud Operator should comply with Center for Internet Security CIS Controls (https://www.cisecur ity.org/) |
|
7.9.14 |
sec.std.002 |
The Cloud Operator, Platform and Workloads should follow the guidance in the CSA Security Guidance for Critical Areas of Focus in Cloud Computing (latest version) https://cloudsecurityalliance. org/ |
|
7.9.14 |
sec.std.003 |
The Platform and Workloads should follow the guidance in the OWASP Cheat Sheet Series (OCSS) |
|
7.9.14 |
sec.std.004 |
The Cloud Operator, Platform and Workloads should ensure that their code is not vulnerable to the OWASP Top Ten Security Risks https://owasp.org/www-project-top-t en/ |
|
7.9.14 |
sec.std.005 |
The Cloud Operator, Platform and Workloads should strive to improve their maturity on the OWASP Software Maturity Model (SAMM) |
|
7.9.14 |
sec.std.006 |
The Cloud Operator, Platform and Workloads should utilize the OW ASP Web Security Testing Guide |
|
7.9.14 |
sec.std.007 |
The Cloud Operator, and Platform should satisfy the requirements for Information Management Systems specified in ISO/IEC 27001. ISO/IEC 27002:2013 - ISO/IEC 27001 is the international Standard for best-practice information security management systems (ISMSs). |
|
7.9.14 |
sec.std.008 |
The Cloud Operator, and Platform should implement the Code of practice for Security Controls specified ISO/IEC 27002:2013 (or la test) |
|
7.9.14 |
sec.std.009 |
The Cloud Operator, and Platform should implement the ISO/IEC 27 032:2012 (or latest) Guidelines for Cybersecurity techniques. ISO/IEC 27032 - ISO/IEC 27032 is the international Standard focusing explicitly on cybersecurity. |
|
7.9.14 |
sec.std.010 |
The Cloud Operator should conform to the ISO/IEC 27035 standard for incidence management. ISO/IEC 27035 - ISO/IEC 27035 is the international Standard for incident management. |
|
7.9.14 |
sec.std.011 |
The Cloud Operator should conform to the ISO/IEC 27031 standard for business continuity. ISO/IEC 27031 - ISO/IEC 27031 is the international Standard for ICT readiness for business continuity. |
|
7.9.14 |
sec.std.012 |
The Public Cloud Operator must, and the Private Cloud Operator may be certified to be compliant with the International Standard on Awareness Engagements (ISAE) 3402 (in the US: SSAE 16). International Standard on Awareness Engagements (ISAE) 3402. US Equivalent: SSAE16. |
Table 2-7: Reference Model Requirements: Cloud Infrastructure Security Requirements Consolidated Security Requirements
2.4. Kubernetes Architecture Requirements¶
The requirements in this section are to be delivered in addition to those in section 2.2, and have been created to support the Principles defined in the Overview of this Reference Architecture.
The Reference Model (RM) defines the Cloud Infrastructure, which consists of the physical resources, virtualised resources and a software management system.
In virtualisation platforms, the Cloud Infrastructure consists of the Guest Operating System, Hypervisor and, if needed, other software such as libvirt. The Cloud Infrastructure Management component is responsible for, among others, tenant management, resources management, inventory, scheduling, and access management.
With regards to containerisation platforms, the scope of the following Architecture requirements include the Cloud Infrastructure Hardware (e.g. physical resources), Cloud Infrastructure Software (e.g. Hypervisor (optional), Container Runtime, virtual or container Orchestrator(s), Operating System), and infrastructure resources consumed by virtual machines or containers.
