JIRA ESCALATOR-3

Change-Id: I6044ea74eca6ad6337cbc19f35cbfb437f8d1386
Signed-off-by: Jie Hu <hu.jie@zte.com.cn>

12 files changed, 801 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/doc/00-Authors.rst b/doc/00-Authors.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fdbf61b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/00-Authors.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+Authors:
+--------
+
+| Jie Hu (ZTE, hu.jie@zte.com.cn)
+| Qiao Fu (China Mobile, fuqiao@chinamobile.com)
+| Ulrich Kleber (Huawei, Ulrich.Kleber@huawei.com)
+| Maria Toeroe (Ericsson, maria.toeroe@ericsson.com)
+| Sama, Malla Reddy (DOCOMO, sama@docomolab-euro.com)
+| Zhong Chao (ZTE, chao.zhong@zte.com.cn)
+| Julien Zhang (ZTE, zhang.jun3g@zte.com.cn)
+| Yuri Yuan (ZTE, yuan.yue@zte.com.cn)
+| Zhipeng Huang (Huawei, huangzhipeng@huawei.com)
+| Jia Meng (ZTE, meng.jia@zte.com.cn)
+| Liyi Meng (Ericsson, liyi.meng@ericsson.com)
+| Pasi Vaananen (Stratus, pasi.vaananen@stratus.com)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/01-Scope.rst b/doc/01-Scope.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f791eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/01-Scope.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+Scope
+-----
+
+| This document describes the user requirements on the smooth upgrade
+  function of the NFVI and VIM with respect to the upgrades of the OPNFV
+  platform from one version to another. Smooth upgrade means that the
+  upgrade results in no service outage for the end-users. This requires
+  that the process of the upgrade is automatically carried out by a tool
+  (code name: Escalator) with pre-configured data. The upgrade process
+  includes preparation, validation, execution, monitoring and
+  conclusion.
+| ==[MT] While it is good to have a tool for the entire upgrade process,
+  but it is a challenging task, so maybe we shouldn't require automation
+  for the entire process right away. Automation is essential at
+  execution.==
+| ==[hujie] Maybe we can analysis information flows of the upgrade tool,
+  abstract the basic / essential actions from the tool (or tools), and
+  map them to a command set of NFVI / VIM's interfaces.==
+
+The requirements are defined in a stepwise approach, i.e. in the first
+phase focusing on the upgrade of the VIM then widening the scope to the
+NFVI.
+
+The requirements may apply to different NFV functions (NFVI, or VIM, or
+both of them) . They will be classified in the Appendix of this
+document.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/02-Background_and_Terminologies.rst b/doc/02-Background_and_Terminologies.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b6e9552
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/02-Background_and_Terminologies.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,362 @@
+General Requirements Background and Terminology
+-----------------------------------------------
+
+Terminologies and definitions
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+-  **NFVI** is abbreviation for Network Function Virtualization
+   Infrastructure; sometimes it is also referred as data plane in this
+   document.
+-  **VIM** is abbreviation for Virtual Infrastructure Management;
+   sometimes it is also referred as control plane in this document.
+-  **Operators** are network service providers and Virtual Network
+   Function (VNF) providers.
+-  **End-Users** are subscribers of Operator's services.
+-  **Network Service** is a service provided by an Operator to its
+   End-users using a set of (virtualized) Network Functions
+-  **Infrastructure Services** are those provided by the NFV
+   Infrastructure and the Management & Orchestration functions to the
+   VNFs. I.e. these are the virtual resources as perceived by the VNFs.
+-  **Smooth Upgrade** means that the upgrade results in no service
+   outage for the end-users.
+-  **Rolling Upgrade** is an upgrade strategy that upgrades each node or
+   a subset of nodes in a wave rolling style through the data centre. It
+   is a popular upgrade strategy to maintains service availability.
+-  **Parallel Universe** is an upgrade strategy that creates and deploys
+   a new universe - a system with the new configuration - while the old
+   system continues running. The state of the old system is transferred
+   to the new system after sufficient testing of the later.
+-  **Infrastructure Resource Model** ==(suggested by MT)== is identified
+   as: physical resources, virtualization facility resources and virtual
+   resources.
