Application Hosting

Secure Onboarding of Signed Third-Party Applications

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers

Cisco IOS XR now supports onboarding signed (authenticated) third-party (non-native Cisco IOS XR) applications onto the XR routers securely as per Cisco policies and standards.

Earlier you could onboard only signed Cisco IOS XR native images and RPMs onto the router.

Programmability

Improved YANG Input Validator and Get Requests

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

The OpenConfig data models provide a structure for managing networks via YANG protocols. With this release, enhancements to the configuration architecture improve input validations and ensure that the Get requests made through gNMI or NETCONF protocols return only explicitly configured OpenConfig leaves.

OpenConfig Metadata for Configuration Annotations

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

You can annotate the OpenConfig-metadata as part of the OpenConfig edit-config request to the Cisco IOS XR router and later fetch using the OpenConfig get-config request or delete through gNMI request only.

The Set or Get operations can be performed through gNMI only; not through Netconf RPCs.

Prevent Partial Pseudo-Atomic Committed Configurations

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

You can now prevent the partially-committed configurations on the router and thus ensure the system database and OpenConfig datastore stay in sync.

This feature changes how the internal rollback error is handled when a pseudo-atomic commit fails. In such cases, the system database always rolls back the configuration in its datastore thereby ensuring that there is no partially-committed configuration. If there is still inconsistency, the system displays error messages to notify you of various internal rollback failure scenarios based on which you must take rectification action to re-synchronize the data.

Routing

Autonomous System Boundary Router Isolation and Adjacency Control for LSA Overflows

Introduced in this release on NCS 5500 fixed port routers: NCS 5700 fixed port routers

In a network employing an Autonomous System Boundary Router (ASBR) and other routers, you are now assured of uninterrupted traffic flow even if the ASBR generates LSAs that exceed the limit you configured. This is made possible as you can now isolate ASBRs and also control the duration of adjacency in the EXCHANGE or LOADING phase. By isolating the ASBR from its immediate neighbors, the remaining network topology can continue to function without disruption, effectively preventing any adverse impact on traffic flow. This approach also simplifies the recovery process, as manual intervention is only necessary for the immediate neighbors of the ASBR routers.

This feature introduces these changes:

CLI:

• max-external-lsa

• exchange-timer

YANG Data Model:

• Cisco-IOS-XR-ipv4-ospf-cfg.yang

• Cisco-IOS-XR-ipv4-ospf-oper.yang

• Cisco-IOS-XR-um-router-ospf-cfg.yang

(see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

Multihop Bidirectional Forwarding Detection on IPv4 and IPv6 Non-Default VRFs

You can now improve the reliability of your network by providing early notification of failures. This is made possible due to extension of Multihop Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) for IPv4 and IPv6 non-default VRFs to process BFD packets encapsulated with MPLS label for a particular VRF.

* NCS 5700 line cards in compatibility and native modes support this feature for IPv4 non-default VRFs. Other variants listed here already support this feature for IPv4 non-default VRFs.

Disable IID-TLV of IS-IS Protocol Instance

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native]

You can now disable Instance Identifier Type-Length-Value (IID-TLV) in the Hello and LSP packets when multiple IS-IS protocol instances are configured on the router.

Each IS-IS instance has a unique instance-ID set, the TLV of which is sent in the Hello and LSP packets. The IID-TLV attribute helps in uniquely identifying the IS-IS protocol instance as well as the topologies to which the Protocol Data Units (PDUs) apply.

The feature introduces these changes:

CLI

New Command:

• iid disable

Modified Commands:

• The hello-padding command is extended to IS-IS process configuration mode

• The disable (IS-IS) command is modified with a new level keyword, and also extended to interface configuration mode.

YANG Data Model

• New XPaths for openconfig-isis.yang (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

MPLS

Automatic Bandwidth Bundle TE++ for Numbered Tunnels

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

We have optimized network performance and enabled efficient utilization of resources for numbered tunnels based on real-time traffic by automatically adding or removing tunnels between two endpoints. This is made possible because this release introduces support for auto-bandwidth TE++ for numbered tunnels, expanding upon the previous support for only named tunnels, letting you define explicit paths and allocate the bandwidth to each tunnel.

The feature introduces these changes:

• CLI:

  The auto-capacity keyword is added to the interface tunnel-te command.

• YANG Data Model:

  New XPaths for Cisco-IOS-XR-mpls-te-cfg.yang (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

Multicast Decapsulated Flow Over Static Label Switched Paths Over Single Pass GRE Tunnels

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers

This feature enables the device to forward the L2 frames payload from decapsulated static label-switched paths (LSPs) over single-pass GRE tunnels.

You can now forward only the L2 frames from the decapsulated MPLS static LSPs that are carrying L2 frames.

This feature introduces these changes:

• The l2-bypass keyword is introduced in the mpls static command.

Segment Routing

Configurable Filters for IS-IS Advertisements to BGP-Link State

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

This feature allows you to configure a route map to filter IS-IS route advertisements to BGP-Link State (LS). It also provides a per-area configuration knob to disable IS-IS advertisements for external and propagated prefixes. This configuration of filters hence reduces the amount of redundant data for external and interarea prefixes sent to the BGP - LS clients.

