Data Sheet
Cisco Prime Optical
Overview
Service providers face tremendous challenges in managing optical networks. These challenges include accurate
capacity planning; maintaining an offline database of resources and links that are aligned with the real network;
verifying that circuits are in place and working as expected; periodic configuration backup over large numbers of
network elements and software images; and creating on-demand reports showing historical performance and
demonstrating fulfillment of customer service-level agreements (SLAs). Network operators need a solution to
address these issues—one that simplifies complex provisioning tasks in order to accelerate the deployment of
new services, maintains transport network efficiency during the entire lifecycle, feeds operations support systems
(OSSs) with real-time network data, and reduces the cost of ownership.
Cisco Prime
™Optical is a carrier-class, multitechnology management system that integrates the end-to-end
management of legacy transport networks and packet optical transport networks. Cisco Prime Optical helps
communication service providers (CSPs) deliver the capacity and quality of service (QoS) required to support the
delivery of rich-content-based services and high-bandwidth applications. Cisco Prime Optical simplifies
provisioning and network management and reduces overall costs by providing operators with:
●
Scalability and growth in a robust carrier-class element management system, designed for reduced total
cost of ownership (TCO), that can scale to thousands of optical devices
●
Increased productivity with a multitechnology management system that integrates the inventory,
performance, and configuration management functions in a single application
●
Extendability and easy OSS integration using an EMS system with a standards-based Northbound
Interface that provides predefined integration with market-leading OSSs, like Tivoli Netcool for Cisco Prime
●
Built-in intelligence, helping operators quickly accomplish tasks when performing end-to-end circuit
provisioning by automatically selecting and implementing an optimal route that uses resource diversity on
working and standby paths
Figure 1. Cisco Prime Optical in an Optical Network
Features and Benefits
Features
●
Support for up to 5,000 optical network elements
●
Powerful GUI-based management system
●High availability for carrier-class management
●
Support for Carrier Packet Transport (CPT) networks
●
Standards-compliant information model and northbound interface for integration
●
Linux and Cisco
®Unified Computing System (UCS) support
Benefits
●
Maintains an efficient and productive optical infrastructure with one view of the nationwide optical network
supporting fault, configuration, performance, and security management, constantly monitoring the key
performance indicators of the optical network
●
Makes advanced management capabilities such as A-to-Z circuit provisioning easy to learn and error free
●Reduces the initial network discovery time by half, allowing shorter system startup, significantly reducing
the length of the network maintenance window, and reducing operating expenses (OpEx)
●
Extends the strength of the network core to the edge of the network, particularly in mobile backhaul and
optical transport networks, by provisioning static Label Switched Paths (LSPs) from core to edge
Table 1 lists other features and benefits.
Table 1.
Features and Benefits
Feature Description Benefit
Highly scalable Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 offers support for up to 5,000 optical network elements (NEs).
Single view of nationwide optical network
Support for CPT networks Facilitates the deployment of new packet transport networks and supports the following software features:
● Multiprotocol Label Switching Transport (MPLS-TP) ● Ethernet Virtual Circuit (EVC)
● Pseudowire ● QoS
Managing legacy Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) technology along with the new packet transport technology, Cisco Prime Optical helps enable the smooth transition to an integrated transport network.
QoS Provisioning Wizard Create and manage QoS profiles for different types of services in the CPT network. Use the CPT QoS Provisioning Wizard to provision class maps, actions, policy maps, and table maps.
Profiles can be easily applied at the network level, simplifying the process and reducing the risk of human errors.
TMF 814 CORBA northbound interface
Complete management plane for the MPLS-TP technology and Layer 2 Ethernet services extended to the northbound interface.
Easier OSS integration of Layer 2 services provisioning
Layer 2 service alarm isolation
Locate which Layer 2 services are affected by an existing Layer 2 service alarm.
Quickly identify affected services, reducing time to diagnose and repair
Supports Linux and Cisco UCS servers
Cisco Prime Optical can be installed on Cisco UCS servers running Linux Red Hat Enterprise distribution.
Lower application TCO
Oracle embedded database The database, where all the network information is stored, is embedded in the application and installs seamlessly with Cisco Prime Optical.
Lower capital expenditures (CapEx) and reduced OpEx
Fast system startup Optimized for Linux file system caching, Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 cuts the initial network discovery time in half, which allows faster system startup.
Significantly reduces the length of the network maintenance window resulting in shorter downtime of the network and reduced OpEx
Product Specifications
Table 2 lists the product specifications for Cisco Prime Optical Release 9.3.
Table 2.
Product Specifications
Product Specification
Details
User interface ● Rich point-and-click, intuitive user interface
● Domain explorer for logical organization of NEs and subnetwork explorer for hierarchical organization of network elements ● Easy navigation from network to shelf, cards, port
● Network maps for topology display with zooming capabilities ● Alarm browser and alarm log
● Control panel for managing server properties and default settings ● Client inactivity timers for automatic screen lock and automatic logout ● Powerful step-by-step provisioning wizards
Configuration management
● Native equipment and facility provisioning ● A-to-Z circuit provisioning
● Layer 2 provisioning using QoS templates
● Network element explorer for detailed configuration of network elements ● Topology and multilayer link management
● Broadcast software download and software activation
● Automatic network element memory backup, on-demand restoration
● Networkwide operations performed in bulk fashion (for example, alarm severities and default profiles assignment) ● IPv6 and Simple Network Management Protocol Version 3 (SNMPv3) support
Product Specification
Details
Fault management
● Real-time visual and audible alarm (optional continuous alarm) and event management ● Current and historical alarms
● Alarm-aware displays, alarm browser and log, network maps, network element explorers, domain explorer, subnetwork explorer, and summary dashboard
● Enable and disable unacknowledged alarm capability
Performance management
● Configurable automatic collection of near-end and far-end 5-minute, 10-minute, 15-minute to 1-day performance monitoring data
● Query wizard for performance monitoring reports
● Robust performance monitoring collection option to recover performance monitoring data missed during communication downtime
● Real-time display with 10-second polling ● Graph of performance monitoring data
Security management
● Centralized management of network element user accounts ● Upload, storage, and viewing of network element audit logs ● Comprehensive Cisco Prime Optical audit log tracks all user actions ● Enforced password complexity, password aging
● Custom profiles for access control of different user groups ● External authentication based on RADIUS server
Network elements support
See the Release Notes for Prime Optical Release 9.3 for the NE software releases that Prime Optical 9.3 supports.
