Installation Requirements

Profile specifications

This table provides an overview of the scale support for various features and the hardware specifications for each profile in Cisco Crosswork Planning.

Table 1. Profile specifications

Parameters

Profile 1

Profile 2

Profile 3

Scale support

Total number of network devices

1000

3000

6000

Total number of interfaces (including virtual interfaces)

40000

100000

200000

Total number of demands

50000

100000

500000

Total number of policies (SR and RSVP)

2000

5000

10000

Total number of VPNs

4

Endpoints per VPN service: 30

4

Endpoints per VPN service: 60

8

Endpoints per VPN service: 80

Hardware requirements

Number of VMs

1

2

2

CPU

16 vCPU

16 vCPU

24 vCPU

Memory

125 GB

125 GB

256 GB

Disk space

1 TB

1 TB

2 TB

Important

The memory specification appears as both "125 GB" (or "256 GB") and "128000 MB" (or "262144 MB") in this document. This is because different deployment methods require the value in different units:

  • OVF tool: Specify memory in megabytes (MB).

    • For Profile 1 and 2 (125 GB), enter 128000 (128000 ÷ 1024 = 125 GiB).

    • For Profile 3 (256 GB), enter 262144 (262144 ÷ 1024 = 256 GiB).

  • VMware UI: Specify memory in gigabytes (GB).

    • Enter 125 GB or 256 GB, which VMware internally interprets as 125 GiB or 256 GiB.

Both values result in the VM being provisioned with the same amount of RAM (125 GiB or 256 GiB), as VMware interprets these values in binary units (GiB). The difference in units is due to how each deployment tool interprets memory size.


Note

  • For Profile 2 and Profile 3, two VMs are necessary: one operates exclusively as the Collector application, and the other functions as the Design application.

  • There is no provision to tune the resource usage settings for individual services.

VMware settings

If your vCenter data center does not meet these requirements, you must deploy the Virtual Machine (VM) individually. For more information on manual installation, see Install Cisco Crosswork Planning using the vCenter vSphere UI.

  • Supported Hypervisor and vCenter versions:

    • VMware vCenter Server 8.0 (U2c or later) and ESXi 8.0 (U2b or later)

    • VMware vCenter Server 7.0 (U3p or later) and ESXi 7.0 (U3p or later)

  • The machine where you run the installer must have high-speed network connectivity to the vCenter data center where you plan to install Cisco Crosswork Planning.

  • Host the Cisco Crosswork Planning VM on hardware with Hyper Threading disabled.

  • Ensure that the vCenter admin user has enabled profile-driven storage. Verify that the vCenter user has the necessary query permissions at the root level for all resources in vCenter.

  • Build and configure the networks required for Crosswork Management and Data in the data centers. These networks must allow low-latency L2 communication (latency with RTT ≤10 ms).

  • Ensure that the user account used to access vCenter has these privileges:

    • VM (Provisioning): Clone the VM on the VM you are cloning.

    • VM (Provisioning): Customize the VM or VM folder if you are customizing the guest operating system.

    • VM (Inventory): Create a new VM from an existing VM in the data center or VM folder.

    • VM (Configuration): Add new disk on the data center or VM folder.

    • Resource: Assign a VM to resource pool on the destination host or resource pool.

    • Datastore: Allocate space in the destination datastore or datastore folder.

    • Network: Assign the network to which the VM will be assigned.

    • Profile-driven storage (Query): This permission setting needs to be allowed at the root of the data center tree level.

  • We also recommend that you enable vCenter storage control.

Cisco Crosswork Planning VM requirements

This table describes the resource requirements per VM to deploy Cisco Crosswork Planning.

Table 2. Network requirements

Requirement

Description

Network connections

For production deployments, we recommend that you use dual interfaces, one for the Management network and one for the Data network.

For optimal performance, the management and data networks should use links configured at a minimum of 10 Gbps with a latency of less than 10 milliseconds.

IP addresses

Four IPv4 addresses: One management and one data IP address for the Cisco Crosswork Planning node being deployed, and two additional IP addresses to be used as the Virtual IP (VIP) address (one for the Management network and one for the Data network).

