Cisco Crosswork Network Controller
Cisco Crosswork Network Controller is an integrated solution (consisting of Cisco Crosswork Infrastructure, Cisco Crosswork Data Gateway and the Crosswork applications) that enables you to proactively manage your end-to-end networks, by providing intent-based
and closed-loop automation solutions to ensure faster innovation, optimal user experience, and operational excellence.
Cisco Crosswork Infrastructure
Cisco Crosswork Infrastructure is a microservices-based platform and is the foundation required for running Crosswork applications. It employs a cluster
architecture to be extensible, scalable, and highly available. The Crosswork cluster consists of three VMs or nodes operating
in a hybrid configuration. Additional VMs or nodes (maximum up to 2 nodes) in a Worker configuration can be added, as needed,
to match the requirements of the deployed applications. A Hybrid node can run infrastructure and application pods, while a
Worker node can run only application pods. The total number of Hybrid and Worker nodes varies based on the size of the network
and the applications being run. Please work with the Cisco Customer Experience team to determine the number of nodes required
for your deployment (see Plan Your Deployment).
Note
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Hereafter in this guide, Cisco Crosswork Infrastructure is referred to as "Cisco Crosswork".
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Cisco Crosswork Data Gateway
Cisco Crosswork integrates with one or more Cisco Crosswork Data Gateway(s) to gather information from the managed devices and forward it to Cisco Crosswork as well as external destinations. The
information is then analyzed and processed by the Crosswork applications and used to manage the network or respond to changes
in the network. The number of Crosswork Data Gateways deployed in your network depends on the number of devices, the amount of data being collected, the overall topology, and
your redundancy requirements. Each Crosswork Data Gateway is deployed on an individual VM. Please consult with the Cisco Customer Experience team for guidance on your deployment to
best meet your needs.
Crosswork Data Gateway is an integral part of the Crosswork solution being deployed. For this reason, this document explains
Crosswork Data Gateway as a foundational component that must be installed in tandem with the Crosswork Infrastructure.
Crosswork Applications
The following table describes the Crosswork applications that can be deployed on the Crosswork Network Controller and the
way they are packaged:
Note
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Cisco Crosswork Optimization Engine can be installed without any of the other Crosswork Network Controller applications (see
Install Crosswork Applications for more details). However, it is only delivered as part of the Essential package on Cisco software download site.
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Table 1. Cisco Crosswork Network Controller Packages
Package
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Contents |
Description
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Essentials Package
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Cisco Crosswork Optimization Engine
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An application that provides closed-loop tracking of the network state and real-time network optimization in response to changes
in network state, allowing operators to effectively maximize network capacity utilization, as well as increase service velocity.
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Cisco Crosswork Active Topology
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A component of Crosswork Network Controller that enables visualization of topology and services on logical and geographical
maps.
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Element Management Functions
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A library of functions that provides deep inventory collection, alarm management and image management using Inventory, Fault,
and Software Image Management (SWIM) functions.
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Advantage Package
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Cisco Crosswork Service Health
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An application that overlays a service level view of the environment and makes it easier for operators to monitor if services
(for example, L2/L3 VPN) are healthy based on the rules established by the operator.
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Add-on Package
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Cisco Crosswork Change Automation
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An application that automates the process of deploying changes to the network. Orchestration is defined via an embedded Ansible
Playbook and then configuration changes are pushed to Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (NSO) to be deployed to the network.
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Cisco Crosswork Health Insights
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An application that performs real-time Key Performance Indicator (KPI) monitoring, alerting, and troubleshooting. Cisco Crosswork
Health Insights enables programmable monitoring and analytics, and builds dynamic detection and analytics modules that allow
operators to monitor and alert on network events based on user-defined logic.
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Cisco Crosswork Zero Touch Provisioning
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An application that streamlines onboarding and provisioning of Day 0 configuration resulting in faster deployment of IOS-XR
devices at a lower operating cost.
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Cisco Integrated Components
Cisco Network Services Orchestrator functions as the provider for Cisco Crosswork to configure the devices according to their expected functions, including optionally
configuring MDT sensor paths for data collection. Cisco NSO provides the important functions of device management, configuration and maintenance services.
Cisco Segment Routing Path Computation Element (SR-PCE) is configured to run on either a physical or virtual device that runs IOS-XR. The SR-PCE supports both Segment Routing Traffic
Engineering (SR-TE) and Resource Reservation Protocol Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE). Cisco Crosswork uses the combination
of telemetry and data collected from the Cisco SR-PCE to analyze and compute optimal paths for TE tunnels and/or to discover
devices in the network.
Cisco WAN Automation Engine (Cisco WAE) providers supply traffic and topology analysis to the Cisco Crosswork applications. The foundation software is Cisco WAE
Planning, which provides a cross-sectional view of traffic, topology, and equipment state.
Syslog storage providers supply storage for data collected during Playbook execution.
Alert providers act as a destination capable of receiving and processing incoming alert packages collected during KPI monitoring.
Other Integrated Components
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TACACS+, LDAP, and RADIUS servers (see Set Up User Authentication in Cisco Crosswork Network Controller 6.0 Administration Guide for more information).
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DHCP server (when using Crosswork ZTP)
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External Kafka (for external data collection destinations)
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External gRPC (for external data collection destinations)