- Preface
- Read Me First
- Software Packaging and Architecture
- Using Cisco IOS XE Software
- Console Port, Telnet, and SSH Handling
- Consolidated Packages and Sub-Package Management
- Software Upgrade Process
- High Availability Overview
- Broadband Scalability and Performance
- UniDirectional Link Detection (UDLD) Protocol
- Using the Management Ethernet Interface
- Multilink PPP Support for the ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers
- Synchronous Ethernet Support
- IEEE 1588v2 PTP Support
- Configuring Bridge Domain Interfaces
- Enabling Support for Tunable DWDM-XFP-C
- Monitoring and Maintaining Multilink Frame Relay
- Configuring MPLS Layer 2 VPNs
- Configuring Support for Management Using the REST API
- LSM-MLDP-based MVPN Support
- Tracing and Trace Management
- Packet Trace
- Configuring and Accessing the Web User Interface
- PPP Half-Bridge on the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers
- Unsupported Commands
- Configuration Examples
- Finding Feature Information
- Contents
- Prerequisites for Network Synchronization Support
- Network Synchronization Overview
- Synchronization Status Message and Ethernet Synchronization Messaging Channel
Network Synchronization Support
Most of the services that are provided over networks must be fully synchronized with one another in order to operate efficiently. If the network devices that constitute a network do not operate at the same clock rates, there is an overall decrease in the performance of the network and a consequent degradation in the quality of the services offered by the network. This document explains how to configure network synchronization on the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers.
Finding Feature Information
Your software release might not support all the features documented in this module. For the latest feature information and caveats, see the release notes for your platform and software release. To find information about the features documented in this module, and to see a list of the releases in which each feature is supported, see the “Feature Information for Network Synchronization Support” section.
Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.
Contents
Prerequisites for Network Synchronization Support
The following goals must be taken into account while designing the synchronization plan for a network:
- Synchronize the greatest number of network elements to the smallest number of independent clock sources. Ideally, all the network elements should be synchronized to a single clock source.
- Use clock sources of the highest quality (in terms of stability and long-term accuracy).
- To ensure resiliency of synchronization, plan for possible failure of the clock sources, network elements, and network trunks.
Network Synchronization Overview
Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE), which is defined by the Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) standards, such as G.8261 and G.8262, leverages the PHY layer of the Ethernet to transmit clock information to remote sites.
SyncE provides a cost-effective alternative to the Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) networks. For SyncE to work, each network element along the synchronization path must support SyncE. To implement SyncE, the bit clock of the Ethernet is aligned to a reliable clock that is traceable to the Primary Reference Clock (PRC).
Features Supported on ASR 1000 Platforms
Note Network-Clocking feature is not supported with SFP-GE-T on any of the ASR1000 platforms.
Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers have a dedicated external interface known as BITS interface to recover clocking information from a Synchronization Supply Unit (SSU). They use this clock for SyncE. The BITS interface supports E1 (European SSUs) and T1 (American BITS) framing.
Note The Cisco ASR 1001-X Router does not have an on-board BITS port, hence it does not support those features that use BITS ports.
Table 12-1 lists the framing modes for a BITS port on the Cisco ASR 1002-X Router.
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Table 12-2 lists the framing modes for a BITS port on the other Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers.
You can configure network synchronization on the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers by using one of the following features:
When this feature is configured, the system clock is recovered from the SyncE clocking source (SyncE-enabled interfaces only). The router uses this clock as the Tx clock for other supported Shared Port Adapters (SPAs).
When this feature is enabled, the system clock is recovered from a BITS clock source.
Note This feature is supported only on the Cisco ASR 1002-X Router.
When this feature is enabled, the system clock is recovered from a GPS (10M) clock source.
Note This feature is not supported on the Cisco ASR 1002-X Router.
When this feature is enabled, the clock received from an Ethernet is forwarded to an external SSU. The SyncE feature provides the clock cleanup functionality. When a router is in the middle of a synchronization chain, the received clock may experience unacceptable wander and jitter. The router recovers the clock from the SyncE interface, converts it to the format required for the BITS interface, and sends it to an SSU through the BITS port. The SSU then performs a cleanup and sends it back to the BITS interface. The cleaned up clock is received from the SSU and is used as the Tx clock for the SyncE ports. In the context of the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers, the interface from which the clock is recovered and the BITS port to the SSU must reside on the same card.
