edwarnicke / onap-demo

Content

The Demo repository contains the HEAT templates and scripts for the instantiation of the ONAP platform and use cases. The repository includes:

• README.md: this file.

• LICENSE.TXT: the license text.

• pom.xml: POM file used to build the software hosted in this repository.

• version.properties: current version number of the Demo repository. Format: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (e.g. 1.1.0)

• The "boot" directory contains the scripts that install and configure ONAP:

  • install.sh: sets up the host VM for specific components. This script runs only once, soon after the VM is created.
  • vm_init.sh: contains component-specific configuration, downloads and runs docker containers. For some components, this script may either call a component-specific script (cloned from Gerrit repository) or call docker-compose.
  • serv.sh: it is installed in /etc/init.d, calls vm_init.sh at each VM (re)boot.
  • configuration files for the Bind DNS Server installed with ONAP. Currently, both simpledemo.openecomp.org and simpledemo.onap.org domains are supported.
  • sdc_ext_volume_partitions.txt: file that contains external volume partitions for SDC.

• The "docker_update_scripts" directory contains scripts that update all the docker containers of an ONAP instance.

• The "heat" directory contains the following sub-directories:

  • ONAP: contains the HEAT files for the installation of the ONAP platform. NOTE: onap_openstack.yaml AND onap_openstack.env ARE THE HEAT TEMPLATE AND ENVIRONMENT FILE CURRENTLY SUPPORTED. onap_openstack_float.yaml, onap_openstack_float.env, onap_openstack_nofloat.yaml, onap_openstack_nofloat.env AND onap_rackspace.yaml, onap_rackspace.env AREN'T UPDATED AND THEIR USAGE IS DEPRECATED.

  • vCPE: contains sub-directories with HEAT templates for the installation of vCPE Infrastructure (Radius Server, DHCP, DNS, Web Server), vBNG, vBRG Emulator, vGMUX, and vGW.

  • vFW: contains the HEAT template for the instantiation of the vFirewall VNF (base_vfw.yaml) and the environment file (base_vfw.env) For Amsterdam release, this template is used for testing and demonstrating VNF instantiation only (no closed-loop).

  • vFWCL: contains two sub-directories, one that hosts the HEAT template for the vFirewall and vSink (vFWSNK/base_vfw.yaml), and one that hosts the HEAT template for the vPacketGenerator (vPKG/base_vpkg.yaml). For Amsterdam release, these templates are used for testing and demonstrating VNF instantiation and closed-loop.

  • vLB: contains the HEAT template for the instantiation of the vPacketGenerator/vLoadBalancer/vDNS VNF (base_vlb.yaml) and the environment file (base_vlb.env). The directory also contains the HEAT template for the DNS scaling-up scenario (dnsscaling.yaml) with its environment file (dnsscaling.env).

  • vVG: contains the HEAT template for the instantiation of a volume group (base_vvg.yaml and base_vvg.env).

• The "scripts" directory contains the deploy.sh script that uploads software artifacts to the Nexus repository during the build process.

• The "tosca" directory contains an example of the TOSCA model of the vCPE infrastructure.

• The "tutorials" directory contains tutorials for Clearwater_IMS and for creating a Netconf mount point in APPC. The "VoLTE" sub-directory is currently not used.

• The "vagrant" directory contains the scripts that install ONAP using Vagrant.

• The "vnfs" directory: contains the following directories:

  • honeycomb_plugin: Honeycomb plugin that allows ONAP to change VNF configuration via RESTCONF or NETCONF protocols.

  • vCPE: contains sub-directories with the scripts that install all the components of the vCPE use case.

  • VES: source code of the ONAP Vendor Event Listener (VES) Library. The VES library used here has been cloned from the GitHub repository at https://github.com/att/evel-library on February 1, 2017. (DEPRECATED FOR AMSTERDAM RELEASE)

  • VESreporting_vFW: VES client for vFirewall demo application. (DEPRECATED FOR AMSTERDAM RELEASE)

  • VESreporting_vLB: VES client for vLoadBalancer/vDNS demo application. (DEPRECATED FOR AMSTERDAM RELEASE)

  • VES5.0: source code of the ONAP Vendor Event Listener (VES) Library, version 5.0. (SUPPORTED FOR AMSTERDAM RELEASE)

  • VESreporting_vFW5.0: VES v5.0 client for vFirewall demo application. (SUPPORTED FOR AMSTERDAM RELEASE)

  • VESreporting_vLB5.0: VES v5.0 client for vLoadBalancer/vDNS demo application. (SUPPORTED FOR AMSTERDAM RELEASE)

  • vFW: scripts that download, install and run packages for the vFirewall use case.

