Cisco Prime Provisioning

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1 Data Sheet Cisco Prime Provisioning Service Activation Across Multivendor Devices Product Overview The Cisco Prime Provisioning helps enable service providers to activate services across multiple technologies and across different vendors equipment. In doing so it caters to the wide and diverse range of networking technologies required to deliver the often wide range of services that modern service providers frequently offer. Activation can be made on one or many network elements, either through direct communications with network elements, through their element management systems, or through other OSS applications and IT services. Cisco Prime Provisioning provides: Extended use of standard communications technologies and protocols Improved scalability and performance Optimized performance and efficiency Improved rollback capability Increased automation Reduced cost of ownership Features and Benefits Managing Entire Network Domains The ability to monitor and control networks is essential in the delivery of profitable communications services. Some systems manage orders for communications services; some manage resources. But unless these systems are also able to manage the network domains involved and to validate that services have been activated correctly, then inefficiencies occur and operational and capital expenses increase. Cisco Prime Provisioning manages all of the above in a coordinated, integrated fashion. Built for Scalability and Performance To appreciate the role of Cisco Prime Provisioning in the service delivery process, first consider its role in the overall Cisco Prime Fulfillment architecture shown in Figure Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 1 of 9

2 Figure 1. Cisco Prime Fulfillment Architecture The architecture is based on a flexible three-tier approach that separates the Cisco Prime Fulfillment clients from the Java2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) applications server and the Oracle database server. It is this advanced architecture that gives the activation engine (housed on the application server) the foundation on which to execute all network element activations quickly and efficiently. Flexibility Through Componentization The Cisco Prime Fulfillment architecture supports a number of common integration technologies and protocols, both northbound and southbound. Cisco Prime Provisioning uses these within what are known as snap-in components to communicate with multiple objects including network elements (NEs), network management systems (NMSs) and element management systems (EMSs), servers, and other OSS applications. Support for Standard Communications Technologies Some examples of the protocols and technologies supported are given below. Note however, that additional protocol adaptors can be added to the system as required. See Figure 2. Figure 2. Cisco Prime Provisioning Protocol Support Network Virtual Terminal Protocol (Telnet): This command-line interface can be used to connect to a remote server, and Cisco Prime Provisioning often uses it to send activation commands directly to network devices. The Telnet commands are embedded within Cisco Prime Provisioning functions, which, given the correct security authorization, provide a simple yet powerful way of activating devices. (This architecture is shown in Figure 3.) 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 2 of 9

3 Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP): This, like Telnet, can be embedded within Cisco Prime Provisioning functions to communicate with SNMP-compliant devices. SNMP has also been used by Cisco Prime Provisioning to activate networking equipment through direct communication with the devices and to upload network inventory data. Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA): This provides a standard for an open software bus, or Object Request Broker, on which object components written by different vendors can interoperate across networks and operating systems. As such, the standard allows Cisco Prime Provisioning to invoke other CORBA objects (and vice versa) without knowing where those objects reside or in what language the requested objects are implemented. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP): This is a commonly used protocol to transfer information in mail format. The mail can be incorporated into a Cisco Prime Provisioning function that is then called by Cisco Prime Order Management at the appropriate point in the service delivery process. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP/S): This bidirectional Internet protocol is used by an HTTP client (typically a web browser) to request and receive Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) pages from an HTTP server (a web server). It is this protocol, for example, that is used by Cisco Prime Provisioning to facilitate integration with other web-based applications. File Transfer Protocol (FTP): This fast, effective method of transferring files can be used by Cisco Prime Provisioning to transfer files to and from multiple server locations. Java: Activation functions are written in Java and are used by Cisco Prime Provisioning to communicate with other OSS/BSS web-based applications. Web Services: This term describes a standardized way of integrating web-based applications using XML (Extensible Markup Language), SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), and WSDL (Web Services Description Language). Cisco Prime Provisioning includes a mechanism to manage web services calls. Additional examples of protocols and technologies used include, MML, TL1, and SCP. Designed for Increased Automation Cisco Prime Provisioning, using the protocols and technologies described above, has been designed to increase the flexibility and automation of any activation process across any networking technology. Its advanced design means that Cisco Prime Provisioning snap-in components can be called by multiple applications (such as Cisco Prime Service Inventory and Cisco Prime Order Management) to communicate with specific network elements. For example (as shown in Figure 3). Service Inventory calls Activation functions to upload (and download) information to and from the service inventory database and the network devices, so that reconciliation and synchronization of the information held in the database, and on the device, can be carried out. To do this, a procedure, known as a method, is activated from the appropriate object within the service inventory object tree. This method, which contains all the required business logic to perform the upload/download, then calls the appropriate Java function or functions within the Cisco Prime Provisioning engine, which in turn calls the appropriate device and protocol adaptors to communicate with the network element, element management system, or network management system Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 3 of 9

4 Figure 3. Activation Snap-In Component Architecture Activation functions are also called by Cisco Prime Order Management to communicate with network devices throughout the service delivery process. They are again activated from procedures, which in this case have been allocated (through simple drag-and-drop techniques) to the tasks in the Order Management workflow that need to communicate with the devices involved. These procedures again contain all the logic required to complete the task, including the necessary business logic surrounding the calls to the appropriate Cisco Prime Provisioning functions. Reduced Time to Market The use of reusable Cisco Prime Provisioning components (commonly referred to as snap-ins) means that the design of the activation and deactivation sequences of new and updated services is more rapid than ever before, which in turn dramatically reduces the time to market of those services. Strategic snap-ins are used by Cisco Prime Fulfillment solutions such as the Cisco Prime Fulfillment for DSL solution (which utilizes the Alcatel snap-in, for example) and the Cisco Prime Fulfillment for IP VPN solution (which utilizes the Cisco and Juniper snap-ins, for example). These snap-ins are supported under the terms and conditions of the standard support and maintenance agreement. Tactical snap-ins are those developed for specific projects, either by the customer, by the partner, or by Cisco and are supported as part of a professional services agreement for that specific project. Tactical snap-ins are developed using the Activation and Integration Design Kit. Example Snap-Ins and Integrations Table gives some examples of strategic and tactical snap-ins and OSS integrations. Table 1. Example Snap-Ins and integrations Target Device/System Alcatel 5620 NM MSC, 7470 MSP, 7670 RSP Alcatel 7300 ASAM, ISAM 7302 (by way of 5620) Alcatel 7300 ASAM Interface CORBA CORBA TL Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 4 of 9

