Cisco Optical Network Planner Configuration Guide, Releases 26.x.x

PDF

COSM cards

Updated: March 10, 2026

Want to summarize with AI?

Log in

Overview

Describes the functionality of COSM cards. Explains the benefits of this feature and how it contributes to efficient and robust network planning.

A COSM card is a network hardware component that

  • provides licenses based on functionality for features such as alarm correlation, performance monitoring, connection verification, and OTDR,

  • serves as the primary card for all networks starting from Release 12.1.0, and

  • can be deployed in both ROADM and TRAFFIC nodes as part of network designs.

From Release 25.1.1, SVO card is referred as COSM card.

Features of the COSM card:

The COSM card offers these key features and configuration options:

  • Occupies two slots in the chassis.

  • Serves as the primary card for all networks beginning with Release 12.1.0.

  • For high availability, a node can be equipped with two COSM cards, but they cannot reside in the same chassis.

  • Two 10G SFP+ pluggables can be used to connect two COSM cards within a node.

  • A Cisco ASR 920 switch can be connected to COSM cards during network design.

  • The COSM solution can operate either as a physical card or as a UCS-based solution.

COSM licenses:

From 25.1.1, one COSM license, OAS-COSM-MLCL, is required for each active card present in the chassis, such as M15, M6, M2, 1010, 1020, 1014, or 1004.

SVO licenses

SVO licenses are applicable for NCS 2000 networks until Release 12.3.1.

  • SVO cards require either a Base License or an SVO Full License which covers High Availability, Connection Verification, and Flex Spectrum. If the SVO Full License is not selected, the SVO Base License and High Availability are enabled by default.

  • Types of SVO licenses include:

    • Cisco NMS: Features High Availability, Connection Verification, Flex Spectrum, and OTDR.

    • Third-Party NMS: Includes North Bound Interface (NBI), Alarm Correlation, Performance Monitoring, and Circuit Provisioning.

Chassis licensing:

  • Every chassis added to the network must be licensed from Release 12.1.0 onwards. For networks upgraded to Cisco ONP Release 4.0 or higher, a new chassis license is required after analysis.

  • Chassis licenses come in variants such as 1-chassis, 5-chassis, 10-chassis, 20-chassis, 50-chassis, and others, chosen based on cost optimization.

  • A license is required for each chassis added to the network after the first chassis.

  • Chassis License Flush Out allows you to replace existing chassis licenses with new ones. The current license remains active if the site is unlocked. However, you can use flush out only during network upgrade mode.

  • You can continue using existing licenses with changes to the chassis unless you opt for the Chassis License Flush Out option.

Note

Chassis Licensing and SVO Licenses are applicable until Release 12.3.1.

Cisco Optical Site Manager associations

A Cisco Optical Site Manager association is a network configuration mechanism that

  • enables a ROADM or Traffic node equipped with an COSM card to manage OLA, DGE, Traffic, and other ROADM nodes that may not have their own COSM card

  • allows both manual and automatic association of secondary nodes to a primary node based on network topology and configuration, and

  • supports a range of High Availability options to enhance resiliency and dynamic association in NCS 2000 networks.

From Release 25.1.1, Cisco ONP has been enhanced to support COSM line card connectivity from ROADM or Traffic nodes to various site types. The node with the COSM card becomes the primary node.The number of nodes managed by the primary node depends on the total application memory of the primary node and the RAM size of the individual associated nodes. You can configure these two properties under the COSM properties of site properties.

Table 1. Feature History

Feature Name

Release Information

Feature Description

COSM enhancements

 Cisco ONP Release 26.1.1

COSM application memory and COSM RAM Size are considered for COSM association through COSM Application Memory and COSM RAM size properties at site level.

Cisco Optical Site Manager enhancements

 Cisco ONP Release 25.1.1

Cisco ONP has been enhanced to support COSM line card connectivity from ROADM nodes to various site types. A ROADM node equipped with a COSM card can now manage up to 14 additional OLA and ROADM nodes. Previously, this was limited to OLA-to-ROADM associations. The node with the COSM card acts as the primary node.

The new COSM High Availability options available under the Site properties, such as Auto, Local HA, None, Only Active, and Geo HA enable more dynamic and rule-based association in the NCS 2000 network.

Methods of association

  • Automatic COSM associations:

    • Cisco ONP automatically selects a primary node if the fiber property DCN Extension is enabled or if a node has the highest number of degrees.

    • You can associate up to 15 nodes with one primary node. In networks with more than 15 nodes, Cisco ONP chooses another primary node to manage the excess nodes.