Reference |
Category |
Sub-category |
Description |
Specification Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
gen.cnt.02 |
General |
Cloud nativeness |
The Architecture must support immutable infrastructure. |
ra2.ch.017 |
gen.cnt.03 |
General |
Cloud nativeness |
The Architecture must run conformant Kubernetes as defined by the CNCF. |
ra2.k8s.001 |
gen.cnt.04 |
General |
Cloud nativeness |
The Architecture must support clearly defined abstraction layers. |
|
gen.cnt.05 |
General |
Cloud nativeness |
The Architecture should support configuration of all components in an automated manner using openly published API definitions. |
|
gen.scl.01 |
General |
Scalability |
The Architecture should support policy driven horizontal auto-scaling of workloads. |
|
gen.rsl.01 |
General |
Resiliency |
The Architecture must support resilient Kubernetes components that are required for the continued availability of running workloads. |
ra2.k8s.004 |
gen.rsl.02 |
General |
Resiliency |
The Architecture should support resilient Kubernetes service components that are not subject to gen.rsl.01. |
ra2.k8s.002, ra2.k8s.003 |
gen.avl.01 |
General |
Availability |
The Architecture must provide High Availability for Kubernetes components. |
ra2.k8s.002, ra2.k8s.003, ra2.k8s.004 |
gen.ost.01 |
Openness |
Availability |
The Architecture should embrace open-based standards and technologies. |
ra2.crt.001, ra2.crt.002, ra2.ntw.002, ra2.ntw.006, ra2.ntw.007 |
inf.com.01 |
Infrastructure |
Compute |
The Architecture must provide compute resources for Pods. technologies. |
ra2.k8s.004 |
inf.stg.01 |
Infrastructure |
Storage |
The Architecture must support the ability for an operator to choose whether or not to deploy persistent storage for Pods. |
ra2.stg.004 |
inf.ntw.01 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The Architecture must support network resiliency on the Kubernetes nodes. |
|
inf.ntw.02 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The Architecture must support fully redundant network connectivity to the Kubernetes nodes, leveraging multiple network connections. |
|
inf.ntw.03 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The networking solution should be able to be centrally administrated and configured. |
ra2.ntw.001, `ra2.ntw.004 |
inf.ntw.04 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The Architecture must support dual stack IPv4 and IPv6 for Kubernetes workloads. |
ra2.ch.007, ra2.k8s.010 |
inf.ntw.05 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The Architecture must support capabilities for integrating SDN controllers. |
|
inf.ntw.06 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The Architecture must support more than one networking solution. |
ra2.ntw.005, ra2.ntw.007 |
inf.ntw.07 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The Architecture must support the ability for an operator to choose whether or not to deploy more than one networking solution. |
ra2.ntw.005 |
inf.ntw.08 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The Architecture must provide a default network which implements the Kubernetes network model. |
ra2.ntw.002 |
inf.ntw.09 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The networking solution must not interfere with or cause interference to any interface or network it does not own. |
|
inf.ntw.10 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The Architecture must support Cluster wide coordination of IP address assignment. |
|
inf.ntw.13 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The platform must allow specifying multiple separate IP pools. Tenants are required to select at least one IP pool that is different from the control infrastructure IP pool or other tenant IP pools. |
|
inf.ntw.14 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The platform must allow NATless traffic (i.e. exposing the pod IP address directly to the outside), allowing source and destination IP addresses to be preserved in the traffic headers from workloads to external networks. This is needed e.g. for signaling applications, using SIP and Diameter protocols. |
ra2.ntw.011 |
inf.ntw.15 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The platform must support LoadBalancer Publishing Service (ServiceType) |
|
inf.ntw.16 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The platform must support Ingress. |
|
inf.ntw.17 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The platform should support NodePort Publishing Service (ServiceTypes). |
|
inf.ntw.18 |
Infrastructure |
Network |
The platform should support ExternalName Publishing Service (ServiceTypes). |
|
inf.vir.01 |
Infrastructure |
Virtual Infr astructure |
The Architecture must support the capability for Containers to consume infrastructure resources abstracted by Host Operating Systems that are running within a virtual machine. |
ra2.ch.005 ra2.ch.011 |
inf.phy.01 |
Infrastructure |
Physical Infrastructu re |
The Architecture must support the capability for Containers to consume infrastructure resources abstracted by Host Operating Systems that are running within a physical server. |
ra2.ch.008 |
kcm.gen.01 |
Kubernetes Cluster |
General |
The Architecture must support policy driven horizontal auto- scaling of Kubernetes Cluster. |
N/A |
kcm.gen.02 |
Kubernetes Cluster |
General |
The Architecture must enable workload resiliency. |
ra2.k8s.004 |
int.api.01 |
API |
General |
The Architecture must leverage the Kubernetes APIs to discover and declaratively manage compute (virtual and bare metal resources), network, and storage. |
For Networking: ra2.ntw.001, ra2.ntw.008, ra2.app.006 Compute/storage not yet met. |
int.api.02 |
API |
General |
The Architecture must support the usage of a Kubernetes Application package manager using the Kubernetes API, like Helm v3. network, and storage. |
ra2.pkg.001 |
int.api.03 |
API |
General |
The Architecture must support stable features in its APIs. |
|
int.api.04 |
API |
General |
The Architecture must support limited backward compatibility in its APIs. Support for the whole API must not be dropped, but the schema or other details can change. |
Table 2-8: Kubernetes Architecture Requirements