The feature introduces exclude-external , exclude-interarea , and route-policy name optional keywords in the distribute link-state command.

IS-IS Partition Detection and Leakage of Specific Route Advertisements

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

In an open ring topology, a single fiber cut may partition the area or domain into two pieces. With summarization enabled, the area (domain) partition may result in traffic drops. Depending on the configuration in the Area Border Routers (ABRs) or Autonomous System Boundary Routers (ASBRs) that is picked as an entry point to the partitioned area (domain), the traffic is delivered to its destination or dropped as unreachable at ABR or ASBR.

IS-IS partition detection and leakage of specific route advertisements features are introduced to retain connectivity for the partitioned area (domain) when summarization is used.

The ABRs or ASBRs detect a network partition within an area (domain) and upon detection, ensure that the summary route is replaced with specific route advertisements in IS-IS.

The feature introduces these changes:

New Command:

• partition-detect

Modified Command:

• The partition-repair keyword is introduced in the summary-prefix command.

YANG Data Model:

• New XPaths for Cisco-IOS-XR-um-router-isis-cfg.yang (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

Multicast VPN: Dynamic Tree-SID Multicast VPN IPv6

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

This feature allows Dynamic Tree Segment Identifier (Tree-SID) deployment where IPv6 Multicast payload is used for optimally transporting IP VPN multicast traffic over the provider network, using SR-PCE as a controller. This implementation supports IPv6 only for the Dynamic Tree-SID. Currently, the Static Tree-SID supports IPV4 payloads only, not the IPv6 payloads.

Multicast: Cisco Nonstop Forwarding for Tree-SID

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

Starting from this release, Multicast Nonstop Forwarding supports Tree-SID (Tree Segment Identifier). This ensures that traffic forwarding continues without interruptions whenever the active RSP fails over to the standby RSP.

This feature prevents hardware or software failures on the control plane from disrupting the forwarding of existing packet flows through the router for Tree-SID. Thus, ensuring improved network availability, network stability, preventing routing flaps, and no loss of user sessions while the routing protocol information is being restored.

The feature modifies the show mrib nsf private command.

Reporting of SR-TE Policies Using BGP-Link State

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

BGP- Link State (LS) is a mechanism by which LS and Traffic Engineering (TE) information can be collected from networks and shared with external components (such as, Segment Routing Path Computation Element (SR-PCE) or Crossword Optimization Engine (COE)) using the BGP routing protocol.

The feature gathers the Traffic Engineering Policy information that is locally available in a node and advertises it into BGP-LS updates.

The operators can now take informed decisions based on the information that is gathered on their network's path computation, reoptimization, service placement, network visualization, and so on.

The feature introduces these changes:

CLI:

• distribute link-state

YANG Data Model:

• New XPaths for module Cisco-IOS-XR-infra-xtc-agent-cfg.yang (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

SR Policy Liveness Monitoring - Hardware Offloading

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards)

You can now hardware offload the liveness monitoring in performance measurement to the router hardware, which is the Network Processing Unit (NPU). This feature helps you optimize and scale the measurement operation, helping you meet delay-bound Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Previously, this feature was software driven.

The feature introduces a new keyword npu-offload under the performance-measurement liveness-profile nameliveness profile command.

BGP

Automatically Reestablish a BGP Neighbor Session

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

You can now configure the router to automatically re-establish a BGP neighbor session that has been disabled because the maximum-prefix limit has been exceeded.

The feature introduces these changes:

CLI

• maximum-prefix-restart-time

YANG Data Model:

• New XPaths for openconfig-bgp-neighbor.yang(see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

BGP Flowspec on Bridge-Group Virtual Interfaces

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Native])

You can now effectively employ BGP Flowspec on Bridge-Group Virtual Interface (BVI) to connect to broadcast domains that house host devices, as in the case of enterprise networks. This support means that your customers can safeguard their networks from network threats such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks incoming through the BVI.

Discard Incoming BGP Update Message

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

You can now avoid the session reset when a BGP session encounters errors while parsing the received update message. This is made possible because the feature enables discarding the incoming update message as a withdraw message.

CLI:

• update in error-handling treat-as-withdraw

YANG Data Model:

• New XPaths for openconfig-bgp-neighbor.yang (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

Exclusion of Label Allocation for Non-Advertised Routes

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

We have enabled better label space management and hardware resource utilization by making MPLS label allocation more flexible. This flexibility means you can now assign these labels to only those routes that are advertised to their peer routes, ensuring better label space management and hardware resource utilization.

Prior to this release, label allocation was done regardless of whether the routes being advertised. This resulted in inefficient use of label space.

Protection of Directly Connected EBGP Neighbors through Interface-Based LPTS Identifier

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers

We have enhanced the network security for directly connected eBGP neighbors by ensuring that only packets originating from designated eBGP neighbors can traverse through a single interface, thus preventing IP spoofing. This is made possible because we've now added an interface identifier for Local Packet Transport Services (LPTS). LPTS filters and polices the packets based on the type of flow rate you configure.