5 Target Device/System Alcatel Ethernet Aggregation Switches (by way of 5620 SAM) Alcatel VoIP 5020 by way of 1300 CMC Cisco 800, 1600, 2600, 7200, 7500, 10000, Series Cisco 3500, 4000, 6500 Series Cisco 6260 DSLAM Cisco 6400, 7206 BRAS Cisco MGX 8230/8850 Cisco WAN Manager Clarify CRM DHCP and RADIUS servers DNS, LDAP ECI ADSL2+ Hi-Focus DSLAM Enterasys Matrix, SS 6000 switch Ericsson DSLAM by way of EMS Extreme Networks Switch Geneva Billing Huawei IP DSLAM IAF billing system Juniper ERX 700/1400 series Juniper ERX LDAP Server Juniper M Series Juniper M series Juniper T Series LDAP Apache Web Server Micromuse Netcool Netcracker Nokia DSLAMs Nokia DX220 ORACLE 11i Connection Manager Portal Billing Remedy RIPE Server SAP Siemens DSLAM XLD 2.1, 3.0 TACACS Router authentication Tellabs 8890 Management System Vantive Web services Interface XML XML Telnet, SNMP Telnet, SNMP Telnet Telnet, SNMP Telnet Screen scrape Batch files Batch files, Telnet SNMP SNMP CLI, SNMP CLI Xml/FTP CLI, Telnet LDAP Xml/JUNOScript Xml, Telnet, SSL Xml, Telnet, SSL FTP TIBCO SNMP FTP TIBCO Telnet XML GUI Telnet SNMP XML, SOAP 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 5 of 9

6 Automating Rollback and Rework Figure 4. Example Activation Sequence Unexpected issues will inevitably occur from time to time because of the complex sequences required to activate an end-to-end service. Take the example in Figure 4 where four devices, namely a DSLAM, router, switch, and gateway are involved in an activation sequence (activities 7 through 10). Now imagine that the first three of these activations are successful but the fourth, Activate Gateway, fails. At this point three things need to happen: 1. Work requests must be sent to all work groups involved in service assurance to make sure that they investigate and fix the problem as soon as possible. 2. New tasks must be inserted into the workflow to help ensure that each of the three successful activations carried out in the sequence so far is rolled back to the same state it was in before the sequence began. New tasks must be inserted into the workflow to help ensure that the activations are reworked once the problem is resolved. Figure 5. Example Rollback Sequence 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 6 of 9

7 This is precisely what happens with Cisco Prime Fulfillment. First the Activation snap-in involved in the communication with the gateway detects the problem and reports this back to the higher-level DSL component in Order Management. Next the Order Management component recognizes that this as a major activation failure and automatically inserts the required rollback (activities 11 through 13 in Figure 5) and rework tasks (activities 15 to 18). In this way not only is a full audit of all activities retained, but also the impact on the overall process is immediately apparent to all involved. This is of crucial importance in giving operations staff as much time as possible to minimize the impact of the failure and in giving customer services staff the necessary information to keep the customer informed at all times. Optimizing Activation Efficiency Finally, throughout the service delivery cycle it is important that the behind-the-scenes processes and thread management mechanisms be well maintained for each of the different device types being managed. This is achieved using the Activation Management Console, which helps ensure that the performance and efficiency of the entire activation process is kept at optimal levels. APIs SAFE PL SQL API This package is used to build up the XML, to send the XML to the Safe engine, and to retrieve the data from the response. Procedures Safe_Request get_call_defaults new_safe_reques add_call add_function add_resource add_resource_param add_resource_param close_resource add_function_param add_function_param close_function close_call close_request get_xml display_xml send_request check_response 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 7 of 9

8 get_parameter_count get_parameter new_response_clob new_request_array add_to_request_array get_request_status pause_resource unpause_resource resource_paused SAFE EJB API EJBs Value Objects EJB APIParameter Object APIResource Object APIIsolatedProcess Object Call Processing EJB Call Maintenance EJB Resource Maintenance EJB Process Maintenance EJB System Maintenance EJB 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 8 of 9

9 Further Information About Cisco Prime The Cisco Prime portfolio of enterprise and service provider management offerings empowers IT organizations to more effectively manage their networks and the services they deliver. Built on a service-centered foundation, the Cisco Prime portfolio of products supports integrated lifecycle management through an intuitive workflow-oriented user experience. The portfolio of Cisco Prime solutions for service providers provides A-to-Z management for IP next-generation networks, mobility, video, and managed services. Service and Support Cisco offers a wide range of services programs to accelerate customer success. These innovative services programs are delivered through a unique combination of people, processes, tools, and partners, resulting in high levels of customer satisfaction. Cisco services help you to protect your network investment, optimize network operations, and prepare the network for new applications to extend network intelligence and the power of your business. For more information about Cisco services, see Cisco Technical Support Services or Cisco Advanced Services. Printed in USA C / Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Page 9 of 9