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Overview

  • Cisco IOS XR is supported on several high-performance routing platforms, such as Cisco Aggregation Services Routers (ASR) or Cisco Network Convergence System (NCS) series, which are primarily designed for service providers and large enterprises. Also, you can find Cisco IOS XR in virtualized environments in scenarios involving containers and virtual machines.

  • Cisco IOS XR is available on the following hardware and virtual platforms:

    • Hardware platforms:

      • Cisco NCS 540 and 560 Series routers

      • Cisco NCS 5500 and 5700 Series routers

      • Cisco 8000 Series routers

      • Cisco ASR 9000 Series routers

    • Virtual platforms:

      • Cisco IOS XRd

      • Cisco IOS XRv 9000 Router

Cisco NCS 500 Series Routers

  • Cisco NCS 500 Series offers a secure and highly available access-routing platform for service providers. Currently, Cisco NCS 500 is the smallest platform supporting Cisco IOS XR. Both fixed and modular form factors support advanced automation and programmability to provide 5G, Remote PHY, Carrier Ethernet, and FTTX.

  • The Cisco NCS 500 Series routers range from 1RU to 7RU of rack space. The smallest member of the family that supports Cisco IOS XR, NCS 540, occupies a single RU, while the modular model, NCS 560, comes in the 4RU and 7RU variants. Cisco NCS 500 Series offers high throughput and flexible port interfaces from 1G up to 400G. This series also offers support for advanced service provider features such as Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), Segment Routing, Quality of Service (QoS), and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection.

Cisco NCS 5500 and 5700 Series Routers

  • The Cisco NCS 5500/5700 Series is a family of routing platforms that are available in fixed and modular chassis configurations. These platforms offer high port density, high-performance forwarding, low jitter, and low power consumption.

  • The modular variety of the Cisco NCS 5500/5700 Series is available in three system sizes: NCS 5504, NCS 5508, and NCS 5516. They have 4, 8, and 16 slots, respectively. Each of the chassis variants is a highly reliable and resilient platform, supporting a large range of line card options. The architecture is based on redundant route processors, system controllers, fabric modules, fan trays, and power supplies in an orthogonal direct design. This orthogonal design ensures direct connections between each fabric module and line card.

  • Modular Chassis:

    • Available in three sizes: NCS 5504 (4 slots), NCS 5508 (8 slots), and NCS 5516 (16 slots)

    • Built on an orthogonal direct design, eliminating the need for a midplane, which enhances connectivity between line cards and fabric modules.

    • Features redundant components such as route processors, system controllers, fabric modules, fan trays, and power supplies, providing high reliability and resilience.

    • Supports a wide range of line card options, allowing for scalability and flexibility in network configurations.

  • Fixed Chassis:

    • Designed for high performance and scalability in compact 1 RU, 2 RU, and 3 RU configurations.

    • Offers various port speeds, including 1G, 10G, 25G, 40G, 50G, 100G, and 400g, with low-latency forwarding and ultra-low power consumption.

    • While not as scalable as the modular chassis, fixed platforms are optimized for efficiency and are suitable for specific roles like Top of Rack (ToR) and spine or leaf in network architectures.

  • The modular chassis provides greater scalability and redundancy, making it suitable for larger, more complex network environments, while the fixed chassis offers compact, efficient solutions for specific network roles with a focus on performance and power efficiency.

Cisco 8000 Series Routers

  • The Cisco 8000 Series routers combine the revolutionary Cisco Silicon One and IOS XR software into a very powerful and capable platform for large networks, including a brand-new chassis design. Cisco 8000 Series routers deliver provider-class routing functionality with unmatched density, performance, and power.

  • Much like the Cisco NCS 5500 series, the Cisco 8000 series offers fixed chassis options and modular chassis options.

  • Fixed chassis options, 1 to 2 slots:

    • Cisco 8100 (1RU or 2RU)

    • Cisco 8200 (1RU or 2RU)

  • Modular chassis options, 4 to 18 slots:

    • Cisco 8804, 4 slots (10RU)

    • Cisco 8808, 8 slots (16RU)

    • Cisco 8812, 12 slots (21RU)

    • Cisco 8818, 18 slots (33RU)

  • The Cisco 8800 Series modular platform supports six different 100GbE, 400GbE, and 800G line cards, which use multiple Cisco Silicon One forwarding ASICs. With up to 518.4 Tbps through 648 800G (2x 400GbE) ports, the Cisco 8800 Series delivers industry-leading density and efficiency.

Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers

  • The Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers excel in edge and core routing in service provider networks. Due to the modular design, the Cisco ASR 9000 series features exceptional scalability, carrier-class reliability, and flexibility. Among other benefits, service providers can use the ASR 9000's focus on IPv6 optimizations, which helps them build next-generation IPv6 networks with a more simplified design, deployment, and management of services.