Reliability and availability
High availability options: ● Local
● Geographically diverse
High Availability Solution based on Symantec Veritas to be licensed separately.
Platform Support/Compatibility
Cisco Prime Optical can be installed on either a Cisco Unified Computing System or Solaris server. Please refer to
the recommended configurations given in Table 3 for detailed information on preparing your network for Cisco
Prime Optical deployment.
Table 3.
System Requirements
Network Size Small Medium Large High End
Maximum number of network elements managed
200 500 2000 5000
UCS B or C Series 2 Intel Xeon 5620 processors
2 Intel Xeon 5620 processors
2 Intel Xeon 5640 processors
Oracle Sun Servers 2 UltraSPARC III or 2 UltraSPARC IIIi processors 4 UltraSPARC III or 2 UltraSPARC IV processors 8 UltraSPARC III or 4 UltraSPARC IV processors 8 UltraSPARC IV processors with fiber-channel disk array
RAM UCS 24 GB 24 GB 48 GB 96 GB
RAM UltraSPARC 8 GB 16 GB 32 GB 64 GB
Vendor Product Version Note
Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5 64 bit
Oracle Sun Solaris Solaris 10 10/09 or later
Ordering Information
To deploy an instance of Cisco Prime Optical, a customer must have the following licenses:
●
One Cisco Prime Optical Software Base Kit license.
●
Network element management licenses for each managed network element in the network. The specific
licenses depend on the network element type.
●
Optional license for the following features: Redundancy, CORBA northbound interface.
To place an order, contact your local Cisco account representative or visit the
Cisco Ordering Homepage
. See
Table 4 for ordering information.
Table 4.
Ordering Information
Product Name Part Number
Cisco Prime Optical (Dynamic Configuration Tool Top-Level Ordering Use Only) PRIME-9-OPTICAL-K9
Note: PRIME-9-OPTICAL-K9 is the reference Part Number to access the Configuration Tool from either Cisco.com or the Ordering Tool.
Product Name Part Number
Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 – Base Application OPTICAL-9.3-K9
Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 – Laboratory Application (No Production) OPTICAL-9.3-LAB-K9
Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 – Standby Application (Redundancy) OPTICAL-9.3-SBY-K9
Cisco Prime Optical 9.x – Group A Right to Manage OPTICAL-9-GR-A-RTM
Cisco Prime Optical 9.x – Group B Right to Manage OPTICAL-9-GR-B-RTM
Cisco Prime Optical 9.x – Group C Right to Manage OPTICAL-9-GR-C-RTM
Cisco Prime Optical 9.x – Group D Right to Manage OPTICAL-9-GR-D-RTM
Cisco Prime Optical 9.x – CORBA Northbound Interface OPTICAL-9-CORBA
Note: OPTICAL-9.3-LAB-K9 cannot be used in production networks but only in laboratory environments. The Laboratory license entitles a single running instance of the Cisco Prime Optical Server. There is no limit, besides the system limit and support specifications, to the number of devices that can be managed with OPTICAL-9.3-LAB-K9.
Product Name Part Number
Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 – Major upgrade for up to 20 NEs OPT-9.3-UPG-20-K9
Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 – Major upgrade for up to 50 NEs OPT-9.3-UPG-50-K9
Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 – Major upgrade for up to 100 NEs OPT-9.3-UPG-100-K9
Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 – Major upgrade for up to 200 NEs OPT-9.3-UPG-200-K9
Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 – Major upgrade for up to 500 NEs OPT-9.3-UPG-500-K9
Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 – Major upgrade for up to 1000 NEs OPT-9.3-UPG-1K-K9
Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 – Major upgrade for up to 2000 NEs OPT-9.3-UPG-2K-K9
Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 – Major upgrade for up to 4000 NEs OPT-9.3-UPG-4K-K9
Cisco Prime Optical 9.x – Major upgrade for CORBA OPT-9-UPG-CORBA
Note: OPTICAL-9.3-K9 is the mandatory base Cisco Prime Optical software license. It includes the license to deploy one Cisco Prime Optical instance. Cisco Prime Optical licenses are per Cisco Prime Optical instance. An instance of Cisco Prime Optical corresponds to a single running instance of the Cisco Prime Optical server. For example, if a customer is running two separate instances of Cisco Prime Optical, each instance needs to have a software base kit license.
Note: OPTICAL-9.3-SBY-K9 is the second server application used for high availability purposes. It is required to have at least one OPTICAL-9.3-K9 to use this part number.
Product Name Part Number
Cisco Prime Optical 9.3 – Service and Minor Upgrade OPTICAL-9.3-SR-K9
