Cisco announces the availability of Cisco® IP Solution Center (ISC) 5.2. Cisco IP Solution Center is a family of intelligent network management applications that help reduce overall network administration and management costs by providing automated resource management and rapid profiled-based provisioning capabilities that help enable rapid deployment and fast time to market of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and Carrier Ethernet technologies. Cisco IP Solution Center also helps reduce network operating costs by providing automated workflow-based troubleshooting and diagnostic capabilities for MPLS VPNs. The following applications can operate alone or as a suite:
• Cisco® IP Solution Center MPLS VPN Management
• Cisco® IP Solution Center Layer 2 VPN and Carrier Ethernet Management
• Cisco® IP Solution Center Traffic Engineering Management
• Cisco® MPLS Diagnostics Expert (MDE): This product can be used on its own or together with Cisco IP Solution Center MPLS VPN Management.
Cisco IP Solution Center's capabilities include provisioning and automated diagnostics1 of MPLS VPNs, ATM/Frame Relay/Ethernet over MPLS VPNs, Carrier Ethernet VPNs, and planning and configuration of MPLS traffic engineering. Table 1 describes the features of Cisco IP Solution Center 5.2.
Table 1. Features of Cisco IP Solution Center 5.2
Feature
Description
Tracking of MPLS and Carrier Ethernet resources
Manages resources such as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) autonomous system, regions, customers, customer sites, access domains, provider administrative domains, Virtual Route Forwarding (VRF) names, IP addresses, VLAN IDs, pseudowire virtual circuit IDs, route distinguishers, and route targets.
Rapid profile-based provisioning of MPLS and Carrier Ethernet VPNs
Allows service operators to define MPLS and Ethernet VPN provisioning parameters in a service policy; uploads the network element configuration to calculate the change in configuration needed to help ensure successful service activation.
Recognition of incorrect service configuration and verification of services before delivery
Provides postprovisioning validation of the service design in order to determine whether the Layer 3 and Layer 2 VPNs are active and functional.
In addition, MPLS Diagnostics Expert can be used in association with MPLS provisioning to verify end-to-end service connectivity.
Investment protection from Cisco IOS® Software and Cisco IOS XR Software and line card changes
Provides comprehensive platform and Cisco IOS Software and IOS XR Software support.
Bandwidth protection and Fast Reroute (FRR) planning
The Traffic Engineering Management application identifies placement of FRR backup tunnels to protect critical network elements. Installs backup tunnels to protect against link, node, or Shared Risk Link Group (SRLG) failures.
MPLS traffic engineering tunnel placement, repair, and network grooming
Generates MPLS traffic engineering tunnel paths that meet user-specified constraints, including bandwidth, affinity, and delay, and proposes fixes to meet user-specified constraints for new tunnel demands. Global reoptimization of primary tunnel placements improves network utilization.
Automated workflow-based troubleshooting and diagnostics of MPLS VPN deployments
The diagnostics performed by Cisco MPLS Diagnostics Expert are based upon analysis of network failure scenarios, across MPLS access, edge, and core.
Carrier-grade infrastructure for large deployments
Provides the following system features:
• Sun/Solaris-based server installation
• Thin web multiuser GUI client
• Role-based access control (RBAC)
• Extensible Markup Language (XML) over HTTP northbound interface
• Data backup and restore
Integration features and extensions
ISC has a standards-based API supporting OSS integration and inherent reporting facilities for MPLS and Layer 2 VPNs.
ISC also has an integrated Template Engine, which allows custom extensions to the native service policies.
New Features
The following list shows the key new features and updates of Cisco IP Solution Center 5.2:
• Support is provided for Cisco IOS XR 3.6.2, Cisco IOS XR 3.7.0, and Cisco IOS XR 3.7.1 Software across each of the Cisco IP Solution Center applications.
• Layer 3 VPN enhancements:
– Support for a remote 4-byte autonomous system number
– Carrier supporting carrier now configurable on Cisco IOS XR for BGP
– BGP neighbor send-community command now configurable on provider edge device for both Cisco IOS Software and Cisco IOS XR
– Cisco IOS to Cisco IOS XR migration: Ability to migrate service requests from existing Cisco 12000 (GSR) Series provider edge devices running IOS to IOS XR
– Feature enhancements introduced in ISC 4.3, BGP Multipath Configuration and eBGP Extensions, for Cisco IOS Software are now also supported on Cisco IOS XR devices for IPv6 and dual stacked services.
– Multilink Frame Relay (MLFR) support: MLFR interfaces are now supported on Cisco IOS XR devices.
– Multicast support for IPv6 on Cisco IOS XR provider edge devices running release 3.7.0 or later
– Multiple IPv6 address configuration: ISC now supports multiple IPv6 addresses on the provider edge interface for Cisco IOS XR provider edge devices.
– Supports the creation and modification of a new route distinguisher IP address format. The new format can be used within the Independent VRF, VRF Service Request, and MPLS VPN Service Request.