Note

 

The assignment of VIP addresses follows the standard configuration approach used in clustered environments. In a Cisco Crosswork Planning (single node) deployment, these addresses are included for consistency; they are allocated but are not used for high availability functions.

  • Management IP address: Used for user access and node management.

  • Data IP address: Used for communication with external devices and for data collection.

  • Management VIP address: An additional IP address for the management network. It is typically used in clustered environments to provide high availability and seamless management access. In a Cisco Crosswork Planning (single node) deployment, this serves as a placeholder.

  • Data VIP Address: An additional IP address for the data network. It is generally used in clusters to ensure data network availability. In a Cisco Crosswork Planning (single node) deployment, this serves as a placeholder.

Note

 

  • Cisco Crosswork Planning does not support dual-stack and IPv6 configurations. Therefore, all addresses for the environment must be IPv4.

  • The IP addresses must be able to reach the gateway address for the network, or the installation will fail.

  • At this time, your IP allocation is permanent. If you want to change your IP allocation, you must redeploy. For more information, contact the Cisco Customer Experience team.

Interfaces

Cisco Crosswork Planning is deployed on a single VM with two interfaces.

  • Number of NICs: 2

  • vNIC0: Management traffic (for accessing the interactive console and passing the control/data information between servers).

  • vNIC1: Device access traffic (for device access and data collection).

NTP server

The IPv4 addresses or host names of the NTP server you plan to use. To specify multiple NTP servers, separate each entry with a space. These should be the same NTP servers you use to synchronize the Cisco Crosswork Planning VM clock, devices, clients, and servers across your network.

Ensure that the NTP servers are reachable on the network before attempting installation. The installation will fail if the servers cannot be reached.

DNS servers

The IPv4 addresses of the DNS servers you plan to use. These should be the same DNS servers you use to resolve host names across your network.

Verify that the DNS servers are reachable on the network you start installation. The installation will fail if the servers cannot be reached.

DNS search domain

The search domain you want to use with the DNS servers, for example, cisco.com. You can have only one search domain.

Backup server

Cisco Crosswork Planning will back up the configuration of the system to an external server using SCP. The SCP server storage requirements may vary slightly, but you must have at least 25 GB of storage.

FQDN (optional)

The installation process supports using either a VIP (Virtual IP address) or an FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) to access the VM.

If you choose to use the FQDN, you will need one for the Management and one for the Data network.

Cisco Crosswork Planning deployed on a single VM does not support dual-stack and IPv6 configurations. Therefore, all FQDN addresses configured for the deployment environment must be IPv4.

Note

 

If you choose to supply the FQDNs during the initial installation, the DNS server must be populated with them before the VM is powered on; otherwise, the installation script will fail to complete the environment setup.

KVM host bare metal requirements

This table describes the host bare metal requirements for deploying Cisco Crosswork Planning on KVM.

Table 3. Host bare metal requirements

Component

Minimum requirement per host

Processor

Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2699 v4 @ 2.20GHz or latest

NIC

2 x 10 Gbps NICs.

OS

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.10

Resource requirements

This table describes the resource requirements per host.

Table 4. Host resource requirements

Component

Minimum requirement per host

Large VM profile

 XLarge VM profile

RAM

You can calculate the total RAM needed using this formula:

Buffer (for example, 20%): RAM per VM * 0.20

Estimated total RAM needed (GB) = Total RAM + Buffer

Example:

RAM per VM (GB): 125 GB

Buffer (20%): 125 * 0.20 = 25 GB

Estimated total RAM needed (GB): 125 + 25 = 150 GB

You can calculate the total RAM needed using this formula:

Buffer (for example, 20%): RAM per VM * 0.20

Estimated total RAM needed (GB) = Total RAM + Buffer

Example:

RAM per VM (GB): 256 GB

Buffer (20%): 256 * 0.20 = 51.2 GB

Estimated total RAM needed (GB): 256 + 51.2 = 307.2 GB

CPU

You can calculate the number of vCPUs needed using this formula:

