The present document develops specifications for packaging of VNFs to be delivered to service providers, focusing on the holistic end-to-end view of the VNF Package lifecycle, from design to runtime, capturing development as well as operational views. The present document provides an analysis of end-to-end VNF Package lifecycle management operations based on use-cases and NFV Architectural Framework functional blocks.
 
A VNF Package contains all of the required files and meta-data descriptors required to validate and instantiate a VNF.
 
Standardized meta-data descriptors are required to:

• describe the NFV infrastructure resource requirements for a VNF in a service provider environment;
• describe design constraints and other dependencies in order for the VNF to successfully install, instantiate and terminate; and
• describe VNF operational behaviour including VNF lifecycle events (e.g. scaling, upgrading).
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Standardized packaging and validation of VNFs is required to:

• provide a consistent, documented method for VNF providers to package VNFs;
• harmonize the service provider on-boarding process for VNFs coming from different VNF providers;
• ensure integrity, trust and auditability of a VNF Package;
• allow for a flexible and extensible VNF packaging structure that accommodates a wide variety of NFV infrastructure scenarios; and
• allow the packaged VNF-related meta-data to be interpreted and the packaged VNF to be instantiated in a wide variety of orchestration systems irrespective of technology choice or infrastructure environment.