Attaching and detaching applications
Besides attaching a device to a network slice as whole, you can attach specific applications instead. Application attachment enables fine-grained slice control with different connectivity parameters set for different applications on a device.
What does this mean? When you create a network slice with specific connectivity parameters, such as different amounts of bandwidth a device or slice can get, area of service, etc., you can make sure that only specific applications can access these resources.
This is done by attaching both the device and applications to the slice you just created. Then, when you are done, you can detach them in the same way.
For example, if an enterprise is authorized to use a device and create network slices for it, they can also attach specific applications to them. This way, they can prioritize network resources according to their multiple business applications.
NOTE: Before attaching an enterprise app into a slice, make sure the enterprise has the right consent to access the device and create specialized network (slices) for it. Learn how to do it in our Consent & Identity management policy.
Attaching an application to a slice
If you have already created and activated a slice, you can just attach a specific application to it by following this SDK example:
import network_as_code as nac
from network_as_code.models.device import Device, DeviceIpv4Addr
from network_as_code.models.slice import (
Apps,
Point,
AreaOfService,
NetworkIdentifier,
Slice,
SliceInfo,
Throughput,
TrafficCategories
)
...
# The slice needs to be created and activated
my_slice.activate()
new_attachment = my_slice.attach(
my_device,
# Use HTTPS to send notifications
# about slice attachments.
notification_url="https://notify.me/here",
notification_auth_token="replace-with-your-auth-token",
traffic_categories=TrafficCategories(
apps=Apps(
# This is the OS ID used by Android
os="97a498e3-fc92-5c94-8986-0333d06e4e47",
apps=["ENTERPRISE", "ENTERPRISE2"]
)
)
)
What's behind this technology?
There's a set of rules, which will enable the User Equipment (UE) to know how to route
the traffic to specific applications within the network environment.
On the network side, Network as Code will configure these UE Route Selection Policy (URSP) rules
according to the Operating System Identifier (OSId) and OS specific Application Identifier (OsAppId) to establish the traffic categories.
So, all you will need to provide is the OSId
, according to the OS you use (Android, iOS, etc.) and the OsAppId
(Enterprise app name).
For example, Android's 5G Network Slicing documentation
defines their OSId
with a 5 (UUID) sequence, which is 97a498e3-fc92-5c94-8986-0333d06e4e47
.
You can also refer to the
iOS documentation
for further information on their OSId
.
Now, for the OsAppId
, you will need to pass the enterprise app name.
Getting an application
You can get an attachment also by getting a slice since applications are attached to slices.
# Get an attachment using the resource identifier
# The attachment id can be accessed using new_attachment['nac_resource_id']
attachment = client.slices.get_attachment(new_attachment['nac_resource_id'])
Detaching an application from a slice
You can follow the complete steps on how to detach a device from a slice, since it also works for application attachments. Briefly, here is a snippet which summarizes the process of detaching and deleting an application:
# Detach a device
my_slice.detach(my_device)
# Delete an attachment by calling the method
# on the attachment previously created
new_attachment.delete()
# Deactivate and delete a slice
my_slice.deactivate()
my_slice.delete()
Attachment parameters
The attach/detachment methods have the following parameters:
traffic_categories
is an optional parameter in the format "[OS]/[Category]",
which is converted by NaC backend into an OSId and OSAppId for URSP.
If this parameter is omitted,
the slice will be attached as a default for the device.
Otherwise, the slice will be only used for the mentioned traffic categories.
Parameters | Description |
---|---|
device | Device ID callback parameter used to perform attachment/detachment |
traffic_categories | (Optional) It should contain the OSId , according to the OS you use (Android, iOS, etc.) and the OsAppId (Enterprise app name) |
apps | The enterprise app name (ID) |
os | The OSId identifier according to the OS you use (Android, iOS, etc.) |
notification_url | (Optional) The recipient's HTTP endpoint, which is a web server configured to receive POST requests. |
notification_auth_token | The password used to identify the sender of the notification. |
id | It's possible to define an identifier for the attachment and use it to get the resource. |
Good to know: There are different states in a slice life cycle, learn what they are and how you can react to them.
Last updated on July 25, 2024