Overview
This chapter provides an overview of the software installation process. You can install the Cisco Prime Access Registrar software on a machine for the first time, or you can upgrade the existing Prime Access Registrar software to a latest version.
Prime Access Registrar software is available in a packaged DVD-ROM or can be download from the Cisco.com website. “Downloading Cisco Prime Access Registrar Software” section provides detailed information about downloading the Prime Access Registrar 9.3 software.
Before you install the Prime Access Registrar 9.3 software, you must copy a license file to the location where you will install the software. You will receive the license file as an e-mail attachment. “Cisco Prime Access Registrar 9.3 Licensing” section provides detailed information about the new licensing mechanism in Prime Access Registrar.
Note
Before you begin the software installation, ensure that your server has the recommended patches. A dedicated server should be allocated for Prime Access Registrar installation and it is recommended to run Prime Access Registrar as a standalone application. Installing any other application(s) in the same server is not supported.
About Cisco Prime Access Registrar
Prime Access Registrar is a 64-bit, 3GPP-complaint RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service)/Diameter server that enables multiple dial-in Network Access Server (NAS) devices to share a common authentication, authorization, and accounting database.
Prerequisites
Before you install Prime Access Registrar, ensure that:
- You have the recommended hardware and software requirements.
- You have a valid Prime Access Registrar license.
- You have installed 64-bit Java 1.8.x or 11.x
- You have 64-bit Oracle client installed, if you are using Oracle Call Interface (OCI) services. Supported Oracle client versions are 11g to19c.
Note Oracle Instant Client libraries are not supported. For ODBC, Prime Access Registrar supports MySQL database connectivity and for OCI, it supports Oracle database connectivity.
- You have the 64-bit rpm files for the relevant RHEL and Cent OS versions while installing Prime Access Registrar. For the list of required rpms for the relevant OS versions, see Required 64-bit rpms for Relevant RHEL OS Versions.
Note You must install the rpm versions relevant to the RHEL OS versions while installing Prime Access Registrar. Otherwise, Prime Access Registrar will not be installed.
- The ‘bc’ command (which is an arbitrary precision calculator language) is present while installing Prime Access Registrar in a Linux machine. If the ‘bc’ command is not present, install the relevant rpm on that machine.
- Before enabling the SIGTRAN-M3UA remote server, ensure that you restart the Prime Access Registrar server whenever you make any SIGTRAN-M3UA configuration changes.
- Do not use the default HOSTNAME (localhost.localdomain). Ensure that you assign a new HOSTNAME and update the same with IP Address in the /etc/hosts file. An example is given below:
Required 64-bit rpms for Relevant RHEL OS Versions
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Note SCTP module is not installed by default from RHEL 8.x. As a consequence, non-root users cannot load these components as they are block listed by default. To use one of these kernel modules, the system administrator must install the rpm and explicitly remove the module block list. For more details, see https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-us/red_hat_enterprise_linux/8/html-single/8.0_release_notes/index.
System Requirements
This section describes the system requirements to install and use the Prime Access Registrar software.
Table 1-1 lists the system requirements for Prime Access Registrar 9.3.
Prime Access Registrar supports JDK versions 1.8.x and 11.x. Also, Prime Access Registrar is qualified with VMWare ESXi 7.0 Update 3, OpenStack Xena.
Note These are the minimum system requirements to have Prime Access Registrar up and running. This may vary based on the deployments. Please contact your BU team to know the specific system requirements for your deployment.
Installation Dialog Overview
Prime Access Registrar 9.3 uses the RedHat Package Manager (RPM) and installs as a script. When you begin the software installation, the installation process uses a dialog to determine how to install the software.
Installation Location
The first question in the installation dialog asks, “Where do you want to install?” The default location to install the software is /opt/CSCOar. You can choose to specify another location by entering it at this point. That directory would then be the base install directory, sometimes referred to as $INSTALL or $BASEDIR.
License File Location
The installation dialog asks for the location of the license file.
Prime Access Registrar uses a licensing mechanism that requires a file to be copied from a directory on the Prime Access Registrar workstation. Earlier versions of Access Registrar used a license key. You should copy the license file to the Prime Access Registrar workstation before you begin the software installation. You can copy the license file to /tmp or another directory you might prefer. The installation process will copy the license file to the install location that you have provided, for example /opt/CSCOar/license.
See “Cisco Prime Access Registrar 9.3 Licensing” section for more detailed information about the Prime Access Registrar license file requirements.
Java Runtime Environment
The installation dialog asks for the location of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). Prime Access Registrar provides a web-based GUI that requires JRE Version 1.8.x or 11.x to be installed on the Prime Access Registrar server.
If you already have a Java Version 8 or Version 11 platform installed, enter the directory where it is installed. If you need the JRE, you can download it from one of the following websites:
Open Database Connectivity
The installation dialog asks for the location of the Oracle installation directory required for OCI configuration. The installation process uses this information to set the ORACLE_HOME variable in the /opt/CSCOar/bin/arserver script.
If you are not using OCI, press Enter to skip this step.
