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Level 21
Cloud-Native Telecom
Master cloud-native telecom — containers and Kubernetes for telecom, CNF design principles, Helm charts, service mesh, deploying 5GC on Kubernetes with DPDK/SR-IOV, auto-scaling NFs, CI/CD pipelines, GitOps, observability, and Day-2 operations for production 5G networks.
18 interactive6 simulation4 labs4 quizzes
0%
0/32 lessons
Containers & Kubernetes for Telecom
0/8Learn why telecom is moving from VNFs to CNFs, container fundamentals, Kubernetes architecture, K8s objects for telecom NFs, networking with Multus and SR-IOV, and persistent storage for stateful NFs.
VNF vs CNF: why telecom is moving to cloud-native
The evolution from VM-based VNFs to container-based CNFs and why operators are making the shift.
interactive3 min
Container fundamentals: Docker, images, registries, namespaces
Core container concepts — images, registries, namespaces, and the container lifecycle.
interactive3 min
Kubernetes architecture: control plane, worker nodes, kubelet, etcd
The Kubernetes control plane and worker node architecture for telecom workloads.
interactive3 min
K8s objects for telecom: Pods, Deployments, StatefulSets, DaemonSets
Choosing the right K8s object type for each 5G network function.
simulation3 min
Networking in K8s: CNI plugins, Multus for multi-NIC, SR-IOV
Kubernetes networking for telecom — CNI plugins, Multus multi-interface support, and SR-IOV for user plane.
interactive3 min
Storage for stateful NFs: PersistentVolumes, StorageClasses, CSI
Persistent storage for stateful network functions using PVs, StorageClasses, and CSI drivers.
interactive3 min
Lab: Map 5GC NFs to Kubernetes objects
Match each 5GC network function to the correct Kubernetes workload type with scoring.
lab4 min
Quiz: Containers & Kubernetes for Telecom
Test your understanding of container fundamentals and Kubernetes for telecom.
quiz5 min
Cloud-Native Network Functions (CNFs)
0/8CNF design principles, Helm chart packaging, service mesh for 5GC SBI traffic, NF health probes, resource management, and real-world CNF deployments by major vendors.
CNF design principles: stateless, horizontally scalable, 12-factor
The 12-factor app principles applied to telecom network functions.
interactive3 min
Helm charts for NF packaging: chart structure, values.yaml, templating
Packaging network functions as Helm charts for repeatable deployment.
simulation3 min
Service mesh for 5GC: Istio/Linkerd for SBI traffic, mTLS
Service mesh sidecar proxies for securing and observing SBI traffic between NFs.
interactive3 min
NF health probes: liveness, readiness, startup for telecom NFs
Configuring Kubernetes health probes for reliable network function operation.
simulation3 min
Resource management: CPU/memory requests, limits, QoS classes
Right-sizing CPU and memory for NF pods with Kubernetes QoS classes.
interactive3 min
Real-world: Operator CNF deployments (Ericsson, Nokia, Mavenir)
How major vendors deploy cloud-native 5GC on Kubernetes in production.
interactive3 min
Lab: Design a Helm values.yaml for 5GC deployment
Configure AMF replicas, UPF resources, and SMF settings in a Helm values file.
lab4 min
Quiz: Cloud-Native Network Functions
Test your understanding of CNF design principles and Helm packaging.
quiz5 min
5GC on Kubernetes — Architecture & Deployment
0/8Reference architecture for 5GC on K8s, UPF deployment with DPDK and SR-IOV, NF discovery, auto-scaling, multi-cluster geo-redundancy, and security hardening.
Reference architecture: 5GC on K8s with control/user plane clusters
Production 5GC architecture on Kubernetes with separate control and user plane node pools.
interactive3 min
UPF deployment: DPDK, SR-IOV, hugepages for high-throughput
Deploying the UPF with kernel-bypass networking for line-rate user plane performance.
interactive3 min
NF discovery in K8s: NRF + K8s Services + DNS-based discovery
How NRF-based NF discovery integrates with Kubernetes Services and DNS.
interactive3 min
Scaling NFs: HPA, custom metrics, active sessions, signaling load
Auto-scaling AMF and SMF pods using HPA with telecom-specific custom metrics.
simulation3 min
Multi-cluster and geo-redundancy: federation, failover, DR
Multi-site 5GC deployment with cluster federation and disaster recovery.
interactive3 min
Security: RBAC, network policies, pod security, secrets management
Hardening Kubernetes for telecom with RBAC, network policies, and secrets management.
interactive3 min
Lab: Design production 5GC K8s deployment
Design a production-grade 5GC deployment with node pools, networking, storage, and scaling.
lab5 min
Quiz: 5GC on Kubernetes
Test your understanding of deploying 5G core on Kubernetes.
quiz5 min
CI/CD & Day-2 Operations for Telecom
0/8CI/CD pipelines with GitOps for NF upgrades, rolling and canary deployments, observability with Prometheus/Grafana/Jaeger, log aggregation, capacity planning, and Day-2 operations.
CI/CD pipelines for NF upgrades: GitOps, ArgoCD, Flux
GitOps-based CI/CD pipelines for automated network function deployment and upgrades.
interactive3 min
Rolling upgrades and canary deployments for live NFs
Zero-downtime NF upgrade strategies — rolling updates vs canary deployments.
simulation3 min
Observability: Prometheus + Grafana + Jaeger for 5GC
Building an observability stack with telecom-specific metrics and distributed tracing.
interactive3 min
Log aggregation: EFK/Loki stack for NF troubleshooting
Centralized log aggregation for debugging NF issues across clusters.
interactive3 min
Capacity planning: right-sizing K8s clusters for NF workloads
Sizing K8s clusters — translating subscriber count to pod count to node count.
simulation3 min
Real-world: Day-2 NF upgrade, rollback, and incident response
A real-world Day-2 scenario — upgrading an AMF, handling failure, and rolling back.
interactive3 min
Lab: Plan zero-downtime AMF upgrade with canary deployment
Design and execute a canary deployment strategy for upgrading the AMF.
lab5 min
Quiz: CI/CD & Day-2 Operations — Level Gate
Level gate quiz covering CI/CD, observability, and Day-2 operations.
quiz5 min