A SyncE-enabled Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router provides the Squelching feature. In this feature, an alarm indication signal (AIS) is sent to the Tx interfaces if the clock source goes down. When the Line to External feature is configured, if the line source goes down at any point of time, an AIS is transmitted through the external interface to the SSU. Squelching can be performed only on external devices, such as SSUs and PRCs.
You can have a maximum of eight clock sources configured on a Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router. On a router that supports the Network Synchronization feature, you can configure selection of the clock source on the basis of the quality of the clock source. With this feature configured, the clock source that offers the best quality is made the default clock source. If the highest level of quality is offered by more than one clock source, the clock source with the highest priority is made the default clock source. You can also manage synchronization by using the following management options:
- Hold-Off Time: If a clock source goes down, the router waits for a specific hold-off time before removing the clock source from the clock selection process. By default, the value of hold-off time is 300 milliseconds (ms).
- Wait to Restore: If a SyncE interface comes up, the router waits for a specific period of time before considering the SyncE interface for synchronization source. By default, the value is 300 seconds.
- Force Switch: Forcefully selects a synchronization source irrespective of whether the source is available or within the specified range.
- Manual Switch: Manually select a synchronization source, provided the clock source has a higher quality level than the currently active clock.
Table 12-3 lists the SPAs that support network synchronization.
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SPA-8XCHT1/E1-V2 (Supported on the Cisco ASR 1002-X Router and the Cisco ASR1001-X Router, from Cisco IOS XE Release 3.11 onwards) |
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Note For more information on SPA support matrix see, http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/interfaces_modules/shared_port_adapters/configuration/ASR1000/ASRspasw.html
Note Netsync feature on SPA-2XGE-SYNCE is not supported on the Cisco ASR 1001-X Router.
Synchronization Status Message and Ethernet Synchronization Messaging Channel
Network clocking uses the following mechanisms to exchange the quality level of the clock between the network elements:
Synchronization Status Message
Network elements use Synchronization Status Messages (SSM) to inform the neighboring elements about the Quality Level (QL) of the clock. Non-Ethernet interfaces, such as optical interfaces and T1 or E1 SPA frames, use SSM. The key benefits of SSMs are:
Ethernet Synchronization Messaging Channel
In order to maintain a logical communication channel in synchronous network connections, Ethernet relies on a channel called the Ethernet Synchronization Messaging Channel (ESMC), which is based on the IEEE 802.3 Organization-Specific Slow Protocol (OSSP) standards. ESMC relays the SSM code that represents the quality level of the Ethernet Equipment Clock (EEC) in a physical layer.
The ESMC packets are received only for the ports configured as clock sources, and transmitted on all the SyncE interfaces in the system. These packets are then processed by the clock selection algorithm on route processors (RP) and are used to select the best clock. The Tx frame is generated based on the QL value of the selected clock source, and sent to all the enabled SyncE ports.
Clock Selection Algorithm
The clock selection algorithm selects the best available synchronization source from the nominated sources. This algorithm exhibits nonrevertive behavior among the clock sources with the same QL value, and always selects the signal with the best QL value. For clock option 1, the default is revertive, and for clock option 2, the default is nonrevertive.
The clock selection process works in the following modes:
When multiple selection processes are present in a network element, all the processes work in the same mode.
QL-Enabled Mode
In QL-enabled mode, the following parameters contribute to the selection process:
If no external commands are active, the algorithm selects the reference (for clock selection) with the highest QL that does not experience a signal fail condition. If multiple inputs have the same highest QL, the input with the highest priority is selected. For multiple inputs having the same highest priority and QL, the existing reference is maintained (if it belongs to the highest priority and QL group). Otherwise, an arbitrary reference from the highest priority and QL group is selected.
QL-Disabled Mode
In QL-disabled mode, the following parameters contribute to the selection process:
If no external commands are active, the algorithm selects the reference (for clock selection) with the highest priority that does not experience a signal fail condition. For multiple inputs having the same highest priority, the existing reference is maintained (if it belongs to highest priority group). Otherwise, an arbitrary reference from highest priority group is selected.
