First Published: December 21, 2018

Cisco Transport Planner Release Notes

This Release Notes document contains information about new features and enhancements for the Cisco Transport Planner (CTP). For detailed information regarding features, capabilities, hardware, and software introduced with this release, refer to the Release 11.0 version of the Cisco Transport Planner DWDM Operations Guide .

Cisco also provides Bug Search Tool, a web resource for tracking defects. To access the Bug Search Tool, visit the following URL:

https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/

New Features

This section highlights new features supported by CTP Release 11.0. For detailed documentation of each of these features, refer to the Cisco Transport Planner DWDM Operations Guide.


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Table 1. New Features in Cisco Transport Planner, Release 11.0

Features

Description

TNCS-2 and TNCS-2O

From Release 11.0, two new controller cards, TNCS-2 and TNCS-2O, are supported on the NCS 2002, NCS 2006, and NCS 2015.

From Release 11.0, TNCS-2 card is the default card on all the chassis type

TNCS-O Support

From Release 11.0, the TNCS-O card is supported on the NCS 2002.

Support of new Client interface on 400G-XP-LC

From Release 11.0, the 400G-XP-LC Card on MXP mode supports 40GE, 8G FC, and 10G FC client interfaces.

Note 

R11.0 supports only 8G FC client interface on non-CDR ports. CTP cannot distinguish between CDR and non-CDR ports. Hence, ensure to install 8G FC client interface only on non-CDR ports.

Support of 40G BiDi pluggable in MR-MXP and 400G-XP-LC

From Release 11.0, the MR-MXP and 400G-XP-LC card supports 40G Bidirectional QSFP

Support of ONS-SI-100-LX-10= on NCS 2015-ECU for MSM

From Release 11.0, ONS-SI-100-LX-10= pluggable is supported on NCS 2015-ECU optical MSM ports for MSM connections.

OTN-XC with Encryption on 400G-XP-LC

From Release 11.0, Encryption is supported on 400G-XP-LC OTN-XC mode for all the supported service types.

Support of QSFP-100G BiDi pluggable on 400G-XP-LC

From Release 11.0, 400G-XP-LC card supports QSFP-100G BiDi pluggable.

BH Alien Support

From Release 11.0, BH Alien is supported.

8QAM Alien Support

From Release11.0, 8QAM Alien is supported.

Performing Software Updates in CTP

CTP enables you to update the CTP software automatically or manually.

Performing Automatic Software Updates in CTP

This section explains how to perform an automatic software update.

Procedure

Step 1

When CTP is launched, it checks for the latest software update automatically. If available, the following dialog box appears: Online Update Available, Would you like to Update CTP?Click Yes.

Step 2

The Software Update Dialog box appears listing the applicable software updates. Select the required software update and click Apply.

Step 3

The Update Successful message appears. Click OK.

Note 
The Update dialog box appears every time CTP is launched until the software update is applied.

Performing Manual Software Updates in CTP

Contact the Cisco Sales/Account team to get the software update files.

This section explains how to perform a manual software update.

Procedure

Step 1

In the CTP Help menu, go to Help Check updates. The update CTP dialog box appears.

Step 2

Click Browse.

Step 3

Select the .upz update file and click OK.

Step 4

The Software Update Dialog box appears listing the applicable software updates. Select the required software update and click Apply.

Step 5

The Update Successful message appears. Click OK.

Step 6

Delete the cache and restart CTP.

Performing Software Update Rollback

CTP allows rollback of software updates. A single rollback moves the CTP software to the previous state (prior to the software update). For example, if there are two updates applied one by one—Update 1 and Update 2, after the first rollback, CTP removes Update 2 and retains Update 1. Further rollbacks are needed if multiple updates are present.

This section explains how to perform a rollback.

Procedure

Step 1

Press R while CTP is launching. The CTP launch is interrupted to perform a software rollback.

Step 2

Click Yes to confirm software rollback. The rollback successful dialog box appears.

Note 

  • Delete CTP Cache before and after applying update. Procedures about deleting cache are mentioned in the CTP Operations Guide. Take a backup of the required files (User preferences, CTP Design Files (.mpz), NeUpdate File, Alien Files, and so on) before deleting CTP cache.

