Cisco® Application Networking Manager (ANM) software enables centralized configuration, operations, monitoring, and reporting of Cisco data center networking equipment and services. Version 1.1 of Cisco ANM focuses on providing this management capability for the Cisco Application Control Engine (ACE).
Table 1 lists the key features of Cisco ANM.
Table 1. Features of Cisco Application Networking Manager
Feature
Description
Device and Service Configuration
Cisco ANM enables rapid creation, modification, and prestaging or immediate deployment of common services by operators of all skill levels. Cisco ANM does this by including a varying set of provisioning forms for the basic, advanced, and expert user. Utilizing the basic forms, even operators new to the system can gain value from their ACE systems "right out of the box" since the most common services can be quickly and easily deployed.
Cisco ANM supports Layer 4-7 configuration of Cisco ACE modules including virtual contexts; resource class management; all load-balancing services including access control lists (ACLs); all Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) services including certificate, key, and chain management; and related Cisco Catalyst® 6500 Series Switch VLAN interfaces. Cisco ANM can also configure redundant Cisco ACE modules. For systems established prior to deployment of Cisco ANM, it's discovery feature can be used to discover and import all chassis, modules, virtual partitions, and service definitions across a large number of systems.
All of these configuration tasks can be performed using a secure Web-based GUI, eliminating the need to use the Cisco ACE module's command-line interface (CLI).
Template-Based Provisioning
Templates include the common configuration elements desired for a type of service to be supported. Specific service-instance data is added at the time of deployment and activation. Templates can also include more intricate configurations than could be supported by the basic or advanced configuration forms.
Template-based provisioning helps ensure compliance to common configuration policies, speeds deployment of common configuration for standardization of policies, and enables separation and delegation of configuration and service deployment tasks. Templates can be created by the forms-based interface or by "cloning" existing configurations.
Configuration Auditing
Auditing features allow comparison of the running configuration of a chassis or virtual partition against the last validated configuration or any other running configuration. The ability to easily compare configurations enables rapid evaluation of the differences between any two virtual partitions, templates, or chassis. This facilitates troubleshooting of configuration errors and addresses, one of the most common causes of network problems.
This capability helps organizations eliminate variation in their operations and ensure compliance and conformance to configuration policies-important factors in increasing network and service reliability while reducing overall operations costs.
Granular Role-Based Access Control
Used to control access to network resources for virtual partitions of Cisco ACE modules, content networking and load balancing, and SSL services, as well as to authorize user group access to individual application services. This removes unnecessary overhead between network administrators, network operations center (NOC) staff, and systems operators, and server managers to increase productivity of all operational staff. It also allows administrative tasks to be securely delegated without granting full device access.
Delegated Server Management
From the Server Management display view, server managers can monitor the configured and operational states of all of their assigned servers, keeping track of the current number of connections active on their servers. Server managers can perform their daily management tasks, such as taking one or more real servers in and out of service, with options for graceful shutdown or cleared connections, and without needing to have knowledge of network topology or other network operations.
Monitoring and Reporting
Provides up-to-date, at-a-glance health, performance, and utilization monitoring displays of the Cisco ACE infrastructure, which saves time and resources in daily operations while also aiding in troubleshooting and problem resolution. Customizable monitoring and reporting displays can include a wide variety of monitoring data such as event notifications for user-defined threshold-crossing alerts. The information from these displays can be exported or printed as reports.
Availability
Cisco ANM 1.1 and associated minor release update kits will begin shipping on December 29, 2006. Customers can order these new products through normal Cisco sales channels as of December 29, 2006.
Ordering Information
Table 2 provides ordering information for Cisco Application Networking Manager.
Table 2. Ordering Information for Cisco Application Networking Manager 1.1
Part Number
Description
ANM-SERVER-11-K9
ANM Server Software
ANM-AD-005-11
ANM License For Up To 5 ACE Devices
ANM-AD-010-11
ANM License For Up To 10 ACE Devices
ANM-AD-020-11
ANM License For Up To 20 ACE Devices
ANM-AD-050-11
ANM License For Up To 50 ACE Devices
ANM-AV-020
ANM License For 20 VC On One ACE
ANM-AV-050
ANM License For 50 VC On One ACE
ANM-AV-100
ANM License For 100 VC On One ACE
ANM-AV-250
ANM License For 250 VC On One ACE
ANM-AD-UP1=
Upgrade ANM License - AD-005 To AD-010
ANM-AD-UP2=
Upgrade ANM License - AD-010 To AD-020
ANM-AD-UP3=
Upgrade ANM License - AD-020 To AD-050
ANM-AV-UP1=
Upgrade ANM License - AV-020 To AV-050
ANM-AV-UP2=
Upgrade ANM License - AV-050 To AV-100
ANM-AV-UP3=
Upgrade ANM License - AV-100 To AV-250
For More Information
For more information about Cisco Application Networking Manager, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/anm or contact your local account representative.
Marketing Contacts
Please direct inquiries for product information to ask-anm@cisco.com.
