Cisco Systems® announces Cisco® Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 software, providing features and support for the Cisco MGX® 8800 Series Voice Gateway network elements.
Cisco Media Gateway Manager is an intelligent element management system (EMS) for the Cisco MGX 8800 Series Voice Gateway products. It supports configuration, fault, performance, and security management. Cisco Media Gateway Manager also serves as a foundation for integration into a larger, overall operations support system (OSS) environment. Table 1 presents features of this release.
Table 1. Features Table
Feature
Description
Centralized Management
Centrally manages administration of changes to MGX device configurations. Helps ensure uniform deployments throughout the network incorporating centralized best practices.
Voice System Integration
Allows collective management of MGX 8800 Series Voice Gateway devices within the network and passes information relating to their operational status to network management systems using Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) northbound interfaces.
Monitoring and Troubleshooting
Interacts with MGX devices through a GUI with information about their operational status, presenting user-prioritized alarm information along with a graphical view of the device-its modules, ports, indicator LEDs, and functional status.
Security
Allows users access only to the devices and operations in the network they are authorized for.
System Resiliency
Helps increase network uptime by centralized management of MGX configurations and multi-device view and allows failover of data and automated reconnection to clients and devices using dual servers in a high-availability configuration.
NEW FEATURES
Features available in Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 include the following:
• A new client application provides an intuitive GUI for configuring MGX device voice features, offering a consistent look-and-feel on both Microsoft Windows and Sun Solaris workstations.
• A geographic Network Map tool and a Domain Explorer tool reflect the physical layout and configuration of the network.
• A Domain Explorer provides user-defined network views with "bubble-up" alarm severity propagation and drill-down capabilities to isolate fault conditions and their effects on service delivery.
• A customized dashboard showing users only the voice devices under their control displays device status and alarms, allowing users to quickly access the Domain Explorer and Alarm Browser tools to further troubleshoot a problem. The Alarm Browser provides Alarm Log Views listing all current and historical alarms or events.
• Real-time network surveillance of managed Cisco MGX 8800 Series Voice Gateway devices includes configurable popup alarm and event notifications.
• Integrated chassis views display a real-time representation of each MGX device, providing full alarm and operational status indicators.
• Automated Configuration Backup feature includes manual restore capabilities and remote software download capability across the entire network domain.
• Performance statistics are collected and stored for display or export.
• Comprehensive security management limits user access and defines custom profiles to grant separate permissions for each operation of Cisco Media Gateway Manager.
• SNMP-based fault integration with Cisco Info Center.
• An optional high-availability solution has client reconnect upon switchover, database and disk redundancy, and automatic reconnection to network elements.
• An optional CORBA northbound gateway is available for fault and inventory management.
Supported Network Elements
Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 provides element management for the Cisco MGX 8880 Media Gateway and voice-enabled Cisco MGX 8850 Multiservice Switch, based on the Cisco MGX 8850 PXM-45 Processor Switch Module. Table 2 provides the software release dependencies with respect to the associated voice service modules.
Table 2. Software Release Dependencies
Cisco MGX 8850 PXM-45 Processor Switch Module
Cisco Voice Service Module (VXSM/VISM-PR)
Version 5.0.20
VXSM Version 5.0.20 (Release 1.5)
Version 5.0.20
VISM-PR Release 3.3.00
UPGRADE PATHS
Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 represents a major new release. Users of older versions can upgrade by purchasing a release 5.0 software media kit and use the upgrade part numbers for either the CORBA or high-availability right-to-use (RTU) licenses, as appropriate. New licenses should also be purchased for the Cisco MGX 8800 Series Voice chassis.
AVAILABILITY
Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 can be ordered through normal sales channels beginning January 28, 2005.
ORDERING INFORMATION
Cisco Media Gateway Manager software consists of the media kit, the optional functional components (CORBA and high availability), the client application, and Cisco MGX 8800 Series Voice Gateway RTU licenses. Table 3 lists the associated part numbers and descriptions. In addition to these part numbers, this release requires you to provide your own copy of Oracle software.
Table 3. Ordering Information for Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0
Part Number
Description
MGM-50-SMK-K9
Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 base software kit-Contains the server and client software CDs and one RTU client license to access the MGM server. CDs containing support for advanced CORBA and high-availability options are included, but separate RTU licenses to activate these features must be purchased. RTU licenses for each Cisco MGX 8800 Series Voice Gateway under management also are purchased separately. Requires a customer-provided copy of Oracle9i Standard or Enterprise edition software.
MGM-8880-LIC
Cisco MGX 8880 Voice Gateway RTU license, one for each chassis.
MGM-8850-LIC
Cisco MGX 8850 Voice Gateway RTU license, one for each chassis.
MGM-Client-001
Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 Client RTU license, one for each additional workstation used to access the server.
MGM-50-CORBA
Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 CORBA-Provides a license to use the CORBA interface to communicate with other management applications. Only one license is needed even in high-availability deployments.
MGM-50-CORBA-UPG
Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 CORBA Upgrade Kit-Provides an upgrade license for customers using a CORBA RTU purchased for a previous version of the server.
MGM-50-HA
Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 High Availability-Provides an RTU license for setting up a second server to be used in a redundant server configuration. Requires customer-provided high-availability software such as Sun VERITAS.
MGM-50-HA-UPG
Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 High Availability Upgrade Kit-Provides an upgrade license for relicensing an earlier version of the server running in a redundant server configuration. Requires customer-provided high-availability software such as Sun VERITAS.
SP-SAS-MGM-50
Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 Software Application Support (SAS)-Provides customers online and phone access to Cisco technical support and server patches and minor updates if available.
SP-SAS-MGM-50-CRB
Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 CORBA SAS-Allows the CORBA features to be supported by Cisco technical support.
SP-SAS-MGM-50-HA
Cisco Media Gateway Manager Release 5.0 High-Availability Agent SAS-Allows the high-availability features to be supported by Cisco technical support.
