System Setup and Software Installation Guide for Cisco Optical Site Manager, IOS XR

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Cisco Optical Site Manager instances

Updated: March 2, 2026

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Overview

This topic describes Cisco Optical Site Manager instances, including their properties, lifecycle operations, and management using the admin plane. It also explains how to create, modify, monitor, and troubleshoot instances in high-availability deployments.

A Cisco Optical Site Manager instance is a virtualized software representation of a physical NCS 2000 optical network node, deployed within the SVO (Shelf Virtualization Option) card model to manage and control optical network elements such as ROADM and OLA.

Each Cisco Optical Site Manager instance operates in a high-availability (HA) setup, where it runs as

  • an active instance on one server, and

  • a standby instance on a peer server,

ensuring redundancy and service continuity. These instances communicate over primary (HA network) and secondary (device network) links and can automatically or manually switch roles (active/standby) to maintain connectivity with managed devices.

Cisco Optical Site Manager instances details

A Cisco Optical Site Manager instance is a software virtualization of the physical NCS 2000 node that has been configured to manage.

In a SVO card model, you can configure these Cisco Optical Site Manager instances:

Table 1. Number of instances supported

Instance Type

Number of Instances Supported

ROADM and OLA

15

You can create, update and delete Cisco Optical Site Manager instances using the admin plane. Each Cisco Optical Site Manager instance runs as an active instance on one server and as a standby instance on the other server. It is also possible to manually switch the roles of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance between active and standby.

The peer admin planes that are running on the local and remote server respectively have two intercommunication links, one through the HA network (primary link) and the other through the devices network (secondary link).

The table displays the Cisco Optical Site Manager instances that were created. Each row has two entries relating to the local and remote SVO card or server. In each row, the first entry is the local instance and the second entry is the remote instance. The details are:

  • Name—Name of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance.

  • IP Address—The IP address of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance. It is IPv4 for the SVO card model.

  • SW version—SW version on the server.

  • State—State of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance.

  • App State—State of the Cisco Optical Site Manager application that is running on the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance.

    • During a manual switching process, the App State field displays different statuses such as SWITCHING, SWITCH_DONE, or UP.

    • The App State field displays ACTIVATING or ACTIVATE_RESTART only after the Cisco Optical Site Manager web UI has requested the admin plane to orchestrate the activation process.

  • Role —Role of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance. The roles are ACTIVE, STANDBY, NONE, and UNKNOWN. In case of issues or specific Cisco Optical Site Manager states, special tags are displayed such as NOT_RESPONDING, STARTING,STOPPED, or BAD_CLUSTER.

    Note

    The green icon indicates the reachability of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance to the connected NCS 2000 device. If the active Cisco Optical Site Manager instance is unable to reach the NCS 2000 device due to a network segregation, it performs an auto-switch.

  • Up Time—Up time of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance.

  • Type—Label for the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance.

  • Action—A set of actions can be performed on the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance:

    • Details of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance—Click this icon to view the summary of the local and remote Cisco Optical Site Manager instance.

    • Edit Cisco Optical Site Manager Instance—Click this icon to edit the memory size of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance.

    • Switch Cisco Optical Site Manager Instance—Click this icon to manually switch the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance between servers.

      Note

      A switch operation is possible only if both the Cisco Optical Site Manager instances are up and running and the role of the instances are Active and Standby.

    • Delete Cisco Optical Site Manager Instance—Click this icon to delete an Cisco Optical Site Manager instance.

      Note

      This icon is disabled when a switch operation is in progress.

Create a Cisco Optical Site Manager instance

Use this task to create a Cisco Optical Site Manager instance on the Admin Plane.

Complete this task after network configuration is complete and required resources are available.

Before you begin

  • Log in to the admin plane

  • Verify that the High Availability (HA) link between the two Admin planes is operational so that any container memory changes made on the active instance are automatically reflected on the standby instance.

Procedure

1.

Click the + button at the top-left of the COSM Instances page.

The COSM Instance Configuration page appears.
2.

In the General Info section, perform these steps:

  1. Enter the name for the new Cisco Optical Site Manager instance in the Name field.

    The name is mandatory and must be unique among the Cisco Optical Site Manager instances managed by the admin plane. It can contain a minimum of two characters and a maximum of 64 characters. It can include numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters, dashes (-), or underscores (_).

  2. Choose the version from the Software Version drop-down list.

  3. Choose the type of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance from the TDM Terminology drop-down list.

    The two options are ANSI and ETSI.

  4. Choose the label of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance from the Type drop-down list.

    Note

    When Type is selected, a default value for memory size is displayed in the Reserved Memory GB field.

  5. Choose the memory size to be allocated to the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance from the Profile drop-down list Reserved Memory GB field.

    Ensure the High Availability link between the two Adminplanes is properly operating before editing COSM container memory. This guarantees that the configuration change is applied to both containers simultaneously.

    Note
    In addition to the reserved memory, Cisco Optical Site Manager solution automatically sets the Limit Memory with a threshold value of 2 GB higher than the configured reserved memory. This threshold acts as a buffer to absorb the temporary peak memory requirements. Docker engine kills the operations that cross the Limit Memory threshold due to Out-of-Memory (OOM).

    If the reserved memory is alloted more than the server or VM memory, the docker engine fails the allocation. Allocate only up to 80 percent of the server or VM memory for the Reserved Memory.
3.

In the Admin User section, perform these steps:

  1. Enter the username in the Username field.

    The values "admin," "oper," "private," or, "public" cannot be used as the admin username.