  • vLB: scripts that download, install and run packages for the vLoadBalancer/vDNS use case.

ONAP Installation in OpenStack Clouds via HEAT Template

The ONAP HEAT template spins up the entire ONAP platform in OpenStack-based clouds. The template, onap_openstack.yaml, comes with an environment file, onap_openstack.env, in which all the default values are defined.

NOTE: onap_openstack.yaml AND onap_openstack.env ARE THE HEAT TEMPLATE AND ENVIRONMENT FILE CURRENTLY SUPPORTED. onap_openstack_float.yaml, onap_openstack_float.env, onap_openstack_nofloat.yaml, onap_openstack_nofloat.env AND onap_rackspace.yaml, onap_rackspace.env AREN'T UPDATED AND THEIR USAGE IS DEPRECATED. As such, the following description refers to onap_openstack.yaml and onap_openstack.env.

The HEAT template is composed of two sections: (i) parameters, and (ii) resources.

• The "parameters" section contains the declarations and descriptions of the parameters that will be used to spin up ONAP, such as public network identifier, URLs of code and artifacts repositories, etc. The default values of these parameters can be found in the environment file.

• The "resources" section contains the definitions of:

  • ONAP Private Management Network, which is used by ONAP components to communicate with each other and with VNFs
  • ONAP Virtual Machines (VMs)
  • Public/private key pair used to access ONAP VMs
  • Virtual interfaces towards the ONAP Private Management Network
  • Disk volumes.

Each VM specification includes Operating System image name, VM size (i.e. flavor), VM name, etc. Each VM has a virtual network interface with a private IP address in the ONAP Private Management network and a floating IP that OpenStack assigns based on availability. Furthermore, each VM runs an install.sh script that downloads and installs software dependencies (e.g. Java JDK, gcc, make, Python, ...). install.sh finally calls vm_init.sh that downloads docker containers from remote repositories and runs them.

When the HEAT template is executed, the OpenStack HEAT engine creates the resources defined in the HEAT template, based on the parameter values defined in the environment file.

Before running HEAT, it is necessary to customize the environment file. Indeed, some parameters, namely public_net_id, pub_key, openstack_tenant_id, openstack_username, and openstack_api_key, need to be set depending on the user's environment:

    public_net_id:       PUT YOUR NETWORK ID/NAME HERE
    pub_key:             PUT YOUR PUBLIC KEY HERE
    openstack_tenant_id: PUT YOUR OPENSTACK PROJECT ID HERE
    openstack_username:  PUT YOUR OPENSTACK USERNAME HERE
    openstack_api_key:   PUT YOUR OPENSTACK PASSWORD HERE
    horizon_url:         PUT THE HORIZON URL HERE
    keystone_url:        PUT THE KEYSTONE URL HERE (do not include version number)

openstack_region parameter is set to RegionOne (OpenStack default). If your OpenStack is using another Region, please modify this parameter.

public_net_id is the unique identifier (UUID) or name of the public network of the cloud provider. To get the public_net_id, use the following OpenStack CLI command (ext is the name of the external network, change it with the name of the external network of your installation)

    openstack network list | grep ext | awk '{print $2}'

pub_key is the string value of the public key that will be installed in each ONAP VM. To create a public/private key pair in Linux, please execute the following instruction:

    user@ubuntu:~$ ssh-keygen -t rsa

The following operations to create the public/private key pair occur:

    Generating public/private rsa key pair.
    Enter file in which to save the key (/home/user/.ssh/id_rsa): 
    Created directory '/home/user/.ssh'.
    Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): 
    Enter same passphrase again: 
    Your identification has been saved in /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.
    Your public key has been saved in /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.

openstack_username, openstack_tenant_id (password), and openstack_api_key are the user's credentials to access the OpenStack-based cloud.

