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User Registrar (UR) is an automated provisioning application that enables cable subscribers to provision themselves for data-over-cable services. User Registrar extends the capability of Cisco Network Registrar to allow easy-to-use, out-of-box user self-provisioning.
With User Registrar, prospective subscribers can purchase their cable modem at a local discount electronics store, plug it into a cable outlet in their house, bring up their PC, and register through the Web. After registering, subscribers have access to a wide range of cable and Internet services through their cable service provider.
User Registrar supports out-of-the-box user self-provisioning for data-over-cable broad band services. To enable user self-provisioning, User Registrar works in conjunction with Cisco Network Registrar, Cisco Modem Registrar, Cisco Access Registrar, uBR element management, and your account management system to provide a complete cable service provisioning system. To enable you to integrate User Registrar into your existing system, User Registrar includes customizable pages and extension points.
The following functions are divided into the three categories of User Registrar users: subscribers, administrators, and configurers.
A self-provisioning process includes three stages: registration, service selection, and activation.
Subscribers interact with User Registrar through a Web user interface (UI). The Web UI provides subscribers with a familiar user interface and does not require additional software on their PCs.
Most commercial Web sites require users to obtain a username and password, which are used to track user requests and provide user-specific services. User Registrar duplicates this common user experience in the Web-based forms that it uses to registrar subscribers.
User Registrar handles subscription in the following manner:
To provide a self-provisioning service, your registration system must support the most common Web browsers that your subscribers use. In the early days of the Internet, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) provided the customer with Internet software. Today, PCs generally have Internet software pre-installed at the time of purchase. Table 1-1 shows the common Web browsers that User Registrar supports.
| Browser | Version |
|---|---|
3.0 or higher | |
4.0 or higher | |
3.0 or higher |
User Registrar supports Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) with encryption for protecting customer information.
The configurer is responsible for tailoring the User Registrar Subscriber UI templates to your company's provisioning system. In many cases however, you can use the User Registrar out-of-the-box standard interfaces.
The configurer can modify the standard templates. Table 1-2 shows the different types of customizations you can perform. For more information about making these changes, see "Configuring User Registrar."
| Customization | Method |
|---|---|
Change page layout and content | Edit text and HTML tags |
Change workflow | Change UI options in UR Admin |
Add page extensions | Specify custom Java classes in UR Admin |
Change global presentation | Edit text and HTML tags |
User Registrar provides out-of-the-box Web templates that you can extend as described in Table 1-2. These templates enable you to implement the self-provisioning process as described in the "Subscriber Provisioning" section and the subscriber interfaces in the "User Registrar User Interface" section.
The administrator is responsible for ensuring that the appropriate information is collected from the subscriber during the pre-registration process, and that User Registrar can use that information during cable modem installation.
The administrator does the following:
User Registrar consists of:
User Registrar integrates with backend servers, including:
To fulfill provisioning requests, the User Registrar Web server extensions authenticate and authorize requests from the UI clients.
The User Registrar UI client runs in a standard unmodified Web browser, either Netscape Navigator 3.x/4.x or Internet Explorer 3.x/4.x.
The User Registrar UI client supports Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to protect sensitive subscriber information, such as passwords and credit card information. The customer's subscriber registration process might require the download and installation of an SSL-capable browser as a prerequisite.
 | Tips You might want to mandate that all sites standardize on a particular browser vendor and version, which can be exploited in the administrative UI by requiring presentation of an administrator's digital certificate. |
The User Registrar Web extensions are hosted on the JRun application, and served by a standard unmodified Web server. The Web extensions are responsible for User Registrar system navigation and content, mediation between User Registrar UI client requests, and the query and update of the backend servers.
The Web server extensions authenticate client credentials: userids and passwords, or certificates.
http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/certificate/certmap.zip. The User Registrar Web server always presents a server certificate with DNS name credentials to SSL-clients. User Registrar supports the step-by-step security model.
The Web server extensions do the following:
User Registrar must authenticate and authorize subscriber, and administrative privileges. For this purpose, User Registrar employs the step-by-step security model, in which each client authenticates itself to the next server, and each server allows operations to be performed based on the immediate client's identity.
User Registrar does the following:
The backend servers for User Registrar include an LDAPv3 directory server, Network Registrar, Modem Registrar, and Access Registrar.
The following sections describe the process of subscriber account registration and subscriber device activation.
The User Registrar self-provisioning process provides the following benefits:
The following describes the registration process:
1. The subscriber connects to the User Registrar registration page, and supplies the account number and PIN.
2. The subscriber chooses a userid and password, and selects subscription parameters, such as device hostnames, e-mail address, network class of service, and so on.
3. User Registrar validates the uniqueness of certain parameters, such as userid, hostnames, and e-mail addresses, and provides external verification through page extensions.
The following describes the activation of the subscriber's devices:
1. The subscriber boots the CM and personal computer on the cable network.
2. The CM obtains limited-use configuration information from Network Registrar (DHCP) and Modem Registrar (TFTP), and the personal computer obtains limited-use configuration information from Network Registrar (DHCP).
3. The uBR, in its role as a relay agent, inserts the relay agent information option (DHCP option code 82) in the DHCP message exchange. Option code 82 identifies the subscriber CCM associated with the computer.
4. CNR creates directory objects for the inactivated CM and computer lease, including the device IP address, device MAC address, and the contents of the relay agent information option.
5. When the subscriber opens a Web browser, User Registrar directs the subscriber to the User Registrar activation page where the subscriber is asked to supply a username, password, level of service, and computer name. They indirectly provide the current IP address through the HTTP connection.
6. User Registrar queries the directory to find the MAC address in a directory object for the computer and modem, and updates the directory object to associate the computer with the correct subscriber hostname and network class of service.
7. User Registrar presents a count-down timer to the subscriber to tell the subscriber to wait for the activation process to complete, or asks the subscriber to reboot.
8. User Registrar resets the CM through an SNMP Set operation using an embedded SNMP client.
9. The subscriber CM reboots, and obtains activated configuration information from CNR and Modem Registrar to associate the CM with the correct network class of service.
10. The subscriber device renews its DHCP lease and obtains activated configuration information from Network Registrar.
11. User Registrar retrieves the CM MAC address from the relay agent information option attribute in the directory object for the computer. The relay agent information option identifies the MAC address of the CM through which the computer obtained cable network access.
Posted: Tue Sep 26 04:20:59 PDT 2000
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