  2. Enter the password in the Password field.

    The password must be a minimum of eight characters. The password must contain at least an uppercase letter a number, and a special character. The special characters supported are ! $ % ^ ( ) [ ] _ - ~ { } . +

  3. Enter the password again in the Retype Password field.
4.

In the Management Network section, the system suggests the management subnets to be used in the IPv4 Address fields, depending on the type of addressing defined during the installation. The system checks for constraints defined in the network configuration file and ensures that the IP addresses that are assigned are not in use.

  1. Enter the IPv4 Address in the IPv4 Address field in a SVO card model.
5.

Click Create.

A message is displayed indicating the creation of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance.
6.

Click OK.

The Cisco Optical Site Manager Instances page appears. The table displays the new Cisco Optical Site Manager instance.

The Cisco Optical Site Manager instance can now be accessed through a web browser.

View the details of a Cisco Optical Site Manager instance

Use this task to view details of a Cisco Optical Site Manager instance.

Before you begin

Log in to the admin plane

Procedure

1.

Click the Details icon under the Actions column corresponding to the the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance you want to view.

The COSM Instance Details page is displayed. See Cisco Optical Site Manager instance details.
2.

Click the heartbeat icon next to the desired instance to view the runtime status of the instance.

The COSM Runtime Status page is displayed.
3.

Expand the related sections to view the details of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instances.

The sections are NCS Status, HA Agent, and NCS Launcher.
4.

Click the hyperlink above the expandable sections to view the details as a plaint text in a new window.

The instance details are displayed.

Edit the instance memory allocation

Use this task to edit the memory profile of a Cisco Optical Site Manager instance.

Before you begin

Log in to the admin plane

Procedure

1.

Click the Edit COSM Instance icon under the Actions column corresponding to the instance you want to edit.

The COSM Instance Edit page is displayed.
2.

Specify the memory in the Reserved Memory GB field.
3.

Click Edit.

The instance memory allocation is updated.

Switch Cisco Optical Site Manager instances

Use this task to switch active and standby Cisco Optical Site Manager instances.

Before you begin

Log in to the admin plane

Procedure

1.

Click the Switch COSM Instance icon under the Actions column corresponding to the instance you want to switch.

A warning message is displayed prompting you to confirm instance switch.
2.

Click Confirm.

During the switching process, the App State field displays different statuses such as SWITCHING, SWITCH_DONE, and UP. The Role field displays NONE, ACTIVE, and STANDBY.

The instance switchover starts.

Delete a Cisco Optical Site Manager instance

Use this task to delete a Cisco Optical Site Manager instance from the Admin Plane.

Delete an instance only after confirming it is no longer required for operations.

Before you begin

Log in to the admin plane

Procedure

1.

Click the Delete button under the Actions column corresponding to the Cisco Optical Site Manager instance you want to delete.

A confirmation message is displayed.
2.

Click Confirm.
The Cisco Optical Site Manager instance is deleted.

Cisco Optical Site Manager instance details

The Cisco Optical Site Manager Instance Details page is a user interface that displays the property information of both local and remote Cisco Optical Site Manager instances.

  • Shows properties for both local and remote Cisco Optical Site Manager instances.

  • Includes an Admin & Troubleshooting property with action icons for both instances.

  • Action icons enable troubleshooting and management of Cisco Optical Site Manager instances.

Admin and troubleshooting actions

The admin amd troubleshooting property provides a set of action icons for both Cisco Optical Site Manager instances. These icons allow you to perform troubleshooting and management actions.

Table 2. Action icons for Cisco Optical Site Manager instances

Icon

Icon Name

Description

Get local COSM runtime status

Click this icon to extract detailed information about the runtime status of both local and remote Cisco Optical Site Manager applications.

Restart local COSM container

Click this icon to restart the target Cisco Optical Site Manager container.

Delete local COSM container

Click this icon to delete the target Cisco Optical Site Manager container.

Force active local COSM container

Click this icon to force the local Cisco Optical Site Manager container to become the active instance if high availability is not working.

Retrieve the runtime status of an instance

Use this task to retrieve runtime status for a Cisco Optical Site Manager instance.

Procedure

1.

Click the heartbeat icon next to the required instance.

The Cisco Optical Site Manager Runtime Status page is displayed.
2.

Expand the related sections to view the details of the Cisco Optical Site Manager instances.

These sections are dispalyed:

  • NCS Status

  • HA Agent

  • NCS Launcher
3.

Click the hyperlink above the expandable sections to view the details in a separate window as plain text.

The runtime status details are displayed.

Restart the local instance

Use this task to restart a local or remote Cisco Optical Site Manager container.

Procedure

Click the Restart local COSM container (reload) icon.

You are redirected to the Cisco Optical Site Manager Instances page.

The Cisco Optical Site Manager instance reloads.
You are redirected to the COSM Instances page. The COSM instance restarts.

Delete the local container

Use this task to delete a local Cisco Optical Site Manager container.

Procedure

1.

Click the Delete local COSM container (trashcan) icon.

A warning message is displayed.
2.

Click Confirm.

A success message is displayed.
3.

Click OK.

You are redirected to the COSM Instances page.

The local Cisco Optical Site Manager container is deleted.

Force activate the local instance

Use this task to force a local Cisco Optical Site Manager container to active state.

Procedure

Click the Force active local COSM container icon.
You are redirected to the COSM Instances page. The status of the local instance changes from NONE to ACTIVE.