What is a features.xml, what it is used for and How to create it ?

Issue

• I am looking at existing camel project and I see features.xml that looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<features name="${project.artifactId}-${project.version}">
    <feature name="my-provider-enabler" version="${project.version}">
        <bundle>mvn:${project.groupId}/my-provider-enabler-impl/${project.version}</bundle>
    </feature>
</features>

• What do I get from creating features.xml and attach it to my deployment?
• What is the features.xml at all and when should I use it?
• Does it matter if I deploy it to the server as a feature or just install it from maven in terms of managing and monitoring the deployment ?