Cisco Prime Provisioning 6.8 Release Notes
Installing PrimeProvisioning6.8
New Features and Enhancements in PrimeProvisioning6.8
Features introduced in Prime Provisioning 6.7.1
Supporting Hundred Gigabit Ethernet in L2 EVC Services
Extending ATM Inter-networking Functionalit y
Features introduced in Prime Provisioning 6.7.2
Introducing /31 in IPV4 Resource Pool
Introducing EVC Inner VLAN Pool
Synchronizing Device Credential from Prime Network to Prime Provisioning
Supporting Pseudowire Redundancy for ATM-Ethernet Interworking Services
Allocating and Releasing Auto Picked EVC Inner VLAN
Supporting DOT1AD Encapsulation Type
Supporting MTU Attribute for VPLS Service
Allocating and Releasing Auto Picked EVC Inner VLAN
Allocating and releasing Auto Assigned /31 IP address
Creating route target objects at VPN Level
MPLS Transport Profile New Features
Enabling Common Link Usage in Working Path and Protect Path
Features introduced in Prime Provisioning 6.8
Appending IP address to the existing hostname
Generic Resource Pool handling
L2/EVC/VPN/TDM-CEM New Features
Converting Special Character (&) into ‘_’ during VFI Name Generation
Supporting ASR-90X Serial Interface Pseudowire
Supporting Trunk EFP for ASR920 device
Updating Interfaces and Description of Interfaces
Supporting GRE Tunnel for IOS-XR device s
Automatically Assigning the I Pv6 Address es
Deprecated and Removed Features
PrimeProvisioning6.8 Resolved and Open Bugs
Finding Known Problems in PrimeProvisioning6.8
Accessibility Features in Prime Provisioning
Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request
All documentation, including this Cisco Prime Provisioning 6.8 Release Notes document and any or all parts of the Cisco Prime Provisioning 6.8 documentation set, might be upgraded over time. Therefore, we recommend you to access the Prime Provisioning 6.8 documentation set online at:
http://www.cisco.com/go/provisioning
You can also navigate to this documentation set by clicking Help on the Home Page of the Prime Provisioning 6.8 product.
The information in this release notes provides an overview of this release and helps you understand it at a high level. After reading the Cisco Prime Provisioning 6.8 Documentation Overview, please read this release note prior to reading any other documentation for Prime Provisioning 6.8.
URL’s for base information about Prime Provisioning 6.8, a product overview, and suggested reading order of these documents is given in Related Documentation.
This document includes the following sections:
Prime Provisioning is a management solution for network provisioning that enables the automation and scaling of complex, policy-driven network provisioning tasks to produce consistent and reliable service deployments. Prime Provisioning does this by planning, provisioning, and auditing services across core, aggregation, access, and consumer premises equipment devices.
Cisco Prime Provisioning enables fast deployment and time-to-market of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and Carrier Ethernet technologies. In addition, the Prime Provisioning Traffic Engineering Management (TEM) module is Cisco’s exclusive planning and provisioning tool for Cisco MPLS Traffic Engineering-enabled routers. MPLS Transport Profile (TP) provides service providers with a reliable packet-based technology that is based upon circuit-based transport networking, and hence is expected to align with current organizational processes and large-scale work procedures similar to other packet transport technologies.
The Cisco Prime Provisioning solution has management capabilities for MPLS VPN, L2VPN and Carrier Ethernet, MPLS TP, and MPLS Traffic Engineering. These capabilities that comprise Cisco Prime Provisioning can be used in a stand-alone manner or can be integrated with the Prime Carrier Management April 2016 suite.
Cisco Prime Provisioning 6.8 includes many new features whose highlights are listed below:
When purchasing Prime Provisioning you will be prompted to select either delivery by
If the version is not the latest, you are advised to upgrade. The latest Prime Provisioning 6.x version can be ordered for download by eDelivery (or DVD shipment) free of charge, provided that you have a Software and Services (SAS) contract. The minor upgrade can be ordered through the Product Upgrade Tool (PUT):
http://tools.cisco.com/gct/Upgrade/jsp/productUpgrade.jsp
Additionally, you are strongly advised to apply the latest available service patch. Prime Provisioning patches are available at http://software.cisco.com/download/navigator.html?mdfid=284127465&flowid=37682
For information about the installation process, see the Cisco Prime Provisioning Installation Guide 6.8.
After the Patch upgrade, certain host configuration properties are not retained. So, it is advisable to create a backup of all the DCPL settings, by running the following script.
$PRIMEF_HOME/bin/extractproperties.sh
Once you upgrade, run the following script to restore the DCPL settings.
This section describes features and enhancements added or modified in Prime Provisioning 6.8.
