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The Cisco 6400 universal access concentrator (Cisco 6400) is a telco-designed broadband concentrator enabling network operators; post, telephone, and telegraphs (PTTs); and Internet service providers (ISPs) to combine Cisco IOS Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switching and routing capabilities in a modular, scalable, redundant, Network Equipment Building Systems/European Telecommunication Standards Institute (NEBS/ETSI) compliant chassis.
The Cisco 6400 is an integral part of Cisco's end-to-end service-centric digital subscriber line (DSL) architecture, offering service providers the necessary flexibility to deploy end-to-end ATM services, Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) termination, tunneling, as well as local and cached content.
The Cisco 6400 sits within the service provider's infrastructure and aggregates traffic from DSL DSLAMs. It can act as a pure ATM switch, forwarding cells transparently, or can terminate locally ATM virtual circuits performing IP services, such as PPP termination or PPP tunneling.
The Cisco 6400 uses an eight-slot, modular chassis featuring the option of half-height and full-height card and slot redundancy, along with dual, fault-tolerant, load-sharing AC or DC power supplies. The central slots (slot 0A and 0B) in the Cisco 6400 are dedicated to redundant, field-replaceable node switch processor (NSP) modules that support both the 5-Gbps shared memory and the fully nonblocking switch fabric. The NSP also supports the feature card and high performance Reduced Instruction Set (RISC) processor that provides the central intelligence for the device. The NSP supports a wide variety of desktop, backbone, and wide-area interfaces.
The remaining slots support up to eight hot-swappable carrier modules for node router processors (NRPs) or half-height node line cards (NLCs). NRPs and NLCs can be configured for redundant operation. As a result, you can have up to four redundant pairs of NRPs or any combination of NRPs and NLCs. The NRPs are fully functional router modules capable of terminating PPP sessions uploaded from your OC-12, OC-3, or DS3 node line cards.
NLC interfaces are controlled by the NSP.
The NRP receives traffic from NLC interface ports via the NSP ATM switch. The NRP reassembles the ATM cells into packets, processes (routes, bridges, etc.) the packets, segments the packets, and sends them back to the NSP for transmission out of another NLC interface (see Figure 1-1). The Cisco 6400 can contain multiple NRP modules, configured to operate independently or as redundant pairs (1+1).
When receiving traffic from the NSP, the NRP reassembles the ATM cells into packets before processing. Similarly, outgoing ATM traffic is segmented and sent to the NSP for transmission out of another NLC interface. Traffic over the Fast Ethernet port is neither segmented nor reassembled.
The following section provides an overview of the Cisco 6400 configuration process. Detailed configuration tasks are provided in the following chapters.
Before configuring ATM and subscriber services, you must set up terminal line parameters. The Cisco 6400 has two types of terminal lines: a console line and an auxiliary line. Most line setup is the same for all types of lines, but certain commands, such as those having to do with modem control and support for Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP)/Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), apply to the auxiliary port only.
Web Console is a graphical user interface (GUI) used to set or change the system configuration and monitor system activity. You can configure basic system parameters, SNMP management parameters, set up subscribers, and monitor the current status of your chassis LEDs from anywhere on the network with Web Console. For Web Console information and configuration, see "Using the Web Console."
After terminal line access has been established, you must configure the NSP with ATM information, including network routing and clocking protocols. See "Configuring the Node Switch Processor," for configuration tasks.
The Cisco 6400 supports the following system features:
Configuration tasks for these features are detailed in "Configuring System Features."
Subscriber services and connections must be configured on one or more NRPs. "Configuring the Node Route Processor," provides configuration tasks for the following services:
The Cisco 6400 uses internal connections (PVCs or PVPs) to pass traffic between NRPs and ATM interfaces on node line cards. A PVC must be configured on both ends of the circuit---on the NRP, and on the ATM interface (controlled by the NSP). See "Configuring the Node Switch Processor," and "Configuring the Node Route Processor," for configuration tasks.
The Cisco 6400 supports the Interim Local Management Interface (ILMI) protocol, which automatically detects and configures ATM interfaces on the NLCs. If ILMI is disabled on the Cisco 6400, or if you wish to manually configure an interface, see "Configuring ATM Interfaces," for a list of commands and procedures.
The following sections describe the implementation used by the Cisco 6400 to switch cells on an ATM network and terminate PPP connections:
The following interfaces are supported:
Redundancy for both the NSP and NRP is based on extended high system availability (EHSA). If the NRP fails, no VCs from the NSP must be reconfigured. The NRP blades also support online insertion and removal (OIR). When operating in non-redundant mode, the NRPs appear as separate network management entities, and can be accessed via individual management ports.
SONET automatic protection switching (APS) provides a mechanism to support redundant transmission circuits, such as single-mode fibers, between SONET devices. Automatic switchover from the primary or working circuit to the backup or protection circuit happens when the working circuit fails or degrades. The Cisco 6400 supports 1+1, linear, unidirectional, non-reverting APS operation on its redundant OC-3 and OC-12 NLC interfaces. SONET APS does not apply to DS3 NLCs.
The Cisco 6400 supports Telcordia (formerly BellCore) standard alarms, and additional commands have been added that allow you to manage the alarms and reset chassis components as needed. Alarms on the Cisco 6400 can be configured for temperature thresholds, card failure, SONET APS failures, NRP failures, and generic system conditions.
The Cisco 6400 includes environmental monitoring hardware and a digital thermometer that measures the temperature of the intake airflow and the temperature at the hottest part of the chassis. Temperature thresholds for each alarm type and location are automatically set, based on empirically determined values that vary depending on the number and type of boards inserted in the chassis. In addition to the automatically set thresholds, you can set your own thresholds for minor and major temperature alarms.
The Cisco 6400 acts as a DHCP client and automatically acquires an IP address, subnet mask, and default route from a DHCP server on the network. This feature allows you to install the Cisco 6400 in the central office using non-technical personnel. The plug and play option allows you to configure the Cisco 6400 from a Network Operations Center (NOC), without being physically close to the system.
Web Console is a graphical user interface (GUI) used to set or change the system configuration and monitor system activity. The Web Console application communicates with the system by translating HTML pages into Cisco IOS commands. You can configure basic system parameters, SNMP management parameters, set up subscribers, and monitor the current status of your chassis LEDs from anywhere on the network with Web Console.
The Cisco 6400 provides the following self-configuring features:
The following signaling and routing features are supported:
The Cisco 6400 provides highest system availability during hardware and software upgrades as well as fault resistance using Cisco IOS Enhanced High System Availability (EHSA). Both CPU and switching fabric are redundant, providing for full PVC protection.
The Cisco 6400 supports the following:
Resource management is provided to support the following:
The following internetworking services are provided:
The following features provide support for managing the Cisco 6400:
The CiscoWorks 2000 family of network management software provides tools for managing your Cisco 6400. CiscoWorks 2000 includes the following packages:
The functionality provided by the CWSI Campus suite of applications includes the following:
ATM is defined by a large number of cross-referenced specifications from a variety of standards bodies, including the ATM Forum, the ANSI T1S1 Committee, Telcordia, ETSI, and the ITU-T. The ATM Forum specifications can be regarded as preeminent since they build upon, and refer to, specifications from all other ATM standards bodies; compliance with ATM Forum specifications implies compliance with all referenced specifications. The Cisco 6400 supports the following general standards:
The Cisco 6400 supports the following standard Internet protocols:
The Cisco 6400 supports standard and enterprise-specific MIBs. The following MIBs are supported:
Posted: Mon Nov 15 12:44:22 PST 1999
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