About Cisco NFV SD-Branch Support in Cisco vManage


Note

The documentation set for this product strives to use bias-free language. For purposes of this documentation set, bias-free is defined as language that does not imply discrimination based on age, disability, gender, racial identity, ethnic identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and intersectionality. Exceptions may be present in the documentation due to language that is hardcoded in the user interfaces of the product software, language used based on standards documentation, or language that is used by a referenced third-party product.


Cisco Network Function Virtualization Software-Defined Branch (NFV SD-Branch) features in Cisco vManage are a collection of capabilities that allow you to use Cisco vManage as a single centralized orchestrator to manage both the Cisco NFV hardware platforms powered by Cisco NFVIS hypervisor software, and the virtualized network function (VNF) based network services that run as guest virtual machines (VMs). SD-Branch in Cisco vManage provides a three-step user experience of design, deploy and monitor that enables you to deploy networking services efficiently across all sites within your enterprise network infrastructure.

The Cisco vManage portal supports:

  1. Design - A network architect can graphically create a parameterized network design template that captures the enterprise networking standards and best practices including WAN circuits and VNF service chains.
  2. Deploy - A network operator can use the pre-defined network design templates to deploy and configure network devices and services in multiple locations in an automated and secure manner without making any design decisions.
  3. Monitor - A network auditor can monitor and manage both the hardware platforms and the virtualized network services VMs that are running on them, without the fear of making accidental configuration changes.

Note

Cisco NFV SD-Branch features in Cisco vManage are only supported for greenfield deployments of the ENCS 5400 Series and the C8200-uCPE platforms.


What's New

Feature

Description

Where Documented

Support for Single IP Address for NFVIS and the Router VM

This release extends the support for using a single public IP address between NFVIS and the router VM to the SD-Branch solution.

Configure Single IP Address Sharing

Support for Start, Stop and Restart of VMs

This release extends the support for start, stop, and restart of the deployed VMs.

Start, Stop, and Restart WAN Edge Devices

Open Bugs

About the Cisco Bug Search Tool

Use the Cisco Bug Search Tool to access open and resolved bugs for a release.

The tool allows you to search for a specific bug ID, or for all bugs specific to a product and a release.

You can filter the search results by last modified date, bug status (open, resolved), severity, rating, and support cases.

Open Bugs for NFVIS SD-Branch Release 4.5.1

Caveat ID Number

Description

CSCvw28645

OIB: without change any ND global parameters, vManage automatically push template to all sites again

CSCvw56058

Usability: ESXi: Save ND template takes more time (>4 minutes) when have 15+ branch

CSCvw56471

Upgrade 20.3->20.4, ND Profile->LAN page does not show global vlan, spanning-tree and native-vlan

CSCvw95317

Upgrade 20.4 to 20.5 via CLI application server waiting and configuration and collection not running

CSCvx26056

vBranch: "show switch vlan" shows "% No entries found."

CSCvx39870

Failed to create network design:Failed to update one or more device profiles dueto leftover template

CSCvx44784

vBranch scale: vWAAS deployment fail. operation failed: domain 'vWAAS' already exists with uuid

CSCvx48439

Monitor: "VNF notifications" in real time show "No data available" even after stop/start VNF action

CSCvx48482

REACT: fail to open NFVIS portal in Firefox browser in Linux machine (Same works for old portal)

CSCvx52963

For Device side bug: VNF Install fail when use "Remote Server - vManage" for uploading VNF package

CSCvx52968

Scalability: Failed to update configuration - No device configured in ncs for some devices

CSCvx53103

vBranch: Portal Deploy page does not show custom properties variables and values for VMs

CSCvx69306

vBranch: VNF START/STOP/RESTART action fail via vManage. timed out after 30000 millis.

CSCvx71928

vBranch: Out of memory (oom-killer): Stopping strobe of WDT monitoring BMC. Reset coming!

CSCvx77953

vBranch: DPDK error due to insufficient Memory but vManage shows successful (CPU case shows error)

CSCvx79843

vManage shows ENCS NFVIS upgrade task fail due to activation timeout (default 30 minutes)

CSCvx79879

vBranch: ENCS NFVIS upgrade fail and NFVIS roll back. During upgrade, issue "show system packages"

CSCvx81920

vManage task shows NFVIS upgrade from 4.2.1-FC3 to 4.4.2-FC2 fail and roll back but actually success

CSCvx89314

Data collection status stuck in Queued state after performing VNF start/stop/reboot

Software Upgrade


Note

NFVIS 4.1.1 release or later on ENCS 5400 devices are supported on Cisco SD-Branch solution.


For more details on the NFVIS software upgrade, see Upgrade Cisco NFVIS.

For more details on vManage software upgrade, see vManage Software Upgrade.

System Requirements

The following resources are required for a standalone Cisco Enterprise NFVIS:

  • For a system that has 16 or less CPU cores, one CPU core is reserved for NFVIS. For a system that has more than 16 CPU cores, 2 CPU cores are reserved for NFVIS.

  • 20 GB storage


Note

More memory and disk space are required to be added to the system, depending on VM deployments.


Supported Programs and Platforms

Supported Platforms and Firmware

The following table lists the only supported platforms and firmware for Cisco ENFV

Platform

Firmware

Version

ENCS 5406, ENCS 5408, and ENCS 5412

BIOS

ENCS54_2.11

CIMC

3.2(10.4)

WAN Port Driver

1.4.22.7-10-ciscocsx

LAN Port Driver

5.4.0-3-k CISCO