+-  **Physical Resources** are the hardware of the infrastructure, may
+   also includes the firmware that enable the hardware.
+-  **Virtual Resources** are resources provided as services built on top
+   of the physical resources via the virtualization facilities; in our
+   case, they are the components that VNF entities are built on, e.g.
+   the VMs, virtual switches, virtual routers, virtual disks etc
+   ==[MT] I don't think the VNF is the virtual resource. Virtual
+   resources are the VMs, virtual switches, virtual routers, virtual
+   disks etc. The VNF uses them, but I don't think they are equal. The
+   VIM doesn't manage the VNF, but it does manage virtual resources.==
+-  **Visualization Facilities** are resources that enable the creation
+   of virtual environments on top of the physical resources, e.g.
+   hypervisor, OpenStack, etc.
+
+Upgrade Objects
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Physical Resource
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+| Most of the cloud infrastructures support dynamic addition/removal of
+  hardware. A hardware upgrade could be done by removing the old
+  hardware node and adding the new one. Upgrade a physical resource,
+  like upgrade the firmware and modify the configuration data, may
+  be considered in the future. 
+
+Virtual Resources
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+| Virtual resource upgrade mainly done by users. OPNFV may facilitate
+  the activity, but suggest to have it in long term roadmap instead of
+  initiate release.
+| ==[MT] same comment here: I don't think the VNF is the virtual
+  resource. Virtual resources are the VMs, virtual switches, virtual
+  routers, virtual disks etc. The VNF uses them, but I don't think they
+  are equal. For example if by some reason the hypervisor is changed and
+  the current VMs cannot be migrated to the new hypervisor, they are
+  incompatible, then the VMs need to be upgraded too. This is not
+  something the NFVI user (i.e. VNFs ) would even know about.==
+
+Virtualization Facility Resources
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+| Based on the functionality they provide, virtualization facility
+  resources could be divided into computing node, networking node,
+  storage node and management node.
+| The possible upgrade objects in these nodes are addressed below:
+  (Note: hardware based virtualization may considered as virtualization
+  facility resource, but from escalator perspective, it is better
+  considered it as part of hardware upgrade. )
+
+**Computing node**
+
+1. OS Kernel
+2. Hypvervisor and virtual switch
+3. Other kernel modules, like driver
+4. User space software packages, like nova-compute agents and other
+   control plane programs
+
+| Updating 1 and 2 will cause the loss of virtualzation functionality of
+  the compute node, which may lead to data plane services interruption
+  if the virtual resource is not redudant.
+| Updating 3 might result the same.
+| Updating 4 might lead to control plane services interruption if not an
+  HA deployment.
+
+**Networking node**
+
+1. OS kernel, optional, not all switch/router allow you to upgrade its
+   OS since it is more like a firmware than a generic OS.
+2. User space software package, like neutron agents and other control
+   plane programs
+
+| Updating 1 if allowed will cause a node reboot and therefore leads to
+  data plane services interruption if the virtual resource is not
+  redudant.
+| Updating 2 might lead to control plane services interruption if not an
+  HA deployment.
+
+**Storage node**
+
+1. OS kernel, optional, not all storage node allow you to upgrade its OS
+   since it is more like a firmware than a generic OS.
+2. Kernel modules
+3. User space software packages, control plane programs
+
+| Updating 1 if allowed will cause a node reboot and therefore leads to
+  data plane services interruption if the virtual resource is not
+  redudant.
+| Update 2 might result in the same.
+| Updating 3 might lead to control plane services interruption if not an
+  HA deployment.
+
+**Management node**
+
+1. OS Kernel
+2. Kernel modules, like driver
+3. User space software packages, like database, message queue and
+   control plane programs.
+
+| Updating 1 will cause a node reboot and therefore leads to control
+  plane services interruption if not an HA deployment. Updating 2 might
+  result in the same.
+| Updating 3 might lead to control plane services interruption if not an
+  HA deployment.
+
+Upgrade Span
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+| **Major Upgrade**
+| Upgrades between major releases may introducing significant changes in
+  function, configuration and data, such as the upgrade of OPNFV from
+  Arno to Brahmaputra.
+
+| **Minor Upgrade**
+| Upgrades inside one major releases which would not leads to changing
+  the structure of the platform and may not infect the schema of the
+  system data.
