Cisco ANA Integration Software Development Kit
Q. What is Cisco Active Network Abstraction?
A. Cisco Active Network Abstraction (ANA) is a powerful, next-generation network resource management solution designed with a fully distributed OSS mediation platform which abstracts the network, its topology and its capabilities from the physical elements. Its virtual nature provides customers with a strong and reliable platform for service activation, service assurance and network management. Cisco ANA is extended by a number of Cisco ANA applications that, by leveraging the Cisco ANA information model and infrastructure, add valuable service-level functions to OSS/BSS solutions. Some Cisco ANA applications are bundled with the Cisco ANA product (such as network inventory, provisioning, configuration archive, and network element image management) while others are packaged and sold separately.
Q. What is the Cisco ANA Integration Software Development Kit?
A. The Cisco ANA Integration Software Development Kit (SDK) contains a set of interfaces that are mostly focused on creating BSS and OSS clients or integrating with existing OSS/BSS solutions to perform tasks such as extracting network inventory, invoking service activation, and receiving alert notifications. These interfaces are mostly Web service interfaces and notifications. The Web services (WS) are:
• Inventory retrieval
• Alarm retrieval
• Notifications
• Network Element Image Management Service
• Provisioning through scripts, workflows and templates
In addition, ANA can forward SNMP traps as notifications to other applications. For example, the Inventory retrieval allows querying the Cisco ANA information model such as to retrieve an inventory of network equipment and its interconnectivity, while the Notifications Service allows a client application to subscribe to Cisco ANA alerts or inventory changes. A more detailed description of these services can be found in the Cisco ANA Integration Developer Guide.
Q. What does the Cisco ANA Integration SDK contain?
A. The Cisco ANA interfaces and client libraries are available as part of the Cisco ANA product. The Cisco ANA Integration SDK is composed of documentation and sample code such as:
• A Developer Guide
• A Developer API Reference
• A Model Primer
• Sample applications
• An Eclipse plugin to view all Cisco ANA Integration SDK documentation within Eclipse with search and cross-linking capabilities.
For more information, see http://www.cisco.com/go/ana-sdk.
Q. Should I use the Cisco ANA Integration SDK?
A. The Cisco ANA Integration SDK is primarily for independent software vendors (ISVs), system integrators (SIs), and end users who want to integrate Cisco ANA into their OSS/BSS solutions.
Q. What are the steps to begin using the Cisco ANA Integration SDK?
A. If you are a Cisco ANA customer, you can start using the Cisco ANA Integration SDK right away. Follow the steps described at http://www.cisco.com/go/ana-sdk for more information.
Q. What standards does Cisco ANA conform to?
A. The Cisco ANA information model is based on the Desktop Management Task Force (http://www.dmtf.org) Common Information Model (CIM) and the Telecommunications Management Forum (http://www.tmforum.org) Multitechnology Network Management (MTNM) model.
SNMP trap notifications conform to the CISCO-EPM-NOTIFICATION-MIB and can be forwarded to other applications.
Cisco ANA also conforms to the WSDL, WS-Addressing, WS-Enumeration, WS-Notifications, WS-ResourceFramework, WS-ResourceLifetime, WS-ResourceProperties, WS-Security, XML, and XML Schema standards. For more information, see the Web Service References section in the Cisco ANA Integration Developer Guide.
Q. How does the Cisco ANA Integration SDK relate to Cisco ANA 3.x?
A. Cisco ANA Integration SDK, Revision 1.0 is the first Cisco ANA SDK being offered to third-party developers. It is delivered as part of Cisco ANA 4.0. Cisco is committed to supporting these interfaces over subsequent Cisco ANA releases.
Q. Which platforms can I use for my client applications?
A. Since the Cisco ANA Integration SDK is composed of Web services and SNMP trap notifications, your client application can run on any platform, independent of the platform Cisco ANA runs on, as long as the client machine can run a Web services application and receive SNMP traps.
Q. What development environment is required to use the Cisco ANA Integration SDK?
A. The system requirements are specified in the Cisco ANA Integration Developer Guide.
Q. What devices does Cisco ANA support?
A. Cisco ANA is a multivendor system. Without additional configuration, Cisco ANA supports any MIB-II supported device. More extensive network element support is available for a broad range of Cisco products and other multivendor networking hardware in the form of Virtual Network Elements (VNEs). For a complete list of Cisco ANA supported VNEs, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/ana.
