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  • 1.  featureSpecification Vs resourceSpecCharacteristic

    Posted Aug 10, 2020 10:18
    Hi All,

    This query is in reference to TMF634_Resource_Catalog_Management_API_User_Guide_v4.0.1.

    Document mentions that ResourceSpecification has follwoing two things associated.
    1) ResourceSpecificationCharacteristics 
    2) FeatureSpecification


    Trying to understand this from use case point if view
    Lets say there are following specifications (Switches)
    1) D-link DES-3200-52
    2) D-link DES-3200-28

    I believe following can be characteristics for these switch specifications
    1)
    ResourceSpecificationCharacteristic1 - Size 
    ResourceSpecificationCharacteristic1Values - 9 inches, 11 inches

    2) 
    ResourceSpecificationCharacteristic2 - Switching Capacity
    ResourceSpecificationCharacteristic2Values - 5.6 Gbps, 7.2 Gbps

    Q 1) What is the role of FeatureSpecification in such cases? Maybe if this is not the perfect use case then can somebody throw some light with any other example to understand the usage of FeatureSpecification?

    Q 2) Also trying to understand the usage of ResourceSpecificationCharacteristicRelationship. I believe use cases like adding variants for the specifications can be achieved with this?

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    Ajinkya Vaze
    Alepo USA
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  • 2.  RE: featureSpecification Vs resourceSpecCharacteristic

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Aug 11, 2020 01:05
    Features were introduced in SID by the ZOOM project to support intent based management of resource functions.  You could look at GB922 (SID) documents for the details but a good overview is provided in the recently published IG1211.

    Resource Characteristics are used to support explicit management whereas Features are used to communicate intent.  The easiest example conceptually is a composite Resource where you would like to influence the value of a Characteristic in an enclosed Resource. You can't do that with a Characteristic of the Composite (parent) Resource however a Feature coulkd be used to express this intent.  Also while a Resource Characteristic takes an explicit value you may use a Feature to express an intent which may result in a specific value of a Resource Characteristic. In your example you use a Characteristic to choose the specific switching capacity (5.6 or7.2 Gbps).  You might also support a Feature to express a need for minimum 5 Gbs capacity which would allow both 5.6 and 7.2 Gbs to be chosen.

    ------------------------------
    Vance Shipley
    SigScale
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: featureSpecification Vs resourceSpecCharacteristic

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 13, 2023 05:10

    Hi Vance,

    I'd like to get more clarification regarding resourceSpecCharacteristic and featureSpecification in case of resource specification, not a resource instance in case of inventory. I guess that on the specification level it's always an intention. Let's take an example from TMF634 API Specification

    "resourceSpecCharacteristic": [
     {
     "name": "Power Supply Option",
     "description": "The type of power supply that can be chosen",
     "valueType": "string",
     "configurable": true,
     "minCardinality": 1,
     "maxCardinality": 1,
     "isUnique": true,
     "resourceSpecCharacteristicValue": [
     {
     "valueType": "string",
     "value": "AC/HVDC"
     },
     {
     "valueType": "string",
     "value": "LVDC"
     }
     ]
     }
     ]

    These are possible characteristics of a resource instance. The following featureSpecification for "logSize" in the same example also communicates intention of 2000 or 4000 MB. What is the difference in this case between featureSpecification and resourceSpecCharacteristic?



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    Anna Berdnikova
    Deutsche Telekom AG
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: featureSpecification Vs resourceSpecCharacteristic

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 13, 2023 06:58

    If you placed an order for a Physical Resource using your Resource Specification in which you provided a Resource Characteristic with name of Power Supply Option and value of AC/HVDC you would expect exactly that in the instantiated entity.

    Activation Features are declarative, they are used to influence the choice of Resource Characteristic values.  In my Specification I might have might have a Feature with name of generation taking a value of v2 | v3.  This may be related to a Characteristic with name of model and possible values of 201 | 202 | 301 | 304 | 303.  By selecting Feature generation value v3 I am declaring that the instantiated Resource should have model with a value of 301 | 302 | 303. 



    ------------------------------
    Vance Shipley
    SigScale
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: featureSpecification Vs resourceSpecCharacteristic

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 13, 2023 07:58

    Thank you Vance. I can get and accept your logic (though example I've mentioned doesn't reflect it).

    One more question. Resource must be instantinated with charactiristics declared in the specification only?



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    Anna Berdnikova
    Deutsche Telekom AG
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: featureSpecification Vs resourceSpecCharacteristic

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 13, 2023 07:04

    Hi Anna

    Subject to correction by Vance :) , I would say that the difference here is the same as for the instance entity.

    • A resource specification characteristic describes something that is directly addressable in the network element(or other) resource, for example a concrete characteristic in a hardware element. I'm not a hardware person, but in the example above from the catalog user guide (which I may have written), we can imagine a shelf full of these hardware items, some of them have AC/HVDC power input, and others have LVDC power input. When a resource is instantiated as part of the resource order, the techie or warehouse guy will (conceptually) go to the shelf and pick out the hardware item that matches the value of the characteristic that was set in the resource.
    • An intent spec in the feature is more high-level and logical in nature, and (presumably) can be interpreted (perhaps by some intermediate adaptor) to actual characteristics in the resource.

    I'm not an expert here, but it might be case-by-case - the log size might be represented by a removeable memory chip that exactly matches the characteristic value, or by some firmware setting in the box.

    Hope it helps



    ------------------------------
    Jonathan Goldberg
    Amdocs Management Limited
    Any opinions and statements made by me on this forum are purely personal, and do not necessarily reflect the position of the TM Forum or my employer.
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: featureSpecification Vs resourceSpecCharacteristic

    TM Forum Member
    Posted Nov 13, 2023 08:01

    Hi Jonathan,

    thank you. I'm not a HW expert either, maybe this can explain, why I do not get the mentioned example as a clear one :)



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    Anna Berdnikova
    Deutsche Telekom AG
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    Original Message