Some global parameters used for all components are also required:

    ubuntu_1404_image: PUT THE UBUNTU 14.04 IMAGE NAME HERE
    ubuntu_1604_image: PUT THE UBUNTU 16.04 IMAGE NAME HERE
    flavor_small: PUT THE SMALL FLAVOR NAME HERE
    flavor_medium: PUT THE MEDIUM FLAVOR NAME HERE
    flavor_large: PUT THE LARGE FLAVOR NAME HERE
    flavor_xlarge: PUT THE XLARGE FLAVOR NAME HERE
    flavor_xxlarge: PUT THE XXLARGE FLAVOR NAME HERE

To get the images in your OpenStack environment, use the following OpenStack CLI command:

    openstack image list | grep 'ubuntu'

To get the flavor names used in your OpenStack environment, use the following OpenStack CLI command:

    openstack flavor list

Some network parameters must be configured:

    dns_list: PUT THE ADDRESS OF THE EXTERNAL DNS HERE (e.g. a comma-separated list of IP addresses in your /etc/resolv.conf in UNIX-based Operating Systems). 
    external_dns: PUT THE FIRST ADDRESS OF THE EXTERNAL DNS LIST HERE (THIS WILL BE DEPRECATED SOON)
    dns_forwarder: PUT THE IP OF DNS FORWARDER FOR ONAP DEPLOYMENT'S OWN DNS SERVER
    oam_network_cidr: 10.0.0.0/16

ONAP installs a DNS server used to resolve IP addresses in the ONAP OAM private network. ONAP Amsterdam Release also requires OpenStack Designate DNS support for the DCAE platform, so as to allow IP address discovery and communication among DCAE elements. This is required because the ONAP HEAT template only installs the DCAE bootstrap container, which will in turn install the entire DCAE platform. As such, at installation time, the IP addresses of the DCAE components are unknown. The DNS server that ONAP installs needs to be connected to the Designate DNS to allow communication between the DCAE elements and the other ONAP components. To this end, dns_list, external_dns, and dns_forwarder should all have the IP address of the Designate DNS. These three parameters are redundant, but still required for Amsterdam Release. Originally, dns_list and external_dns were both used to circumvent some limitations of older OpenStack versions. In future releases, the DNS settings and parameters in HEAT will be consolidated. The Designate DNS is configured to access the external DNS. As such, the ONAP DNS will forward to the Designate DNS the queries from ONAP components to the external world. The Designate DNS will then forward those queries to the external DNS.

DCAE spins up ONAP's data collection and analytics system in two phases. The first is the launching of a bootstrap VM that is specified in the ONAP Heat template, as described above. This VM requires a number of deployment-specific configuration parameters being provided so that it can subsequently bring up the DCAE system. There are two groups of parameters. The first group relates to the launching of DCAE VMs, including parameters such as the keystone URL and additional VM image IDs/names. Hence these parameters need to be provided to DCAE. Note that although DCAE VMs will be launched in the same tenant as the rest of ONAP, because DCAE may use MultiCloud node as the agent for interfacing with the underlying cloud, it needs a separate keystone URL (which points to MultiCloud node instead of the underlying cloud). The second group of configuration parameters relate to DNS As A Service support (DNSaaS). DCAE requires DNSaaS for registering its VMs into organization-wide DNS service. For OpenStack, DNSaaS is provided by Designate, as mentioned above. Designate support can be provided via an integrated service endpoint listed under the service catalog of the OpenStack installation; or proxyed by the ONAP MultiCloud service. For the latter case, a number of parameters are needed to configure MultiCloud to use the correct Designate service. These parameters are described below:

    dcae_keystone_url: PUT THE MULTIVIM PROVIDED KEYSTONE API URL HERE
    dcae_centos_7_image: PUT THE CENTOS7 VM IMAGE NAME HERE FOR DCAE LAUNCHED CENTOS7 VM
    dcae_domain: PUT THE NAME OF DOMAIN THAT DCAE VMS REGISTER UNDER
    dcae_public_key: PUT THE PUBLIC KEY OF A KEYPAIR HERE TO BE USED BETWEEN DCAE LAUNCHED VMS
    dcae_private_key: PUT THE SECRET KEY OF A KEYPAIR HERE TO BE USED BETWEEN DCAE LAUNCHED VMS

