Cisco SD-AVC

Overview

Cisco Software-Defined AVC (SD-AVC) is a component of Cisco AVC. It operates as a centralized network service, with specific participating devices in a network.

Cisco SD-AVC complements solutions such as:

  • Cisco Intelligent WAN (IWAN)

  • Cisco EasyQoS

  • Application Assurance

Some of the current features and benefits provided by SD-AVC:

  • Network-level application recognition consistent across the network

  • Improved application recognition in symmetric and asymmetric routing environments

  • Improved first packet classification

  • Protocol Pack update at the network level

  • Secure browser-based dashboard over HTTPS

  • Analysis of unclassified traffic

  • Network-wide user-defined applications

  • REST API

For details, see the Cisco SD-AVC 2.2.1 user guide.

New and Updated Features

New and changed features in SD-AVC Release 2.2.1:

  • Updates to the several REST APIs.

  • Optimization of device update time

  • Fewer TCP ports are used for communication between the SD-AVC network service and agents. The range is now 21, 59990-60000.

  • Improved handling of proxy servers: When a network includes a proxy server, SD-AVC recognizes the proxy server IP and synchronizes the IP as a proxy, thereby preventing the SD-AVC agent from caching the IP. This prevents errors in flow classification.

For details, see the Cisco SD-AVC user guide, release 2.2.1.

Requirements and Installation

SD-AVC consists of two main components:

  • SD-AVC Network Service: Operates as a virtualized service within a Cisco device service container, hosted on a Cisco platform. A variety of Cisco ASR1000 Series, ISR4000 Series, and CSR1000V models can function as the host platform for this component, which is installed using a downloaded OVA file.

  • SD-AVC agent: SD-AVC can be activated on numerous devices in the network, which then communicate with the centralized SD-AVC Network Service. Activating SD-AVC on a device requires executing a few Cisco IOS commands on the device, and does not require any additional download. A variety of Cisco ASR1000 Series, ISR4000 Series, and CSR1000V models are supported. Activating SD-AVC starts an SD-AVC "agent" service on the device, which manages communication between the device and the SD-AVC Network Service.

See the user guide for:

  • System requirements for platforms hosting the SD-AVC Network Service, and instructions for installing the component, using an OVA.

  • System requirements for devices running SD-AVC, and instructions for activating SD-AVC.

Supported Platforms and OS

Host Platforms for SD-AVC Network Service

The following Cisco platforms can serve as host for the SD-AVC Network Service, which runs as a virtualized service. See the user guide for detailed system requirements for each platform type.

Table 1. Host Requirements

Host

Recommended OS (extended maintenance release trains only)

Cisco ASR1001-X Aggregation Services Router

Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.1 or later

Cisco ASR1002-X Aggregation Services Router

Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.1 or later

Cisco ASR1002-HX Aggregation Services Router

Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.7.1 or later

Cisco ISR4431 Integrated Services Router

Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.1 or later

Cisco ISR4451 Integrated Services Router

Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.1 or later

Cisco CSR1000V Cloud Services Router

Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.1 or later

SD-AVC Agent Supported Platforms

The following Cisco platforms support operation with SD-AVC, using the SD-AVC agent. See the user guide for detailed system requirements for each platform type.

Table 2. Network Device Requirements

Platform

Recommended OS (extended maintenance release trains only)

Cisco Cisco ASR1001-X Aggregation Services Router

Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.1 or later

Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.4 or later

(See note 1.)

Cisco ASR1002-X Aggregation Services Router

Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.1 or later

Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.4 or later

(See note 1.)

Cisco ASR1001-HX Aggregation Services Router

Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.1 or later

Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.4 or later

(See note 1.)

Cisco ASR1002-HX Aggregation Services Router

Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.1 or later

Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.4 or later

(See note 1.)

Cisco 1100 Series Integrated Services Routers

Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.1 or later

Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers: 4221, 4321, 4331, 4431, 4451

Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.1 or later

Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.4 or later

(See note 1.)

Cisco Integrated Services Virtual Router

Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.1 or later

Cisco CSR1000V Cloud Services Router

Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.1 or later

Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.4 or later

(See note 1.)

Cisco Route Processor RP2,

operating on Cisco ASR1004, ASR1006, or ASR1013

Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.1 or later

Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.4 or later

(See note 1.)

Cisco Route Processor RP3,

operating on Cisco ASR1004, ASR1006, or ASR1013

Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.1 or later

Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6.4 or later

(See note 1.)

Note

  1. Cisco IOS XE 16.6.3 is supported, but with limited SD-AVC functionality. IOS XE 16.6.4 adds support for: Unclassified Traffic Discovery, source interface configuration, and improved scale. For questions about support for specific OS releases, please contact the SD-AVC team at:

    cs-nbar@cisco.com

Downloading SD-AVC

The SD-AVC Network Service is installed from an open virtual appliance (OVA) file and operates as a virtualized service on a host platform. The OVA file is available for download on the Cisco.com software download page (https://software.cisco.com/download/home). On the download page, specify a platform model to display software available for download. One software option will be SD-AVC.

Configuring the SD-AVC agent on network devices operating with the SD-AVC Network Service does not require downloading any additional software.

See the user guide for system requirements and installation instructions.

Example

To display SD-AVC OVA file(s) available for the Cisco ASR 1002-HX, enter "ASR 1002-HX" in the search field.

Notes

Microsoft Office 365

Recent changes that Microsoft has made to the Microsoft Office 365 web API have blocked the SD-AVC Microsoft Office 365 Connector, breaking its functionality in SD-AVC releases prior to 2.2.0. To resolve the issue, upgrade to SD-AVC 2.2.0 or later releases, which incorporate the new Microsoft Office 365 web API.

Known Issues

Incorrect Version on About Page

The browser-based Dashboard for SD-AVC 2.2.1 incorrectly displays version 2.2.0 when you click the About link at the bottom left of the Dashboard.

To verify that SD-AVC 2.2.1 is installed, open a command line window for the device hosting the SD-AVC network service, and use the following command, which displays the installed package. 

Device#show virtual-service list
Virtual Service List:

Name Status Package Name
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
csr_mgmt Installed iosxe-remote-mgmt.16.06.03.ova
SDAVC Activated iosxe-sd-avc.2.2.1.ova

Caveats


Note

If you have an account on Cisco.com, you can view information on select caveats, using the Bug Search Tool (https://bst.cloudapps.cisco.com/bugsearch/).

Resolved Caveats in SD-AVC 2.2.1

The following caveat(s) were resolved in SD-AVC 2.2.1 (since 2.2.0):

Caveat

Description

CSCvn77663

Proxy socket issue