For system recommendations, refer to the Cisco Prime Provisioning Installation Guide 6.8, and for device and platform support, refer to Cisco Prime Provisioning Supported Devices. It includes the network devices and related software supported with Prime Provisioning 6.8. We recommend that you thoroughly review this list before even planning your installation, to be sure you have all the hardware and software needed for a successful installation.
Prime Provisioning 6.8 is based on Cisco Prime Provisioning 6.7.1 and 6.7.2.
Prime Provisioning 6.8 includes problems fixed since Cisco Prime Provisioning 6.7.1. See Prime Provisioning 6.8 Resolved and Open Bugs.
Note Cisco Prime Provisioning 6.8 is only compatible with Cisco Prime Central 1.5.1. Make sure you upgrade Cisco Prime Central to version 1.4 before upgrading and integrating the current version of Prime Provisioning.
Note ● Prime Provisioning can be used as a standalone product or as a part of Prime Carrier Management April 2016. When installed as part of the suite, you can launch Prime Provisioning from the Prime Central portal. For more information about Prime Central, see the documentation for Cisco Prime Central.
Items specific to Prime Provisioning 6.8 include the new and changed information as documented in the following sections:
– MPLS Transport Profile New Features
This section summarizes features that were added to enhance EVC services in Prime Provisioning 6.7.1.
From Prime Provisioning 6.7.1, Hundred Gigabit Ethernet support is provided for all L2 EVC services. Currently this support is extended only for IOS XR devices and not for IOS devices. This feature is supported through both GUI and NBI.
From Prime Provisioning 6.7.1, ATM Inter-networking Functionality has been extended to support all new IOS/IOS-XR platforms that were added to EVC provisioning. There is no dependency factor on the platforms so all the devices with the ATM card can be provisioned using the EVC service blade for ATM Ethernet internetwork.
In accordance with this functionality, two new fields have been added in the GUI for IOS-XR platform devices:
This section summarizes the general features that were added in Prime Provisioning 6.7.2.
From this release, Prime Provisioning provides support for the new pool mask /31 along with the other options /30 and /32 in the IPV4 resource pool. /31 is used for creating IP numbered address pools similar to /30. It is applied to the links that have point-to-point protocol enabled in Cisco routers. It supports only Region and Customer based pool creation similar to /30 support.
/31 has additional advantage over /30, as it preserves more IP addresses than /30 pools. /30 comprises four IP addresses, Network address, Broadcast address and two host addresses that are applied to two links, whereas /31 comprises two IP addresses which are used as host addresses for point-to-point links.
This feature is supported through both GUI and NBI.
Below is a sample NBI XML snippet highlighting the tags, attributes and values required to introduce /31 in IPV4 resource pool. New changes are highlighted in BOLD text in the NBI XML snippet.
From this release, a new pool type EVC Inner VLAN has been introduced in the Resource Pool. To create a new EVC Inner VLAN, you need to enter the following fields in the create New Inner VLAN window.
From this release, Prime Provisioning provides support for synchronization of device credentials for the modified devices from Prime Network (PN) to Prime Provisioning (PP).
Whenever, a device is modified in Prime Network, a notification will be sent by Prime Central to Prime
Provisioning, and then Prime Provisioning will request for the details of the notified device to update them in inventory. With respect to this feature system will allow to update the below credentials:
This functionality also supports port number update for CPT based devices
This section summarizes features that were added to enhance EVC services in Prime Provisioning 6.7.2.
From Prime Provisioning 6.7.2, Pseudowire Redundancy support has been extended to ATM-Ethernet Interworking service type for both IOS and IOS-XR devices. In accordance with this functionality, Enable Pseudowire redundancy attribute is introduced for this service type in the Service Request editor screen. The editable and non-editable functionality as well as the enable and disable feature of this attribute has been linked from the policy screen to the Service Request editor screen.
This feature is supported through both GUI and NBI.
Below is a sample NBI XML snippet highlighting the tags, attributes and values required to support pseudowire redundancy for ATM-Ethernet interworking services. The existing NBI XML tags and attributes used for ETHERNET services have been reused under ServiceRequestDetails object.
From this release, a new pool type EVC Inner VLAN has been introduced in the Resource Pool. With respect to this pool type, a new attribute AutoPick Inner VLAN has been introduced in both Policy and Service Request screens. This attribute appears when Match Inner and Outer Tags check box is selected. The Match Inner and Outer Tags check box should be enabled in the policy to make use of AutoPick Inner VLAN feature during service request creation.
You have to check the AutoPick Inner VLAN check box to autopick the Inner VLAN ID from a previously created EVC Inner VLAN ID resource pool during service request creation. If this check box is unchecked you will be prompted to specify an Inner VLAN ID during service request creation.
