Cisco Systems® announces the availability of the Cisco® Content Services Gateway (CSG) Service Manager 2.2 which is part of the Mobile Wireless Center for Cisco Mobile Exchange suite of applications, which complements the CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution (LMS) to provide end-to-end management of the Cisco Mobile Exchange (Figure 1). The Mobile Wireless Center for Cisco Mobile Exchange addresses the element-management requirements of mobile operators and provides fault and configuration capability as mobile operators transition their wireless service delivery networks from second-generation (2G) circuit-based traffic to 2.5G and third-generation (3G) IP-based services.
Figure 1. Mobile Wireless Center for Cisco Mobile Exchange
The Cisco CSG Service Manager is a feature-rich application for managing the configuration of the Cisco Content Services Gateway (CSG). The Cisco CSG Service Manager provides service activation, modification, and deactivation of the following configuration components:
• Map
• Policy and filter
• Content
• Rule set
• Service
• Billing
The Cisco CSG adds user-aware accounting and content-based billing features to the Cisco Catalyst® 6500 Series Switch and the Cisco 7600 Router platforms. The Cisco CSG is typically located at the edge of an ISP network. It provides IP flow accounting and content accounting by examining HTTP request URLs and header information. Additionally, the Cisco CSG gathers username and usage statistics and enables differentiated billing for individual transactions.
In this context, a typical IP-based mobile wireless network built around Cisco Mobile Exchange, whereas the Cisco CSG solution allows mobile operators to provide content-based billing to their wireless subscribers.
Integrated with the CiscoWorks LMS desktop, the Cisco CSG Service Manager provides an interface that is similar to other CiscoWorks applications and integrates with the CiscoWorks Resource Manager Essentials (RME) Job Manager to provide a powerful tool for bidirectional device interaction and status. Cisco CSG Service Manager GUIs are intuitive and allow the user to easily navigate through the different configuration tasks in a familiar environment. Figure 2 provides an example of the Cisco CSG Service Manager console interface for activating billing services.
Figure 2. Cisco CSG Service Manager Billing Services-Activation Console
KEY FEATURES AND BENEFITS
Table 1 describes the benefits of the Cisco CSG Service Manager when deployed as part of an element manager system (EMS) infrastructure.
Table 1. Features and Benefits of the Cisco CSG Service Manager
Features
Description
Benefits
Service Activation, Modification, Deactivation
• Automatically activates, modifies, and deactivates services in Cisco CSG server farms:
· Mapping
· Content
· Policy
· Rule set
· Billing Services
· Billing Plans
• Significantly reduces time to activate services
• Eliminate syntactic and semantics command-line interface (CLI) errors
• Reduces configuration complexity by removing CLI interaction and providing an intuitive device interaction
Discrepancy Analysis
• Determines if configuration deltas exist within the Cisco CSGs defined in the server farm
• Provides a report with found discrepancies; shows any diverging Cisco IOS® Software CLIs between Cisco CSGs
• Eliminates service-impacting misconfigurations
• Increases productivity by noting questionable configurations
• Accelerates time to service
• Increases network serviceability
Cisco CSG Server Farm Integration
• Cisco CSG server farm includes groupings of 2 or 4 Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series or Cisco 7600 Series chassis
• Automatically downloads configurations in all Cisco CSGs in the server farm
• Reduces complexity
• Increases productivity
• Eliminates out-of-sync configurations
CiscoWorks LMS Interface
• Interacts with CiscoWorks RME Job Manager to download device configurations to Cisco CSGs
• The latest Cisco CSG running configuration is automatically uploaded by CiscoWorks RME and then synchronized with Cisco CSG Service Manager
• Provides option for running or start-up configuration download
• Helps ensure that Cisco CSG device configurations are synchronized with Cisco CSG Service Manager
• Helps ensure that designated device is the standard against which new Cisco CSG configuration is applied, thus eliminating out-of-sync configurations
• Other Cisco IOS configurations unrelated to CSG are filtered out
• View configuration of any chassis in server farm
• Operator can focus on Cisco CSG mission-critical tasks without being overwhelmed by the whole device's configuration
• Reduces errors by showing only Cisco CSG-related configurations
• Eliminates configuration complexity
Batch-Mode Configuration
• Allows an operator to group multiple instances of the same service activation and download it to all Cisco CSG in the server farm
• Operator can cut and paste actual Cisco IOS configuration prior to downloading
• Increases productivity by bypassing sequential operations in case service activation of multiple Cisco CSGs is required
• Accelerates time to service
Running Versus Start-Up Configuration
• Allows an operator to specify if the new configuration will be updated in the start-up or the running configuration of a selected Cisco CSG or all the Cisco CSGs in the server farm
• Provides additional flexibility to the operator in terms of device configuration, eliminating the need to run CLI commands
• Improves device serviceability
PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS
The Cisco CSG Service Manager supports the following Cisco Mobile Exchange devices (Table 2):
Table 2. Cisco CSG Service Manager Device Support
Supported Device
Cisco IOS Software Release
Cisco Hardware
Cisco CSG 5.3
12.2(17d)SXB01
CSG card
Cisco CSG 5.4
12.2(17d)SXB5
CSG card
Cisco CSG 5.5
12.2(18)SXD3
CSG card
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Tables 3-5 list the system, client, and browser requirements for Cisco CSG Service Manager.
Table 3. Sun Server System Requirements
Requirement Type
Minimum Requirement
System Hardware
Dual processor UltraSPARC III or IIIi at minimum, Clock speed 1 GHz, RAM 4 GB
Swap Space
8 GB
Disk Drives
Dual 40+GB SCSI or FC-AL drives
Network Adapter
Suggested 100 MB or more
Operating System
Solaris 8
CiscoWorks LMS for Coexistence
2.2 with IDU 11
Table 4. Client Requirements
Requirement Type
Minimum Requirement
System Hardware
• IBM system with at least a 300 MHz Pentium processor running Windows Professional, or Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1)
• Sun UltraSPARC 10 running Solaris 2.7, Solaris 2.8.
Memory (RAM)
256 MB
Available Disk Space
40 GB
Operating Environment
• Sun Solaris 8
• Windows XP or Windows 2000 Professional
Swap Space
Space equal to twice the amount of memory (RAM)
Java Runtime Environment (JRE)
• Java Virtual Machine (JVM) 5.0.0.3802 and later
• Java Plug-in version 1.4.1_02
Table 5. Supported Browsers
Browser
Browser Version
Operating System
Internet Explorer
• 6.0 (version 6.0.2600.0000)
• 6.0 SP1(version 6.0.2800.1106
Windows 2000 or Windows XP
Netscape Navigator*
• 7.1, 4.78, and 4.79
Windows 2000 or Windows XP
Netscape Navigator*
• 7.0 and 4.76
Solaris 8
* The Java plug-in version must be 1.4.1_02.
ORDERING INFORMATION
The Cisco CSG Service Manager and related upgrade for CiscoWorks for Mobile Wireless and Mobile Wireless Center for Cisco Mobile Exchange 2.0 customers is available for purchase through regular Cisco sales and distribution channels worldwide. To place an order, visit the Cisco Ordering Home Page.
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.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information about the Cisco CSG Service Manager, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/mwc-cmx or contact your local account representative or send an e-mail to the Customer Support group at cs-mwc@cisco.com.
