Introduction

This document describes how to configure and check the license management feature of Megaport in vManage.

Prerequisites

Requirements

Cisco recommends that you have knowledge of Cisco Software Defined Wide Area Network (SDWAN) solution.

Components Used

The policy in this article was tested on software version 20.9.1 and Cisco IOS-XE 17.9.1. 

The information in this document was created from the devices in a specific lab environment. All of the devices used in this document started with a cleared (default) configuration. If your network is live, ensure that you understand the potential impact of any command.

Background Information

Starting with 20.9.1/17.9.1, Megaport service licenses (Interconnect Gateways and Interconnect Connections) are purchased through Cisco Commerce Workspace and would be visible to users in vManage. With this feature, Cisco vManage operates together with Megaport to enable you to monitor your licenses while Cisco and Megaport jointly enforce the license requirements when you create Interconnect Gateways or Interconnect Connections. You purchase entitlements through Cisco and Megaport enforces the entitlement for the creation of resources.

Acronyms

What is New?

Prior:

• Megaport Postpaid bill Model: Bill for resources created in Megaport is done by Megaport for accounts held directly with Megaport
• For licenses purchased through Cisco Commerce Workspace, there was no visibility or enforcement on licenses consumed by the user.

Now:

• Acquire entitlements through Cisco: All entitlements are displayed with pertinent information about which ones have been consumed, and which ones are still available for use.
• Creates resources in Megaport with the acquired entitlements
• Prepaid Bill Model: Purchase licenses for a minimum 1 Year duration. The enforcement of licenses happens only on accounts that have been created when Megaport services are purchased through CCW.
• Postpaid Bill Model: Users can have direct accounts with Megaport and be billed directly by Megaport usage-based.  No license enforcement happens on direct Megaport accounts.

Software Requirements

• vManage 20.9
• Entitlement enabled Megaport account

Architecture Overview

• User purchases license from CCW.
• The license payload is pushed from CCW to Megaport.
• Megaport builds a database of licenses and does enforcement.
• License types:
  • Gateway (MVE)
  • Connection (VXC)
  • AWS Hosted Connect (AWSHC)
• Megaport exposes APIs and vManage uses this data and assists users before it brings up MVE/Connections.
  • GET: display the status of the license.
  • Validate: Validate license availability before it is created.
  • Displays license acquired on create operation.

Licenses (Entitlements)

Before you create the Interconnect Gateways and Interconnect Connections in the Megaport fabric, you must purchase the required licenses that are available as Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) on the Cisco Commerce workspace. The licenses belong to these three categories:

Gateway Licenses

An Interconnect Gateway license enables you to deploy an Interconnect Gateway in any metro of a particular region in the Megaport fabric, that is, Cisco SDCI Router (ICGW). The SKUs are named in this format: MVE-<region-code>-<form-factor-code>-C

Region and Metro:

Region: Geographical area that encompasses many metros is called Region. For example, North America, Europe, and others.
Metro: Metro is located within a region, For example, Dallas, Denver, and others.

General Structure for MVE License: MVE-<Region>-<Size>-C


Example:

1. MVE-EU-SML-C: Gateway in Europe Region, instance size is small

2. MVE-NA-LRG-C: Gateway in North America Region, instance size is large.

• Use one of these form factors for the Interconnect Gateway:

  Form Factor	Form Factor Code	Description
  Small	SML	Cisco Catalyst 8000V instance with 2 cores supports a maximum inbound bandwidth of 500 Mbps
  Medium	MED	Cisco Catalyst 8000V instance with 4 cores supports a maximum inbound bandwidth of 1 Gbps
  Large	LRG	Cisco Catalyst 8000V instance with 8 cores supports a maximum inbound bandwidth of 5 Gbps

• -C at the end of an SKU name indicates that it is a prepaid license. (Commit model) 

Connection Licenses

You can create two types of Interconnect Connections

• Within a metro in a Megaport region: The Interconnect Connections within a metro are short-haul connections.

• Between metros: The Interconnect Connections between metros are long-haul connections.

General Structure for IN Metro License - Short-Haul:

      VXC-IM-<Bandwidth>-<Region>-C
      Example: VXC-IM-1G-NA-C
       IM – In a metro, any same source and destination metro within North America Region.
       Speed – 1G
       C – Commit Model (prepaid model)

General Structure for Inter-Intra Connection License - Long-Haul:

      VXC-II-<source>-<Destination>-C
       Example:  VXC-II-NA-EU-C
       II: The license subtype is Inter Intra region, which can be across continents.
       NA: Any metro in North America Region
       EU: Any metro in Europe Region.
       C – Commit Model (Prepaid)

Supplemental Licenses

To create an AWS-hosted connection, in addition to a short-haul or long-haul Interconnect Connection license, you must purchase an AWS-hosted connection license on the Cisco Commerce workspace.