The feature introduces the following:

CLI:

• bgp lpts-secure-binding

YANG Data Model:

• Cisco-IOS-XR-um-router-bgp-cfg

  (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

Reduce Recursions for eBGP Peering on Loopback Address on Bridge-Group Virtual Interface

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Native])

You can now achieve eBGP peering on Loopback interfaces on Bridge-Group Virtual Interface (BVI) and reduce the recursion level from three to two. This reduction in the recursion level, achieved by removing the need to use the BVI name in the configuration of static routes, allows faster packet forwarding and better utilization of network resources.

Interface and Hardware Component

Egress Hybrid ACL-based Traffic Mirroring on Cisco NCS 5700 Series Line Cards and Routers

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5700 fixed port routers (select variants only*); NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Native] (select variants only*)

We've now made it possible for you to narrow down the outgoing (Tx) traffic that you want to mirror and troubleshoot the captured traffic for any anomalous or malicious activity. You can do this by enabling the capture option on an L3 interface that has a hybrid ACL configured and Egress Traffic Management (ETM) mode enabled. The traffic matching the rules defined in the egress hybrid ACL gets captured and mirrored.

This feature introduces the following changes:

* This feature is supported on:

• NCS-57B1-5DSE-SYS

• NCS-57C3-MODS-SYS

• NC57-18DD-SE

• NC57-36H-SE

Enhanced Alarm Prioritization, Monitoring, and Management

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards)

In this release, we introduce enhanced alarm management that offers improved alarm prioritization, monitoring and management, as listed below:

• Suppression of LOL (Loss of Line) alarm when the LOS-P (Loss of Signal-Payload) alarm is generated. This prioritizes the detection and handling of the LOS-P alarm.

• Ability to clear alarm static counters using the command clear counters controller coherentDSP location . Clearing static counters enables you to monitor alarms generated for a definitive time period.

• Suppression of warnings when the respective alarm is triggered. This prevents redundant or repetitive alerts.

Fibre Channel over PLE Transmission Using TTS Auto-Negotiation

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

You can now enhance transmission speed and connectivity between ports with Fibre Channel (FC) over Private Line Emulation (PLE) using Transmitter Training Signal (TTS) with auto-negotiation function.

FC over PLE technology facilitates fast and efficient connections and data storage replication between multiple data centers in a Storage Area Network (SAN) spanning different geographical locations.

TTS is a feature introduced for the 32G FC ports.

The feature introduces these changes:

• CLI:

  The tts keyword is added to the controller command for FC.

• YANG Data Model:

  New XPaths for Cisco-IOS-XR-mpls-te-cfg.yang (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

QDD Optical Line System

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers (select variants only*); NCS 5700 fixed port routers (select variants only*)

The QDD Optical Line System (OLS) is a new pluggable optical amplifier that interconnects two routers or switches for transmitting traffic on a limited number of coherent optical channels over a single span point-to-point link. With the QDD OLS pluggable, it’s now possible to obtain the functionality of amplification into a QSFP-DD module that can be plugged into a port of the router or switch.

The benefits of this pluggable are:

• Provides compact solution for amplification.

• Provides extended reach.

• Increases fiber bandwidth.

• Lowers power dissipation.

• CLI:

  • controller ots (QDD OLS)

  • rx-low-threshold

  • tx-low-threshold

  • ampli-control-mode

  • egress-ampli-gain

  • egress-ampli-power

  • egress-ampli-safety-control-mode

  • egress-ampli-osri

  • show controllers ots (QDD OLS)

• YANG Data Model:

  • Cisco-IOS-XR-controller-ots-oper.yang

  • Cisco-IOS-XR-controller-ots-cfg.yang

  • Cisco-IOS-XR-pmengine-oper.yang

  • Cisco-IOS-XR-pmengine-cfg.yang

  • Cisco-IOS-XR-pmengine-clear-act.yang

• NCS-57B1-6D24-SYS and NCS-57B1-5DSE-SYS routers.

• On NCS-57C3-MOD and NCS-55A2-MOD routers, the QDD OLS pluggable can be used only through the NC57-MPA-2D4H-S modular port adapter.

Support for DP04QSDD-ER1 optical module

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 modular routers; NCS 5500 line cards(select variants only*)

This release introduces support for the Cisco DP04QSDD-ER1 Ethernet variant optical module.

The Cisco DP04QSDD-ER1 optical module is an enhanced version of the currently available QDD-400G-ZR Optical Module. It leverages the same operational modes while providing an extended range of up to 40km using 16QAM transmission.

IP Addresses and Services

Configure ACLs on MPLS Deaggregation Packets

To ensure that there is no MPLS traffic loss on an interface, you can now apply ACLs on the ingress MPLS deaggregation packets.

Earlier, the IPv4 or IPv6 ACLs applied on an interface would bypass or block the ingress MPLS packets, resulting in packet loss for MPLS traffic.

