ETSI defined the standard NFV architecture with main components.
NFV Infrastructure (NFVI): Physical compute, storage, and network resources. Includes virtualization layer.
Virtual Network Functions (VNFs): Software implementations of network functions. Run on the NFVI.
NFV Management and Orchestration (MANO):
- VNF Manager: Lifecycle management of VNF instances
- VIM: Manages NFVI resources
- NFV Orchestrator: Coordinates VNF deployment and service chaining
The orchestrator stitches VNFs together into service chains.