  • The Cisco ASR 9000 Series has a wide product portfolio, ranging from the smallest platform, Cisco ASR 9001/9901 with two Rack Units (2RU), to the relatively large Cisco ASR 9922 (44RU). Each system is designed to provide true carrier-class reliability using the Cisco IOS XR operating system together with comprehensive system redundancy and resiliency schemes.

  • The following Cisco ASR 9000 models are available:

    • Fixed chassis options, 2 to 3 rack units:

    • Cisco ASR 9001 (2RU)

    • Cisco ASR 9901 (2RU)

    • Cisco ASR 9903 (3RU)

  • Modular chassis options, 4 to 44 rack units, where two slots are always reserved for Route Switch Processors (RSP) modules:

    • Cisco ASR 9904, 4 slots (6RU)

    • Cisco ASR 9006, 6 slots (10RU)

    • Cisco ASR 9906, 6 slots (14RU)

    • Cisco ASR 9010/9910, 10 slots (21RU)

    • Cisco ASR 9912, 12 slots (30RU)

    • Cisco ASR 9922, 22 slots (44RU)

  • The Cisco ASR 9000 Series Routers are designed to provide high-performance networking with the following features:

    • High-Density Ethernet Options: These routers support various Ethernet options, including 1, 10, 25, 40, 100, and 400-Gigabit Ethernet, catering to diverse network requirements.

    • Line Card Configurations: They offer a range of line cards available in both base and extended-scale configurations. These configurations are supported by a nonblocking fabric, ensuring efficient data transfer without bottlenecks.

    • Distributed Architecture: A key feature of the Cisco ASR 9000 series is its fully distributed system architecture. Unlike systems that rely on a central processor, all packet-forwarding decisions and actions occur on individual line cards. This feature enhances the scalability and performance of the network.

    • Advanced Features: The high-density Ethernet line cards are equipped with specialized network processors. These processors enable advanced functionalities such as high-density Hierarchical Quality-of-Service (HQoS), security features, and advanced timing capabilities, among other features.

Cisco IOS XRd

  • The Cisco IOS XRd implements the feature set of Cisco IOS XR Software in a Container. Network routing functions are frequently required in networks that are built in virtualized environments, or as it is often called, the the public cloud. Cisco XRd provides the answer to that requirement. Using Cisco XRd you can deploy the containerized routing function between network elements in the cloud, on premises or in your data centers.

  • Cisco IOS XRd runs on generic Kubernetes, and can easily be integrated into your Kubernetes-based platforms such as Amazon AWS EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service).

  • The main features of the Cisco IOS XRd router are as follows:

    • Offers great agility and scalability, and it is optimized for low-footprint deployments.

    • Runs on a generic Kubernetes orchestration layer.

    • It is based on the latest Cisco IOS XR Software.

    • It is lightweight, boots faster, supports OS programmability features.

    • Includes northbound and management features of Cisco IOS XR Software.

    • Integrates with existing monitoring, automation, and orchestration systems.

  • The Cisco IOS XRd can be deployed in two ways:

    • Cisco IOS XRd Control Plane: Targeted for compute-heavy use cases such as Virtual Route Reflector (vRR) and Path Compute Element (PCE). It provides minimal forwarding capabilities, which is adequate for peering or southbound interfacing.

    • Cisco IOS XRd vRouter: Consists of a Control Plane and virtual forwarder, provides a very high-performance data plane, and offers the service provider features.

Cisco IOS XRv 9000 Router

  • The Cisco IOS XRv 9000 Router implements the feature set of Cisco IOS XR Software on virtualized general x86 compute platforms.

  • The main features of the Cisco IOS XRv 9000 Router are as follows:

    • Based on Cisco IOS XR Software.

    • Offers an end-to-end solution with the Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) infrastructure, virtual network functions, and service orchestration and management.

    • Includes a high-performance data plane with edge features of the service provider.

    • Provides an architecture that separates the control plane and data plane.

  • Cisco IOS XRv 9000 provides separation of the control and data planes using Linux containers (LXC) by creating a data plane controller (DPC) to the data plane agent (DPA) connection. DPC resides in the control plane LXC, while the DPA is a part of the virtual forwarder LXC.

  • Cisco IOS XRv 9000 routers offer versatile deployment options to meet different network requirements. They can function as both control plane and data plane devices, serving various network roles:

  1. Control Plane deployment:

  • BGP Virtual Route Reflector: The IOS XRv 9000 can be used as a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) Virtual Route Reflector. This deployment is common for managing route distribution and scalability within a network.

  1. Data Plane deployments:

  • Virtual Provider Edge (vPE): The router can act as a Virtual Provider Edge device, providing connectivity and network services at the edge of the network.

  • Virtual Broadband Network Gateway (vBNG): It can also serve as a virtual Broadband Network Gateway, acting as a terminating device for broadband subscribers and managing subscriber connections.

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