First Published: November 27, 2024

This document provides information about

  • product overview

  • key features of Cisco Crosswork Planning

  • bug fixed in Cisco Crosswork Planning after the patch upgrade is complete, and

  • patch installation workflow and detailed steps.

Overview

Cisco Crosswork Planning provides tools to create and maintain a model of the current network through the continual monitoring and analysis of the network, and the traffic demands that are placed on it. At a given time, this network model contains all relevant information about a network, including topology, configuration, and traffic information. You can use this information as a basis for analyzing the impact on the network due to changes in traffic demands, paths, node and link failures, network optimizations, or other changes.

Cisco Crosswork Planning includes design and planning tools that help network engineers and operators predict growth in their network, simulate failures, and optimize design to meet performance objectives while minimizing cost.

Key features of Cisco Crosswork Planning

This section describes the primary features and functionalities of Cisco Crosswork Planning.

Table 1. Key features of Cisco Crosswork Planning

Feature

Description

Automated collection and model building

The Cisco Crosswork Planning Collector application automates the discovery of multi vendor, multi protocol network devices, topology, and traffic statistics. For details, see the Cisco Crosswork Planning 7.0 Collection Setup and Administration document.

Network visualization

The Cisco Crosswork Planning Design application provides a graphical network topology view for the IP layer. This includes nodes, interfaces, circuits, SR/RSVP LSP paths, and so on. For details, see the "Visualize Network Models" chapter in the Cisco Crosswork Planning Design 7.0 User Guide.

Predictive analysis

The Simulation analysis tool helps to determine how vulnerable a network is to congestion and high latencies under failures, enabling you to plan sufficient capacity for any given failure scenario. For details, see the "Evaluate Impact of Worst-Case Failures" chapter in the Cisco Crosswork Planning Design 7.0 User Guide.

Forecast traffic growth

The Create growth plans tool offers insights into traffic patterns and growth, helping you to plan and scale your network resources efficiently to meet future demands. For details, see the "Evaluate Impact of Traffic Growth" chapter in the Cisco Crosswork Planning Design 7.0 User Guide.

Demand deduction

The Demand deduction tool helps to derive accurate end-to-end traffic flows from various sources for better capacity planning. For details, see the "Estimate Demand Traffic Using Demand Deduction" section in the Cisco Crosswork Planning Design 7.0 User Guide.

Proactive capacity planning

The Capacity planning optimization tool helps to minimize the addition of any required capacity to be installed on the network. For details, see the "Perform Capacity Planning" chapter in the Cisco Crosswork Planning Design 7.0 User Guide.

Traffic engineering and optimization

The various traffic engineering optimization tools in Cisco Crosswork Planning help to optimize the network design for efficiency and reliability. For details, see the "Traffic Engineering and Optimization" chapters in the Cisco Crosswork Planning Design 7.0 User Guide.

Scale enhancements

The microservices based architecture allows Cisco Crosswork Planning to scale seamlessly with your network.

Modernized infrastructure/UI

Cisco Crosswork Planning runs on the Cisco Crosswork infrastructure. The product's appearance and user experience match with that of the Cisco Crosswork Network Automation suite of products.

The above features collectively contribute to

  • minimizing operational costs

  • optimizing network performance

  • improving agility

  • predicting future traffic needs, and

  • simplifying capacity planning processes.

Resolved bugs

This section lists the bug fixed in Cisco Crosswork Planning 7.0.1 patch. Additionally, in this release, the Crosswork Infrastructure has been upgraded to version 7.0.1. For a detailed list of bugs fixed in Cisco Crosswork Infrastructure 7.0.1, see the Cisco Crosswork Network Controller 7.0.1 Release Notes.

See Find additional bug details section on how to use the Cisco Bug Search Tool.

Table 2. Bug fixed in Cisco Crosswork Planning 7.0.1

Bug ID

Bug description

CSCwn13338

Log files display the Username and Password in plain text rather than in encrypted form.

Find additional bug details

You can use the Cisco Bug Search Tool to search for a specific bug or to search for all bugs in a release.

Procedure

Step 1

Go to the Cisco Bug Search Tool.

Step 2

Enter your registered Cisco.com username and password, and click Log In.

The Bug Search page opens.

Note

 
If you do not have a Cisco.com username and password, you can register here.

Step 3

Use any of these options to search for bugs, and then click Search to initiate the search:

  • To search for a specific bug, enter the bug ID in the Search For field.

  • To search for bugs based on specific criteria, enter search criteria, such as a problem description, a feature, or a product name, in the Search For field.

  • To search for all Cisco Crosswork Planning bugs: select Series/Model. Then, click the Select from List link.

    1. In the Product drop-down list, select Series/Model.

    2. Click the Select from List link.

    3. On the next page:

      • In the Select Products field, enter Cisco Crosswork Planning.