Restrictions for Network Synchronization
This section lists the restrictions for configuring network synchronization on a router. See Table 12-3 for a listing of the SPAs that you can use when configuring network synchronization.
- If the network clock algorithm is enabled, use the system clock as the Tx clock (synchronous mode) for the Ethernet interfaces of the corresponding router. You cannot change the synchronous mode on a per-interface basis.
- You can configure up to eight ports as clock sources on a router.
- The SyncE feature coexists with SSO, but is not SSO-compliant. The clock selection algorithm is restarted on a switchover. During switchover, the router goes into holdover mode.
- The SyncE interfaces in the WAN mode cannot be used for QL-enabled clock selection. You must either use them with the system in QL-disabled mode, or disable the ESMC on the interfaces, and use them as QL-disabled interfaces.
- We recommend that you do not configure multiple input sources with the same priority because this impacts the TSM (switching message delay).
- You cannot implement the network clock-based clock selection algorithm and the new algorithm simultaneously. Both these are mutually exclusive.
- The Line to External feature for clock cleanup is supported only if the line interface and the external interface are on the same metronome SPA.
Note The Line to External feature is not supported on the Cisco ASR 1002-X Router.
Configuring Network Synchronization
You can configure network synchronization on the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers by performing one of the following procedures:
- Configuring Clock Recovery from SyncE
- Configuring Clock Recovery from a BITS Port
- Configuring SyncE by Using the Line to External Feature
Configuring Clock Recovery from SyncE
This section describes how to configure clock recovery by using the SyncE method.
SUMMARY STEPS
2. network-clock synchronization automatic
3. network-clock synchronization ssm option {1 | 2 {GEN1 | GEN2}}
4. interface gigabitethernet slot/card/port
7. network-clock input-source priority {interface interface-name slot/card/port | {external slot/card/port }}
DETAILED STEPS
Examples
The following example shows how to configure clock recovery from SyncE:
Configuring Clock Recovery from a BITS Port
This section describes how to configure clock recovery from a BITS port. BITS port can be configured either as an input-source or an output-source.
Configuring Clock Recovery with a BITS Port as an Input-Source
This section describes how to configure clock recovery with a BITS port as an input-source.
SUMMARY STEPS
2. network-clock synchronization automatic
3. network-clock synchronization ssm option option-id generation-id
4. network-clock input-source priority {external slot/card/port }
DETAILED STEPS
Examples
The following example shows how to configure clock recovery from a BITS port for a Metronome SPA:
The following example shows how to configure clock recovery from a BITS port for RP BITS on Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers with dual RP:
The following example shows how to configure clock recovery with BITS as the input source on the Cisco ASR 1002-X Series Aggregation Services Routers on the E1 Common Channel Signal mode:
Configuring Clock Recovery with a BITS Port as an Output-Source
This section describes how to configure clock recovery from a BITS port as an output-source.
Note BITS configuration as output sources is supported only on Cisco ASR 1002-X Router.
SUMMARY STEPS
2. network-clock synchronization automatic
3. network-clock synchronization ssm option option-id generation-id
4. network-clock output-source priority {external slot/card/port }
DETAILED STEPS
Examples
The following example shows how to configure clock recovery from a BITS port for a Metronome SPA:
The following example shows how to configure clock recovery from a BITS port for RP BITS on Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers with dual RP:
The following example shows how to configure clock recovery with BITS as output-source on Cisco ASR 1002-X Series Aggregation Services Routers on a E1 Common Channel Signal Mode:
Configuring SyncE by Using the Line to External Feature
This section describes how to configure network synchronization by using the Line to External feature.
Note The Line to External feature is not supported on the Cisco ASR 1002-X Router.
SUMMARY STEPS
2. network-clock synchronization automatic
3. network-clock synchronization ssm option {1 | 2 {GEN1 | GEN2}}
4. interface gigabitethernet slot/card/port
7. network-clock output-source line priority {interface interface-name } {external slot/card/port }
DETAILED STEPS
Examples
The following example shows how to configure a SyncE using the Line to External method:
Managing Synchronization
Manage synchronization on a Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Service Router using the following management commands:
Use the network-clock synchronization mode QL-enabled command in the global configuration mode to configure the automatic selection process for the QL-enabled mode. This succeeds only if the SyncE interfaces are capable of sending SSMs.