    dnsaas_config_enabled: PUT WHETHER TO USE PROXYED DESIGNATE
    dnsaas_region: PUT THE DESIGNATE PROVIDING OPENSTACK'S REGION HERE
    dnsaas_keystone_url: PUT THE DESIGNATE PROVIDING OPENSTACK'S KEYSTONE URL HERE
    dnsaas_tenant_name: PUT THE TENANT NAME IN THE DESIGNATE PROVIDING OPENSTACK HERE (FOR R1 USE THE SAME AS openstack_tenant_name)
    dnsaas_username: PUT THE DESIGNATE PROVIDING OPENSTACK'S USERNAME HERE
    dnsaas_password: PUT THE DESIGNATE PROVIDING OPENSTACK'S PASSWORD HERE

The ONAP platform can be instantiated via Horizon (OpenStack dashboard) or Command Line.

Instantiation via Horizon:

• Login to Horizon URL with your personal credentials
• Click "Stacks" from the "Orchestration" menu
• Click "Launch Stack"
• Paste or manually upload the HEAT template file (onap_openstack.yaml) in the "Template Source" form
• Paste or manually upload the HEAT environment file (onap_openstack.env) in the "Environment Source" form
• Click "Next"
• Specify a name in the "Stack Name" form
• Provide the password in the "Password" form
• Click "Launch"

Instantiation via Command Line:

• Install the HEAT client on your machine, e.g. in Ubuntu (ref. http://docs.openstack.org/user-guide/common/cli-install-openstack-command-line-clients.html):

   apt-get install python-dev python-pip
   pip install python-heatclient        # Install heat client
   pip install python-openstackclient   # Install the Openstack client to support multiple services
  

• Create a file (named i.e. ~/openstack/openrc) that sets all the environmental variables required to access the OpenStack platform:

   export OS_AUTH_URL=INSERT THE AUTH URL HERE
   export OS_USERNAME=INSERT YOUR USERNAME HERE
   export OS_TENANT_ID=INSERT YOUR TENANT ID HERE
   export OS_REGION_NAME=INSERT THE REGION HERE
   export OS_PASSWORD=INSERT YOUR PASSWORD HERE
  

  Alternatively, you can download the OpenStack RC file from the dashboard: Compute -> Access & Security -> API Access -> Download RC File

• Source the script or RC file from command line:

   source ~/openstack/openrc
  

• In order to install the ONAP platform, type:

   openstack stack create -t PATH_TO_HEAT_TEMPLATE(YAML FILE) -e PATH_TO_ENV_FILE STACK_NAME  # New Openstack client, OR
   heat stack-create STACK_NAME -f PATH_TO_HEAT_TEMPLATE(YAML FILE) -e PATH_TO_ENV_FILE       # Old HEAT client
  

vFirewall Use Case

The use case is composed of three virtual functions (VFs): packet generator, firewall, and traffic sink. These VFs run in three separate VMs. The packet generator sends packets to the packet sink through the firewall. The firewall reports the volume of traffic passing though to the ONAP DCAE collector. To check the traffic volume that lands at the sink VM, you can access the link http://sink_ip_address:667 through your browser and enable automatic page refresh by clicking the "Off" button. You can see the traffic volume in the charts.

The packet generator includes a script that periodically generates different volumes of traffic. The closed-loop policy has been configured to re-adjust the traffic volume when high-water or low-water marks are crossed.

Closed-Loop for vFirewall demo:

Through the ONAP Portal's Policy Portal, we can find the configuration and operation policies that are currently enabled for the vFirewall use case.

• The configuration policy sets the thresholds for generating an onset event from DCAE to the Policy engine. Currently, the high-water mark is set to 700 packets while the low-water mark is set to 300 packets. The measurement interval is set to 10 seconds.
• When a threshold is crossed (i.e. the number of received packets is below 300 packets or above 700 packets per 10 seconds), the Policy engine executes the operational policy to request APPC to adjust the traffic volume to 500 packets per 10 seconds.
• APPC sends a request to the packet generator to adjust the traffic volume.
• Changes to the traffic volume can be observed through the link http://sink_ip_address:667.