Buffer (for example, 20%): Total vCPUs * 0.20

Estimated total vCPUs needed = vCPUs per VM + Buffer

Example:

vCPUs per VM: 16

Buffer (20%): 16 * 0.2 = 3.2

Estimated total vCPUs needed: 16 + 3.2 = 19.2

You can calculate the number of vCPUs needed using this formula:

Buffer (for example, 20%): Total vCPUs * 0.20

Estimated total vCPUs needed = vCPUs per VM + Buffer

Example:

vCPUs per VM: 24

Buffer (20%): 24 * 0.2 = 4.8

Estimated total vCPUs needed: 24 + 4.8 = 28.8

Storage

You can calculate the storage required using this formula:

Buffer: additional 100 GB per VM

Estimated total storage needed (GB) = Storage per VM + Buffer

Example:

Storage per VM (GB): 1000 GB

Buffer: 100 GB

Estimated total storage needed (GB): 1000 + 100 = 1100 GB

You can calculate the storage required using this formula:

Buffer: additional 100 GB per VM

Estimated total storage needed (GB) = Storage per VM + Buffer

Example:

Storage per VM (GB): 2000 GB

Buffer: 100 GB

Estimated total storage needed (GB): 2000 + 100 = 2100 GB

It is recommended to allocate a 20% buffer for CPU and memory resources, along with an additional 100 GB of storage per VM. This approach helps ensure smooth performance and minimizes the risk of resource-related issues during operation.


Note

  • Ensure the networks required for the Crosswork Management and Data networks are built and configured in the data centers. These networks must allow low-latency L2 communication with a round-trip time (RTT) of 10 ms or less.

  • You must use and configure the same network name on the RHEL bare metal host machine that is hosting the Cisco Crosswork Planning VM.

IOS XR and IOS XE version support

Cisco Crosswork Planning supports these Cisco IOS XR and IOS XE software versions.

Table 5. IOS XR/XE version support

Device

Tested with version

SR-PCE (XRv 9000)

IOS XR: 25.4.1

ASR 9000

IOS XR: 25.4.1, 25.3.2, 25.2.2

NCS 5500

IOS XR: 25.4.1, 25.3.2, 25.2.2

Cisco 8000

IOS XR: 25.4.1, 25.3.2, 25.2.2

ASR 920

IOS XE: 17.16.2

Supported web browsers

This table lists the supported browser versions for Cisco Crosswork Planning.

Browser

Version

Google Chrome

131 or later

Mozilla Firefox

136 or later

Port requirements

This table lists the ports used by Cisco Crosswork Planning deployment on the management network.

Table 6. Ports used by Cisco Crosswork Planning
Port Protocol Used for Direction

30602

TCP

Monitoring the installation (Cisco Crosswork Planning)

Inbound

30603

TCP

Cisco Crosswork Planning Web user interface (NGINX server listens for secure connections on port 443)

Inbound

7

TCP/UDP

Discovering endpoints using ICMP

Outbound

22

TCP

Initiating SSH connections with managed devices

Outbound

22

TCP

Remote SSH connection

Inbound

53

TCP/UDP

Connecting to DNS

Outbound

123

UDP

Network Time Protocol (NTP)

Outbound

179

TCP

NetFlow BGP

Inbound

830

TCP

Initiating NETCONF

Outbound

30742

TCP

WAE Modeling Daemon (WMD)

Inbound

30744

TCP

OPM/RPC

Inbound

31210

UDP

NetFlow packets

Inbound

Disk requirements

The VM datastore(s) need to have disk access latency < 10 ms and > 4000 IOPS. For more information on diagnostic checks, see Diagnostic assessment.

Table 7. IOPS requirements

IOPS value

Status

Response

IOPS value > 4000

 PASS

Installation proceeds without the need for user acknowledgment.

1000 < IOPS value > 4000

 BLOCK

For production deployments, the installation requires ~ 4000 IOPS for optimal scaling performance. If the system operates in the suboptimal range of 1000 to 4000 IOPS, the installation process requires user acknowledgment before continuing.

If the installation is blocked, you can choose to ignore the failure and continue. You must explicitly acknowledge the report before proceeding, and by doing so, you acknowledge this warning and accept the risks.

IOPS value < 1000

 FAIL

Installation is blocked irrespective of user response.