+
+Upgrade Granularity
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Physical/Hardware Dimension
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Support full / partial upgrade for data centre, cluster, zone. Because
+of the upgrade of a data centre or a zone, it may be divided into
+several batches. The upgrade of a cloud environment (cluster) may also
+be partial. For example, in one cloud environment running a number of
+VNFs, we may just try one of them to check the stability and
+performance, before we upgrade all of them.
+
+Software Dimension
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+-  The upgrade of host OS or kernel may need a 'hot migration'
+-  The upgrade of OpenStack’s components
+    i.the one-shot upgrade of all components
+    ii.the partial upgrade (or bugfix patch) which only affects some
+   components (e.g., computing, storage, network, database, message
+   queue, etc.)
+
+| ==[MT] this section seems to overlap with 2.1.==
+| I can see the following dimensions for the software
+
+-  different software packages
+-  different funtions - Considering that the target versions of all
+   software are compatible the upgrade needs to ensure that any
+   dependencies between SW and therefore packages are taken into account
+   in the upgrade plan, i.e. no version mismatch occurs during the
+   upgrade therefore dependencies are not broken
+-  same function - This is an upgrade specific question if different
+   versions can coexist in the system when a SW is being upgraded from
+   one version to another. This is particularly important for stateful
+   functions e.g. storage, networking, control services. The upgrade
+   method must consider the compatibility of the redundant entities.
+
+-  different versions of the same software package
+-  major version changes - they may introduce incompatibilities. Even
+   when there are backward compatibility requirements changes may cause
+   issues at graceful rollback
+-  minor version changes - they must not introduce incompatibility
+   between versions, these should be primarily bug fixes, so live
+   patches should be possible
+
+-  different installations of the same software package
+-  using different installation options - they may reflect different
+   users with different needs so redundancy issues are less likely
+   between installations of different options; but they could be the
+   reflection of the heterogeneous system in which case they may provide
+   redundancy for higher availability, i.e. deeper inspection is needed
+-  using the same installation options - they often reflect that the are
+   used by redundant entities across space
+
+-  different distribution possibilities in space - same or different
+   availability zones, multi-site, geo-redundancy
+
+-  different entities running from the same installation of a software
+   package
+-  using different startup options - they may reflect different users so
+   redundancy may not be an issues between them
+-  using same startup options - they often reflect redundant
+   entities====
+
+Upgrade duration
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+As the OPNFV end-users are primarily Telco operators, the network
+services provided by the VNFs deployed on the NFVI should meet the
+requirement of 'Carrier Grade'.
+
+In telecommunication, a "carrier grade" or"carrier class" refers to a
+system, or a hardware or software component that is extremely reliable,
+well tested and proven in its capabilities. Carrier grade systems are
+tested and engineered to meet or exceed "five nines" high availability
+standards, and provide very fast fault recovery through redundancy
+(normally less than 50 milliseconds). [from wikipedia.org]
+
+"five nines" means working all the time in ONE YEAR except 5'15".
+
+We have learnt that a well prepared upgrade of OpenStack needs 10
+minutes. The major time slot in the outage time is used spent on
+synchronizing the database. [from ' Ten minutes OpenStack Upgrade? Done!
+' by Symantec]
+
+This 10 minutes of downtime of OpenStack however did not impact the
+users, i.e. the VMs running on the compute nodes. This was the outage of
+the control plane only. On the other hand with respect to the
+preparations this was a manually tailored upgrade specific to the
+particular deployment and the versions of each OpenStack service.
+
+The project targets to achieve a more generic methodology, which however
+requires that the upgrade objects fulfill ceratin requirements. Since
+this is only possible on the long run we target first upgrades from
+version to version for the different VIM services.
+
+**Questions:**
+
+#. | Can we manage to upgrade OPNFV in only 5 minutes?
+   | ==[MT] The first question is whether we have the same carrier grade
+     requirement on the control plane as on the user plane. I.e. how
+     much control plane outage we can/willing to tolerate?
+   | In the above case probably if the database is only half of the size
+     we can do the upgrade in 5 minutes, but is that good? It also means
+     that if the database is twice as much then the outage is 20
+     minutes.