Filter TCP Flags in Egress IPv6 or IPv4 Hybrid ACLs

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers ( NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native]) (select variants only*)

We've enhanced the security of the egress traffic by allowing you to restrict and manage traffic on an interface. You can configure an egress IPv6 or IPv4 hybrid ACL such that only the chosen flags are either permited or denied based the TCP flag filters set in the TCP packets. In a TCP header, TCP flags indicate the state of a network connection, provide some additional helpful information for troubleshooting purposes, or how a connection must be handled.

* This feature is supported on:

• Cisco NCS-57B1-5DSE

• Cisco NCS-57C3-MODS-SYS

• NC57-18DD-SE

• NC57-36H-SE

The following commands are updated:

• deny (IPv6)

• permit (IPv6)

Identify Internal TCAM Entries for Hybrid ACLs

From this release onwards, you'll be able to identify the internal TCAM entries required to create a hybrid ACL, before you attach them to an interface. Because you define the ACLs based on the available internal TCAM resources, you are assured that you can successfully attach the hybrid ACLs to an interface and filter traffic based on the ACEs defined.

Previously, when you'd create an ACL and then attach that ACL to an interface, there was no way to assess upfront if the internal TCAM resources were enough for the ACL to work. In such instances, there was a higher chance of ACLs failing to attach to an interface because of insufficient TCAM resources.

* This feature is supported on:

• NC57-18DD-SE

• NC57-24DD

A new keyword, resource-check is introduced in the following commands:

• show access-lists ipv4

• show access-lists ipv6

Single Pass IPv6 Egress ACL

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers(NCS 5500 line cards)

You can now experience faster packet processing and save NPU cycles by avoiding the recycling of packets within the router. This is made possible by enabling the single-pass egress ACL which avoids multiple round-trips of packets in the ingress-to-egress path, thereby eliminating the need for additional packet processing. Also, because the match criteria requirement for a single-pass egress IPv6 ACL is reduced, the TCAM key size is reduced.

This feature introduces the hw-module profile acl ipv6 single-pass-egress-acl command.

L2VPN and Ethernet Services

Advertise EVPN Host IP Routes as IP Unicast Routes

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

You can now resume a disrupted video streaming by re-injecting locally learned EVPN host IP routes from multiple bridge domains back into a spine BGP router. The EVPN host routes can be advertised as IPv4 or IPv6 unicast routes to BGP peers. This allows spine BGP routers to install the host routes from a video core source in the Global Routing Table (GRT).

When there is a link failure, the video streaming is disrupted. The GRT helps to track and locate the video core source, gets the multicast traffic to flow back into the network, and resumes the video streaming.

The feature introduces these changes:

CLI:

• import from bridge-domain

YANG Data Model:

• New XPaths for Cisco-IOS-XR-um-router-bgp-cfg.yang (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

EVPN BUM Flood Traffic Optimization

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards)

You can save network bandwidth consumption by preventing the replication of Broadcast, Unknown unicast, and Multicast (BUM) traffic towards EVPN core and attachment circuits (AC). This feature not only prevents the replication of BUM traffic but also ensures that only the designated router receives the BUM traffic.

The feature introduces these changes:

CLI

• hw-module l2-replication core-optimized

• flood mode ac-shg-optimized

YANG Data Model:

• New XPaths for Cisco-IOS-XR-um-hw-module-profile-cfg.yang (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

EVPN Link Bandwidth for Proportional Multipath on VNF

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

You can now use the EVPN link bandwidth to set proportional multipath on Virtual Network Forwarders (VNFs) connected to Top of Racks (ToRs). You can advertise the link bandwidth extended community attribute for each path in a network. When you enable EVPN link bandwidth on multiple paths, the bandwidth values of these paths are aggregated and the cumulative bandwidth is advertised across the VNFs. The load metrics is installed in Routing Information Base (RIB) and the RIB redistributes nexthop prefixes to the paths to achieve proportional multipath.

This allows distribution of traffic proportional to the capacity of the links across all the available Virtual Network Forwarders (VNFs) that facilitates optimal traffic load balancing across the VNFs.

The feature introduces these changes:

CLI:

• evpn-link-bandwidth

• set extcommunity evpn-link-bandwidth

• delete extcommunity evpn-link-bandwidth

EVPN Port-Active Hot Standby on Bundle Interfaces

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

The EVPN port-active mode configuration is now modified to support hot standby. In a hot standby bundle interface, the main and subinterfaces remain up. This functionality ensures fast convergence of standby to active transition.

Previously, the interfaces in a standby node would be down. During the failure and recovery of active node, the standby node transitions through the Out-of-Service (OOS) state to the Up state.

If you still want the nodes to transition through the OOS state, use the access-signal out-of-service command to revert to the previous behavior.

