5G ansible deployment

The introduction of 5G and its deployment comes with many challenges. One of such challenges is the huge number of heterogeneous core nodes that have been introduced and the complexities of configuring each of them according to their vendor specifications. To get the full benefits of 5G, mobile service providers will need to move to a distributed edge cloud that employs virtualization and automation technology to support 5G-based applications and services. In this project, we demonstrate how mobile network operators can deploy full 5G networks using (open source) Ansible and container orchestration tools such as docker and Kubernetes on the cloud and a local setup. The setup produced a functioning Kubernetes 5G standalone and Docker 5G Non-standalone network with all the main core elements, the Radio Access Network (RAN), and a functioning User Equipment (UE). The UE was able to ping all the associated core elements and the internet while all the core elements were able to ping each other. A test call was successful using customized open source free5GC network images. Finally, with ansible and container orchestration tools, we illustrate the deployment setup time can be reduced significantly and completed within an hour.