A. Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager (MPLS-AM) 1.0 provides a set of tools that you can use to monitor Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks and MPLS virtual private networks (VPNs). Cisco MPLS-AM discovers and displays logical inventory information specific to MPLS VPNs, MPLS traffic engineering tunnels, and pseudowires. Cisco MPLS-AM also provides MPLS network fault management tools including impact analysis, multipath tracing, and connectivity outage detection (COD). Cisco MPLS-AM is installed on top of Cisco Active Network Abstraction (ANA) 4.0. Cisco ANA is a flexible, vendor-neutral network resource management solution that serves as an active mediation layer between the operation and network layers and provides applications and APIs for operation support system (OSS) and business support system (BSS) applications.
Q. Who should deploy Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager?
A. Cisco MPLS-AM is designed for service providers with new or established MPLS core networks and new or ongoing consolidation of MPLS VPN services across that MPLS core network.
Q. What benefits can I expect from deploying Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager?
A. Adding Cisco MPLS-AM 1.0 to Cisco ANA 4.0:
• Extends the scope of Cisco ANA to MPLS technologies
• Gives network operations enhanced visibility of MPLS VPN, pseudowire, and traffic engineering tunnel inventories to help direct trouble verification and troubleshooting activities better than paper records can
• Gives network operations additional tools for monitoring and verifying MPLS core network and MPLS VPN service connectivity
• Offers impact analysis information to help prioritize service restoration/problem resolution activities
• Helps network operations determine affected VPN sites and customers faster than having to refer to an external provisioning system or paper records
Q. What major features are provided in Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager?
A. Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager 1.0 extends Cisco ANA to deliver:
• Logical inventory information specific to VPNs
• Discovery and monitoring of MPLS traffic engineering (TE) tunnels
• Discovery and monitoring of pseudowire end-to-end emulation tunnels
• Service impact analysis
• MPLS service view that allows users to navigate into specific VPNs and view information about the business elements contained in each VPN
• Multipath tracing capability using the Service Path Tracer tool
• Additional Cisco MPLS-AM-specific APIs that provide access to MPLS VPN, traffic engineering, and pseudowire inventory information, as well as impact analysis data. These APIs are integrated into the Cisco ANA northbound interface framework and are available through the Cisco ANA Integration Software Development Kit (SDK) and its associated developer program.
Q. What devices are supported in Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager?
A. Cisco MPLS-AM has been certified with a range of Cisco devices supporting MPLS technologies. For more information, please refer to the Cisco MPLS-AM release notes and documentation at http://www.cisco.com/go/mpls-am, contact your local account representative, or write to the product management team at ask-ana@cisco.com.
Q. What networking technologies are supported by Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager?
A. Cisco MPLS-AM supports the following technologies:
• MPLS: Cisco MPLS-AM is designed to manage and monitor MPLS networks.
• MPLS VPN (2547): Cisco MPLS-AM supports Layer 3 VPN services based upon the MPLS VPN as defined in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFC 2547.
• Pseudowire end-to-end emulation tunnels: Cisco MPLS-AM supports pseudowires as defined in RFC 3985. (Only the "packet" and "cell" payload types are currently supported. For more information, see RFC 3985, Section 3.3.) The pseudowire implementation is designed for Cisco Any Transport over MPLS (AToM) and is based on the following Luca Martini drafts:
– draft-martini-l2circuit-encap-mpls-03.txt
– draft-martini-l2circuit-trans-mpls-07.txt
• MPLS traffic engineering: Based on RFC 2702 with RSVP for signaling as described in RFC 3209.
Q. What are the major components of Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager?
A. Cisco MPLS-AM has two main components: Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager software base kit and Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager right-to-use (RTU) licenses. The Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager software base kit has a fixed price, while the Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager RTUs are sold by device, in a similar manner as Cisco ANA.
Q. Does Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager require Cisco ANA?
A. Yes, Cisco MPLS-AM 1.0 is designed to be installed and operate on Cisco ANA 4.0.
Q. Is Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager integrated with Cisco ANA?
A. Yes. Offered as a network service management application for Cisco ANA, Cisco MPLS-AM is closely integrated with Cisco ANA. Cisco MPLS-AM extends the Cisco ANA root-cause analysis functionality to MPLS technology and adds impact analysis.
Q. Is Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager integrated with Cisco Assurance Management Solution 1.0?
A. No. Cisco MPLS-AM is designed to be installed and operate on Cisco ANA 4.0. Cisco Assurance Management Solution (AMS) 1.0 has been integrated with Cisco ANA 3.6.
Q. Will Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager be integrated with upcoming versions of Cisco Assurance Management Solution?
A. While not adding any particular, pair-wise integration among the Cisco MPLS-AM and the manager-of-managers components of upcoming Cisco AMS versions, Cisco MPLS-AM extends the already comprehensive and unique combination of topology-based and rule-based correlation features offered by Cisco ANA 4.0. Cisco ANA 4.0 will be a component contained within the next version of the Cisco AMS.
By extending the scope of Cisco ANA 4.0, Cisco MPLS-AM will offer users of upcoming Cisco AMS versions access to information about affected sites or network paths within the context of the Cisco ANA ticket user interface, added to the Cisco ANA root-cause ticket through tabs that allow users to navigate from a ticket to the information about affected services. Cisco MPLS-AM further adds service inventory views to the Cisco ANA user interface that are accessible to Cisco AMS users to help visualize the topology among MPLS VPN sites or view the paths of given pseudowire and traffic engineering tunnels.
Q. Do I need to purchase Cisco Assurance Management Solution before I can purchase Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager?
A. No. Please note that Cisco MPLS-AM does require and is installed on Cisco ANA 4.0.
Q. Can Cisco MPLS Assurance Manager be integrated with my existing OSS applications?
A. Yes. Cisco MPLS-AM delivers APIs that provide access to MPLS VPN, traffic engineering, and pseudowire inventory information, as well as impact analysis data. These APIs are integrated into the Cisco ANA northbound interface framework and are available through the Cisco ANA Integration Software Development Kit and its associated developer program. For more information about the Cisco ANA developer program or the Cisco ANA Integration SDK, please visit http://www.cisco.com/go/ana-sdk