  • Manual association (Network Tree and Map): You can manually associate OLA, DGE, Traffic, and ROADM nodes with a ROADM or Traffic node (equipped with a COSM card) using the network tree or topology map interface.

  • Association through COSM High Availability property: The association options under the High Availability drop-down list (Auto, Local HA, None, Only Active, Geo HA) can be directly applied for both SSON and non-SSON NCS 2000 networks for rule-based and resilient configurations.

    • Auto: Based on the analysis and default behavior.

    • Local HA: The active and standby COSM cards are both on the same node.

    • None: No COSM card present.

    • Only Active: This option does not provide High Availability. Only the primary COSM card is added.

    • Geo HA: COSM cards are placed in two sites next to each other in different geographical locations.

  • From Release 25.1.1, Traffic nodes may also act as primary nodes if equipped with a COSM card.

  • High Availability options support both switched optical networks (SSON) and non-SSON environments.

  • These enhancements allow for more scalable and flexible management of optical site nodes in the NCS 2000 platform.

If your network contains more than 15 nodes, Cisco ONP divides the associations such that another primary node manages the additional nodes.

  • Using the network map, you can manually group OLA and DEG nodes without SVO cards to a ROADM node with an SVO or COSM card for centralized management.

  • Selecting "Geo HA" under High Availability lets you deploy pairs of COSM cards in geographically separate locations, increasing protection against local failures.

Associate sites with COSM cards

Use this procedure to associate OLA and ROADM sites with the COSM cards:

Before you begin

Log in to the Cisco ONP web interface.

Procedure

1.

In the network tree panel, click the Ellipsis icon available next to any ROADM or Traffic site with COSM card.
2.

Click Edit COSM Associations.
3.

Select thesites on the map to toggle the COSM connections. To confirm your selection, click Done at the top-right corner.

You can associate up to 14 nodes with a single ROADM or Traffic node equipped with an COSM card. To associate more than 14 nodes, you will need an additional primary node to manage the extra nodes. You can open widgets in the map and select the top section to view the association.

Note

You can also right-click any ROADM or Traffic site from the map and click Edit COSM Associations. For the DGE sites, the Edit COSM Associations option is not displayed.

During network analysis, the tool automatically associates the sites you do not associate with the COSM card.

Export Cisco Optical Site Manager NETCONF XML file for NCS 2000 network

Use this procedure to export the Cisco Optical Site Manager NETCONF XML files for NCS 2000 network from the Cisco ONP GUI.

This feature has limited scope in this release.

The network must be in Analyze mode.

Note

This procedure applies to all NCS 2000 networks from R25.1.1 only to upload NETCONF file to Cisco Optical Site Manager.

Procedure

1.

In the network tree panel, click the three dots.

A pop-up list appears.
2.

In the list, click Generate COSM NetConf XML.

Export window appears with network name.
3.

Click Export.

The message "Success. COSM NetConf exported successfully" appears.

Download the zip file that contains the COSM NETCONF XML files of individual sites.

Note

You can choose the destination folder to save the downloaded Cisco Optical Site Manager NETCONF XML files of individual sites.

Note

NCS 2000 Cisco Optical Site Manager NETCONF XML file does not support the MD-32O-CE and MD-32E-CE card configurations.

Note

  • For the ROADM and OLA nodes, the device name is the same as the Site Name.

Ensure that you align the device name in COSM to match the specified format.

If the Site Name contains any special character, the XML file replaces the special character with its ASCII value in the COSM XML device name, providing a seamless experience with the COSM data backup workflow.

Export NeUpdate XML file for NCS 2000 networks

Use this procedure to export the NeUpdate XML files for all network sites or the entire network from the Cisco ONP GUI. This supports device configuration, automation, and network provisioning using the latest supported parameters.

Note

This procedure applies to all NCS 2000 networks till R11.1.x to upload in CTC. For NCS 2000 networks from R25.1.1, see Export Cisco Optical Site Manager NETCONF XML file for NCS 1001/1010/1014 networks to export NETCONF XML to upload in Cisco Optical Site Manager UI.

The network must be in Analyze mode.

Before you begin

Log in to the Cisco ONP web interface.

Procedure

1.

In the network tree panel, click the three dots.

A pop-up list appears.
2.

In the list, click Generate Device NetConf XML.

The Export window appears displaying the network name.
3.

Click Export.

The message "Success. Device NetConf exported successfully" appears.

You can download a zip file that contains the NETCONF XML files for individual sites.

Note

You can choose the destination folder for saving the downloaded NETCONF XML files of individual sites.

This feature has limited scope in this release.