Adjust packet generator:

The packet generator contains 10 streams: fw_udp1, fw_udp2, fw_udp3, . . . , fw_udp10. Each stream generates 100 packets per 10 seconds. A script in /opt/run_traffic_fw_demo.sh on the packet generator VM starts automatically and alternates high traffic (i.e. 10 active streams at the same time) and low traffic (1 active stream) every 5 minutes.

To enable a stream, include {"id":"fw_udp1", "is-enabled":"true"} in the pg-stream bracket.

To adjust the traffic volume produced by the packet generator, run the following command in a shell, replacing PacketGen_IP in the HTTP argument with localhost (if you run it in the packet generator VM) or the packet generator IP address:

curl -X PUT -H "Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" -d '{"pg-streams":{"pg-stream": [{"id":"fw_udp1", "is-enabled":"true"},{"id":"fw_udp2", "is-enabled":"true"},{"id":"fw_udp3", "is-enabled":"true"},{"id":"fw_udp4", "is-enabled":"true"},{"id":"fw_udp5", "is-enabled":"true"}]}}' "http://PacketGen_IP:8183/restconf/config/sample-plugin:sample-plugin/pg-streams"

The command above enables 5 streams.

vLoadBalancer/vDNS Use Case

The use case is composed of three VFs: packet generator, load balancer, and DNS server. These VFs run in three separate VMs. The packet generator issues DNS lookup queries that reach the DNS server via the load balancer. DNS replies reach the packet generator via the load balancer as well. The load balancer reports the average amount of traffic per DNS over a time interval to the DCAE collector. When the average amount of traffic per DNS server crosses a predefined threshold, the closed-loop is triggered and a new DNS server is instantiated.

To test the application, you can run a DNS query from the packet generator VM:

dig @vLoadBalancer_IP host1.dnsdemo.onap.org

The output below means that the load balancer has been set up correctly, has forwarded the DNS queries to one DNS instance, and the packet generator has received the DNS reply message.

; <<>> DiG 9.10.3-P4-Ubuntu <<>> @192.168.9.111 host1.dnsdemo.onap.org
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 31892
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 2
;; WARNING: recursion requested but not available

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 4096
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;host1.dnsdemo.onap.org.		IN	A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
host1.dnsdemo.onap.org.	604800	IN	A	10.0.100.101

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
dnsdemo.onap.org.	604800	IN	NS	dnsdemo.onap.org.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
dnsdemo.onap.org.	604800	IN	A	10.0.100.100

;; Query time: 0 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.9.111#53(192.168.9.111)
;; WHEN: Fri Nov 10 17:39:12 UTC 2017
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 97

Closedloop for vLoadBalancer/vDNS:

Through the Policy Portal (accessible via the ONAP Portal), we can find the configuration and operation policies that are currently enabled for the vLoadBalancer/vDNS application.

• The configuration policy sets the thresholds for generating an onset event from DCAE to the Policy engine. Currently, the threshold is set to 200 packets, while the measurement interval is set to 10 seconds.
• Once the threshold is crossed (e.g. the number of received packets is above 200 packets per 10 seconds), the Policy engine executes the operational policy. The Policy engine queries A&AI to fetch the VNF UUID and sends a request to SO to spin up a new DNS instance for the VNF identified by that UUID.
• SO spins up a new DNS instance.

To change the volume of queries generated by the packet generator, run the following command in a shell, replacing PacketGen_IP in the HTTP argument with localhost (if you run it in the packet generator VM) or the packet generator IP address:

curl -X PUT -H "Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" -d '{"pg-streams":{"pg-stream": [{"id":"dns1", "is-enabled":"true"}]}}' "http://PacketGen_IP:8183/restconf/config/sample-plugin:sample-plugin/pg-streams"  

• {"id":"dns1", "is-enabled":"true"} shows the stream dns1 is enabled. The packet generator sends requests in the rate of 100 packets per 10 seconds.