+   | For the user plane we should go for less as with two release yearly
+     that means 10 minutes outage per year.==
+   | ==[Malla] 10 minutes outage per year to the users? Plus, if we take
+     control plane into the consideration, then total outage will be
+     more than 10 minute in whole network, right?==
+   | ==[MT] The control plane outage does not have to cause outage to
+     the users, but it may of course depending on the size of the system
+     as it's more likely that there's a failure that needs to be handled
+     by the control plane.==
+
+#. | Is it acceptable for end users ? Such as a planed service
+     interruption will lasting more than ten minutes for software
+     upgrade.
+   | ==[MT] For user plane, no it's not acceptable in case of
+     carrier-grade. The 5' 15" downtime should include unplanned and
+     planned downtimes.==
+   | ==[Malla] I go agree with Maria, it is not acceptable.==
+
+#. | Will any VNFs still working well when VIM is down?
+   | ==[MT] In case of OpenStack it seems yes. .:)==
+
+The maximum duration of an upgrade
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+| The duration of an upgrade is related to and proportional with the
+  scale and the complexity of the OPNFV platform as well as the
+  granularity (in function and in space) of the upgrade.
+| [Malla] Also, if is a partial upgrade like module upgrade, it depends
+  also on the OPNFV modules and their tight connection entities as well.
+
+The maximum duration of a roll back when an upgrade is failed 
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+| The duration of a roll back is short than the corresponding upgrade. It
+  depends on the duration of restore the software and configure data from
+  pre-upgrade backup / snapshot.
+| ==[MT] During the upgrade process two types of failure may happen:
+|  In case we can recover from the failure by undoing the upgrade
+  actions it is possible to roll back the already executed part of the
+  upgrade in graceful manner introducing no more service outage than
+  what was introduced during the upgrade. Such a graceful roll back
+  requires typically the same amount of time as the executed portion of
+  the upgrade and impose minimal state/data loss.==
+| ==[MT] Requirement: It should be possible to roll back gracefully the
+  failed upgrade of stateful services of the control plane.
+|  In case we cannot recover from the failure by just undoing the
+  upgrade actions, we have to restore the upgraded entities from their
+  backed up state. In other terms the system falls back to an earlier
+  state, which is typically a faster recovery procedure than graceful
+  roll back and depending on the statefulness of the entities involved it
+  may result in significant state/data loss.==
+| **Two possible types of failures can happen during an upgrade**
+
+#. We can recover from the failure that occurred in the upgrade process:
+   In this case, a graceful rolling back of the executed part of the
+   upgrade may be possible which would "undo" the executed part in a
+   similar fashion. Thus, such a roll back introduces no more service
+   outage during an upgrade than the executed part introduced. This
+   process typically requires the same amount of time as the executed
+   portion of the upgrade and impose minimal state/data loss.
+#. We cannot recover from the failure that occurred in the upgrade
+   process: In this case, the system needs to fall back to an earlier
+   consistent state by reloading this backed-up state. This is typically
+   a faster recovery procedure than the graceful roll back, but can cause
+   state/data loss. The state/data loss usually depends on the
+   statefulness of the entities whose state is restored from the backup.
+
+The maximum duration of a VNF interruption (Service outage)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+| Since not the entire process of a smooth upgrade will affect the VNFs,
+  the duration of the VNF interruption may be shorter than the duration
+  of the upgrade. In some cases, the VNF running without the control
+  from of the VIM is acceptable.
+| ==[MT] Should require explicitly that the NFVI should be able to
+  provide its services to the VNFs independent of the control plane?==
+| ==[MT] Requirement: The upgrade of the control plane must not cause
+  interruption of the NFVI services provided to the VNFs.==
+| ==[MT] With respect to carrier-grade the yearly service outage of the
+  VNF should not exceed 5' 15" regardless whether it is planned or
+  unplanned outage. Considering the HA requirements TL-9000 requires an
+  ent-to-end service recovery time of 15 seconds based on which the ETSI
+  GS NFV-REL 001 V1.1.1 (2015-01) document defines three service
+  availability levels (SAL). The proposed example service recovery times
+  for these levels are:
+| SAL1: 5-6 seconds
+| SAL2: 10-15 seconds
+| SAL3: 20-25 seconds==
+| ==[Pva] my comment was actually that the downtime metrics of the
+  underlying elements, components and services are small fraction of the
+  total E2E service availability time. No-one on the E2E service path
+  will get the whole downtime allocation (in this context it includes
+  upgrade process related outages for the services provided by VIM etc.