  • Automatic Update can be performed only when you are connected to the Cisco network. If you are not on a Cisco network, try to connect to Cisco VPN first. Otherwise, the software update file should be manually provided by a Cisco representative and manually updated.

  • Changes caused by the software update is applicable even if the CTP Cache is deleted after the update. To remove an update, follow the rollback procedure mentioned in the previous section.

  • Multiple rollbacks are not supported in this release. Re-install CTP if required.

  • In the Java Control Panel, set the Java security to medium and mention the CTP installation directory in the Exception Site List (if there are issues with the rollback). If the screen is unresponsive, end CTP process and restart CTP.

  • For MAC, force quit the process and restart CTP (if there are issues with the rollback).

  • After uninstallation, delete all the files under the directory where CTP is installed manually.

    • Default location on Windows OS: C:\Program Files\Cisco\CTP11.0.

    • Default location on Mac OS: Applications/CiscoCTP11.0.

Software and Hardware Requirements

Before you begin to install CTP Release 11.0, you must check if your system meets the minimum software and hardware requirements.

This section describes the software and hardware requirements for CTP Release 11.0.

Operating System Requirements

CTP Release 11.0 runs on systems with the following operating systems:

  • Microsoft Windows 10 Professional
  • Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
  • Linux
  • Apple Mac OS (up to X El Capitan).

Note
Microsoft Windows 10 Professional is the preferred operating system for CTP Release 11.0.

Supported Java Runtime Environment

CTP Release 11.0 requires that you install one of the following Java Runtime Environment versions:

  • Java 1.7

  • Java 1.8

Hardware Requirements

CTP Release 11.0 runs on systems with the following hardware configurations:

Hardware

Minimum Requirements

Typical Requirements

Recommended Requirements

CPU

Intel Pentium Processor 800 MHz

Intel Pentium Processor 1.4 GHz

Intel Pentium Processor 1.7 GHz

Memory

1024 MB RAM

1 GB RAM

2 GB RAM or more

Video Resolution

1024x768

1280x1024

1280x1024

Customizing Memory Usage for JVM

CTP Release 11.0 allows you to customize the maximum amount of memory to be used by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The default value of 1024 MB is appropriate for use with the recommended hardware (1GB of RAM).

For hardware using less physical memory, it is recommended that you reduce the maximum amount of memory to be used by the JVM. This reduction prevents the system from using system virtual memory, which results in poorer system performance.

If you reduce the amount of memory dedicated to JVM, Cisco Transport Planner may generate an Out of Memory error in the case of a complex design, typically when designing an any-to-any traffic design with a large number of nodes. In such cases, it is recommended that you increase the memory size.

Allowing JVM to use too much memory compared to the available RAM can instead result in very low system performances due to the use of virtual memory. The following table lists the recommended settings:

System RAM

Minimum JVM Memory

Maximum JVM Memory

Suggested JVM Memory

1024 MB

256 MB

450 MB

350 MB

1 GB

512 MB

900 MB

700 MB

2 GB or more

512 MB

1800 MB

1450 MB

To change the maximum amount of memory to be used by the JVM, you need to edit the Startup.properties file, which is available in the directory where you saved thectp.jar file during installation. Replace the default value (1024 MB) with the appropriate one from the Suggested JVM Memory column of the preceding table. Save the file and restart the Cisco Transport Planner for the changes to take effect.


Note
The suggested memory values are for a system with fairly less load. If there are many processes running on your system, changing to the suggested memory value may not launch CTP. In such cases, reduce the JVM memory appropriately (you may reduce the memory in granularity of 100 MB) by editing the Startup.properties file.

Cisco Bug Search Tool

Use the Bug Search Tool (BST) to view the list of outstanding and resolved bugs in CTP Release 11.0.

BST, the online successor to Bug Toolkit, is designed to improve the effectiveness in network risk management and device troubleshooting. The tool allows partners and customers to search for software bugs based on product, release, and keyword, and aggregates key data such as bug details, product, and version. The tool has provision to filter bugs based on credentials to provide external and internal bug views for the search input.

The BST is available at https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/. For more information on BST, see Bug Search Tool Help.

Related Documentation

Cisco Transport Planner DWDM Operations guide, Release 11.0

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

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http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/general/whatsnew/whatsnew.html

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