Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation From Cisco NFVI + VIM Architecture
Cisco VIM (Virtual Infrastructure Manager) operates as part of Cisco NFVI and requiresspecific mandatory network segmentsto deploy OpenStack-based NFVI environments.
The essential required networks for Cisco VIM include:
✔Provisioning network
Used during bare-metal install of compute and controller nodes
Handles PXE boot, image deployment, and VIM’s management reachability
✔Storage network
Used for Cinder, Swift, Ceph, and Glance back-end storage replication
Ensures predictable latency and bandwidth for NFVI workloads
Other networks exist in VIM (Management, API, Tenant, External), but the question asks for the required foundational segments.
Why the other options are incorrect:
Data plane(B) – used inside NFV workloads but not a required VIM infrastructure network.
Heartbeat(C) – not a defined VIM network segment.
Host network(D) – not a Cisco VIM terminology; provisioning network handles host onboarding.