+  elements that are subject to upgrade process).==
+| ==[MT] So what you are saying is that the upgrade of any entity
+  (component, service) shouldn't cause even this much service
+  interruption. This was the reason I brought these figures here as well
+  that they are posing some kind of upper-upper boundary. Ideally the
+  interruption is in the millisecond range i.e. no more than a
+  switchover or a live migration.==
+| ==[MT] Requirement: Any interruption caused to the VNF by the upgrade
+  of the NFVI should be in the sub-second range.==
+
+==[MT] In the future we also need to consider the upgrade of the NFVI,
+i.e. HW, firmware, hypervisors, host OS etc.==
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/03-Functional_Requirements.rst b/doc/03-Functional_Requirements.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a380180
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/03-Functional_Requirements.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,224 @@
+Functional Requirements
+-----------------------
+
+Basic Actions
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This section describes the basic functions may required by Escalator.
+
+Preparation (offline)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+This is the design phase when the upgrade plan (or upgrade campaign) is
+being designed so that it can be executed automatically with minimal
+service outage. It may include the following work:
+
+1. Check the dependencies of the software modules and their impact,
+   backward compatibilities to figure out the appropriate upgrade method
+   and ordering.
+2. Find out if a rolling upgrade could be planned with several rolling
+   steps to avoid any service outage due to the upgrade some
+   parts/services at the same time.
+3. Collect the proper version files and check the integration for
+   upgrading.
+4. The preparation step should produce an output (i.e. upgrade
+   campaign/plan), which is executable automatically in an NFV Framework
+   and which can be validated before execution.
+
+   -  The upgrade campaign should not be referring to scalable entities
+      directly, but allow for adaptation to the system configuration and
+      state at any given moment.
+   -  The upgrade campaign should describe the ordering of the upgrade
+      of different entities so that dependencies, redundancies can be
+      maintained during the upgrade execution
+   -  The upgrade campaign should provide information about the
+      applicable recovery procedures and their ordering.
+   -  The upgrade campaign should consider information about the
+      verification/testing procedures to be performed during the upgrade
+      so that upgrade failures can be detected as soon as possible and
+      the appropriate recovery procedure can be identified and applied.
+   -  The upgrade campaign should provide information on the expected
+      execution time so that hanging execution can be identified
+   -  The upgrade campaign should indicate any point in the upgrade when
+      coordination with the users (VNFs) is required.
+
+==[hujie]Depends on the attributes of the object being upgraded, the
+upgrade plan may be slitted into step(s) and/or sub-plan(s), and even
+more small sub-plans in design phase. The plan(s) or sub-plan(s) my
+include step(s) or sub-plan(s).==
+
+Validation the upgrade plan / Checking the pre-requisites of System( offline / online)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+| The upgrade plan should be validated before the execution by testing
+  it in a test environment which is similar to the product environment.
+| ==[MT]However it could also mean that we can identify some properties
+  that it should satisfy e.g. what operations can or cannot be executed
+  simultaneously like never take out two VMs of the same VNF.
+| Another question is if it requires that the system is in a particular
+  state when the upgrade is applied. I.e. if there's certain amount of
+  redundancy in the system, migration is enabled for VMs, when the NFVI
+  is upgraded the VIM is healthy, when the VIM is upgraded the NFVI is
+  healthy, etc.
+| I'm not sure what online validation means: Is it the validation of the
+  upgrade plan/campaign or the validation of the system that it is in a
+  state that the upgrade can be performed without too much risk?==
+
+| Before the upgrade plan being executed, the system heathly of the
+  online product environment should be checked and confirmed to satisfy
+  the requirements which were described in the upgrade plan. The
+  sysinfo, e.g. which included system alarms, performance statistics and
+  diagnostic logs, will be collected and analyized. It is required to
+  resolve all of the system faults or exclud the unhealthy part before
+  executing the upgrade plan.
