Cisco 7300 Series Content Engines

Product Bulletin No. 2062

Ordering Information for Cisco Content Engines
with Cisco ACNS Software Version 5.0.1

Introduction

The Cisco^® Enterprise Content Delivery Network (ECDN), running Cisco Application and Content Networking System (ACNS) Software, enables organizations of all sizes to reduce costs and increase productivity and revenue by extending strategic applications from the data center to the branch office, including:

Cisco ACNS Software Version 5.0 architecture introduces major enhancements in terms of the following:

With the Cisco ACNS Software v5.0, Cisco Systems^® is introducing a new line of hardware products to increase performance and storage for content delivery networks.

Available Hardware Models

Which Cisco Content Engine model you select depends on many factors including: where the content engine is located (edge, campus, or data center); what the application is streaming, caching, filtering, etc., and product capability of the content distribution manager (CDM), content router, or content engine.

Cisco content engines are available in four models:

Content Engine Product Capability

A new feature of Cisco ACNS Software Version 5.0 is the capability of configuring certain hardware as a content engine, content router, or CDM. All products will ship directly from the factory as a content engine and in some cases the content engine can be changed into a content router or CDM with a command-line interface (CLI) command (Table 1).

Note that the product can only have a single function (content engine, content router, or CDM) and cannot be configured to perform all functions simultaneously. Existing hardware (Cisco Content Distribution Manager models 4650 and 4630, Content Engine models 507, 560, 590, and 7320, and Content Router-4430) will operate with Cisco ACNS Software Version 5.0 but cannot be reconfigured.

Cisco CE-510-K9 Content Engine

The Cisco 510 Content Engine is a content engine with a default configuration consisting of a single IDE hard disk. Customers can optionally purchase a second IDE hard disk; however, there is no external storage expandability beyond two internal disk drives. Optionally, the Cisco Content Engine 510 can be configured with either a Fibre Channel adapter for interfacing with SANs or an MPEG video decoder for baseband video capability. Due to the availability of only a single PCI slot either the Fibre Channel adapter or MPEG decoder can be installed in the Cisco 510 Content Engine, but not both. (Part number CE-510-K9).

Cisco CE-565-K9 Content Engine

The Cisco 565 Content Engine is a content engine with a default configuration consisting of two internal SCSI hard disks. No additional internal hard disks can be added to the product. For storage expandability and higher caching performance, a Cisco Storage Array 7 can be connected to the Cisco 565 Content Engine SCSI connector. Optionally the Cisco 565 Content Engine can be configured with either a Fibre Channel adapter for interfacing with SANs or an MPEG video decoder for baseband video capability. Due to the availability of a single PCI slot, either the Fibre Channel adapter or MPEG decoder can be installed in the Cisco 565 Content Engine, but not both. (Part number CE-565-K9).

Through a CLI configuration the Cisco 565 Content Engine can be changed into a CDM or a content engine. There is no additional licensing or customer cost to make this change. (See Table 1.)

Cisco CE-7305-K9 Content Engine

The Cisco 7305 Content Engine is a content engine with a default configuration consisting of two internal SCSI hard disks. In addition, up to four hard disks can be added to the product for a total of six internal disks. For storage expandability and higher caching performance, a Cisco Storage Array 7 and Cisco Storage Array 14 can be connected to the Cisco 7305 Content Engine SCSI connector. Optionally the Cisco 7305 Content Engine can be configured with a Fibre Channel adapter for interfacing with SANs (Part number CE-7305-K9).

Through a CLI configuration the Cisco 7305 Content Engine can be changed into a CDM or a content engine. There is no additional licensing or customer cost to make this change. (See Table 1.)

Cisco CE-7325-K9 Content Engine

The Cisco 7325 Content Engine is a content engine with a default configuration consisting of six internal SCSI hard disks. No additional internal hard disks can be added to the product. For storage expandability and higher caching performance, a Cisco Storage Array 7 and Cicso Storage Array 14 storage array can be connected to the Cisco 7325 Content Engine SCSI connector. Optionally the Cisco 7325 Content Engine can be configured with a Fibre Channel adapter for interfacing with SANs.

Default Configurations

The ability to configure the hardware is also new for the Cisco Content Engine models 510, 565, 7305, and 7325. Each of these products will default in the Cisco Configurator Tool with the minimum disk drives (Table 2). In some cases additional drives can be added along with MPEG decoders or Fibre Channel adapters.

Windows Media Compatibility

Each model of Cisco Content Engine can be ordered with a specific Windows Media Straming Option(Table 3) and support live streaming, stream splitting, multicast, and video on demand (VOD). See the Cisco ACNS Software Version 5.0 datasheet for further details on Windows Media^® streaming. The software options are available for an additional charge and can be purchased with the product or separately as a spare. The streaming throughput of each software option is listed in the chart and is measured as total content engine throughput. Please note that the throughputs are estimates and vary depending on the number of unique streams, encoding rates, and file sizes.

RealNetworks Streaming

All the content engine hardware platforms can be purchased with an additional RealNetworks license for Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) and Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP). The RealNetworks license is a combined Proxy and Server/Subscriber license and supports live streaming, stream splitting, multicast, and VOD. See the Cisco ACNS Software Version 5.0 datasheet for further details on RealNetworks streaming.

ISO-Compliant MPEG Server

All the content engine hardware platforms can support ISMA Version 1 VOD streaming, which is included at no additional charge. See the Cisco ACNS Software Version 5.0 datasheet for further details on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)-compliant streaming.

Multicast File Replication

All the content engine hardware platforms can be purchased with an additional multicast client license to support multicast replication. Unlike in Cisco ACNS Software Version 4.2, there is no requirement for a standalone server for multicast.

Cisco SA-7 and SA-14 Storage Array

Along with new content engine hardware and Cisco ACNS Software Version 5.0, Cisco is introducing two new storage arrays: the Cisco Storage Array 7 and Cisco Storage Array14. These storage arrays provide externally attached SCSI storage for the Cisco Content Engine Models 565, 7305-K9, and 7325 (Table 4).

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Hardware Compatibility

Cisco ACNS Software Version 4.2 is not supported on Cisco Content Engine models 510, 565, 7305 and 7325. Table 5 outlines software and hardware compatibility.

Detailed Ordering Information

Tables 6 through 9 provide part numbers and descriptions of hardware platforms, software and hardware options, network modules, and network module software supported by Cisco ACNS Software Version 5.0.

Additional Information

For product literature on Cisco ACNS Software see:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/conntsw/ps491/index.html

For product literature on Cisco content engine network modules see:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/modules/ps2797/ps4910/index.html

For product literature on the Cisco 500 Series Content Engine see:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/contnetw/ps761/index.html

For product literature on the Cisco 7300 Series Content Engine see:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/contnetw/ps766/index.html