Introduction
Virtual Routers
The Cisco CSR 1000v Cloud Services Router provides a cloud-based virtual router deployed on a virtual machine (VM) instance on x86 server hardware. It supports a subset of Cisco IOS XE software features and technologies, providing Cisco IOS XE security and switching features on a virtualization platform.
The Cisco Integrated Services Virtual Router (Cisco ISRv) is very similar to the Cisco CSR 1000v. It provides a virtual IOS XE operating system for routing and forwarding on the Enterprise Network Compute System (ENCS) platform.
When the Cisco CSR 1000v is deployed on a VM, the Cisco IOS XE software functions just as if it were deployed on a traditional Cisco hardware platform.
Features
The Cisco CSR 1000v includes a virtual Route Processor and a virtual Forwarding Processor (FP) as part of its architecture. It supports a subset of Cisco IOS XE software features and technologies.
The Cisco CSR 1000v can provide secure connectivity from an enterprise location, such as a branch office or data center, to the public or private cloud.
The Cisco CSR 1000v is deployed as a virtual machine on a hypervisor. Optionally, you can use a virtual switch (vSwitch), depending on your deployment. You can use selected Cisco equipment for some components. The supported components will depend on your software release.
Benefits of Virtualization Using the Cisco CSR 1000v Series Cloud Services Router
The Cisco CSR 1000v Series uses the benefits of virtualization in the cloud to provide the following:
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Hardware independence
Because the Cisco CSR 1000v runs on a virtual machine, it can be supported on any x86 hardware that the virtualization platform supports.
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Sharing of resources
The resources used by the Cisco CSR 1000v are managed by the hypervisor, and resources can be shared among VMs. The amount of hardware resources that the VM server allocates to a specific VM can be reallocated to another VM on the server.
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Flexibility in deployment
You can easily move a VM from one server to another. Thus, you can move the Cisco CSR 1000v from a server in one physical location to a server in another physical location without moving any hardware resources.
Software Configuration and Management Using the Cisco IOS XE CLI
You can perform software configuration and management of the Cisco CSR 1000v using the following methods:
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Provision a serial port in the VM and connect to access the Cisco IOS XE CLI commands.
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Use the virtual VGA console or the console on the virtual serial port to access the Cisco IOS XE CLI commands.
Note |
A serial port can be used to manage a Cisco CSR 1000v VM only if the underlying hypervisor supports associating a serial port with a VM. For example, the Citrix XenServer environment does not support serial port association. See your hypervisor documentation for details. |
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Use remote SSH/Telnet to access the Cisco IOS XE CLI commands.
The Cisco CSR 1000v also supports management and configuration using the following products:
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Cisco IOS XE REST API
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Cisco Prime Network Services Controller
For more information, see "Management Support", from Managing the Router Using Cisco Configuration Professional onwards.
Router Interfaces
The Cisco CSR 1000v router interfaces perform the same functionality as those on hardware-based Cisco routers. The Cisco CSR 1000v interfaces function as follows:
- Interfaces are logically named as the Gigabit Ethernet (GE) interfaces.
- The available interface numbering depends on the Cisco CSR 1000v version.
(Cisco IOS XE Release 3.11S and later, and Denali 16.2 and later) The interface numbering is as follows:
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- Interface port numbering is from 1 and up to the number of interfaces supported.
- GigabitEthernet interface 0 is no longer supported beginning with this release.
- You can designate any interface as the management interface. You can change the management interface when deploying the OVA template on first-time installation.
(Cisco IOS XE Release 3.10S and earlier) The interface numbering is as follows:
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- Interface port numbering is from 0 and up to the number of interfaces supported.
- Gigabit Ethernet interface 0 is reserved for the management interface used for obtaining the licenses and upgrading software.
- At first boot, the Cisco CSR 1000v router interfaces are mapped to the vNIC interfaces on the VM based on the vNIC enumeration to the Cisco CSR 1000v; on subsequent boot, the Cisco CSR 1000v router interfaces are mapped to the vNIC MAC address
Caution |
If upgrading to Cisco IOS XE Release 3.11S from an earlier release, we recommend you update your configuration to remove the GigabitEthernet 0 management interface before upgrading. Because the GigabitEthernet 0 interface is no longer supported beginning with Cisco IOS XE Release 3.11S, you will receive system errors if the upgraded configuration includes this interface. |
For more information, see the “Mapping Cisco CSR 1000v Network Interfaces to VM Network Interfaces” section on page 11-1 .