The feature introduces these changes:

CLI:

• access-signal out-of-service

YANG Data Model:

• New XPaths for Cisco-IOS-XR-l2vpn-cfg.yang (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

ITU-T Y.1731 Compliant EVPN Flexible Cross-Connect Services

Introduced in this release on:NCS 5500 modular routers(NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Native])(select variants only*)

EVPN Flexible cross-connect (FXC) services enable aggregation of attachment circuits (ACs) across multiple endpoints in a single Ethernet VPN Virtual Private Wire Service (EVPN-VPWS) service instance, on the same provider edge (PE). This feature now supports ITU-T Y.1731 compliant Delay Measurement Message (DMM) and Synthetic Loss Measurement (SLM) functions.

Combined with the IEEE-compliant Connectivity Fault Management (CFM), ITU-T Y.1731 provides a comprehensive fault management and performance monitoring solution for EVPN FXC services.

*This feature is supported on NCS-57D2-18DD-SYS.

Static L2VPN P2P Configuration over MPLS over Single-Pass GRE Tunnel

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards)

We help you achieve the designated line rate for your network by enabling a single-pass GRE for static L2VPN point-to-point MPLS over GRE traffic.

Earlier, you could transport such traffic using two-pass GRE tunnels, which used the recycle functonality to ensure payload transportation while optimizing the line rate.

Modular QoS

Flexibility to Set a Maximum of One Class Map per Ingress QoS Traffic Policy

Introduced in this release on NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Native])

You can now set a maximum of one class map per ingress QoS traffic policy. In earlier releases, the allowed values for maximum number of class maps per ingress traffic policy were 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32.

With fewer class maps per traffic policy, the NPU resources required for packet matching are lower. And so this allows you to configure ingress traffic policies on more interfaces of the router.

This feature modifies the hw-module profile qos max-classmap-size command to accept the value of 1 for max-classmap-size .

Increase in QoS Policer Scale on Cisco NCS 5700 Series Line Cards and Routers

Introduced in this release on NCS 5700 fixed port routers (select variants only*); NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Native]) (select variants only*)

You can now regulate the incoming traffic bursts and manage traffic spikes with the enhanced scale limit of QoS policers for the following fixed port routers and line cards:

• The Cisco NCS 5700 series fixed port router, NCS-57C3-MOD-SYS, now has an increased scale of 32000 QoS policers, by default

• The Cisco NCS 5700 series fixed port router, NCS-57B1-6D24-SYS and the Cisco NC57 line card, NC57-24DD installed and operating in native mode, now have an increased scale of 16000 QoS policers, by default

QoS IP DSCP Preservation for IPv6 SR-TE

This release introduces the functionality to preserve IP DSCP markings for IPv6 SR-TE traffic and covers the following scenarios:

• For two or less than two topmost or imposition labels: when you set the MPLS experimental bits (EXP) values (also called Traffic Class values), the IP DSCP markings are now preserved by default in the ingress policies when the MPLS labels are pushed into the packet.

• For more than three imposition labels: you must enable this functionality to preserve IP DSCP markings.

With preservation, traffic with IPv6 packets with DSCP marking for priority, flows as intended and there’s no drop in traffic because of incorrect or missing labels.

In previous releases, irrespective of the number of MPLS labels, when the EXP values were copied into the packet header during imposition, even the IP DSCP markings for IPv6 traffic were modified. This modification resulted in traffic drops at the next-hop routers in SR-TE tunnels.

This feature introduces a new keyword, v6uc-enable , in the hw-module profile mpls-ext-dscp-preserve command.

Multicast

Draft-Rosen Multicast VPN (Profile 0) in PIM Sparse Mode (SM)

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers

Draft-Rosen Multicast VPN (Profile 0) is now supported in PIM sparse mode (PIM-SM) between the PE routers that are running in VRF mode. PIM SM provides precise control in cases of large multicast traffic when there is less bandwidth available. This control is possible because it uses a temporary Rendezvous Point (RP) router to connect the multicast traffic source to the next hop router.

Prior to this release, Profile 0 was supported only in PIM Source Specific Multicast (SSM) mode.

Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM) SM for Multicast VPN (MVPN) Profile 14

Introduced from this release on: NCS 5700 fixed port routersNCS 5500 modular routers(NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

With this release, MVPN profile 14 is now extended to support PIM SM mode for IPv4 and static RP.

Netflow

Simultaneous L2 and L3 Flow Monitoring using IPFIX

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards)

This feature introduces support for simultaneous L2 and L3 flow monitoring. Now, you can configure IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) to actively monitor and record end-to-end L2 and L3 flow information elements from network devices. Previously, only L2 or L3 flow could be monitored at a time.

This feature introduces these changes:

CLI: The following sub-menus are introduced for these commands:

• The record ipv4 command is modified to support a new optional keyword, l2-l3

• The record ipv6 command is modified to support a new optional keyword, l2-l3

YANG Data Model:

• New XPaths for Cisco-IOS-XR-UM-flow-cfg.yang (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

sFlow Agent Address Assignment

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

You can now monitor traffic from a specific source by configuring the sFlow agent ID with the specific IPv4 or IPv6 address.

Upon configuration, you can determine the source of the sFlow data.

Earlier, by default, the sFlow agent ID had the source address of the sFlow export packet.

The feature introduces these changes:

CLI

New Command:

• router-id

Modified Command:

• The show flow exporter-map command is modified to display flow exporter map with router-id information.