Cisco Technology Developer Program for Cisco ANA Q&A
Q. What is Cisco's Active Network Abstraction Developer Program?
A. The Cisco ANA developer program helps enable Cisco partners integrate their network management applications with ANA applications. The ANA APIs and interfaces provide a consistent way for third-party applications to access the ANA information repository and to invoke ANA Web services, such as activation script, workflow, device image management, and configuration archive, as well as to subscribe to and receive Cisco ANA notifications. The developer program offers many benefits described in the Cisco ANA developer program data sheet.
Q. Who can participate in the Cisco ANA developer program?
A. Any developer or development organization wishing to integrate network management applications with ANA may participate in the program. This includes ANA end users and partners such as independent software vendors (ISVs), independent hardware vendors (IHVs), system integrators, and consultants.
Q. Why should I apply to the Cisco ANA developer program?
A. The ANA developer program offers several benefits such as:
• A strong developer community through online forums
• Cisco ANA Integration SDK training to bring you up to speed quickly
• Cisco ANA Integration SDK developer support to answer your development questions
• If you are an ISV, you may also benefit from several go-to-market benefits described in the Cisco ANA developer program data sheet
Customer and partner solutions will benefit from:
• Tighter integration with Cisco ANA
• Increased value through a common information model integration between applications
• Normalization of your network inventory
In addition, ISVs and system integrators will benefit from:
• Increased value to customers
• Enhanced value over the competition
• Increased market opportunities
• See the Cisco ANA developer program data sheet for more information on the program features and benefits at http://www.cisco.com/go/ana-sdk.
Q. How do I apply to the Cisco ANA developer program?
A. ANA customers are already registered to the program when they purchase Cisco ANA. Partners will need to register through the Cisco Technology Developer Program at http://www.cisco.com/go/ana-sdk.
Q. Can I join multiple Cisco Developer Programs?
A. Yes, you may apply to any other Cisco Developer Program technologies as needed, such as the Voice Developer Program.
Q. Is the Cisco ANA developer program available worldwide?
A. Yes.
Q. Is there a cost to join the Cisco ANA developer program?
A. There is no initial cost to join the Cisco ANA developer program. However, Cisco ANA class training, developer support, and partner integration validation are provided for either a yearly or one-time fee. For more information, see Cisco ANA developer program.
Q. What is the Cisco ANA developer program validation?
A. Validation is a process to help ensure that your integration meets Cisco best practices. Validation will give customers the assurance that the application you integrated with Cisco ANA can be deployed with minimal effort, thus reducing time to market. ISVs may wish to have their integration validated through the Cisco ANA developer program. Upon completion of the validation process, ISVs can use the Cisco validation logos and be included in the Cisco Partner Solution Catalog.
Q. What are the benefits to mutual customers?
A. Benefits for mutual customers include:
• Deploy integrated solutions faster and with lower risk rather than having to perform the integration themselves
• Focus more on real customer-value and revenue-generating services
• Eliminate homegrown integrations, which are very costly to maintain over time
• Deploy larger integrated solutions thus increasing operational efficiency
• Receive more effective support through a cooperative support agreement between Cisco and its partners
Q. What does it take to come up to speed?
A. The Cisco ANA developer program offers multiple benefits for developers to ramp up quickly. First, the documentation is available online along with sample applications to allow you to build an application in minutes. In addition, Cisco offers a Cisco ANA Integration SDK training class and maintains several Cisco ANA-related forums to allow you to share experiences with the Cisco ANA developer community. Finally, you should subscribe to developer support for the Cisco ANA Integration SDK and have an experienced engineer answer your very specific development questions.
Q. Can I contribute code samples or technical tips to the Cisco Technology Developer Program for Cisco ANA?
A. Cisco encourages technical contributions in terms of suggestions, code snippets, or other comments about the Integration SDK or the Cisco Technology Developer Program. To do so, you may either send your contributions to ana-sdk@cisco.com or post them on the Cisco ANA developer program forums at http://forums.cisco.com.
Q. Whom should I contact if I need more information on the Cisco ANA Integration SDK?
A. Contact ana-sdk@cisco.com if you have any questions about the Cisco ANA developer program or the Cisco ANA Integration SDK.