Automation Workflows

This chapter describes the installation and communication sequence of the Routed Optical Networking components. The chapter also includes some Routed Optical Networking ML service provisioning examples.

Sequence for Installation of Routed Optical Networking Components

We recommend this installation sequence:


Note

Cisco Crosswork Hierarchical Controller, Crosswork Network Controller Essentials, and NSO 6.1.9 with Routed Optical Networking 3.0.0 Function Pack are the minimum required components for the Routed Optical Networking solution. Cisco Optical Network Controller is required when using Cisco optical networking components.

Communication Sequence

This diagram displays the communication sequence between the Routed Optical Networking components:

Figure 1. Routed Optical Networking Communication Flow
Routed Optical Networking Communication Flow

  1. Crosswork Network Controller discovers services. Crosswork Network Controller populates NSO with device information via RESTCONF and handles NSO provisioning requests. EMS collects fault and alarm data from devices.

  2. Crosswork Data Gateway sends device status to Crosswork Network Controller using Kafka. Crosswork Network Controller manages the Crosswork Data Gateway instance.

  3. SR-PCE sends SR-TE/RSVP-TE and topology information to Crosswork Network Controller via REST APIs.

  4. NSO manages XR router configuration using NETCONF and CLI.

  5. Crosswork Data Gateway collects network information from XR routers using CLI, SNMP, syslog, and MDT.

  6. SR-PCE acts as a network PCE and collects IGP topology information from the network using PCEP and BGP-LS.

  7. Cisco Optical Network Controller manages the NCS 1010 network nodes via NETCONF and gNMI. Cisco Optical Network Controller communicates with Cisco Optical Site Manager for NCS 1010

  8. EPNM performs router inventory, SWIM, fault, and performance data collection using SNMP, CLI, and SYSLOG.

  9. EPNM performs optical inventory, SWIM, fault, and performance data collection via NETCONF.

  10. Crosswork Hierarchical Controller discovers optical equipment, topology, and services and provisions optical services via TAPI. Crosswork Hierarchical Controller receives PM data using ONC RPC.

  11. Crosswork Hierarchical Controller discovers IGP nodes and topology and provisions services using Crosswork Network Controller NB API. Crosswork Hierarchical Controller receives PM data using GRPC.

  12. Crosswork Hierarchical Controller collects the inventory data for ZR/ZR+ optics discovery using XR adapter directly from routers. This is also used to verify successful provisioning.


    Note

    Routed Optical Networking components are not required in all the deployments.

Service Provisioning Examples

In this section, a service provisioning example has been provided. This example uses the Cisco NSO Routed Optical Networking Core Function Pack for service provisioning.

Provision End-to-end Service (Cisco Routers with ZR/ZR+ Optics Only)

These diagrams display a network that contains Cisco routers with ZR or ZR+ optics and a non-Cisco optical line system.

Figure 2. Cisco Routers (with ZR/ZR+ Optics)
Cisco Routers (with ZR/ZR+ Optics)
Cisco Routers (with ZR/ZR+ Optics)

  1. Create Routed Optical Networking ML Service with the following parameters:

    Input

    Value

    End-points

    ron-8201-1, ron-8201-2

    Model

    Transponder (1x400G mode)

    Bandwidth

    400G

    Frequency

    1952000

    TX Power

    -12dB on both endpoints

    IP Addressing

    10.2.1.10/31 and 10.2.1.11/31 on FourHundredGigE 0/0/0/8

    		 
    ron ron-ml ron-8201-1_ron-8201-2
 mode      transponder
 bandwidth 400
 circuit-id "Router Only"
 frequency  1952000
 end-point ron-8201-1
  terminal-device-optical line-port 0/0/0/8
  terminal-device-optical transmit-power -120
  terminal-device-packet interface 0
   ip-address v4 10.2.1.10/31
  !
 !
 end-point ron-8201-2
  terminal-device-optical line-port 0/0/0/8
  terminal-device-optical transmit-power -120
  terminal-device-packet interface 0
   ip-address v4 10.2.1.11/31
  !
 !
!

