Installing the Traffic Processor

Traffic Processor is a software product installed either as a container on a Cisco NCS router or in the core of an operator’s network to optimize the delivery of large traffic flows to gain visibility of user traffic flows, mitigate network congestion and increase user throughput network‑wide.

Install Traffic Processor on Cisco NCS router

Install Traffic Processor on NCS540.

Note: Before proceeding, please ensure the correct RPM matching IOS-XR flavor (eXR/Lindt) is downloaded on SCP server

1. Copy the Traffic Processor ‘sensor’ rpm to the router and place it on disk1.

   RP/0/RP0/CPU0:R1# scp <PathToRemoteFile>/rain-ni-sensor-0.5.6-XR_25.3.1.x86_64.rpm <Username: Passowrd>@<SCPIPAddress:/misc/disk1/
   

2. Verify RPM has been copied successfully.

   RP/0/RP0/CPU0:R1# dir harddisk:
   

3. Install the package on router.

   RP/0/RP0/CPU0:CSR#appmgr package install rpm /misc/disk1/rain-ni-sensor-0.5.6-XR_25.3.1.x86_64.rpm
   

4. Verify application package has been installed.

   RP/0/RP0/CPU0:CSR#show appmgr packages installed
   Mon May 27 23:22:09.341 PDT
   Sno Package
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 rain-ni-sensor-0.5.6-XR_25.3.1.x86_64
   

5. Activate the docker application.

   RP/0/RP0/CPU0:CSR(config)#appmgr 
   RP/0/RP0/CPU0:CSR(config)#application sensor 
   RP/0/RP0/CPU0:CSR (config-application)# activate type docker source rain-ni-sensor docker-run-opts "-it --restart always --cpuset-cpus 1 --net=host -e COLLECTOR_HOST=30.0.100.100 -e COLLECTOR_PORT=24224 -e SPAN_INTERFACE=span-opanga --cap-add SYS_ADMIN --cap-add NET_ADMIN”
   

6. Verify configuration has been applied.

   RP/0/RP0/CPU0:CSR#sh run appmgr
   Mon May 27 23:47:40.378 PDT
   appmgr
    application sensor
     activate
      type docker
      source rain-ni-sensor
      docker-run-opts "-it --restart always --cpuset-cpus 1 --net=host -e COLLECTOR_HOST=30.0.100.100 -e COLLECTOR_PORT=24224 -e SPAN_INTERFACE=span-opanga --cap-add SYS_ADMIN --cap-add NET_ADMIN"
   # Where COLLECTOR_HOST is the IP address of the Data Platform.
   

7. Verify that the application is running.

   RP/0/RP0/CPU0:CSR#show appmgr application-table
   Mon May 27 23:49:31.343 PDT
   Name   Type   Config   State   Status
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------
   merlin Docker Activated Up      About a minute
   

   RP/0/RP0/CPU0:CSR#bash docker ps
   Mon May 27 23:51:26.019 PDT
   CONTAINER ID   IMAGE                 COMMAND                   CREATED          STATUS          PORTS   NAMES
   c67b43b3ec2e   opanga/rain-ni-sensor "/docker-entrypoint...."  3 minutes ago    Up 3 minutes            rain-ni-sensor
   

For more information on how to enable the SPAN-to-Application on the NCS, see: Interface and Hardware Component Configuration Guide for Cisco NCS 540 Series Routers, IOS XR Release 25.1.x, 25.2.x, 25.3.x - Configuring Traffic Mirroring [Cisco Network Convergence System 540 Series Routers] - Cisco

Install Traffic Processor on Standalone Server

The Management System software must be installed prior to installing the Traffic Processor.

If the Platform Packages dependencies has not yet been installed on this server, it must be run before proceeding to the next section.

Mellanox Driver

Determine the type of NICs on the server by running:

sudo lshw -c network -businfo

If server has Mellanox NICs, the OFED driver needs to be installed, download the driver installer from software.cisco.com in the Provider Connectivity Assurance User Experience section. In the case your current management interface is a Mellanox NIC. Be cautious before running this driver installer, since it can delete IP assignment and initial re-configuration via iLo or iDRAC will be needed.

sudo rpm -Uvh opanga-mellanox-installer-VERSION.x86_64.rpm
sudo /opt/mellanox/install.sh

Install Fluentd

export PRIMARY_MS_IP={Management System public IP}
sudo -E rpm -Uvh fluent-{VERSION}.x86_64.rpm

Install Dependencies and Installer

sudo rpm -Uvh n2k-dependencies-VERSION.x86_64.rpm
sudo /opt/ncss/install.sh
sudo rpm -Uvh n2k-installer-VERSION.x86_64.rpm

Required Args

Use the provided default installer args as a template to fill in the values according to the following guide.

API Token

To get the API token can be done with management system UI:

To generate the API Token:

1. Log into the Management System.

2. From Platform, navigate to Accounts and choose Users.

3. In the actions column of a superadmin user and select the Generate API Token option.

4. The API Token will automatically be downloaded into your computer as a text file. Open the file in a text editor to obtain the actual API token.

Update the api_token in the default installer args with this API token

Interface Conf

Obtain Dataplane Interface PCI Address

1. Run the following command to determine the PCI address of the NICs present on the system:

   sudo /opt/ncss/scripts/dpdk_devbind.py -s
   

2. Examine the output to determine the PCI addresses of the Uplink and Downlink interfaces.

3. Note the exact PCI address and direction (uplink/downlink).

4. Create the following section in installer args:

   interface_conf:
         rx_tx_descriptors: 4096
         forwarding_pairs:
           - name: MLNX100GBE1
             uplink_name: p1p1
             dnlink_name: p1p2
             uplink_pci_addr: "0000:00:04.0"
             dnlink_pci_addr: "0000:00:05.0"
             worker_count: 16
           - name: MLNX100GBE2
             uplink_name: p2p1
             uplink_pci_addr: "0000:85:00.0"
             dnlink_name: p2p2
             dnlink_pci_addr: "0000:85:00.1"
             worker_count: 16
   

• Name: It should correspond to something unique, human readable, and descriptive regarding the interface’s brand or type, speed (if available).

• Uplink/dnlink_name: Syntax like p1p1, p1p2 and p2p1, p2p2 should be used to signify the NICs and their port pairs. For convention, prefer the uplink interface to be the first physical port of a NIC’s port pair.

• Worker Count: According to the rule of thumb of 5 Gbps capacity per worker (e.g. 100 GbE Mellanox can do 80 Gbps of IMIX traffic forwarding so 16 workers are necessary). Be sure to not exceed the machine’s physical CPUs per NUMA since workers may only be assigned from the same NUMA as the NIC.

Optional Args

Run Installer

sudo /opt/ncss/setup.sh --args n2k-{host}-installer-args.yml

Important: After installing Traffic Processor, the installation manifest, specified in its installer-args as product_install_manifest (e.g., /opt/ncss/conf/installer.conf), contains the configuration of cores and huge pages. This file must never be edited or renamed, as doing so could lead to runtime conflicts between Traffic Processor and CTP and affect upgrades of either program.