Attention

This topic is applicable only when you need to deploy Crosswork Network Controller as a cluster. In case of single VM deployment, see Install Cisco Crosswork Network Controller on a Single VM

After finalizing the Crosswork Network Controller package/tier that meets the needs of your production environment, use the table below to determine the number of VMs required to deploy the Crosswork cluster and the type of data gateways to be deployed.

This is a crucial step as each Crosswork Network Controller package can impact the overall resources needed.

Note	Geo redundancy solution requires double the number of VMs. For more information, see Enable Geo Redundancy section.

Crosswork Network Controller is available in the following packages:

Ensure that you have sufficient worker nodes in your cluster. You can always check the load in your cluster and choose to add new worker nodes post installation. For more information, see the Deploy New Cluster Nodes section in the Crosswork Network Controller 7.0 Administration Guide.

Once you determine the Crosswork applications you want and the number of VMs you will need to deploy to host them, ensure that you have the resources needed for them. The resources required per VM such as CPU, Memory, and Storage vary based on the data center where your VMs will be hosted (VMware or AWS).

The tables in this topic explain the resource requirements per VM to deploy Crosswork Hybrid or Worker nodes, Crosswork Data Gateways, NSO, and SR-PCE (refer to the table relevant to your platform).

Note

The resources listed for NSO are higher than for other NSO use cases due to the additional requirements Crosswork Network Controller places on NSO. The NSO footprint depends on the type of deployment, standalone or LSA. The SR-PCE count will depend on the number of head-ends that need to be managed The values in Storage column is the space needed for storing Crosswork files and does not consider any additional overhead that may be required (for example, RAID configuration). The storage required for each backup will vary based on the your cluster size, applications in the cluster, and the scale requirements. Upgrade of the cluster (using parallel hardware) temporarily requires double the total disk space used by the cluster. See Upgrade Using Parallel Hardware for more information. The number of data gateways needed depends on the number of devices you have in your network and the level of redundancy you want (1:n up to 1:1). To determine the number of Crosswork Data Gateways needed, contact the Cisco Customer Experience team.

Crosswork Resource Footprint for VMware

Note	Ensure that you have a docker-capable host to load the Crosswork installer tool.

Important

As Cisco Crosswork cluster nodes place high demands on the VMs, ensure that you have not oversubscribed CPU or memory resources on the machines hosting the nodes.

Table 2. Crosswork Resource Footprint for VMware

Component	vCPU	Clock Freq (GHz)	Memory (RAM)	Network Interface Controller (NIC)	Storage (Boot disk + Data disks)
Crosswork Hybrid or Worker node	12 Minimum clock reservation: 18 GHz	>= 2.20	96 GB	10 Gbps	1 TB The VM data store(s) need to have disk access latency < 10 ms and > 5000 IOPS.
Crosswork Data Gateway On-Premise Standard	12	>= 2.20	48 GB	10 Gbps	70 GB (50 GB + 20 GB)
Crosswork Data Gateway On-Premise Extended	20	>= 2.20	112 GB	10 Gbps	570 GB (50 GB + 520 GB)
Cisco NSO	16	>= 2.20	128 GB	10 Gbps	1 TB
Cisco SR-PCE Note   This is the requirement for running a Cisco XRv9K with SR-PCE functionality enabled.	8	>= 2.20	24 GB	10 Gbps	70 GB
Basic SCP Server (for storing backups)	-	-	-	-	At least 25 GB (recommended)

In addition to the above instructions, there may be certain setup options that you need to consider before you begin the installation.

• Check versions of NSO and SR-PCE – Please see the Crosswork Network Controller 7.0 Release Notes to know the NSO and SR-PCE versions compatible with Crosswork Network Controller.

• Are you going to use self-signed certificates? – if yes, you need to make the certificates available. For more information on the type of certificates supported and how to manage them, see the Manage Certificates section in the Crosswork Network Controller 7.0 Administration Guide.

• Do you plan to integrate Crosswork with external authentication servers?– Integration with TACACS+ or other external authentication servers will require you to have credentials created for the Crosswork user accounts and roles.

• In Crosswork Data Gateway, do you want to configure a Syslog server to collect the syslog?– if yes, then provide the host name or IPv4 or IPv6 address of an external syslog server. Or, you have the option to configure the syslog server using the interactive console after the installation is complete.

• In Crosswork Data Gateway, do you want to configure an Auditd server to collect the event logs?– if yes, then provide the host name or IPv4 or IPv6 address of an external auditd server. As an alternative, you have the option to configure the auditd server using the interactive console after the installation is complete.

• Do you plan to enable the automatic execution of linked playbooks? – If yes, you must enable Playbook Job Scheduling and disable Credential Prompting for playbook execution in the Network Automation settings window. For more information, see the Enable Automatic Playbook Execution topic in the Cisco Crosswork Network Controller 7.0 Closed-Loop Network Automation guide.