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OpenVIM

OpenVIM is a virtual infrastructure manager (VIM) project under the Open Source Mano (OSM) umbrella focused on managing compute, storage, and networking resources for virtualized network functions in ETSI Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) environments (infrastructure orchestration).

  • Implements a virtual infrastructure manager for ETSI NFV infrastructures (infrastructure orchestration).
  • Handles lifecycle control of virtual machines hosting virtual network functions (VNF lifecycle management support).
  • Manages compute, storage, and virtual networking resources in a data center or NFV Infrastructure (NFVI) deployment (virtualized infrastructure management).
  • Integrates as a Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM) plugin with Optical Switching Matrix (OSM) for end-to-end network service orchestration (NFV MANO integration).
  • Targets carrier-grade NFV use cases and telco cloud deployments (telecommunications infrastructure).

More About OpenVIM

OpenVIM is a virtual infrastructure manager (VIM) developed within the Open Source Mano (OSM) project hosted by The Linux Foundation, designed to manage virtualized infrastructure resources for ETSI Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) deployments (infrastructure orchestration). It addresses the need for programmatic control and abstraction of compute, storage, and networking resources that host virtual network functions (VNFs) in carrier and service-provider environments (telecommunications infrastructure).

Within the ETSI NFV Management and Orchestration (MANO) architectural framework, the VIM is responsible for controlling and managing the NFV Infrastructure (NFVI), and OpenVIM implements this role for specific deployment scenarios (NFV MANO tooling). It provides interfaces for allocating and releasing virtual machines, attaching storage, and configuring virtual networking constructs that VNFs require for operation (virtualized infrastructure management). As part of OSM, OpenVIM interoperates with higher-level orchestration components that handle network service descriptors and Virtual Network Function (VNF) descriptors defined by ETSI NFV specifications (standards-based orchestration).

OpenVIM exposes management APIs through which orchestrators such as OSM can request creation, modification, and deletion of virtual resources in a controlled manner (orchestration integration). It supports typical NFVI constructs such as compute nodes, images, flavors, networks, and ports, enabling consistent handling of VNFs and network services across an ETSI-aligned NFV deployment (cloud infrastructure primitives). The project focuses on scenarios relevant to telecom operators, including multi-VNF network services, service chaining, and resource isolation within the NFVI (telecom cloud operations).

In enterprise and carrier environments, OpenVIM is used as one of the VIM options that OSM can manage, especially where a controlled, purpose-built VIM aligned with ETSI NFV concepts is preferred over general-purpose cloud platforms (NFV infrastructure choice). It fits into architectures where OSM serves as the NFV orchestrator and network service lifecycle manager, while OpenVIM provides the underlying infrastructure control plane for a subset of sites or labs (multi-site NFV deployment). This positioning allows organizations to test and deploy ETSI-compliant network services with a VIM implementation that is developed directly within the OSM ecosystem.

From a directory and taxonomy perspective, OpenVIM aligns with NFV infrastructure management, telco cloud orchestration, and ETSI NFV MANO-compliant tooling (infrastructure orchestration). It is relevant to enterprise architects, network engineers, and platform teams working on NFV, OSM-based service orchestration, and telecom-oriented virtualized infrastructure designs where a dedicated VIM component is part of the reference architecture (telecommunications infrastructure planning).