Topology Aware Assurance Solution Guide

This solution guide describes how to enable the following use cases in Provider Connectivity Assurance:

• Path Query Service
• Network Performance Grid
• ECMP Path Detail Drill Down

Solution Overview

Required Solution Components

The following components work together to collect and analyze network data, providing accurate path analytics and ensuring reliable provider connectivity. This integrated approach delivers end-to-end visibility and control for consistent, policy-driven network management.

Provider Connectivity Assurance Solution

Sensor Collector

Sensor Collector is the data collection component for Provider Connectivity Assurance. It accepts data from Assurance Sensors, Telemetry Collectors, or both, and securely transmits the data to the Provider Connectivity Assurance platform, which can be deployed either in the customer environment or in the cloud.

Routing Analytics Collector

Routing Analytics (RA) Collector is a data collection component that works in conjunction with Sensor Collector to securely transmit path analytics to Provider Connectivity Assurance.

The RA Collector subscribes to the Routing Analytics (CNC) Path Analytics (PA) API, which then forwards the path data to Provider Connectivity Assurance.

Crosswork Network Controller Solution

Routing Analytics (CNC)

Routing Analytics (CNC), a component of Crosswork Network Controller, sends path analytics data to the Routing Analytics Collector. The Routing Analytics (CNC) receives topology information from route reflectors (RRs), which maintain a comprehensive view of the IGP domain through BGP-LS (Border Gateway Protocol - Link State) feeds.

Route reflectors such as Cisco XRd or XRv900 aggregate and distribute BGP-LS information, providing the CNC with a complete and up-to-date topology of the network.

Traffic Engineering Agent (TEA)

The Traffic Engineering Agent (TEA) is a component within Cisco’s Crosswork suite, designed to optimize and automate traffic engineering (TE) across IP networks. TEA acts as an intermediary between the Crosswork Network Controller and network devices, enabling advanced network visibility and programmability.

By providing a layer of abstraction, TEA allows users to express intent in high-level terms. For example, users can define connectivity by selecting source and destination cities and set constraints such as including or excluding certain cities to comply with data sovereignty requirements.

TEA converts this intent into a concrete, engineered path by computing the path and representing it as a list of Segment IDs (SIDs). The computed path is then advertised to the route reflector, which distributes the path information to the appropriate network devices, ensuring consistent, policy‑driven traffic engineering across the network domain.