        OR

      • In the Products list, select Routers > Service Provider Infrastructure Software > Cisco Crosswork Planning > Cisco Crosswork Planning 7.

  • To search for bugs based on releases, in the Release list, select whether to search for bugs affecting a specific release, bugs that were fixed in a specific release, or both. Then, enter one or more release numbers in the text field.

Step 4

When the search results are displayed, use the filter tools to narrow the results. You can filter the bugs by status, severity, and so on.

Note

 
To export the results to a spreadsheet, click Export Results to Excel.

Patch installation workflow

This section provides the high-level workflow for installing the 7.0.1 patch files from the Cisco Crosswork Planning UI.

You can upgrade to Cisco Crosswork Planning version 7.0.1 from version 7.0.

Table 3. Patch installation workflow

Step

Action

Ensure that your environment meets all the installation prerequisites.

Refer to the guidelines in Installation prerequisites.

Extract and validate the 7.0.1 patch files.

Refer to the guidelines in Extract and validate 7.0.1 patch files.

Copy and execute the Crosswork Infrastructure MOP script.

Refer to the guidelines in Copy and execute the Crosswork Infrastructure MOP.

Add and install the 7.0.1 patch files in the Cisco Crosswork Planning UI.

Refer to the guidelines in Add and install 7.0.1 patch files.

Download Cisco Crosswork Planning 7.0.1 patch files

This section provides the overview of all the patch files released in the Cisco Crosswork Planning 7.0.1 release.

Review the list and download all the required patch files from the Cisco Software Download page to a local machine. Ensure that this machine can be accessed via scp by Crosswork.

  • Crosswork Infrastructure MOP file: signed-cw-na-infra-7.0.1-MOP_241118.tar.gz

  • Crosswork Infrastructure Patch file: signed-cw-na-infra-patch-7.0.1-27-release_241118.tar.gz

  • Cisco Crosswork Planning: signed-cw-na-design-patch-7.0.1-2-release-241112.tar.gz

Installation prerequisites

This section describes the installation prerequisites needed to install the Cisco Crosswork Planning 7.0.1 patch.

  • Ensure that Cisco Crosswork Planning 7.0 is installed. For instructions, see Cisco Crosswork Planning 7.0 Installation Guide.

  • Ensure that you have your Cisco Crosswork Administrator user credentials.

  • Ensure that you have the Management IP address used for your Crosswork VM deployment.

  • Take a backup of your data. Additionally, ensure that the server being patched has sufficient space to unarchive and copy the MOP scripts. Make sure to clean up at least 5 GB of space in the /home/cw-admin/ directory and 1 GB of space in the /tmp/ directory to prevent any space constraints during script execution.

  • Ensure that you have disabled periodic sync before infrastructure MOP and infrastructure patch are applied.


Caution

The upgrade process is disruptive and should be performed during a maintenance window. The time required for the applications to restart is typically less than 30 minutes. If you encounter any error while installing the patch, contact the Cisco Customer Experience team before attempting to move forward with the next step.

Extract and validate 7.0.1 patch files

Follow these steps to extract and validate the downloaded 7.0.1 patch files. Repeat these steps for the Cisco Crosswork Planning 7.0.1 patch file you plan to install.

Caution

Please ensure that the tar.gz fle extracted from the signed file is the one added to and installed through the Cisco Crosswork Planning Ul.

Procedure

Step 1

After downloading the patch file, navigate to the folder where the tar file was downloaded. As an example, consider the Crosswork Infrastructure signed patch image (signed-cw-na-infra-patch-7.0.1-27-release_241118.tar.gz) for this procedure. 

cd <folder where the tar file was downloaded>

Step 2

Extract the file using this command.

tar -xzvf <signed image file>

Example:

tar -xzvf signed-cw-na-infra-patch-7.0.1-27-release_241118.tar.gz

The file unpacks into the patch and the necessary tools to validate its contents.

Output:

README
cw-na-infra-patch-7.0.1-27-release_241118.tar.gz
cw-na-infra-patch-7.0.1-27-release_241118.tar.gz.signature
CW-CCO_RELEASE.cer
cisco_x509_verify_release.py3
cisco_x509_verify_release.py

Step 3

Validate the extracted patch file using this command.

python3 cisco_x509_verify_release.py3 -e <.cer file> -i <.tar.gz file> -s <.tar.gz.signature file> -v dgst -sha512

Example:

python3 cisco_x509_verify_release.py3 -e CW-CCO_RELEASE.cer -i cw-na-infra-patch-7.0.1-27-release_241118.tar.gz 
-s cw-na-infra-patch-7.0.1-27-release_241118.tar.gz.signature -v dgst -sha512

Output:

Retrieving CA certificate from http://www.cisco.com/security/pki/certs/crcam2.cer ...
Successfully retrieved and verified crcam2.cer.
Retrieving SubCA certificate from http://www.cisco.com/security/pki/certs/innerspace.cer ...
Successfully retrieved and verified innerspace.cer.
Successfully verified root, subca and end-entity certificate chain.
Successfully fetched a public key from CW-CCO_RELEASE.cer.
Successfully verified the signature of cw-na-infra-patch-7.0.1-27-release_241118.tar.gz using CW-CCO_RELEASE.cer
Ensure that you extract and validate all the Crosswork patch files you need.