+| ==[hujie] Text merged.==
+
+Backup/Snapshot (online)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+For avoid loss of data when a unsuccessful upgrade was encountered, the
+data should be backuped and the system state snapshot should be taken
+before the excution of upgrade plan. This would be considered in the
+upgrade plan.
+
+Several backups/Snapshots may be generated and stored before the single
+steps of changes. The following data/files are required to be
+considered:
+
+1. running version files for each node.
+2. system components' configuration file and database.
+3. image and storage, if it is necessary.
+   ==[MT] Does 3 imply VNF image and storage? I.e. VNF state and data?==
+
+| ==[hujie] The following text is derived from previous "4. Negotiate
+  with the VNF if it's ready for the upgrade"==
+  
+| Although the upper layer, which include VNFs and VNFMs, is out of the
+  scope of Escalator, but it is still recommended to let it ready for a
+  smooth system upgrade. The escalator could not guarantee the safe of
+  VNFs. The upper layer should have some safe guard mechanism in design,
+  and ready for avoiding failure in system upgrade.
+
+Execution (online)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+| The execution of upgrade plan should be a dynamical procedure which is
+  controlled by Escalator.
+| ==[hujie] Revised text to be general.==
+
+1. It is required to supporting execution ether in sequence or in
+   parallel.
+2. It is required to checke the result of the execution and take the
+   action according the situation and the policies in the upgrade plan.
+3. It is required to execute properly on various configurations of
+   system object. I.e. stand-alone, HA, etc.
+4. It is required to excecute on the designated different parts of the
+   system. I.e. physical server, virtualized server, rack, chassis,
+   cluster, even different geographical places.
+
+Testing (online)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+| The testing after upgrade the whole system or parts of system to make
+  sure the upgraded system(object) is working normally.
+| ==[hujie] Revised text to be general.==
+
+1. It is recommended to run the prepared test cases to see if the
+   functionalities are available without any problem.
+2. It is recommended to check the sysinfo, e.g. system alarms,
+   performance statistics and diagnostic logs to see if there are any
+   abnormal.
+
+Restore/Roll-back (online)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+| When upgrade is failure unfortunately, a quick system restore or system
+  roll-back should be taken to recovery the system and the services.
+| ==[hujie] Revised text to be general.==
+
+1. It is recommend to support system restore from backup when upgrade
+   was failed.
+2. It is recommend to support graceful roll-back with reverse order
+   steps if possible.
+
+Monitoring (online)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+| Escalator should continually monitor the process of upgrade. It is
+  keeping update status of each module, each node, each cluster into a
+  status table during upgrade.
+| ==[hujie] Revised text to be general.==
+
+1. It is required to collect the status of every objects being upgraded
+   and sending abnormal alerms during the upgrade.
+2. It is recommend to reuse the existing monitoring system, like alarm.
+3. It is recommend to support pro-actively query.
+4. It is recommend to support passively wait for notification.
+
+| **Two possible ways for monitoring:**
+| **Pro-Actively Query** requires NFVI/VIM provides proper API or CLI
+  interface. If Escalator serves as a service, it should pass on these
+  interfaces.
+| **Passively Wait for Notification** requires Escalator provides
+  callback interface, which could be used by NFVI/VIM systems or upgrade
+  agent to send back notification.
+| [hujie] I am not sure why not to subscribe the notification.
+
+Logging (online)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Record the information generated by escalator into log files. The log
+file is used for manual diagnostic of exceptions.
+
+1. It is required to support logging.
+2. It is recommended to include time stamp, object id, action name,
+   error code, etc.
+
+Administrative Control (online)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Administrative Control is used for control the privilege to start any
+escalator's actions for avoiding unauthorized operations.
+
+#. It is required to support administrative control mechanism
+#. It is recommend to reuse the system's own secure system.
+#. It is required to avoid conflicts when the system's own secure system
+   being upgraded.
+
+Requirements on Object being upgraded
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+| ==We can develop BPs in future from requirements of this section and
+  gap analysis for upper stream projects==
+| Escalator focus on smooth upgrade. In practical implementation, it
+  might be combined with installer/deplorer, or act as an independent
+  tool/service. In either way, it requires targeting systems(NFVI and
+  VIM) are developed/deployed in a way that Escalator could perform
+  upgrade on them.