The following example shows how to configure network clock synchronization (QL-enabled mode) in the global configuration mode:
Use the esmc process command in the global configuration mode to enable the ESMC process at system level. The no form of this command disables the ESMC process. The no form of this command fails if no SyncE-capable interface is installed on the platform.
The following example shows how to enable the ESMC process in the global configuration mode:
Use the esmc mode [tx | rx] command in the interface configuration mode to enable the ESMC process at the interface level. The no form of the command disables the ESMC process.
The following example shows how to enable ESMC in the interface configuration mode:
Use the network-clock source quality-level command in the interface configuration mode to configure the QL value for ESMC on a gigabit Ethernet port. The value is based on global interworking options:
– If Option 1 is configured, the available values are QL-PRC, QL-SSU-A, QL-SSU-B, QL-SEC, and QL-DNU.
– If Option 2 is configured with GEN 2, the available values are QL-PRS, QL-STU, QL-ST2, QL-TNC, QL-ST3, QL-SMC, QL-ST4, and QL-DUS.
– If Option 2 is configured with GEN1, the available values are QL-PRS, QL-STU, QL-ST2, QL-SMC, QL-ST4, and QL-DUS
The following example shows how to configure the network-clock source quality-level in the interface configuration mode:
Use the network-clock quality-level command in the global configuration mode to configure the QL value for the SSMs on a BITS port.
The following example shows how to configure network-clock quality-level command in the global configuration mode:
Use the network-clock wait-to-restore timer global command to set the wait-to-restore time. You can configure the wait-to-restore time to any value between 0 to 86400 seconds. The default value is 300 seconds. The wait-to-restore timer can be set in the global configuration mode and the interface configuration mode.
The following example shows how to configure the wait-to-restore timer in the global configuration mode:
The following example shows how to configure the wait-to-restore timer in the interface configuration mode:
Use the network-clock hold-off timer global command to configure hold-off time. You can configure the hold-off time to either 0 or any value between 50 to 10000 ms. The default value is 300 ms. The network-clock hold-off timer can be set in the global configuration mode and the interface configuration mode.
The following example shows how to configure the hold-off timer:
Use the network-clock switch force command to forcefully select a synchronization source irrespective of whether the source is available, and within range.
The following example shows how to configure a force switch:
Use the network-clock switch manual command to manually select a synchronization source, provided the clock source has a higher quality level than the currently active clock.
The following example shows how to configure a manual switch:
Use the network-clock clear switch controller-id command to clear the manual, or switch it on by force.
The following example shows how to clear a switch:
Use the network-clock set lockout command to lockout a clock source. A clock source flagged as lockout is not selected for SyncE. To clear the lock-out on a source, use the network-clock clear lockout command.
The following example shows how to lock out a clock source:
The following example shows how to clear the lock out on a clock source:
Verifying the Network Synchronization Configuration
Use the following commands to verify the network synchronization configuration:
- Use the show network-clock synchronization detail command to display all the details of network clock synchronization parameters at the global and interface level, as shown in the following example:
- Use the show esmc detail command to display all the details of the ESMC parameters at the global and interface level, as shown in the following example:
Troubleshooting the Network Synchronization Configuration
Note Before you troubleshoot, ensure that all the network synchronization configurations are complete.
Table 12-4 provides information about troubleshooting scenarios that you may encounter while configuring network synchronization.
Additional References
Related Documents
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Standards
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MIBs
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To locate and download MIBs for selected platforms, Cisco IOS releases, and feature sets, use Cisco MIB Locator found at this URL: |
RFCs
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Technical Assistance
Feature Information for Network Synchronization Support
Table 12-5 lists the features in this module and provides links to specific configuration information.
Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and software image support. Cisco Feature Navigator enables you to determine which software images support a specific software release, feature set, or platform. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.
Note Table 12-5 lists only the software release that introduced support for a given feature in a given software release train. Unless noted otherwise, subsequent releases of that software release train also support that feature.