• To increase the amount of traffic, you can enable more streams. The packet generator has 10 streams, dns1, dns2, dns3 to dns10. Each of them generates 100 packets per 10 seconds. To enable the streams, please add {"id":"dnsX", "is-enabled":"true"} to the pg-stream bracket of the curl command, where X is the stream ID.

For example, if you want to enable 3 streams, the curl command will be:

curl -X PUT -H "Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" -d '{"pg-streams":{"pg-stream": [{"id":"dns1", "is-enabled":"true"}, {"id":"dns2", "is-enabled":"true"},{"id":"dns3", "is-enabled":"true"}]}}' "http://PacketGen_IP:8183/restconf/config/sample-plugin:sample-plugin/pg-streams"

When the VNF starts, the packet generator is automatically configured to run 5 streams.

vVolumeGroup Use Case

The vVG directory contains the HEAT template (base_vvg.yaml) and environment file (base_vvg.env) used to spin up a volume group in OpenStack and attach it to an existing ONAP instance.

The HEAT environment file contains two parameters:

volume_size: 100
nova_instance: 1234456

volume_size is the size (in gigabytes) of the volume group. nova_instance is the name or UUID of the VM to which the volume group will be attached. This parameter should be changed appropriately.

ONAP Use Cases HEAT Templates

USE CASE VNFs SHOULD BE INSTANTIATED VIA ONAP. THE USER IS NOT SUPPOSED TO DOWNLOAD THE HEAT TEMPLATES AND RUN THEM MANUALLY.

The vFWCL directory contains two HEAT templates, one for creating a packet generator (vPKG/base_vpkg.yaml) and one for creating a firewall and a packet sink (vFWSNK/base_vfw.yaml). This use case supports VNF onboarding, instantiation, and closed-loop. The vFW directory, instead, contains a single HEAT template (base_vfw) that spins up the three VFs. This use case supports VNF onboarding and instantiation only (no support for closed-loop). For Amsterdam Release, the HEAT templates in vFWCL are recommended, so that users can test and demonstrate the entire ONAP end-to-end flow.

The vLB directory contains a base HEAT template (base_vlb.yaml) that install a packet generator, a load balancer, and a DNS instance, plus another HEAT template (dnsscaling.yaml) for the DNS scaling scenario, in which another DNS server is instantiated.

Before onboarding the VNFs in SDC, the user should set the following values in the HEAT environment files:

image_name: PUT THE VM IMAGE NAME HERE
flavor_name: PUT THE VM FLAVOR NAME HERE
public_net_id: PUT THE PUBLIC NETWORK ID HERE
dcae_collector_ip: PUT THE ADDRESS OF THE DCAE COLLECTOR HERE (NOTE: this is not required for vFWCL/vPKG/base\_vpkg.env)
pub_key: PUT YOUR KEY HERE
cloud_env: PUT openstack OR rackspace HERE

image_name, flavor_name, \public_net_id, and pub_key can be obtained as described in the ONAP Section. For deployment in OpenStack, cloud_env must be openstack.

The DNS scaling HEAT environment file for the vLoadBalancer use case also requires you to specify the private IP of the load balancer, so that the DNS can connect to the vLB:

vlb_private_ip_1: PUT THE PRIVATE ADDRESS OF THE VLB IN THE ONAP NETWORK SPACE HERE

As an alternative, it is possible to set the HEAT environment variables after the VNF is onboarded via SDC by appropriately preloading data into SDNC. That data will be fetched and used by SO to overwrite the default parameters in the HEAT environment file before the VNF is instantiated. For further information about SDNC data preload, please visit the wiki page: https://wiki.onap.org/display/DW/Tutorial_vIMS+%3A+SDNC+Updates

Each VNF has a MANIFEST.json file associated with the HEAT templates. During VNF onboarding, SDC reads the MANIFEST.json file to understand the role of each HEAT template that is part of the VNF (e.g. base template vs. non-base template). VNF onboarding requires users to create a zip file that contains all the HEAT templates and the MANIFEST file. To create the zip file, you can run the following command from shell:

cd VNF_FOLDER  (this is the folder that contains the HEAT templates and the MANIFEST file)
zip ZIP_FILE_NAME.zip *

For information about VNF onboarding via the SDC portal, please refer to the wiki page: https://wiki.onap.org/display/DW/Design