CLAMP (Closed Loop Automation Management Platform)

CLAMP is a platform for designing and managing control loops. It is used to design a closed loop, configure it with specific parameters for a particular network service, then deploying and undeploying it. Once deployed, the user can also update the loop with new parameters during runtime, as well as suspending and restarting it.

It interacts with other systems to deploy and execute the closed loop. For example, it pushes the control loop design to the SDC catalog, associating it with the VF resource. It requests from DCAE the instantiation of microservices to manage the closed loop flow. Further, it creates and updates multiple policies in the Policy Engine that define the closed loop flow.

The ONAP CLAMP platform abstracts the details of these systems under the concept of a control loop model. The design of a control loop and its management is represented by a workflow in which all relevant system interactions take place. This is essential for a self-service model of creating and managing control loops, where no low-level user interaction with other components is required.

At a higher level, CLAMP is about supporting and managing the broad operational life cycle of VNFs/VMs and ultimately ONAP components itself. It will offer the ability to design, test, deploy and update control loop automation - both closed and open. Automating these functions would represent a significant saving on operational costs compared to traditional methods.