YANG Data Model

• New XPaths for openconfig-sampling-sflow.yang (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

System Security

Display Username for Failed Authentication for Telnet Protocols

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

With this feature, we have enhanced the security of the routers and introduced better tracking functionality to the router.

The failed authentication sys log now displays the details of users who tried to log in but failed due to authentication failure.

With this feature provisioned, the router can now display the user ID of both SSH and Telnet protocols.

In earlier releases, this feature was available only for SSH protocol.

This feature introduces the following change:

CLI: aaa display-login-failed-users .

YANG DATA Model: New XPaths for Cisco-IOS-XR-um-aaa-task-user-cfg (see Github, YANG Data Models Navigator)

Public Key-Based Authentication of SSH Clients on Cisco IOS XR Routers

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

You can now avail cryptographic strength and automated password-less log in while establishing SSH connections with the server. Along with password and keyboard-interactive authentication, Cisco IOS XR routers configured as SSH clients now support public key-based authentication. In this authentication method, passwords need not be sent over the network and hence, it provides an additional layer of security as well as aids in automation processes. This feature is available only for users locally configured on the router, not those configured on remote servers.

Previous releases supported SSH public key-based authentication only for Cisco IOS XR routers configured as SSH servers.

The feature introduces these changes:

• CLI:

  • crypto key generate authentication-ssh rsa

  • crypto key zeroize authentication-ssh rsa

  • show crypto key mypubkey authentication-ssh rsa

• Yang Data Models:

  New Xpaths for:

  • Cisco-IOS-XR-crypto-act.yang

  • Cisco-IOS-XR-crypto-cepki-new-oper.yang

  (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

System Management

Auto-Save and Copy Router Configuration Using Public Key Authentication

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

You can now experience passwordless authentication while automatically saving running configurations and securely copying them on the router. The feature uses public key-based authentication, a secure logging method using a secure shell (SSH), which provides increased data security. This feature offers automatic authentication and single sign-on benefits, which also aids in a secure automation process.

This feature modifies configuration commit auto-save and copy command to support password-less authentication.

Cisco Smart Licensing on QDD-400G-ZR-S, QDD-400G-ZRP-S, and DP04QSDD-HE0 optics

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5700 fixed port routers

Cisco Smart Licensing is a cloud-based, flexible, automated software licensing model that enables you to activate and manage Cisco software licenses across your organization. Smart Licensing solution allows you to easily track the status of your license and software usage trends.

Smart Licensing is now supported on the following optics:

• QDD-400G-ZR-S

• QDD-400G-ZRP-S

• DP04QSDD-HE0

MACSec Encryption on NCS-57D2-18DD-SYS Routers

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5700 fixed port routers (select variants only*)

MACSec, the Layer 2 encryption protocol secures data on physical media and provides data integrity and confidentiality.

*This feature is supported on 100G and 400G interfaces of NCS-57D2-18DD-SYS.

PTP on NC57-48Q2D-S, NC57-48Q2D-SE-S and NCS-57C1-48Q6-SYS

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility])

Based on the IEEE 1588-2008 standard, Precision Time Protocol (PTP) is a protocol that defines a method to synchronize clocks in a network for networked measurement and control systems.

With this release, PTP Class C and class B performance are now supported on 1G, 10G, 25G, 40G and 100G port speeds for the following hardware:

• NC57-48Q2D-S

• NC57-48Q2D-SE-S

• NCS-57C1-48Q6-SYS

SyncE on NC57-48Q2D-S and NCS-NC57-48Q2D-SE-S

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility])

SyncE provides synchronization signals transmitted over the Ethernet physical layer to downstream devices, while the Synchronization Status Message (SSM) indicates the quality level of the transmitting clock to the neighboring nodes, informing the nodes about the level of the network's reliability. Ethernet Synchronization Message Channel (ESMC) is the logical channel that uses an Ethernet PDU (protocol data unit) to exchange SSM information over the SyncE link.

SyncE is now supported on the following hardware:

• NC57-48Q2D-S

• NC57-48Q2D-SE-S

• NCS-57C1-48Q6-SYS

MACSec Encryption on NC57-48Q2D-S and NC57-48Q2D-SE-S

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5700 fixed port routers (select variants only*)

With this release, the new *NC57-48Q2D-S and NC57-48Q2D-SE-Sline cards of Cisco NCS 5700 Series Router support MACSec encryption. MACSec, the Layer 2 encryption protocol secures data on physical media and provides data integrity and confidentiality.

*This feature is supported on the following hardware:

• NC57-48Q2D-S

• NC57-48Q2D-SE-S

PTP and SyncE support on breakout ports for NC57-36H6D-S router

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Native])

With this release, timing support for PTP and SyncE is extended to 4x10G and 4x25G breakout ports of NC57-36H6D-S and 4x10G breakout port of NC57-36H-SE in native mode.

