cc/td/doc/product/rtrmgmt/vpnsc/mpls/1_1
hometocprevnextglossaryfeedbacksearchhelp
PDF

Table of Contents

Getting Started

Getting Started

This chapter provides information about how to get started in using MPLS VPN Solution into the following categories:

Introduction

Effective operations management is one of the most important success factors for the Service Provider business. Cisco Virtual Private Network (VPN) Solutions Center: Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Solution, to be referred to as MPLS VPN Solution, is part of the operations management. MPLS VPN Solution is the provisioning and network management solution for MPLS VPN.

Provider MPLS VPN networks present new challenges to the provisioning of network services. The Provider must be able to share bandwidth among customers while simultaneously ensuring the network reliability and security remain at the same level as private leased lines. To effectively meet these requirements, network architecture, deployment, roll out, and operational support procedures must be well planned and defined. MPLS VPN Solution then enables the Service Provider to effectively manage and maintain the integrity of the network.

MPLS VPN Solution runs on a Sun Microsystems Solaris platform, Release 2.6. The setup function allows you to create targets from router configurations and define the Provider Administrative Domain, customers, and VPNs. MPLS VPN Solution is a service management system that allows service operators to use wizards to enter the requested service-related information. MPLS VPN Solution has an audit function that monitors and reports the current state of a VPN service request over its lifetime and the reasons why the service request is in its current state (audit detail). MPLS VPN Solution provides collection tasks and reports for accounting and SLA.

To implement MPLS VPN Solution, you use the wizards to specify a few parameters, and MPLS VPN Solution configures the customer-edge router (CE) and the provider-edge router (PE).

The CE is the router at the customer site that connects to the Service Provider. The customer site is connected to a VPN when the CE router attaches itself to a VPN service from the Service Provider.

System Recommendations

The system recommendations are explained in the following categories:

MPLS VPN Solution System Recommendations

The following are the system recommendations for MPLS VPN Solution:


Table 1-1: Workstation Recommendations for MPLS VPN Solution

Number of CEs

Workstation

RAM

Disk Space

Up to 500

Minimum: Ultra 60 (1 CPU)

For Growth: Enterprise 250 (2 CPUs)

1 GB

20+ GB

500 to 1,500

Minimum: Ultra 60 (2 CPUs)

For Growth: Enterprise 250 (2 CPUs)

1 GB

20+ GB

1,500 to more than 3,000

Enterprise 450 (4 CPUs)

1 GB

20+ GB


Note When you install Solaris 2.6, be sure to choose either the Developer System Support or the Entire Distribution software groups. Do not choose the End User System software group. The Developer System Support and Entire Distribution software groups contain the software required for a correct operating system installation (such as the SUNWbtool and SUNWsprot packages).

Cisco IP Manager (CIPM) (Lite) Version 2 Recommendations

Prior to installing the MPLS VPN Solution, you must install Cisco IP Manager (CIPM) (Lite) Version 2, which is bundled with this product. This is a requirement because it is the element manager for MPLS VPN Solution.


Note You must install CIPM on a separate machine from where you will install the MPLS VPN Solution software.

For information on how to install CIPM, refer to the Cisco IP Manager (Lite) User's Guide: Version 2.0 distributed with the product. The recommendations for the workstation on which you are installing CIPM are as follows:

Other System Recommendations

In addition to the MPLS VPN Solution and CIPM system requirements, the following is needed:


Note The recommendation is that one NetFlow workstation be connected to each PE.


Note The Web Browser is specified during installation and in the csm.properties file.

Time Zones for Performance Data Collection

Be sure that all devices from which data is being collected are synchronized. For NetFlow collection, this means that not only does the MPLS VPN Solution system need to be synchronized to the NetFlow Collector, but that the PE routers must also be set to the same time and time zone. Otherwise, data will not be displayed or will be inaccurately displayed based on the router's time stamp imbedded in the data.

Recommended Default Overrides for Set Dataset Limit

It is strongly recommended that you override the Unlimited default, because large numbers of datasets can impact the usability. The limit to set varies dependent on the size of your network and your host configuration.

In the csm.properties file, there is a tool that can help you monitor your disk usage for setting the dataset limits. If you specify an e-mail address for netsys.watchdog.email.disk, you will receive an error message when the free disk space rises above the level set in netsys.watchdog.disks.high in megabytes or as a percentage (default: 20%) or when the free disk space falls below the level set in netsys.watchdog.disks.low in megabytes or as a percentage (default: 10%).


hometocprevnextglossaryfeedbacksearchhelp
Posted: Thu Apr 20 16:18:50 PDT 2000
Copyright 1989 - 2000©Cisco Systems Inc.