NSO Routed Optical Networking ML Service

This diagram displays the NSO Routed Optical Networking ML service workflow for an end-to-end service (only Cisco routers with ZR/ZR+ optics).

Figure 3. NSO Routed Optical Networking ML Service Sequence
NSO Routed Optical Networking ML Service Sequence

The workflow of the Routed Optical Networking ML service is as follows:

  1. User initiates the Routed Optical Networking ML provisioning request.

  2. The Routed Optical Networking ML service retrieves the transceiver and line card PIDs for each router end-point using CLI NED.

  3. The Routed Optical Networking ML service compares the received transceiver PIDs and determines if the transceivers can support the service.

  4. The Routed Optical Networking ML service compares the received line card PIDs, and determines if the line cards must be configured.

  5. The Routed Optical Networking ML service provisions the router optics ports. It optionally performs bundle and IP configuration using the Cisco YANG models.

  6. The Routed Optical Networking ML service stores the service information as NSO operational data and also returns the service state to user.

Crosswork Hierarchical Controller Provisioning Workflow

This section describes the workflow for provisioning the Routed Optical Networking circuit in the Crosswork Hierarchical Controller GUI via the Crosswork Network Controller.


Note

The workflow does not support provisioning an end-to-end service in a network that contains Cisco routers with ZR or ZR+ optics and a non-Cisco optical line system.

Figure 4. Crosswork Hierarchical Controller Provisioning Workflow
Crosswork Hierarchical Controller Provisioning Workflow

Automation Starter Solution

Automation Starter Solution accelerates adoption of Routed Optical Networking by simplifying the installation and deployment of the overall Routed Optical Networking solution. It is a simplified automation stack that is used to manage ZR/ZR+ optics in Cisco routers. The primary difference between the starter and full solution is the absence of CNC in the Starter solution. In the starter solution, the Crosswork Hierarchical Controller communicates with Cisco routers using the IOS XR and NSO adapters, and communicates with optical networks using the appropriate optical controller adapter.

The Starter solution uses the same NSO RON-ML function pack as the full solution. The function pack version is 3.0

Communication Workflow in Automation Starter Solution

This diagram displays the communication workflow between the Routed Optical Networking components in the automation starter solution.

Figure 5. Communication Workflow in Automation Starter Solution
Routed Optical Networking Communication Flow in Starter Solution

  1. Crosswork Hierarchical Controller communicates with the router to collect hardware inventory, link discovery and state, and collect performance measurement statistics.

  2. NSO communicates with the router for router configuration management, DCO, and IP link provisioning.

  3. Crosswork Hierarchical Controller discovers optical equipment, topology, and services and provisions optical services through TAPI, PM data through CONC RPC.

  4. ONC communicates with SVO and Cisco Optical Site Manager for end-to-end optical device management.

Automation Starter Solution versus Full Solution

This diagram displays the components that are involved in the automation starter solution and full solution.

Figure 6. Automation Starter Solution versus Full Solution
RON Automation Starter versus Full RON Solution
Table 1. Automation Starter Solution versus Full Solution

Feature

Automation Starter Kit

Full Solution

Wavelength Provisioning

Yes

Yes

Optical Circuit Assurance and Troubleshooting

Yes

Yes

Multilayer Visualization and History View

Yes

Yes

Management and verification of optical to IP connections

Yes

Yes

SR/SRv6 Control Plane SDN Automation

No

Yes

IP Element Management and IP SDN Path Optimization

No

Yes

IP Service Assurance and Service Orchestration

No

Yes

PLE Automation (SR-CS bandwidth reservation, provisioning, assurance)

No

Yes
Table 2. Required Adapters in Automation Starter Solution and Full Solution

Type of Solution

Required Adapters

Full Solution

  • CNC adapter - Inventory, physical and IGP topology, segment routing, service discovery

  • CDG adapter - PM collection

  • IOS-XR adapter - RON inventory and topology

  • NSO adapter+RON-ML FP - RON link provisioning

  • Optical adapters to support Optical Line System - CONC adapter for Cisco Optical Network Controller

