NBAR protocol packs
are software packages that update the NBAR protocol support on a device without
replacing the Cisco software on the device. An NBAR protocol pack contains a
set of signatures that is supported by NBAR.
Protocol packs have
the following characteristics:
Cisco provides
users with two different protocol packs—the Standard Protocol Pack and the
Advanced Protocol Pack—depending on whether they are using an unlicensed or
licensed Cisco image.
Cisco provides a
specific identity number for the organization (also known as the “publisher”)
that creates the protocol packs and uses Cisco tools and processes to create
new protocol packs. The organization that creates the protocol pack owns the
pack.
Cisco provides the
Advanced Protocol Pack as the base protocol pack with a licensed Cisco image on
a device. The Advanced Protocol Pack has the complete set of Protocol
Description Language (PDL) files available for a release. On the Advanced
Protocol Pack, only a PDLM with the NAME field as Advanced Protocol Pack can be
loaded.
Cisco provides the
Standard Protocol Pack as the base protocol pack with an unlicensed Cisco image
on a device. The Standard Protocol Pack has limited features and functionality.
Some of the features, such as Category and Attributes, Field Extraction, and
Tunneled Classification, are not supported. On the Standard Protocol Pack, only
a PDLM with the NAME field as Standard Protocol Pack can be loaded.
To view the list of
protocols supported in a protocol pack, see
NBAR Protocol
Library.
The NBAR taxonomy
file contains the information such as common name, description, underlying
protocol, for every protocol that is available in the protocol pack. Use the
show
ip
nbar
protocol-pack
active
taxonomy ,
show
ip
nbar
protocol-pack
inactive
taxonomy , and
show
ip
nbar
protocol-pack
loaded
taxonomy commands to view the taxonomy file for an
active, inactive, and all loaded protocol-packs respectively.
The nbar taxonomy
file generally contains the information for more than 1000 protocols, and the
taxonomy file size is ~2 MB. It is recommended to redirect the output from the
show ip nbar protocol-pack
[ active |
inactive |
loaded] taxonomy command to a file by using the
redirect output modifier, for example,
show ip nbar protocol-pack active taxonomy |
redirect harddisk:nbar_taxonomy.xml .