+
+On NFVI system, live-migration is likely used to maintain availability
+because OPNFV would like to make HA transparent from end user. This
+requires VIM system being able to put compute node into maintenance mode
+and then isolated from normal service. Otherwise, new NFVI instances
+might risk at being schedule into the upgrading node.
+
+| On VIM system, availability is likely achieved by redundancy. This
+  impose less requirements on system/services being upgrade (see PVA
+  comments in early version). However, there should be a way to put the
+  target system into standby mode. Because starting upgrade on the
+  master node in a cluster is likely a bad idea.
+| ==[hujie] Revised text to be general.==
+
+1. It is required for NFVI/VIM to support **service handover** mechanism
+   that minimize interruption to 0.001%(i.e. 99.999% service
+   availability). Possible implementations are live-migration, redundant
+   deployment, etc, (Note: for VIM, interruption could be less
+   restrictive)
+2. It is required for NFVI/VIM to restore the early version in a efficient
+   way, such as **snapshot**.
+3. It is required for NFVI/VIM to **migration data** efficiently between
+   base and upgraded system.
+   ==[hujie] What is exact meaning of "base" here?==
+4. It is recommend for NFV/VIM's interface to support upgrade
+   orchestration, e.g. reading/setting system state
+   ==[hujie] I am not sure if it reflect the previous text.==
diff --git a/doc/04-Use_Cases_and_Scenarios.rst b/doc/04-Use_Cases_and_Scenarios.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7cfeb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/04-Use_Cases_and_Scenarios.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+Use Cases and Scenarios
+-----------------------
+
+This section describes the use cases and scenarios to verify the 
+requirements of Escalator.
+
+Upgrade a system with minimal configuration
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+A minimal configuration system is normally deployed for experimental or
+development usages, such as a OPNFV test bed.  Although it dose not have
+large workload, but it is a typical system to be upgraded frequently.
+
+Upgrade a system with HA configuration
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+A HA configuration system is very popular in the operator's data centre.
+And it is a typical product environment. It always running 7 \* 24 a
+week with VNFs running on it to provide services to the end users.
+
+Upgrade a system with Multi-Site configuration
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Upgrade in one site may cause service interruption to other site, if
+both sites are depended and sharing the same modules/data base (e.g. a
+keystone for both sites).
+
+If a site failure during an upgrade, the roll-back missing any minimal
+state/data loss can cause an affect/failure to the depended site.
+
+==Consider one site of ARNO release first. Then, multi-site in the
+future.==
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/05-Reference_Architecture.rst b/doc/05-Reference_Architecture.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b16dbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/05-Reference_Architecture.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+Reference Architecture
+----------------------
+
+This section describes the reference architecture, the function blocks,
+the function entities of Escalator for the reader to well understand how
+the basic functions be organized.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/06-Information_Flows.rst b/doc/06-Information_Flows.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..684377f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/06-Information_Flows.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+Information Flows
+-----------------
+
+| This section describes the information flows among the function
+  entities when Escalator is in actions.
+| We should consider a generic procedure / frameworks of upgrading. And
+  may provide plug-ins interface for specialized tasks
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/07-Interfaces_and_Files.rst b/doc/07-Interfaces_and_Files.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87f916e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/07-Interfaces_and_Files.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+Interfaces and Files
+--------------------
+
+This section describes the required interfaces and files of Escalator.
+
+
+CLI Interface
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This section describes CLI of Escalator. 
+
+RESTful API
+~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This section describes the API of Escalator for developer.
+
+Configuration File
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+This section will suggest a format of the configuration files and how to
+deal with it.
+
+Log File
+~~~~~~~~
+
+This section will suggest a format of the log files and how to deal with
+it.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/08-Requirements_from_other_OPNFV_Project.rst b/doc/08-Requirements_from_other_OPNFV_Project.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..17bb677
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/08-Requirements_from_other_OPNFV_Project.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+Requirements from other OPNFV projects
+--------------------------------------
+
+| We have created a questionnaire for collecting other projects
+  requirments
+  (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/11o1mt15zcq0WBtXYK0n6lKF8XuIzQTwvv8ePTjmcoF0/viewform?usp=send_form),
+  please advertise it.
