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This chapter gives an overview of Cisco Broadband Access Center (BAC), and describes the factors that you must consider before installing BAC.
This chapter describes:
•Operating System Requirements
•Network Registrar Requirements
BAC is a distributed and scalable application that automates the tasks of provisioning and managing cable devices in a broadband service provider network. The application interfaces with Cisco Network Registrar, which includes a high-speed DHCP server for IP address management and a DNS server.
BAC provides such critical features as redundancy and failover. You can integrate BAC into new or existing environments through the use of a provisioning application programming interface (API) that lets you control how BAC operates.
BAC can be scaled to suit networks of virtually any size. It also offers high availability, made possible by the product's distributed architecture with centralized management.
You must install BAC on Sun SPARC computers that run the Solaris 8 or 9 operating system.
Note Before installing BAC, you should download and install the recommended patches from the Sun Microsystems support site.
BAC ships with the required Java Runtime Environment, which resides in BPR_HOME/jre. You can choose to install BAC with or without the Sun Java Standard Edition or the Sun Java Enterprise Edition available on your system.
For a list of JDK 1.5.0_08 patches recommended for successfully installing BAC on a system that runs:
•Solaris 9, see Table 1-1
•Solaris 8, see Table 1-2
KDC Patches for Solaris 8
The patches required to successfully install a BAC component, the Key Distribution Center, on a Solaris 8 are:
•112438-01
•109326-06
Before you install BAC, be aware of these Network Registrar requirements:
•We recommend that you use Network Registrar 6.2.3.2 or later with BAC 2.7.1. At a minimum, you must have version 5.5.12 installed on your system.
Note Running BAC with a Network Registrar version lower than 6.0.3 restricts the use of certain features in this release.
•You must install a Network Registrar DHCP server on a computer running Solaris 8 or 9.
•In a failover deployment of BAC, you must configure two redundant DHCP servers for failover.
•After you install BAC, ensure that Network Registrar scopes are configured to reflect failover capability and the topology of the network on which BAC is installed. For information on configuring failover on Network Registrar servers, refer to the Cisco Network Registrar User's Guide, 6.2.1.
A BAC installation requires:
•A Regional Distribution Unit (RDU)
The RDU is the primary server in a BAC deployment. It contains the central BAC database and is the sole entry point for processing requests from the API.
•One or more Device Provisioning Engines (DPEs)
A DPE caches provisioning information and configuration requests, including the transfer of configuration files to devices. It is the major component of the provisioning group, handling all device interactions with the RDU.
The DPE is integrated with the Network Registrar DHCP server to control the assignment of IP addresses. Multiple DPEs can communicate with a single DHCP server.
DPEs include factory-installed software that enables provisioning, but you must perform some initial setup.
Note This release supports the DPE-2115 hardware DPE. For information on installation procedures related to a DPE-2115, see the Installation and Setup Guide for the Cisco 1102 VLAN Policy Server:
www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/secursw/ps2136/
products_installation_and_configuration_guide_book09186a00801f0d02.html
•A Key Distribution Center (KDC)
The KDC and the DPE registration services handle the authentication of all voice technology media terminal adapters (MTAs). The KDC is required only when configuring a system to support voice technology operations.
When you perform a lab installation, the KDC is installed on the lab computer. For performance reasons however, in a component installation, install the KDC on a separate server.
•One or more Network Registrar servers
Network Registrar provides the DHCP and Domain Name System (DNS) functionality. Implementing dynamic DNS (DDNS) within Network Registrar increases the number of servers you need to deploy.
Note Before installing BAC, familiarize yourself with the installation startup processes and checklists described in Before Installing Broadband Access Center, page 2-1
This guide describes two types of installation:
•Component—Installs one or more components of BAC: the RDU, Network Registrar extensions, one or more DPEs, and the KDC. See Installing Broadband Access Center, page 3-1, for detailed procedures.
•Lab—Installs BAC for use in a laboratory environment for demonstration or evaluation before deploying BAC into a network. See Installing in a Lab Environment, page 4-1, for detailed procedures.
You can install BAC from the GUI or the command-line interface of the installation program.