vCPAA setup overview

Introduction

The vCPAA, or virtual CPAA, is designed to run as a virtual machine on a host that supports virtualization. Each vCPAA corresponds to one virtual machine, and multiple virtual machines can be deployed on a single host. The vCPAA provides the same control and management plane features as a hardware-based 7701 CPAA.

The vCPAA can be deployed in data centers, WAN POPs, or a combination of both. When deployed in data centers, IGP and BGP traffic must be leaked from the WAN into the data centers, so that the vCPAA can establish IGP adjacencies and IBGP sessions. vCPAA control traffic can be tunneled from the DC edge to an arbitrary WAN location to analyze CP changes remotely. vCPAA can connect to the vRR via internal bridge mechanisms to obtain all information (IGP and BGP) directly from the vRR. See the DC deployment example in the following figure:

Figure 3-1: vCPAA DC deployment

The licensing model for the vCPAA is identical to that of the hardware-based 7701 CPAA. See the NSP Installation and Upgrade Guide for more information.

The NFM-P discovers vCPAAs and hardware-based 7701 CPAAs in the same way. See the NSP NFM-P Control Plane Assurance Manager User Guide for more information.

Scalability and performance for the vCPAA are subject to limitations. For information about IGP and BGP scalability and performance, see the NSP Planning Guide.

The 7701 CPAA hardware rev.2 and vCPAA do not support power supply alarms or power failure alarms. The CPAA OS has no visibility of the power supply, and cannot detect power interruptions.

VM backup is not supported for vCPAA.

The vCPAA does not support packet forwarding.

Use subject to agreed restrictions on disclosure and use.