Starter Solution

  • IOS-XR adapter - RON inventory and topology

  • NSO adapter+RON-ML FP - RON link provisioning

  • Optical adapters to support Optical Line System - CONC adapter for Cisco Optical Network Controller

Troubleshoot Provisioning Issues

Provisioning on ZR or ZR+ Optics

  • To check the controller state on the router, use:

    RP/0/RP0/CPU0:ron-8201-1#show controllers optics 0/0/0/20
Thu Jun  3 15:34:44.098 PDT

 Controller State: Up

 Transport Admin State: In Service

 Laser State: On

 LED State: Green

 FEC State: FEC ENABLED

 Optics Status

         Optics Type:  QSFPDD 400G ZR
         DWDM carrier Info: C BAND, MSA ITU Channel=10, Frequency=195.65THz,
         Wavelength=1532.290nm

         Alarm Status:
         -------------
         Detected Alarms: None


         LOS/LOL/Fault Status:

         Alarm Statistics:

         -------------
         HIGH-RX-PWR = 0            LOW-RX-PWR = 0
         HIGH-TX-PWR = 0            LOW-TX-PWR = 4
         HIGH-LBC = 0               HIGH-DGD = 1
         OOR-CD = 0                 OSNR = 10
         WVL-OOL = 0                MEA  = 0
         IMPROPER-REM = 0
         TX-POWER-PROV-MISMATCH = 0
         Laser Bias Current = 0.0 %
         Actual TX Power = -7.17 dBm
         RX Power = -9.83 dBm
         RX Signal Power = -9.18 dBm
         Frequency Offset = 9 MHz

    RP/0/RP0/CPU0:ron-8201-1#show controllers coherentDSP 0/0/0/20
Thu Jun  3 15:38:04.565 PDT

Port                                            : CoherentDSP 0/0/0/20
Controller State                                : Up
Inherited Secondary State                       : Normal
Configured Secondary State                      : Normal
Derived State                                   : In Service
Loopback mode                                   : None
BER Thresholds                                  : SF = 1.0E-5  SD = 1.0E-7
Performance Monitoring                          : Enable
Bandwidth                                       : 400.0Gb/s

Alarm Information:
LOS = 8 LOF = 0 LOM = 0
OOF = 0 OOM = 0 AIS = 0
IAE = 0 BIAE = 0        SF_BER = 0
SD_BER = 0      BDI = 0 TIM = 0
FECMISMATCH = 0 FEC-UNC = 0     FLEXO_GIDM = 0
FLEXO-MM = 0    FLEXO-LOM = 0   FLEXO-RDI = 0
FLEXO-LOF = 2
Detected Alarms                                 : None

Bit Error Rate Information
PREFEC  BER                                     : 1.5E-03
POSTFEC BER                                     : 0.0E+00
Q-Factor                                        : 9.40 dB

Q-Margin                                        : 2.20dB

OTU TTI Received

FEC mode                                        : C_FEC

  • To gather the performance measurement data, use:

    RP/0/RP0/CPU0:ron-8201-1#show controllers optics 0/0/0/20 pm current 30-sec optics 1
Thu Jun  3 15:39:40.428 PDT

Optics in the current interval [15:39:30 - 15:39:40 Thu Jun 3 2021]

Optics current bucket type : Valid
               MIN       AVG       MAX    Operational Configured TCA   Operational Configured TCA
                                          Th(min)     Th(min)   (min)  Th(max)     Th(max)   (max)
LBC[% ]      : 0.0       0.0       0.0      0.0          NA       NO   100.0       NA          NO
OPT[dBm]     : -7.17     -7.17     -7.17    -15.09       NA       NO   0.00        NA          NO
OPR[dBm]     : -9.86     -9.86     -9.85    -30.00       NA       NO   8.00        NA          NO
CD[ps/nm]    : -489      -488      -488     -80000       NA       NO   80000       NA          NO
DGD[ps ]     : 1.00      1.50      2.00     0.00         NA       NO   80.00       NA          NO
SOPMD[ps^2]  : 28.00     38.80     49.00    0.00         NA       NO   2000.00     NA          NO
OSNR[dB]     : 34.90     35.12     35.40    0.00         NA       NO   40.00       NA          NO
PDL[dB]      : 0.70      0.71      0.80     0.00         NA       NO   7.00        NA          NO
PCR[rad/s]   : 0.00      0.00      0.00     0.00         NA       NO   2500000.00  NA          NO
RX_SIG[dBm]  : -9.23     -9.22     -9.21    -30.00       NA       NO   1.00        NA          NO
FREQ_OFF[Mhz]: -2        -1        4        -3600        NA       NO   3600        NA          NO
SNR[dB]      : 16.80     16.99     17.20    7.00         NA       NO   100.00      NA          NO
    RP/0/RP0/CPU0:ron-8201-1#show controllers coherentDSP 0/0/0/20 pm current 30-sec fec
Thu Jun  3 15:42:28.510 PDT