General Structure for IN Metro License - Short-Haul:

            Example:  AWS-HC-IMVXC-1G-C
            HC: The license subtype is Hosted Connect
            IM – In Metro, the source and destination are the same metros.
           1G – Speed for hosted connection

General Structure for Inter-Intra Connection License - Long-Haul:

          Example: AWS-HC-IIVXC-C (Inter-Intra host connect)
          HC: License subtype is hosted connection.
          II - Inter Intra-region, can be within or across regions
          C – commit model (prepaid)

License Enforcement

Entitlement Match – MVE

If two entitlements match a call:

• Choose the exact match first with the earliest expiration date.

• If you have the necessary licenses, Megaport changes the license status to in-use and creates the requested resource. The license status is also updated on Cisco vManage.

• If you do not have the necessary licenses, Megaport does not create the requested resource and Cisco vManage displays an error message to indicate that you do not have the necessary licenses. Purchase the necessary licenses on the Cisco Commerce workspace and create the resource.

• The earliest expiration entitlement gets used in case of multiple exact matches.

Entitlement Match – Inter-Intra region VXCs

If two entitlements match a call:

• Choose the exact bandwidth match first with the earliest expiration date.
• Choose the closest bandwidth match that is > bandwidth entitlement.
• For example: If you hold VXC-II-NA-NA-C for 500 Mbps and 2000 Mbps, and try to provision 400Mbps, then the 500Mbps gets chosen. If they try to provision 1000Mbps, then the 2000Mbps gets chosen.
• The earliest expiration entitlement gets used in case of multiple exact matches.

Entitlement Match – InMetro VXC

If two entitlements match a call:

• Choose the exact bandwidth match first with the earliest expiration date.
• Chose the closest bandwidth match that is > bandwidth entitlement.

   For example: If you hold VXC-IM-NA-1G-C, VXC-IM-NA-10G-C, and try to provision 400Mbps, then the VXC-IM-NA-1G-C get chosen.

   If they try to provision 1500Mbps, then the VXC-IM-NA-10G-C get chosen.

• The earliest expiration entitlement gets used in case of multiple exact matches.

License Enforcement

Alarms are the notifications generated on specific events in vManage, we generate alarms for these events.

• The license end date is less than 90 days
• License has expired
• The license has been renewed

vManage Workflow

Summary of steps to be followed at a high level:

• Account Management
• ICGW Global Settings
• Checking Licenses 
• Workflows-QuickConnect
• Assign a Template
• Create ICGW

Account Management

Account Management

Log Messages

ICGW Global Settings

ICGW Global Settings

Checking Licenses

Checking Licenses

Checking License Logs

WorkFlows - Quick Connect

There is a new workflow with 20.9.x which needs to be configured first. Otherwise, no new instances can be spun. It is also known as Megaport instances.

As part of this workflow, you need to select the C8Kv and attach the site to the C8Kv.

The same System-IP and Site-ID need to be configured for the same chassis in Attach Template option. Navigate to Configuration > Template . Ensure to note this down when it is applied to the Device Template.  

Workflows  

Add & Review Device Configuration

Assign a Template

Ensure to assign to the same chassis/UUID from the Workflows-QuickConnect workflow from the top.

Attach Devices to Default Template

Create ICGW

Create ICGW

Verify

Use this section in order to confirm that your configuration works properly.

Here are the relevant logs on vManage which show a successful creation of ICGW.

Verification Logs

On Megaport Portal

ICGW Details on Megaport Portal

VXC Details on Megaport Portal

Troubleshooting 

This section provides information you can use in order to troubleshoot your configuration.

When you troubleshoot the issue(s), all the logs are either in vManage-Server.log or CloudAgent-(v2).log. You can do a tail -f on these files to look at the issue live.

Generate API and store it in the DB:

Scenario 1. MVE/Connection creation failure:

• Look at the account licenses page to see if there are any licenses available.
• If licenses are not available, add new license(s) and retry.

Scenario 2. License status shows used and not consumed by vManage:

• The stale resource left in Megaport is deleted by vManage. Also, we can clear it up in the Megaport account, which helps to release a license.

• If this does not release a license, we need to check with Megaport.

Scenario 3. If the same Megaport account is used by multiple vManage instances, the user needs to be careful when those resources are deleted from the Megaport portal.

Scenario 4. If the bandwidth update fails, the requested bandwidth is greater than the licensed bandwidth.

Related Information

• Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Interconnect with Megaport
• License Management for Cloud Interconnect with Megaport
• Technical Support & Documentation - Cisco Systems