Cisco Systems 10000 User Manual

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Product Bulletin No. 2254

Cisco 10000 Series Router

The Cisco® 10000 Series Router introduces new forwarding hardware, interface modules, and Cisco IOS® Software. The application and utility of the platform has expanded, offering exciting opportunities for service providers in the areas of service deﬁnition and reduced operational expenditure. The focus of the Cisco 10000 Series remains at the edge of the service provider network.

The network edge has seen transformation over the past years, with ever-increasing demands on scalability, performance, availability, and cost reductions. With its new capabilities, the Cisco 10000 Series is positioned to lead this market and deﬁne the next wave of services and solutions.

The Cisco 1000 Series Performance Routing Engine (PRE-2) offers a quantum leap in scalability, performance, and features over its predecessor (the PRE-1). Coupled with the introduction of OC-48c/ STM-16c uplink modules, the solution is positioned for higher-speed, higher-density edge applications. The latest Cisco IOS Software expands the Cisco 10000 Series legacy in high-density leased-line and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) applications, to include a full-featured broadband aggregation suite.

This document provides a guideline to applications best suited for the Cisco 10000 Series with its latest enhancements.

Broadband Aggregation

The term “broadband” covers many access technologies, including high-speed, ﬁxed-access circuits and wireless solutions. For the purposes of this document, broadband access is deﬁned as subscriber connections (business and residential) accessing the service provider network over DSL technologies. The Cisco 10000 Series does not physically terminate DSL circuits (this is the role of a DSL access multiplexer [DSLAM]). Its role is to aggregate the many thousands of ATM virtual circuits between central ofﬁce locations and a service provider’s IP network.

Ethernet is another broadband technology. Long-range Ethernet is emerging as an alternative to DSL technology in many metropolitan regions throughout the world It is likely to appear as an alternative transport medium for DSLAMs competing with ATM.

Ethernet is placed under the “broadband” umbrella The Cisco 10000 Series offers aggregation services for subscribers arriving through traditional ATM broadband as well as Ethernet broadband. With a rich history in ATM connectivity and services, the Cisco 10000 Series is optimized for ATM-based broadband aggregation, offering world-class scalability, performance, and features.

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Leased-Line Aggregation

Leased-line aggregation includes “ﬁxed-access” circuits generally focused on connecting business customers to a service provider network. Products or services offered over such circuits usually fall into one of two categories: Internet access and virtual private networks (VPNs).

Three main access mediums exist for the leased-line space—time-division multiplexing (TDM) circuits in the form of point-to-point connections, Frame Relay permanent virtual circuits (PVCs), and ATM PVCs. As with the broadband application space, Ethernet is becoming more prevalent, with many providers offering alternative high-speed applications with the technology.

Internet Access and VPNs

Access medium and Layer 2 protocol selection are extremely important to the service provider—they ultimately deﬁne the infrastructure, scalability, performance, and cost of a network. However, many customers of service providers do not buy access circuits—these are just a means to an end product, such as Internet access or VPNs.

Internet Access

Internet access has been the mainstay for service providers over the past ﬁve years with literally tens of thousands of businesses worldwide connecting through access networks to the Internet.

VPNs

VPNs have become a critical business driver as organizations worldwide rely more on the distribution of Web-based information and applications. Most enterprise and medium-sized businesses now offer intranet-based services for everyday operations, and service providers want to be part of this next wave of IT by offering outsourced services. Much of the high revenue growth over the coming years for the service provider will come from the VPN market.

Many protocols and follow-on applications have been driven by the VPN requirements including protocols and applications. Cisco has been at the forefront deﬁning such technologies and standards. Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is the leading technology used to build scalable VPNs. Many of the world’s largest service providers have built extensive MPLS networks with Cisco products, and are now offering VPN services to thousands of business organizations.

The Cisco 10000 Series offers a comprehensive and scalable MPLS feature set and is a leading provider-edge router in the Cisco portfolio. The product’s MPLS capabilities span both leased-line and broadband applications, the latter being a growth market in remote working environments. Broad MPLS feature support is becoming increasingly important as the market matures. The integration of leased-line and broadband capabilities is critical to meet the needs of service providers wishing to consolidate infrastructure at the network edge.

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Cisco 10000 Series Application Guide

General Overview of Broadband Remote Access Server

The Cisco 10000 Series provides aggregation and connectivity services between the service provider’s access network and the core IP network (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Service Provider Network Architecture

ATM Network

		Cisco	IP Network
	DSL	10000	IP Network
Subscriber	DSLAM	Series
Subscriber
	Access	Edge	Core

The access network consists of two main elements: DSL connections between the central ofﬁce and customer premises, and an ATM network connecting central ofﬁces to the service provider points of presence (POPs). The access network is responsible for delivering subscriber connections in bulk to the service provider’s IP edge.