g709 FEC in the current interval [15:42:00 - 15:42:28 Thu Jun 3 2021]

FEC current bucket type : Valid
    EC-BITS   : 20221314973             Threshold : 83203400000            TCA(enable)  : YES
    UC-WORDS  : 0                       Threshold : 5                      TCA(enable)  : YES

              MIN       AVG        MAX      Threshold      TCA     Threshold     TCA
                                              (min)     (enable)    (max)     (enable)
PreFEC BER  : 1.5E-03   1.5E-03   1.6E-03      0E-15        NO       0E-15        NO
PostFEC BER :  E-15     0E-15     0E-15      0E-15        NO       0E-15        NO
Q[dB]       : 9.40      9.40      9.40          0.00        NO        0.00        NO
Q_Margin[dB]: 2.20      2.20      2.20          0.00        NO        0.00        NO

Last clearing of "show controllers OTU" counters never

This table contains the streaming telemetry sensor paths and the information fields that you receive from them.

Sensor path Information Fields

Cisco-IOS-XR-controller-optics-oper:optics-

oper/optics-ports/optics-port/optics-info

alarm-detected, baud-rate, dwdm-carrier-frequency, controller-state, laser-state, optical-signal-to-noise-ratio, temperature, voltage

Cisco-IOS-XR-controller-optics-oper:optics-

oper/optics-ports/optics-port/optics-lanes/optics-lane

receive-power, receive-signal-power, transmit-power

Cisco-IOS-XR-controller-otu-

oper:otu/controllers/controller/info

bandwidth, ec-value, post-fec-ber, pre-fec-ber, qfactor, qmargin, uc

Cisco-IOS-XR-pmengine-oper:performance-

management/optics/optics-ports/optics-port/optics-

current/optics-second30/optics-second30-optics/optics-

second30-optic

dd__average, dgd__average, opr__average, opt__average, osnr__average, pcr__average, pmd__average, rx-sig-pow__average, snr__average, sopmd__average

Cisco-IOS-XR-pmengine-oper:performance-

management/otu/otu-ports/otu-port/otu-current/otu-

second30/otu-second30fecs/otu-second30fec

ec-bits__data, post-fec-ber__average, pre-fec-ber__average, q__average, qmargin__average, uc-words__data

Note

The performance management sensor paths show the sensor path for a 30-second performance measurement (PM) interval. They also support 15 minutes and 24 hours. To access these options, replace second30 in the sensor path with minute15 and hour24 respectively.

Crosswork Hierarchical Controller Provisioning

In the event of a failed configuration, the configuration state transitions to FAILED. The Last Operation is in the Rollback stage where it rolls back the configuration.

Figure 7. Crosswork Hierarchical Controller UI - Operations Tab
Crosswork Hierarchical Controller UI - Operations Tab

After clicking the service, you can click on ERRORS to check the reason for failure. In this case, the discovery of the operational state exceeded the discovery timeout. The reason for this is, one end of the link was in a loopback state, which did not prohibit the provisioning of the ports, but affected the reachability between the two endpoints.

Figure 8. Crosswork Hierarchical Controller UI - Operations Tab
Crosswork Hierarchical Controller UI - Operations Tab

The logs display both the provisioning flow and the rollback flow.

Figure 9. Crosswork Hierarchical Controller UI - Operations Tab
Crosswork Hierarchical Controller UI - Operations Tab