This feature is supported through both GUI and NBI.
Below are the sample NBI XML snippets highlighting the tags, attributes and values required for inner VLAN resource pool creation and deletion, policy creation and SR creation
For Creating the Inner VLAN Resource Pool:
From this release, Prime Provisioning introduces a new encapsulation type DOT1AD along with others in the EVC policy and SR screens. It is supported in both IOS and IOS-XR devices. The supported IOS and IOS-XR devices are:
DOT1AD is introduced as a drop down option in the Match attribute which is a flex and encapsulation type. The encapsulation type cannot be changed once the SR is created for the policy. It has been implemented with the ranges support for Outer VLAN and Inner VLAN ID. Prime Provisioning also provides DOT1AD support for Rewrite Type in EVC SR screen.
Note DOT1AD is only supported for N-PE devices.
This feature is supported through both GUI and NBI
Below is a sample NBI XML snippet highlighting the tags, attributes and values required for Policy and SR creation
For policy creation the below tag should come under ServiceDefinitionDetails classname,
For SR creation the below tag should come under EvcServiceInstanceAttrs classname,
From Prime Provisioning 6.7.2, MTU size attribute has been introduced for Direct Connect Links section in VPLS policy and SR screens. Earlier this attribute was present only in Links with L2 Access Nodes section. This attribute is applicable for both IOS and IOS-XR devices. MTU size varies for IOS and IOS-XR devices. A tool tip added to MTU attribute shows the size range for IOS devices as (64-9216) and for IOS-XR devices as (46-65535). The MTU size provided is provisioned under interface VLAN CLI for IOS devices and under bridge-domain CLI for XR devices.
This feature is supported through both GUI and NBI.
Below is a sample NBI XML snippet highlighting the tags, attributes and values required for MTU creation under EvcETHLinkAttrs classname. This is an existing attribute and reused for direct links.
This section summarizes the new MPLS features that were added in Prime Provisioning 6.7.2
From this release, Prime Provisioning provides the auto pick option for second VLAN ID or EVC Inner VLAN while creating MPLS SR. The auto pick option for second VLAN ID appears in the MPLS SR screen only when Use Virtual Interface and Use EVC Service check boxes are selected. The auto pick value is allocated from the previously created EVC Inner VLAN Resource Pool. This value gets released when the MPLS SR is decommissioned or when the SR is edited with the value that is not in the resource pool.
From this release, Prime Provisioning provides options to select IP address Pool Type while creating MPLS SR. User can select either /30 or /31 pool type to allocate IPv4 Addresses from respective pools (/30 or /31 pool) created in IPv4 Resource Pools window. IP Addresses are allocated from the pools during SR deployment and released back to the respective pools when the MPLS SR is decommissioned or forced to delete.
This feature is supported through both GUI and NBI.
Below is a sample NBI XML snippet highlighting the tags, attributes and values required for allocating and releasing auto assigned /31 IP address. New changes are highlighted in BOLD text in the NBI XML snippet.
From Prime Provisioning 6.7.2, user can create any number of asymmetric route target (RT) objects while creating VPN. This feature is already available at the VRF level but as VRF cannot be added as HUB and Spoke the similar functionality has been implemented at the VPN level.
In accordance with this functionality, two new fields have been added in the GUI at the VPN level:
Multiple RT values can be entered for these attributes using a comma separator. From the multiple VPNs associated to a MPLS VPN link, Prime Provisioning allows only one VPN to have this RT list feature enabled. This functionality is also supported through NBI.
Below is a sample NBI XML snippet highlighting the tags, attributes and values required to add Import RT List and Export RT List to the VPN during VPN creation or modification, there are no changes in NBI XML for VPN deletion.
This section summarizes the new MPLS-TP features that were added in Prime Provisioning 6.7.2.
From this release, MPLS-TP path calculation allows the user to have common links in both working path and protect path. To enable this feature, an additional check box Share common links between Working and Protect path has been introduced in the MPLS-TP SR screen.
Along with this check box, you also need to add the common link as an include constraint for both working path and protect path to enable the common link usage. This feature is supported through both GUI and NBI.
Below is a sample NBI XML snippet highlighting the tags, attributes and values required to enable common link usage in working path and protect path. New changes are highlighted in BOLD text in the NBI XML snippet.
All the new features introduced in Prime Provisioning 6.7.1, Prime Provisioning 6.7.2 and Prime Provisioning 6.8 release are explained in Prime Provisioning User Guide 6.8.
From this release, Prime Provisioning provides support to append the IP Address to the existing hostname. Now, User Access Log displays IP address along with the hostname of the router.
