There are following user cases
Users want to be able to deploy Virtual Network Function (VNF) VM appliances in a seamless manner
Users also want to be able to access the management portal of their VNFs directly “from” ACS
Service providers want integration of VNFs with ACS, this FR provides for basic integration in a vendor neutral manner
Currently in order to deploy a VNF appliances end-users need to create at least 3 networks (north, south and management) and then attach the relevant networks to the VM.
This feature provides for a new Appliance deployment wizard where end-users can select 3 networks when deploying the VNF VM appliance.
ISOs, templates and VM instances which are Appliances, are essentially no different from existing VM templates, ISOs and instances. They need not have separate tables in the DB. Largely existing attributes such as 'type' can be extended to denote that the element is an appliance in nature.
Instantiating an appliance is actually simply provisioning a VM. However, these 'Appliances' should not be presented alongside "normal" VMs - they are a distinct object type from the users' perspective and will be displayed within the networking tab.