Cisco Network Services Orchestrator Overview

Cisco Network Services Orchestrator (Cisco NSO) is a robust orchestration tool designed to automate and manage complex network services. Offering numerous benefits, including API integration, scalability, and flexibility, Cisco NSO empowers organizations to streamline network operations effectively.

Key Features and Benefits

• API Integration: Seamlessly integrates with third-party tools and applications through APIs, simplifying automation and management of network services.

• Scalability: Highly scalable, capable of supporting very large networks, ensuring efficient management of network resources.

• Flexibility: Offers customization options to tailor functionality according to specific organizational requirements, enhancing operational efficiency.

Lifecycle Service Automation

Cisco NSO provides comprehensive lifecycle service automation, enabling users to design and rapidly deliver services. By abstracting infrastructure deployment details, NSO allows users to focus on enhancing the customer experience.

Model-Driven Orchestration

As a model-driven platform, Cisco NSO automates network orchestration across multivendor environments. It supports various Network Element Drivers (NEDs), facilitating communication with both Cisco and third-party devices over native protocols such as NETCONF, REST, XML, CLI, and SNMP.

Integration and Extensibility

• Northbound APIs: Facilitate integration into existing business systems and operational tool chains, enabling seamless interaction with external systems.

• Southbound Device Abstraction: Provides compatibility with multiple vendors and technology domains, ensuring interoperability across diverse network environments.

Real-Time Configuration State Management

Cisco NSO captures and maintains the real-time configuration state of every device and service in the network. This ensures a single, scalable, and continuous source of reliable network data, critical for accurate network provisioning and operations.

Service Models and Abstraction

Cisco NSO employs Yet Another Next Generation (YANG) modeling language to create service policies and deploy them across heterogeneous network infrastructures. YANG models describe all NSO configurations, ensuring a model-driven approach to network automation.

CI/CD Pipeline Integration

Cisco NSO seamlessly integrates with Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines to automate provisioning and orchestration of network services. By leveraging popular CI/CD tools like Jenkins and Travis CI, NSO provides end-to-end automation solutions for network service delivery.

Rollback Support

Cisco NSO supports creating rollback files during transaction commits, enabling easy rollback of introduced changes. This feature enhances the reliability of CI/CD pipelines by facilitating quick recovery from errors or misconfigurations.

Configuration Management

Cisco NSO configuration is managed through the ncs.conf configuration file, allowing users to customize NSO according to their specific requirements and operational environment.

Examples and Tables

Example Configuration for CI/CD Integration:

pipeline:
  stages:
    - build
    - test
    - deploy
    - rollback
 
build_job:
  stage: build
  script:
    - npm install
    - npm build
 
test_job:
  stage: test
  script:
    - npm test
 
deploy_job:
  stage: deploy
  script:
    - nsoutil deploy service-config.xml
 
rollback_job:
  stage: rollback
  script:
    - nsoutil rollback --id=<rollback_id>

CI/CD Tool Integration:

Current Best Practices

• Use Version Control: Keep all NSO configurations and service models under version control to track changes effectively.

• Implement Automated Testing: Integrate automated testing into CI/CD pipelines to ensure the reliability and stability of network services.

• Continuous Monitoring: Implement continuous monitoring of network devices and services to detect and address issues promptly.

• Documentation: Maintain comprehensive documentation of service models, configurations, and CI/CD pipeline processes for future reference and troubleshooting.

• Regular Updates: Keep Cisco NSO and its dependencies up to date with the latest releases and patches to benefit from new features and security enhancements.

• Security Practices: Implement robust security practices to protect sensitive network data and configurations from unauthorized access or malicious attacks.