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 network.
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.
Other 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 an IOS-XR multi-domain stateful PCE supporting both Segment Routing Traffic Engineering (ST-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 Crosswork can also integrate with other providers (such as Cisco WAE, Syslog, and Alert), external servers (TACACS+,
LDAP, and RADIUS), DHCP server (when using Crosswork ZTP), and external Kafka (for external data collection destinations). The details about these specific integrations are addressed
in Cisco Crosswork Network Controller 5.0 Administration Guide or in the application guides.