From this release, Prime Provisioning provides generic resource pool handling support for the pools associated with all service blades:
From this release, a new pool type IPv6 Address has been introduced in the Resource Pool. This IPv6 Address pool is used by MPLS services for automatically assigning the IPv6 Addresses. To create a new IPv6 Address pool, user must enter/select the following fields in the Create New IPv6 Address Resource Pool window.
This section summarizes features that were added to enhance EVC services in Prime Provisioning 6.8.
From this release, Prime Provisioning provides support for conversion of special characters. During auto generation of the VFI name, all special characters associated with the VPN name, such as ‘ & ’ ‘,’ and ‘. ’, are converted into ' _ '.
From this release, Prime Provisioning provides ASR-90X Serial Interface Pseudowire support for EVC TDM-CEM Services. In accordance with this functionality for CEM Container Type, a new value SERIAL controller is introduced for Direct Access Links section in both Policy editor screen and Service Request editor screen to provision serial interface.
Supported Line Attributes, such as Raw Socket Packet Length, Raw Socket Packet Timer, Number of Data Bits, Terminal Parity, Async line stop bits and Transmit and Receive Speeds are available in SR Link attribute at SR level.
In Prime Provisioning 6.8, a new attribute Enable Trunk EFP has been introduced in both Policy and Service Request screens, which gives flexibility to make many Layer 2 flow points within one interface. One interface can have only one trunk support. Enable Trunk EFP attribute supports only flex, and it appears in the screen only when the EVC check box is checked in Direct Connect Links section. It provides support only for ASR920 IOS device.
If Enable Trunk EFP check box is enabled user will get “ service instance trunk <id> ethernet ” command. If this check box is checked, Inner VLAN, Autopick Outer VLAN and Autopic Inner VLAN are not supported. Outer VLAN, Outer VLAN with single value or with ranges (for example 23; 2-3; 2,2-4, 1140;1142, 1149-1150) are supported. For Rewrite Type only Pop is supported.
This feature is supported through GUI, NBI and Physical Rings.
This section summarizes the new MPLS features that were added in Prime Provisioning 6.8.
From this release, Prime Provisioning provides support to auto-update the interfaces and description of interfaces in the device inventory.
The Interfaces and description of interfaces are automatically updated in the device inventory when SR is successfully deployed, and any virtual or logical interfaces, created during SR deployment are removed from the device inventory when the SR is successfully decommissioned.
The interfaces and description of interfaces updates are applicable only for N-PE devices.
From this release, Prime Provisioning provides support for the GRE Tunnel interface for IOS-XR devices. Earlier while deploying SR on IOS-XR devices, Prime Provisioning was generating invalid configlets and leading to SR deployment failed.
From this release, Prime Provisioning provides support for automatically assigning the IPv6 Addresses from the pool.
IPv6 Address allocation is supported only for Regular: PE-CE MPLS policy and services. The Automatically Assign IPv6 Addresses check box appears in both MPLS Policy and MPLS Service Request screens when user selects IPv6 Numbered or “ IPv4 and IPv6 Numbered ” from IP Numbering Scheme drop-down list. If the Automatically Assign IPv6 Addresses check box is checked, user will have options to select IPv6 Pool Mask Type from /127 Pool, /126 Pool and /64 Pool. IPv6 addresses are successfully allocated from the pool when SR is saved successfully.
All Application Programming Interface (API) features are explained in detail in the Cisco Prime Provisioning API Programmer Guide 6.8 and the accompanying Cisco Prime Provisioning API Programmer Reference 6.8.
New features added in Prime Provisioning are generally available via both the GUI and APIs. See the respective sections in this document for a description of new features under each service.
The following bugs were resolved in Prime Provisioning 6.8:
The following open bugs apply to Prime Provisioning 6.8.
To find known problems in Prime Provisioning 6.8, use the following URL:
https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/search
You can search for specific bugs or search for a range by product name. This tool enables you to query for keywords, severity, range, or version.
Use the following search criteria to locate bugs for Prime Provisioning 6.8:
The results display bug ID and title, found-in version, fixed-in version, and status. The bug ID is a hyper link to detailed information for the bug ID’s product, component, severity, first found-in, and release notes. The results could be displayed in a feature matrix or spreadsheet.
See the Cisco Prime Provisioning 6.8 Documentation Overview for a list of all Prime Provisioning guides.
We sometimes update the documentation after original publication. Therefore, you should also review the documentation on Cisco.com for any updates.
Other Cisco Prime Product Documentation
If you are deploying Prime Provisioning as part of the Prime Carrier Management suite, then see also the documentation for the other suite components:
For a list of accessibility features in Prime Provisioning, visit Cisco's Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) website, or contact accessibility@cisco.com.
For information on obtaining documentation, using the Cisco Bug Search Tool (BST), submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation.
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