Class B and Class C performances are supported on 4x10G and 4x25G breakout ports in native mode for the NC57-36H6D-S line card and Class B performance is supported on 4x10G breakout port in native mode for the NC57-36H-SE line card. Route Processor: NC55-RP2-E

Smart Licensing on NC57-48Q2D-S and NC57-48Q2D-SE-S

Introduced in this release on: NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native]) (select variants only*)

Cisco Smart Licensing is a cloud-based, flexible and automated software licensing model that enables you to activate and manage Cisco software licenses across your organization. Smart Licensing solution allows you to easily track the status of your license and software usage trends.

*Smart Licensing is now supported on the following line cards:

• NC57-48Q2D-S

• NC57-48Q2D-SE-S

System Monitoring

System Log Facility and Source-address per Remote Server

Introduced in this release on:NCS 5500 fixed port routers; NCS 5700 fixed port routers; NCS 5500 modular routers (NCS 5500 line cards; NCS 5700 line cards [Mode: Compatibility; Native])

You can now assign a facility number per remote syslog server, which the system inherits to calculate the priority value of the syslog messages sent. You can also configure the source address to choose the interface to send remote syslog packets per remote server.

The feature introduces these changes:

Modified Command:

CLI

• The keywords facility and source-address per remote syslog server are introduced in the logging command.

YANG Data Models:

• New XPaths for openconfig-system-logging.yang (see GitHub, YANG Data Models Navigator)

Programmability

Cisco-IOS-XR-crypto-act.yang

The following new leaves are added to this Cisco native data model to enable public key-based authentication of users on Cisco IOS XR routers that are configured as SSH clients:

• key-generate-authentication-ssh-rsa-keys

• key-zeroize-authentication-ssh-rsa

Cisco-IOS-XR-crypto-cepki-new-oper.yang

A new container, auth-ssh-keys, is added to this Cisco native data model to display the details of SSH RSA cryptographic keys that are used for public key-based authentication of users on Cisco IOS XR routers that are configured as SSH clients.

Cisco-IOS-XR-l2vpn-cfg.yang

This Cisco native data model is enhanced to support EVPN port-active with hot standby on bundle interfaces.

Cisco-IOS-XR-um-hw-module-profile-cfg.yang

This Cisco unified data model is enhanced to support optimization of EVPN BUM flood traffic.

Cisco-IOS-XR-um-router-bgp-cfg.yang

This Cisco unified data model is enhanced to advertise EVPN host routes as IPv4 or IPv6 unicast routes.

Cisco-IOS-XR-um-aaa-task-user-cfg

A new container, display-login-failed-users, is added to this Cisco unified data model to display username of the users who tried to log in to the router using invalid credentials, in the system logs.

Cisco-IOS-XR-controller-ots-oper.yang

Use this Cisco native data model to view the operational data of the QDD OLS pluggable that you can configure within the optical transport section (OTS) controller mode.

Cisco-IOS-XR-controller-ots-cfg.yang

Use this Cisco native data model to configure the QDD OLS pluggable within the optical transport section (OTS) controller mode.

Cisco-IOS-XR-pmengine-oper.yang

Use this Cisco native data model to view the performance monitoring parameters of the QDD OLS pluggable.

Cisco-IOS-XR-pmengine-cfg.yang

Use this Cisco native data model to configure the performance monitoring parameters of the QDD OLS pluggable.

Cisco-IOS-XR-pmengine-clear-act.yang

Use this Cisco native data model to clear the performance monitoring statistics of the QDD OLS pluggable.

openconfig-ospfv2.yang Version 0.4.0

The OpenConfig data model is introduced as part of the openconfig-network-instance.yang data model to configure OSPF functionalities, such as multiple processes, areas, and interfaces.

Event-driven telemetry and Model-driven telemetry are not supported.

openconfig-bgp-neighbor.yang Version 9.1.0

With this release, the OpenConfig data model introduces the following changes:

• The datatype of the timer related leaves in the OpenConfig data model, such ashold-time, keep-alive-interval, minimum-advertisement-interval, stale-routes-time, negotiated-hold-time are changed. It is changed from decimal64 to uint16.

• The new leaf restart-time under Neighbor and Peer-group reflects the time interval (in sec) after which the BGP session is re-established.

• Introduces the enable or disable capability of graceful-restart under Neighbor and Peer-group.

• Supports independent configuration of the two leaves: keepalive and hold-time.

• The new leaf allow-multiple-as under global/use-multiple-paths/ebgp/config/, enables the BGP to choose a path from different neighbouring as multipath. The hop count of the AS-path must match the hop count of the bestpath. You can now program routes with different AS-paths into the forwarding table as equal cost multipath routes. Earlier, for ECMP paths to be eligible, their AS-paths must exactly match the bestpath.

• The new leaf treat-as-withdraw avoids the session reset when a BGP session encounters errors during parsing of received update message. The leaf discards the incoming update message as a withdraw message and ensures the subsequent actions are done.

Event-driven telemetry and Model-driven telemetry are supported.

openconfig-isis.yang

The OpenConfig data model defines the configuration and state information related to ISIS protocol configuration running on a router. With this release, you can configure the following XPaths:

openconfig-network-instance/network-instances/network-instance/protocols/protocol/isis/interfaces/interface/

• config/hello-padding: controls the padding type for IS-IS Hello PDUs.