– Additional redistribution routing control between Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and BGP:
Ability to specify the OSPF route policy and route map names
Ability to redistribute OSPF internal and OSPF external routes into BGP by selecting keywords Internal, External, or both
– Ability to set the number and track whether the number of OSPF process IDs, as service requests are provisioned, has been reached or exceeded on a Cisco IOS XR provider edge device
– Support for the provisioning of eBGP Site of Origin command within Cisco IOS XR (already supported by ISC on Cisco IOS Software)
– Supports additional BGP route group provisioning support:
Error message when the referenced external route group used in provisioning is not present on the device
Ability to specify the "in" and "out" fields for route policy and route map names providing additional route filtering control
• Traffic Engineering Management (TEM) enhancements: Northbound Interface support for the ISC Traffic Engineering Management features
• Infrastructure enhancements: Support for Configuration Engine 3.0 with the same level of ISC functionality as currently supported in Configuration Engine 2.0
Upgrade Paths
Cisco IP Solution Center 3.x and 4.x and Cisco VPN Solution Center customers are encouraged to migrate to Cisco IP Solution Center 5.2. The following paragraphs outline the upgrade paths for existing Cisco IP Solution Center and Cisco VPN Solution Center customers:
• All existing Cisco IP Solution Center 3.x and 4.x customers can purchase an update kit for a fee by contacting their Cisco sales representatives. See Table 9 below for ordering information.
• Existing ISC 5.0 and ISC 5.1 customers with a Software Application Support (SAS) contract can order an update kit for ISC 5.2 though the Cisco Product Upgrade Tool at http://www.cisco.com/upgrade.
• Existing ISC 5.0 and ISC 5.1 customers without an SAS contract can purchase an update kit for a fee by contacting their Cisco sales representatives. See Table 10 below for ordering information.
• Customers with Cisco MPLS Diagnostics Expert (MDE 2.0 or 2.1 with ISC 5.x and with a current Software Application Support (SAS) contract can order an update kit for MDE 2.1 though the Cisco Product Upgrade Tool at http://www.cisco.com/upgrade. Customers without an SAS contract, or customers with Cisco MDE 1.x, can purchase an update kit for a fee. See Table 9 for ordering information.
Availability
Cisco IP Solution Center 5.2 and associated minor release update kits will begin shipping on June 25, 2009. Customers can order these new products through normal Cisco sales channels beginning June 17, 2009. To place an order, visit the Cisco Ordering Homepage.
Ordering Information
Tables 2 through 10 provide ordering information for Cisco IP Solution Center 5.2 applications.
Note: For Cisco IP Solution Center MPLS VPN Management and Cisco IP Solution Center Layer 2 VPN and Carrier Ethernet Management activation license implies the maximum number of connections or attachment circuits to be managed by the application. For Traffic Engineering Management, each tier value implies the maximum number of traffic engineering-enabled routers to be managed by Cisco IP Solution Center Traffic Engineering Management.
Table 2. Cisco IP Solution Center 5.2 Entry Points and Combo Packages
Part Number
Description
BASE-ISC5.2-K9
Cisco ISC 5.2 CD Base Media (required for all new customers)
Table 9. Cisco IP Solution Center Update Options from Cisco ISC 4.x to 5.2 or from Cisco MDE 2.0 to 2.1 for All Customers
Part Number
Description
ISC4-5.2UP-250K-K9
Upgrade to ISC 5.2 Applications for 4.x Customers with from 100,000 to 250,000 Attachment Circuits
ISC4-5.2UP-100K-K9
Upgrade to ISC 5.2 Applications for 4.x Customers with from 50,000 to 100,000 Attachment Circuits
ISC4-5.2-UP-50K-K9
Upgrade to ISC 5.2 Applications for 4.x Customers with from 30,000 to 50,000 Attachment Circuits
ISC4-5.2-UP-30K-K9
Upgrade to ISC 5.2 Applications for 4.x Customers with from 6000 to 30,000 Attachment Circuits
ISC4-5.2-UP-6K-K9
Upgrade to ISC 5.2 Applications for 4.x Customers with from 2000 to 6000 Attachment Circuits
ISC4-5.2-UP-2K-K9
Upgrade to ISC 5.2 Applications for 4.x Customers with up to 2000 Attachment Circuits
MDE21-UPG-ISC52-K9
Upgrade from MDE 1.x, 2.0 to 2.1, for Customers Not on SAS
Table 10. Cisco IP Solution Center Upgrade Options from Cisco ISC 5.0 to Cisco ISC 5.2 for Customers without an SAS Contract
Part Number
Description
ISC5.X-5.2-UP-K9
ISC 5.2 Upgrade for ISC 5.X Customers
Technical support services are orderable on these products through the Cisco software application support programs. Service part numbers can be found on the Cisco online ordering tools and price lists.
For More Information
For more information about Cisco IP Solution Center, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/isc, contact your local account representative, or send an email to the product marketing group at isc-mktg@cisco.com.
1Automated diagnostics features are not available for Layer 2 and Carrier Ethernet VPNs in Cisco IP Solution Center as of today.
