Cisco Systems® announces the availability of the Cisco® Mobile Wireless Fault Mediator (MWFM) 3.3 release which is part of the Mobile Wireless Center for Cisco Mobile Exchange suite of applications that complements CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution (LMS) to provide end-to-end management of the Cisco Mobile Exchange. The Mobile Wireless Center for Cisco Mobile Exchange addresses the element-management requirements of mobile operators and provides fault and configuration capability as mobile operators transition their wireless service delivery networks from second-generation (2G) circuit-based traffic to 2.5G and third-generation (3G) IP-based services.
Cisco MWFM uses a policy-based management system where all aspects of the network are controlled and administered from a single point. This approach relies on active object classes (AOCs) to monitor network elements and define polling requirements. AOCs describe how to identify devices, determine connectivity, and monitor the devices for problems. The Cisco MWFM discovery engine finds all Cisco Mobile Exchange nodes, such as Cisco Packet Data Serving Node (PDSN), Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN), or Cisco Content Service Gateway (CSG), capturing not only what is present, but also the port-to-port connectivity between devices on the Cisco Mobile Exchange network. This information is stored in a database designed to allow rapid storage, retrieval, and updating of data concerning connectivity between devices.
Cisco MWFM consistently provides an accurate logical representation of the network topology. Even as the network evolves, ongoing passive discovery detects when new Cisco Mobile Exchange devices are added and triggers a partial rediscovery of that portion of the network. Cisco MWFM can perform aggregated polling, which consolidates polling requests for multiple applications, thereby minimizing the unnecessary use of network and device bandwidth. To further minimize unnecessary polling, Cisco MWFM uses caching technology to store the most recent device information. Standard polling methods include Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) ping and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Cisco MWFM monitoring also accepts SNMP traps and reads device syslog files.
FEATURES
Table 1 lists the features of the Cisco MWFM 3.3.
Table 1. Cisco Mobile Wireless Fault Mediator 3.3 Features
Feature
Description
Autodiscovery
Automatically discovers Cisco mobile wireless device network connections and changes, while monitoring element status, including neighboring Cisco Catalyst® switches
Complex Alarm-Gathering Mechanism
• SNMP traps
• MIB threshold violation
• ICMP polling
• Syslog messages
Multiple Network Management Systems (NMSs) Support
Alarms can be forwarded to multiple NMSs based on user-defined attributes
Robust Transport Trap Mechanism
New trap field with unique and sequential ID number
Alarm Filtering
Alarms can be filtered by alarm severity, device type, or alarm field
Correlation
• Alarm de-duplication
• Reachability and device-level correlation, including Hot Standby Routing Protocol (HSRP) support
Integration with Cisco OSS and Fault Manager of Managers
• Powerful query mechanism provides a synchronization facility with traditional OSS
• Provides standard Java API interface, and automates configuration and alarm synchronization between Cisco MWFM and OSS
CiscoWorks LMS-Based GUI
User-friendly GUI that displays active alarm view window; operators can double- click on a row for a detailed view of trap
Active Object Class (AOC) Policy Manager
Configuration GUI that allows user to define rule sets
Enhanced Configuration Tool
Operators define discovery scope and other network parameters intuitively with new configuration
Heartbeat
GUI and Java API tool to indicate health of the different Cisco MWFM processes
Trap Multiplexer Mechanism
Operators can set Cisco MWFM to forward, as is, all traps received from the devices to the NMS
Standards Compliant
SNMP Version 1 traps
UPGRADE OPTIONS
The new Cisco Mobile Wireless Fault Mediator 3.3 release broadens device support and significantly improves the network uptime of the Cisco Mobile Exchange framework.
Both the previously offered CiscoWorks for Mobile Wireless 3.0 and the Cisco Mobile Wireless Center 2.0 for Cisco Mobile Exchange are no longer available. Related end-of-sale and end-of-life announcements, as well as additional details on the Cisco Mobile Wireless Fault Mediator 3.3, can be found at http://www.cisco.com/go/mwc-cmx.
AVAILABILITY
The Cisco Mobile Wireless Fault Mediator 3.3 is currently shipping as of April 27, 2005. Customers can purchase this new product today through normal Cisco sales channels.
ORDERING INFORMATION
Table 2 lists ordering information for the Cisco Mobile Wireless Fault Mediator 3.3.
Table 2. Ordering Information
Part Number
Description
MWCX-MWFM-3.3-K9
Cisco Mobile Wireless Fault Mediator 3.3, Solaris License
MWCX-MWFM3.3-UP-K9
Upgrade to Cisco Mobile Wireless Fault Mediator 3.3 Solaris License for existing Mobile Wireless Center for Cisco Mobile Exchange 2.0 or CiscoWorks for Mobile Wireless 3.0 customers
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information about the Cisco Mobile Wireless Fault Mediator, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/mwc-cmx or contact your local account representative or send an e-mail to the Customer Support group at cs-mwc@cisco.com.