Copy and execute the Crosswork Infrastructure MOP

Follow these steps to copy and execute the Crosswork Infrastructure 7.0.1 MOP file.

Before you begin

Ensure you have extracted and validated the Crosswork Infrastructure MOP file, cw-na-infra-7.0.1-MOP_241118.tar.gz, using the instructions in Extract and validate 7.0.1 patch files.

Procedure

Step 1

Copy the extracted MOP file using SCP to the /home/cw-admin/ folder on the Crosswork VM. 

scp cw-na-infra-7.0.1-MOP_241118.tar.gz cw-admin@{Crosswork VIP address}:/home/cw-admin

Step 2

SSH into the Crosswork VM where you copied the files, and change to root using the sudo su - command.

Step 3

Extract the MOP file.

Example:

cd /home/cw-admin
tar -xvf cw-na-infra-7.0.1-MOP_241118.tar.gz

Output:

signed-cw-na-k8s-orchestrator-7.0.1-17-release_241118.tar.gz
update_orch.sh

Step 4

Update the permissions using this command.

chmod 755 update_orch.sh

Step 5

Run the script file using this command.

./update_orch.sh

When you run the script, you will be asked for the password for the cw-admin user account.

Note

 

Do not enter the password more than once even if you are prompted repeatedly to do so. The script will reuse the password that it read from the earlier input.

Wait for 10 to 15 minutes for the update to complete and verify that the system is healthy.

Add and install 7.0.1 patch files

Follow these steps to add and install the 7.0.1 patch files in the Cisco Crosswork Planning UI.


Important

A patch upgrade is only supported if Cisco Crosswork Planning 7.0 version is already installed on the target system.

Before you begin

Ensure you have extracted and validated the required patch files using the instructions in Extract and validate 7.0.1 patch files.

Procedure

Step 1

From the main menu of the Cisco Crosswork Planning UI, choose Administration > Crosswork Manager. Then, select the Application management tab. The Crosswork Platform Infrastructure and the applications that are added are displayed here as tiles.

Step 2

Click the Add file (.tar.gz) option to add the patch file that you extracted. As an example, consider Crosswork Infrastructure patch file, cw-na-infra-patch-7.0.1-27-release_241118.tar.gz for this procedure.

Caution

 

Please ensure that the tar.gz fle extracted from the signed file is the one added to and installed through the Cisco Crosswork Planning Ul.

The Add File (tar.gz) via Secure Copy popup window is displayed.

Step 3

Enter the relevant information and click Add.

Step 4

Once the patch file is added, you can observe the existing application tile displaying an upgrade prompt. Click the upgrade prompt to install the patch file.

Step 5

In the Upgrade pop up screen, select the new version that you want to upgrade to, and click Upgrade. Click the Job history tab to see the progress of the upgrade operation.

Step 6

After the installation is complete, go to Administration > Crosswork Manager, and confirm all the applications are reporting a Healthy status.

Note

 

It is expected that some processes will be reported as unhealthy or degraded as the upgrade is deployed (an updated status may take up to 30 minutes before reporting). If, after 30 minutes, the status does not change to Healthy, contact your Cisco Customer Experience representative. It is recommended to wait until the system is back to Healthy status before proceeding to install the next patch file.

Step 7

Repeat steps 1 to 6 to add and install the Cisco Crosswork Planning 7.0.1 patch file, cw-na-design-patch-7.0.1-2-release-241112.tar.gz.

Security

Cisco is committed to ensuring all our products conform to the latest industry recommendations. We firmly believe that security is an end-to-end commitment and are here to help secure your entire environment. Please work with your Cisco account team to review the security profile of your network.

For details on how we validate our products, see Cisco Secure Products and Solutions and Cisco Security Advisories.

If you have questions or concerns regarding the security of any Cisco products, please open a case with the Cisco Customer Experience team and include details about the tool being used and any vulnerabilities it reports.

Support and downloads

The Cisco Support and Downloads website provides online resources to download documentation, software, and tools. Use these resources to install and configure the software and to troubleshoot and resolve technical issues with Cisco products and technologies.

Access to most tools on the Cisco Support and Downloads website requires a Cisco.com user ID and password.

For more information, visit https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/index.html.

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Cisco Bug Search Tool

Cisco Bug Search Tool (BST) is a web-based tool that acts as a gateway to the Cisco bug tracking system that maintains a comprehensive list of defects and vulnerabilities in Cisco products and software. BST provides you with detailed defect information about your products and software.