The core network usually consists of high-speed routers meshed together with high-speed optical circuits, providing connectivity between regional POPs and peering points for Internet access.

The Cisco 10000 Series performs a pivotal role in the aggregation and termination of access technologies, authentication services, and the switching and routing of IP packets to and from the core.

Baseline Attributes for the Cisco 10000 Series Broadband Remote Access Aggregator

ATM services—A full spectrum of ATM interfaces is available from DS3/E3 copper through to OC-12/STM-4 high-speed optical. Interface choice is coupled with industry-leading densities and the highest scalability of virtual circuits. The Cisco 10000 Series offers several ATM service classes, including unspeciﬁed bit rate (UBR); UBR+; variable bit rate, non-real time (VBR-nrt); and constant bit rate (CBR) with scalable, accurate shaping at both the virtual circuit and virtual path layers.

Scalable provisioning services—Industry-leading authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) and Remote Authentication Dial-In User Services (RADIUS) provisioning of bulk conﬁgurations with the “Virtual Circuit Range” application. Zero-touch provisioning of virtual circuits with the “Auto-Conﬁgure” application.

Widest range of high-touch services—Using the Cisco 10000 Series Parallel Express Forwarding (PXF) adaptive architecture, many per-virtual circuit services are available with zero effect on system performance or scalability. From per-virtual circuit access control lists (ACLs) through IP multicast to extensive IP quality of service (QoS), the Cisco 10000 Series continues to lead the industry with high-value embedded services.

High availability—The Cisco 10000 Series has set the standard with high-availability features for the edge leased-line aggregation space. Much of the same technology and applications are used for broadband, enabling service providers to conﬁdently scale subscriber sessions and performance attributes without the fear of prolonged network outages. As the concentration of subscriber aggregation on the Cisco 10000 Series increases, the requirement for advanced high-availability features becomes greater.

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Broadband Architectures and Applications

RFC 1483/2668 and Remote Bridge Encapsulation

RFC 1483/2668 and Remote Bridge Encapsulation (RBE) are synonymous with ATM virtual circuits—they are traditionally used by service providers that “terminate” subscriber virtual circuits at the network edge and “route” trafﬁc into the core for Internet or VPN services. The main difference between the two protocols is in the area of IP management. RFC 1483/2668 relies heavily on manual provisioning of addresses and routes per subscriber, while RBE uses Dynamic Host Conﬁguration Protocol (DHCP) technology to automate the provisioning of addresses and routes. RBE is much simpler to provision and offers far greater scalability attributes than RFC 1483/2668.

Many service providers use these protocols for business-class Internet access, particularly where cheaper DSL access circuits are replacing leased lines. The point-to-point and “always-on” nature of these services make them ideal candidates for such access protocols. Both protocols are used extensively throughout the broadband application space, with an installed base of many millions of subscribers.

The subscriber experience is often deﬁned at the broadband remote access server (BRAS) by using ATM or IP-level rate-limiting capabilities. Both ATM trafﬁc shaping and IP policing/shaping are supported on the Cisco 10000 Series platform, offering scalable and accurate solutions for both environments (Figure 2).

Figure 2

RFC1483/2668 and RBE

			DHCP
		Cisco
Subscriber	ATM	10000	IP Network
Subscriber	ATM	Series	IP Network
	DSLAM	Series
	IP		IP
	RFC 1483/2668 or RBE
	ATM

The Cisco 10000 Series offers a comprehensive Cisco IOS Software feature set that has proven reliability, interoperability, scalability, and performance for both applications. RFC 1483/2668 is also used extensively for leased-line applications. The Cisco 10000 Series has supported this protocol for more than three years, and has thousands of ports terminated.

Point-to-Point Protocol Termination and Aggregation

Two main types of Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) are used throughout the broadband space: PPP over ATM (PPPoA) and PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE). PPPoE can be transported on either ATM virtual circuits (PPPoEoA) or over Ethernet (PPPoEoE). In this section, all subscriber connections will arrive on ATM virtual circuits.

PPP has the ﬂexibility to span two broadband architectures. The PPP Termination and Aggregation (PTA) method is typical for retail applications, and the “tunneled” method is typical for the wholesale architecture. This section will concentrate on the PTA solution (Figure 3).

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