Install Crosswork Applications

This chapter contains the following topics:

Install Crosswork Applications

This section explains how to install Crosswork applications on the Cisco Crosswork UI.

The Crosswork Network Controller applications are bundled as Essentials, Advantage, and Add-on packages (see Crosswork Applications for more information). Every package contains crosswork applications in a particular format unique to Crosswork known as CAPP (Crosswork APPlication). As a first step, the packages containing the application CAPP files (*.tar.gz) must be downloaded from cisco.com to a machine reachable from the Cisco Crosswork server. The package is then added to the Crosswork UI where the applications within can be installed.

You must first download the relevant Crosswork Network Controller package (Essential or Advantage or Add-on) from cisco.com and then proceed to install the applications which are part of the package.

Before you begin

Ensure that all requirements of your application are met.

Procedure


Step 1

Download and validate the CAPP files:

  1. Navigate to cisco.com and download the signed Crosswork Network Controller package that you require to a directory in your machine. For the purpose of these instructions, we will use the file name "signed-cw-na-cncessential-6.0.0-85-release-231211.tar.gz".

  2. Decompress the signed Crosswork Network Controller package.

    tar -xvf <signature file>
    

    Example:

    cd <folder where tar was download>
    tar -xvf signed-cw-na-cncessential-6.0.0-85-release-231211.tar.gz 
    README
    cw-na-cncessential-6.0.0-85-release-231211.tar.gz
    cw-na-cncessential-6.0.0-85-release-231211.tar.gz.signature
    CW-CCO_RELEASE.cer
    cisco_x509_verify_release.py3
    cisco_x509_verify_release.py
  3. Use python script to validate the signature of each file you plan to use.

    Note

     

    Use python --version to find out the version of Python on your machine.

    If you are using Python 2.x, use the following command to validate the file:

    python cisco_x509_verify_release.py -e <.cer file> -i <.tar.gz file> -s <.tar.gz.signature file> -v dgst -sha512

    If you are using Python 3.x, use the following command to validate the file:

    python cisco_x509_verify_release.py3 -e <.cer file> -i <.tar.gz file> -s <.tar.gz.signature file> -v dgst -sha512

    Example:

    python cisco_x509_verify_release.py3 -s cw-na-cncessential-6.0.0-85-release-231211.tar.gz.signature -i cw-na-cncessential-6.0.0-85-release-231211.tar.gz -e CW-CCO_RELEASE.cer
    Retrieving CA certificate from http://www.cisco.com/security/pki/certs/crcam2.cer ...
    Successfully retrieved and verified crcam2.cer.
    Retrieving SubCA certificate from http://www.cisco.com/security/pki/certs/innerspace.cer ...
    Successfully retrieved and verified innerspace.cer.
    Successfully verified root, subca and end-entity certificate chain.
    Successfully fetched a public key from CW-CCO_RELEASE.cer.
    Successfully verified the signature of cw-na-cncessential-6.0.0-85-release-231211.tar.gz using CW-CCO_RELEASE.cer
    

    Note

     

    If you do not have python installed, go to python.org and download the version of python that is appropriate for your work station.

Step 2

Add the downloaded CAPP file to Crosswork:

  1. Log into Cisco Crosswork and in the homepage, click on Administration > Crosswork Manager. The Crosswork Summary page is displayed with Crosswork Cluster and Crosswork Platform Infrastructure tiles.

    You can click on the tiles to get more information.

  2. Click on Application Management and select the Applications tab.

  3. Click on the Add File (.tar.gz) option to add the package that contains the CAPP files.

    Note

     

    When installing a Crosswork Network Controller package, there is no need to untar the package. You can add the package tarball as-is to the Crosswork UI and the applications within are automatically added. You can then install the individual applications as needed.

  4. In the Add File dialog box, enter the relevant information and click Add.

    The add operation progress is displayed on the Applications screen. You can also view the installation progress in the Job History tab.

    Note

     

    When loading a Crosswork Network Controller package, the loading process may stop at 50% for a while depending on the resources your host platform has available.

    The newly added application files are displayed as tiles on the Applications screen.

Step 3

Install the Application CAPP file:

  1. Click on the Install prompt on the application tile. You can also click on the tile, and select the Install option from the drop down list.

    Important

     

    After you install Crosswork Cluster and Crosswork Data Gateway, the applications in the Crosswork Network Controller package (Essential or Advantage) need to be installed in the following sequence:

    1. Crosswork Optimization Engine

    2. Crosswork Active Topology

    3. Crosswork Service Health (only available in Advantage package)

    4. Element Management Functions (EMF)

    Crosswork Change Automation, Crosswork Health Insights, and Crosswork Zero Touch Provisioning can be installed independently in any order and do not require any other application to be installed prior.

    The application is now installed. You can observe the change in the application tile icon. Once an application is installed, all the related-resources, UI screens and menu options are dynamically loaded in the Crosswork UI.

    Note

     

    Once an application is installed, the 90-day evaluation period will automatically start. You can register the application with your Cisco Smart Account in the the Smart License tab.

  2. After an application is installed, it must be activated to become functional. The first-time installation also activates a CAPP file. However, if the activation fails after a successful installation, you can manually activate the application. To manually activate an application, click the on the application tile, and select Activate.

Step 4

Repeat step 3 for installing any remaining applications.

Step 5

(Optional) Click on the application tile, and select the View Details option to view details of the installed application.

Step 6

Once an application (or all applications) have been installed, check the health of the environment to make sure all the applications are healthy. It can take up to an hour for all the processes to launch and for the applications to report as healthy. If a newly installed application is not healthy after an hour, contact the Cisco Customer Experience team.


What to do next

Return to the installation workflow: