Legacy Orchestrator 24.09 Release Notes

Overview

Cisco is pleased to announce the 24.09 release of Provider Connectivity Assurance Legacy orchestrator (formerly Accedian Skylight orchestrator). These release notes cover the new features, changes, and corrected issues for Legacy orchestrator version 24.09. Read the release notes before installing this firmware version.

The following topics are addressed in this document:

• New Features: Covers the new features introduced in this release.

• Corrected Issues: Lists issues that have been corrected in this version of the software.

• Technology Support: Covers the applicable product information.

• Upgrade Paths: Details the supported upgrade paths for this release.

• Deployment Considerations: Covers general limitations of the current release.

• Release Lifecycle: Lists the planned lifecycle dates of this software release. Includes table with milestones.

For more information, see the Legacy orchestrator documentation.

New Features

Legacy orchestrator 24.09 introduces the following enhancements.

Cisco Branding

The graphical user interface (GUI) has been rebranded in alignment with Cisco branding.

IPv6 Service Activation Tests (SAT) Support for Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensor Control

• Configure and execute IPv6 Service Activation Tests (SAT)

  • Create and configure IPv6 tests

  • Create an IPv6 filter and loopback before the test is started if user has delegated Legacy orchestrator to handle loopback configuration

  • Remove an IPv6 filter and loopback after the test is completed if user has delegated Legacy orchestrator to handle loopback configuration.

• Discover all SAT tests and save to database after resyncing device

  • Ability to load all SAT tests, including those that have IPv6 address as a target

Manage Object Inventory Support for Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensor Control

• View IPv6 attributes for Managed Object modules

• View the inventory of newly Managed Objects

  • IPv4 filter

  • IPv6 filter

  • L2 filter

  • Loopbacks

  • SAT (RFC 2544 and Y.1564 test configurations) with both IPv4 and IPv6

• Generate and export inventory reports

Metadata Configuration Job

This release adds the option for a Metadata Configuration Job. As part of Legacy orchestrator’s commissioning functionality, configuration jobs are useful for performing tasks that do not require user input at execution time. With the Metadata Configuration Job, you can manage metadata for VCE and the local interface on Assurance Sensor Control.

Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensor F100 and F25 Alarm Management Support

Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensors F100 and F25 24.08 introduces an updated alarm management system.

Legacy orchestrator 24.09 includes a mechanism to display Assurance Sensor F100 or F25 alarm summaries. Alarms serve as notifications related to fault detection or any other irregularities.

125K Performance Session Introduction

This release introduces support for a maximum performance session count of 125,000. For more information, see Docker Installation.

Migrate Legacy orchestrator from Virtual Machine or Docker to Docker 24.09

Migration involves setting up a new Legacy orchestrator Docker 24.09 (target installation) to import the database configuration from an existing Legacy orchestrator virtual machine or Docker (source installation).

• Migrating from VM (23.12/23.12.1 version) to Docker does not need the same version; Legacy orchestrator VM version 23.12 and 23.12.1 migrate to Legacy orchestrator Docker version 24.09 (Docker host running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS / Red Hat 9.3). See Migrating from Hot Standby Virtual Machine to Docker and Migrating from a Non-Hot Standby Virtual Machine to Docker.

• Migrating from Docker to Docker must have the same version; Legacy orchestrator Docker version 24.09 (Docker host running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS/RedHat 8.8) migrates to Legacy orchestrator Docker version 24.09 (Docker host running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS / Red Hat 9.3). See Migrating from Docker to Docker.

Note: For the migration to containers, you must manually configure the hostname, IP addresses, NTP time sources (highly recommended), and timezone (highly recommended) on the new Legacy orchestrator Docker instance; sensor and session configurations are unaffected.

Merge Performance Sessions

It is possible to merge performance sessions from a Legacy orchestrator source to a Legacy orchestrator destination. This feature supports merging:

• The database of all session profiles

• The database of both High Availability (HA) and none-HA environments

• Devices that have session configurations in the database, including those in-service and out-of-service.

Optimized Ports for Service Activation Tests

When creating Service Activation Test (SAT) configurations, you have the option to choose the port and interface. This added filter supports two values: TRUE and FALSE. Users can apply both values simultaneously if required.

• When the filter value is TRUE, the user interface (UI) will exclude any unsupported ports from the SAT configuration.

• When the filter value is FALSE, the user interface (UI) will display only supported ports for SAT configuration.

• When initially choosing a port or interface, the filter’s default value will be TRUE. However, users have the flexibility to modify or remove this filter as needed.

User Column Settings Persist Across Sessions

Previously, when users customized columns to display specific information in the Inventory tab and then logged out and back in, these settings would revert to the default state. With this release, however, when users navigate to the Inventory tab, the previously saved settings will be retained, including:

• Managed Elements filter

• Managed Object types

• Export tab

• Column configurations (such as group by column, sorting, etc.)

Note: Saved settings will reload based on the User ID of the logged-in user. This means that if User 1 has previously configured settings, these settings will reappear when User 1 switches to the Inventory tab. However, when User 2 navigates to the Inventory tab, they will see the default page.

Change Default Device Password

Legacy orchestrator notifies users about devices that require a default password change before use.

• An operational state, On First Login, has been added to the Device Management tab to indicate that a device is using its default password.

• Support for CLI script with command to change administrator password.

Note: The new password must not include the backslash ( \ ) character or the word [INTERACT].

See Changing Default Password for Devices for more information.

Session UDP Source Port Automatically Assigned

From release 24.09, sessions can be created without a Sender port. However, the option to assign the port manually remains.

Note: Sender port auto-assignment has a range from 14000 to 65535.

Docker Environment Update

Following this release, Legacy orchestrator Docker containers support deployment on Red Hat 9.3 and Ubuntu 22.04.3 environments.

See Docker Deployment for more information.

Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensor SFP Support

Support for Assurance Sensor SFPs, Cisco’s Small Form-factor Pluggable transceivers, has been added to this release.

Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensor Compatibility

Legacy orchestrator has been enhanced to be backward compatible with Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensors, including release 24.07 for Assurance Sensors LT, LX, and GT as well as release 24.08 for Assurance Sensors F100 and F25.

Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensor Control Compatibility

Legacy orchestrator has been enhanced to operate with Assurance Sensor Control releases 23.12 and 24.09. Please note that Legacy orchestrator releases prior to release 23.04 are unable to provide RTT values for TWAMP and ETH-DM using Assurance Sensor Control releases 22.12 or later.

If you intend to deploy Assurance Sensor Control 23.12 or later to your network, please ensure you have upgraded to Legacy orchestrator release 24.09 or later.

Corrected Issues

The following key issues have been corrected in Legacy orchestrator 24.09.

SKD-10782 Unable to Display NTP Server List Box Using Reverse Proxy

The NTP server list box is not displayed when connecting via reverse proxy, but it works fine with a direct connection. Users cannot see or modify NTP settings through the reverse proxy.

SKD-10549 Operator_role User Is Unable to Delete nor Create Sessions While Access Mgr-Commands

While using mgr-commands, users with role of OPERATOR are unable to delete and create sessions in bulk.

SKD-10000 Legacy Orchestrator Incorrectly Allows the API to Create Duplicated Session

Due to a procedural error, two simultaneous API calls result in the duplicated creation of a session. CSVs for all sessions stop when deleting one of the duplicated sessions.

SKD-9629 Legacy Orchestrator Closes the Existing and Functional SSH Session and Enters a Loop When Assurance Sensor F100 Has Its LLDP Shutdown

When managing Assurance Sensor F100 in Legacy orchestrator, LLDP local must be enabled.

Technology Support

These release notes apply to the following product:

The following table lists key functionality of Assurance Sensors, Assurance Sensor Control, Assurance Sensor Modules, and Assurance Sensor SFPs supported by Legacy orchestrator 24.09.

Supported in Legacy orchestrator Version 23.12

* CLI step support for Device Commissioning
** Y.1564 with flow template support

Upgrade Paths

The upgrade to Legacy orchestrator version 24.09 requires that you are running a system with one of the following previously-installed software versions. It includes support for both Ubuntu and Red Hat operating systems.

Docker running:

• 23.04 5K profile

• 23.04 15K profile

• 23.04 30K profile

• 23.04 60K profile

• 23.04.1 5K profile

• 23.04.1 15K profile

• 23.04.1 30K profile

• 23.04.1 60K profile

• 23.12 5K profile

• 23.12 15K profile

• 23.12 30K profile

• 23.12 60K profile

Detailed procedures for upgrading to this release are provided in Upgrading Legacy orchestrator Docker 24.09.

IMPORTANT: You cannot upgrade hardware appliances to version 24.09.

For customers running SkyLIGHT Director software on hardware appliances, a rehoming procedure is available that allows the transfer of the software and its configuration to a new virtual machine. That said, rehoming process is no longer required since all hardware appliances have been retired at this point.

Detailed procedures for rehoming on a virtual appliance are provided in the Features and User Material subcategory titled Virtual Machine Rehoming for Releases Prior to 20.05.

Deployment Considerations

Docker Environment Guidelines

The engineering guidelines of the product must be respected. The Docker host must meet the requirements stated in Docker Deployment.

Failure to respect these engineering settings can lead to application downtime and possible data loss.

The Docker host configuration related to interface IP addresses, hostname, NTP server, additional disks (add, format, mount), is configured via standard command of Ubuntu without any procedure or script to support them.

Device Interoperability

The following section details the firmware releases that are known to interoperate with this release of Legacy orchestrator. Please refer to the Legacy orchestrator Administration documentation for a listing of supported functions for each firmware version.

Support for sensor element software releases 4.7.x, 5.4.x and 5.5.x is deprecated. Plans should be put in place to upgrade your performance elements to more recent versions.

For the releases mentioned below, support for maintenance releases is also included.

Note: Support for Classic Actuator has been removed.

HTTP Interface

The HTTP interface of Legacy orchestrator is no longer supported for GUI operations. HTTP operations are still supported for the REST and XML APIs, but web service clients are urged to switch to the more secure HTTPS protocol.

Customers using browsers with HTTP protocol on port 6080 will automatically be redirected to HTTPS protocol on the same port (6080). This means no firewall changes are required as part of this change.

Disk Sizing for New Installations

The default image size for Legacy orchestrator is now 150 GiB. This image is large enough to support small networks of under 100 network elements and 1,000 performance sessions. For larger networks, the disk size of the image must be increased. This can be achieved via VMware and KVM management tools.

Example disk sizing:

• For 5,000 elements and 20,000 performance sessions with Round trip delay mode disabled: 370 GiB is recommended

• For 5,000 elements and 20,000 performance sessions with Round trip delay mode enabled: 430 GiB is recommended

• For 52,000 performance sessions with Round trip delay mode disabled: 482 GiB is recommended

• For 52,000 performance sessions with Round trip delay mode enabled: 638 GiB is recommended

• For 125,000 performance sessions with Round trip delay mode disabled: 920 GiB is recommended

• For 125,000 performance sessions with Round trip delay mode enabled: 1295 GiB is recommended

Please consult the Legacy orchestrator documentation for sizing guidelines and for procedures on how to increase the disk size.

IPv4 Addresses for Hot Standby

The hot standby feature requires the use of IPv4 addresses for its configuration. For planning purposes, it should also be noted that hot standby configuration requires three (3) distinct subnets for the management, data replication, and heartbeat functions.

IPv6 addresses can be used in addition to these IPv4 interfaces for connectivity to the application interfaces (web and REST APIs) and devices being managed. IPv4 addresses are only required strictly for the hot standby functions.

If you wish to make use of this feature, please contact your Solution Engineering representative to initiate network planning activities.

XML Interface Deprecated

The XML interface is deprecated and has been phased out. Northbound systems are urged to migrate to the CSV file format for PM data reception.

Manager Module Interoperability

Conflicts will arise if both Manager Module and Legacy orchestrator are configured to manage the same Assurance Sensor Control. Legacy orchestrator will effectively take over all management of the performance sessions for the Assurance Sensor Control, and leave the Manager Module with un-acquired supervision endpoint.

Using this release to add Manager Modules as managed elements is not recommended.

Manager API

The performance session management calls defined at the /nbapi REST endpoint were introduced in SDV 1.6 to duplicate the calls present in the Skylight Director Manager Module. This endpoint was preserved in a backwards compatible fashion to allow REST API clients of the Manager Module to seamlessly switch to the Legacy orchestrator.

This endpoint is to be considered capped. Any new features pertaining to performance session management will be implemented using the /nbapiemswsweb REST endpoint in future releases.

CLI Additions and Changes

The CLI command set of the appliance monitor interface was enhanced to duplicate the mgr-commands that are present in the SkyLIGHT Director Manager module.

These commands were preserved in a backwards compatible fashion to allow customers familiar with the Manager Module command set to migrate to the Legacy orchestrator.

This command set is to be considered capped; no new features will be developed on the CLI functionality.

Browser Support Limitations

The minimum recommended screen resolution to operate Legacy orchestrator is 1360 x 768. Lower resolutions will not provide an optimal experience.

Performing a zoom on your display is not recommended due to incompatible implementations with browsers. If a zoom must be applied, please use a Firefox browser as it has the most standard support for this function.

Due to issues with browser compatibility mode and web sockets, Internet Explorer is no longer supported. Please use Google Chrome (version 70 or higher) or Firefox (version 52 or higher) to access the Legacy orchestrator web interface.

For Windows users, it is also recommended to leave the scale and layout option of the Display settings at a value of 100%.

Restoring Virtual Machine Configuration Backups

Configuration backups of the virtual machine (done via the configuration export command) are not portable from release to release. That is to say, a configuration backup from a 1.6 system should not be used to restore a 19.12 system. Unexpected behavior may occur.

Please ensure that configuration backups are restored on systems running the same release from which the backup was taken.

Metrics Collection CSV Filename Timestamp

In order to align with the CSV filename convention of all other Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance products (Assurance Sensor Control and Assurance Sensors), this naming strategy is changed in Legacy orchestrator. The timestamp in the CSV filename represents the time when the file was created.

In all cases, the timestamps of the metrics themselves (present within the content of the file) represent the time of when the metric was produced. Only the timestamp contained in the CSV filename is impacted by this change.

Vision Collect Streaming Limitations on 6.4.1.2 and 6.4.2

When using release firmware 6.4.1.2 with Vision Collect, a disconnection from Legacy orchestrator may incur data loss. The data retention periods are not respected and data loss can occur after a few seconds of disconnection.

When using firmware release 6.4.2 in Skylight elements in high resolution mode with packet loss greater than 10% of the management network, some reporting periods may be lost. Please ensure a reliable management network is in place.

These issues are corrected in Skylight element firmware releases 6.4.3 and higher.

The First Result Records for a New Session Are Skipped by CSV Export

When the CSV producer detects a new performance session, it marks its data for extract from the first time it views the session. If the CSV producer is configured to run every five (5) minutes, this can mean that the first five minutes of result data for a new session will not be exported.

This is expected behavior; all performance data after this initial detection phase will be captured by the CSV producer.

Number of Acceptable Firmware Loads

Before upgrading or starting app_server on Legacy orchestrator, you must validate the number of acceptable firmware loads based on the specific profile of the system and upgrade version.

Legacy orchestrator Profile and Acceptable Firmware Loads

Note: When the requirements from the table above are met, the upgrade can be performed and the system will restart. After the system restarts, the partition can be checked. The partition must have at least 1 GB of free space remaining.

Result Records for Sync Sessions Are Not Exported in Real Time

Sync sessions are not properly aligned with CSV export. Results are not being exported in real time as Assurance Sensor Control is delivering measurement results and Legacy orchestrator is generating CSV files at the exact same time.

If the CSV producer is configured to run every five (5) minutes and sync session has five (5) minute interval, this can indicate that result data for that session will be exported five minutes late.

Memory Limitations

In the event of an excessive number of simultaneous commands being executed, it is recommended that JVM memory be increased.

FTP Support

Support for the FTP transfer method has been removed for the functions below:

• CSV export

• Inventory export

Please ensure the FTP export method is not used on Inventory Export and CSV Export before upgrading.

24.09 Lifecycle

This section lists the planned lifecycle dates of this software release. See the table below outlining the following milestones:

Note: Support for virtual machine-based deployments will be 2 years after General Availability as part of a Long-Term Support (LTS) program. Please ensure migration to Docker before that time.