+| ==[hujie] Can we force other OPNFV projects to complete the survey by
+  using JIRA dependence?==
+
+Doctor Project
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+| ==Note: This scenario could be out of scope in Escalator project, but
+  having the option to support this should be better to align with
+  Doctor requirements.==
+| The scope of Doctor project also covers maintenance scenario in which
+  1) the VIM administorator requests host maintenance to VIM, 2) VIM
+  will notifiy it to consumer such as VNFM to trigger application level
+  migration or switching active-standby nodes, and 3) VIM waits responce
+  from the consumer for a short while.
+
+-  VIM should send out notification of VM migration to consumer (VNFM)
+   as abstracted message like "maintenance".
+-  VIM could wait VM migration until it receives "VM ready to
+   maintenance" message from the owner (VNFM)
+
+HA Project
+~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Multi-site Project
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+-  Escalator upgrade one site should at least not lead to the other site
+   API token validation failed.
diff --git a/doc/09-Reference.rst b/doc/09-Reference.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6ca2949
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/09-Reference.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+Reference
+---------
+
+| [1] ETSI GS NFV 002 (V1.1.1): “Architectural Framework”
+| [2] ETSI GS NFV 003 (V1.1.1): "Terminology for Main Concepts in NFV".
+| [3] ETSI GS NFV-SWA001:“Virtual Network Function Architecture”
+| [4] ETSI GS NFV-MAN001:“Management and Orchestration”
+| [5] ETSI GS NFV-REL001:"Resiliency Requirements"
+| [6] QuEST Forum TL-9000:"Quality Management System Requirement
+  Handbook"
+| [7] Service Availability Forum AIS:"Software Management Framework"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/10-Useful_Working_Drafts_of_ETSI_NFV.rst b/doc/10-Useful_Working_Drafts_of_ETSI_NFV.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2a5227
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/10-Useful_Working_Drafts_of_ETSI_NFV.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+Useful Working Drafts of ETSI NFV
+---------------------------------
+
+| Access them with your own ETSI account, please DO NOT disclose the
+  content.
+| [1] Migrate Virtualised Compute Resource operation @ 7.3.1.8
+| ftp://docbox.etsi.org/ISG/NFV/Open/Drafts/IFA005_Or-Vi_ref_point_Spec/NFV-IFA005v070.zip
+| [2] Reliability issues during NFV Software upgrade and improvement
+  mechanisms @ 8
+| ftp://@docbox.etsi.org/ISG/NFV/Open/Drafts/REL003_E2E_reliability_models/NFV-REL003v030.zip
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/A1-Appendix.rst b/doc/A1-Appendix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dcacccf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/A1-Appendix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+Appendix
+--------
+
+A.1 Impact Analysis
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Upgrading the different software modules may cause different impact on
+the availability of the infrastructure resources and even on the service
+continuity of the vNFs.
+
+**Software modules in the computing nodes**
+
+#. Host OS patch
+   ==[MT] As SW module, we should list the host OS and maybe ====its
+   drivers as well. From upgrade perspective do we limit host OS
+   upgrades to patches only?==
+#. Hypervisor, such as KVM, QEMU, XEN, libvirt
+#. Openstack agent in computing nodes (like Nova agent, Ceilometer
+   agent...)
+
+**Software modules in network nodes**
+
+#. Neutron L2/L3 agent
+#. OVS, SR-IOV Driver
+
+**Software modules storage nodes**
+
+#. Ceph
+
+The table below analyses such an impact - considering a single instance
+of each software module - from the following aspects:
+
+-  the function which will be lost during upgrade,
+-  the duration of the loss of this specific function,
+-  if this causes the loss of the vNF function,
+-  if it causes incompatibility in the different parts of the software,
+-  what should be backed up before the upgrade,
+-  the duration of restoration time if the upgrade fails
+
+| These values provided come from internal testing and based on some
+  assumptions, they may vary depending on the deployment techniques.
+  Please feel free to add if you find more efficient values during your
+  testing.
+| https://wiki.opnfv.org/_media/upgrade_analysis_v0.5.xlsx
+| Note that no redundancy of the software modules is considered in the
+  table.