• mpls/igp-ldp-sync/config/enabled: synchronisation between the LDP and IS-IS.

• levels/level/hello-authentication/config/keychain: refers to a keychain that should be used for hello authentication.

• enable-bfd/config/enabled: when this leaf is set to true, BFD is used to detect the liveliness of the remote peer or next-hop.

• levels/level/config/enabled: when set to true, the functionality within which this leaf is defined is enabled and when set to false it is explicitly disabled.

openconfig-network-instance/network-instances/network-instance/protocols/protocol/isis/

• global/mpls/igp-ldp-sync/config/enabled: synchronization between the LDP and IS-IS.

• global/config/maximum-area-addresses: supports maximum area.

• globalconfig/Iid-tlv: (ISIS Instance Identifier TLV) when set to true, the IID-TLV identifies the unique instance as well as the topology/topologies to which the PDU applies.

• levels/level/authentication/config/keychain: refers to the keychain that should be used for authenticating IS-IS packets.

Event-driven and Model-driven telemetry is supported.

openconfig-system-logging.yang Version 0.3.1

The OpenConfig data model defines configurations for common logging facilities on network systems. The model is updated with the following XPaths: openconfig-system/logging/

• console/selectors/selector/facility: to configure the facility parameter for console logging of all supported facilities.

• remote-servers/remote-server/selectors/selector/facility: to configure the desired facility per remote syslog server.

• remote-servers/remote-server/config/source-address: to configure the desired source-address per remote syslog server.

You can use the configured facility to calculate the priority field of the remote syslog packet and use the configured source-address to choose the interface to send remote syslog packets.

openconfig-sampling-sflow.yang Version 1.1.0

The OpenConfig data model defines the sampling mechanisms implemented in an sFlow agent for monitoring traffic. This data model augments the openconfig-sampling.yang model. The model is revised from version 0.1.0 to 1.0.0 with the following XPaths:

• openconfig-sampling-sflow:sampling/sflow/config/

  • agent-id-ipv4 and agent-id-ipv6: to configure the agent identifier (ID) with IPv4 or IPv6 address for all collectors. These XPaths are not mandatory. If they are not configured, then the router picks the source-address as the agent ID.

  • polling-interval: to configure an interface counter polling-interval for all sFlow enabled interfaces.

  • ingress-sampling-rate and egress-sampling-rate: to set the ingress and egress packet sampling rate respectively.

  • dscp: DSCP marking of sFlow export packets generated by the sFlow subsystem on the network device.

• openconfig-sampling-sflow:sampling/sflow/collectors/collector/config/

  • source-address: to set the source IPv4 or IPv6 address for sFlow datagrams sent to sFlow collectors. In this release, the XPath is moved from the config container to collectors container. Upon configuration, the flow exporter-map associated with this collector gets the source-address configuration. Earlier, by default, the sFlow agent ID had the source address of the sFlow export packet.

• openconfig-sampling-sflow:sampling/sflow//interfaces/interface/config/

  • ingress-sampling-rate and egress-sampling-rate: to set the ingress and egress packet sampling rate respectively. In the absence of ingress sampling rate configuration at the interface level, the global ingress-sampling-rate will be used. For egress sampling on the interface, egress-sampling-rate must be used.

Model-driven telemetry is supported.

openconfig-system-grpc.yang Version 1.0.0

The OpenConfig data model is revised from version 0.1.1 to 1.0.0. This version enables the gRPC server to listen on any IP address bound to an interface and port of the system or listen for any specific list of IP addresses. The maximum number of supported IP addresses are 32, which may be IPv4 or IPv6, or both.

Earlier, the gRPC server had the listen functionality for any IP address on the gRPC port but not to a specific list of listen addresses.

Event-driven telemetry and Model-driven telemetry are supported.

openconfig-aft.yang Version 0.6.0

The Abstract Forwarding Table (AFT) OpenConfig data model is enhanced to support the following features:

• The gRPC Network Management Interface (gNMI) proto is revised from version 0.7.0 to 0.8.0 to set the atomic flag to send AFT next-hop group notifications in JSON and PROTO encodings using gNMI subscribe RPC. Network events can be represented as multiple updates in the data models. The atomic flag allows NMS to interpret those multiple updates as a single event.

• The nodes next-hop-group/state and next-hops/next-hop defines a list of next-hop addresses and a tunnel type for packets that match the specified criteria.

Model-driven telemetry and Event-driven telemetry is supported.

Cisco-IOS-XR-infra-xtc-agent-cfg.yang

This Cisco native data model is used for gathering statistics on reporting of SR-Traffic Engineering (TE) policies using BGP-Link State (LS).

Cisco-IOS-XR-um-router-isis-cfg.yang

The latest update to the Cisco-IOS-XR-um-router-isis-cfg.yang unified data model includes the addition of the partition-detect and partition-repair containers. These new containers indicate the configuration of the partition-detect and partition-repair nodes.