Note Prime Access Registrar is qualified with the latest oracle servers 18c and 19c. This requires a compatible client to be installed or placed as per oracle recommendations. All oracle client library files must be placed under $ORACLE_HOME/lib.
Example Configuration
The installation dialog asks if you want to install the example configuration. You can use the example configuration to learn about Prime Access Registrar and to understand the Prime Access Registrar configuration.
You can delete the example configuration at any time by running the command:
/opt/CSCOar/bin/aregcmd -f /opt/CSCOar/examples/cli/delete-example-configuration.rc
Running Prime Access Registrar as Non-root User
Prime Access Registrar can be run as a non-root user as well. Make sure that you have an existing non-root user account. If you wish to run Prime Access Registrar as a non-root user, and the user does not exist, choose to exit the installation.
Configuration Changes as non-root User
If you install Prime Access Registrar as a non-root user, ensure that you perform all operations within Prime Access Registrar as a non-root user. Otherwise, log files will be created in root mode. To avoid this, run the following script:
Connection Between Prime Access Registrar and OCI
If you install Prime Access Registrar as a non-root user, you must have access permissions to the oracle client libraries. If you do not have access permissions to the oracle client libraries, Prime Access Registrar will not be able to load the oracle client libraries at run time and will display the error message OCILIB is not initialised in name_radius_1_log.
Follow the below steps to resolve the issue:
Step 1 Run the following command:
chown -R cparadm:cparadm /opt/oracle
Where, /opt/oracle is the oracle user home directory if ORACLE_HOME path in arserver script is "/opt/oracle/12.1.0/client_1"
Step 2 Verify $ORACLE_HOME/lib directory is accessible by non-root user (user who controls the Prime Access Registrar application.)
Step 3 Append "$ORACLE_HOME/lib" in /etc/ld.so.conf (at the bottom) and run the ldconfig command as root user.
Note Replace $ORACLE_HOME by its value. Example: /opt/oracle/12.1.0/client_1/lib.
Step 4 Execute the following command:
Check if it lists the oracle client library path that you added in /etc/ld.so.conf.
Step 5 After executing the above four steps, login as non-root user and run the ldconfig command as non-root user.
Step 7 Restart Prime Access Registrar as non-root user using the following command:
Now, Prime Access Registrar will be able to initialize the OCILIB properly.
Continue with Installation
Before executing the library files and other packages, a confirmation message stating that “Do you want to continue with the installation of <CSCOar>?” is displayed. Enter Y or yes to continue with the installation. No further user input is required.
Downloading Cisco Prime Access Registrar Software
Prime Access Registrar software is available for download at:
http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/access-registrar-encrypted?sort=release
All versions of Prime Access Registrar software available for download are listed.
From release 9.2 onwards, Prime Access Registrar software is available in two different kits for RHEL 7.x and RHEL 8.x respectively:
Complete the following steps to download the software.
Step 1 Create a temporary directory, similar to /tmp, to hold the downloaded software package.
Step 2 Enter the URL to the Cisco.com website for Prime Access Registrar software:
http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/access-registrar-encrypted?sort=release
Step 3 Click on the link for Prime Access Registrar software:
CSCOar-9.3-RHEL7x-lnx26_64-install.sh or CSCOar-9.3-RHEL8x-lnx26_64-install.sh.
The Software Center Download Rules page appears. You should read these rules carefully.
Warning Before downloading this software please ensure that each of the following licenses and agreements are in place with Cisco Systems or a Cisco Systems authorized reseller.
These rules require you to acknowledge the following:
By clicking Agree, you confirm that the download of this file by you is in accordance with the requirements listed and that you understand and agree that Cisco Systems reserves the right to charge you for, and you agree to pay for, any software downloads to which you are not entitled. All Cisco Systems Operating System and application software licenses and downloads are governed by Cisco Systems' applicable End User License Agreement/Software License Agreement. By clicking Agree you further agree to abide by the terms and conditions set forth in Cisco Systems' End User License agreement/Software License Agreement and your service agreement.
If you click Agree, the End User License Agreement / Software License Agreement is displayed.
Step 4 Read the End User License Agreement / Software License Agreement carefully, and if you accept the terms, click Accept.
The software Download page appears. In few seconds, a File Download dialog box appears. If it does not appear, click the link provided in the page.
Step 5 Click Save and indicate where to save the file on your computer, such as /tmp, then click Save again.
Cisco Prime Access Registrar 9.3 Licensing
Cisco Prime Access Registrar offers two options to manage your licenses:
- Smart Licensing—Monitor Prime Access Registrar software licenses easily and efficiently with a single token registration. For more information about Smart Licensing, see Chapter6, “Smart Licensing”.
- Traditional Licensing – Purchase and import individual licenses based on your needs and manage the application features and access.
Smart Licensing
Smart Licensing is a cloud-based approach to licensing. Cisco Smart Software Licensing helps you to procure, deploy, and manage licenses easily where devices self-register and report license consumption, removing the need for product activation keys (PAKs). It pools license entitlements in a single account and allows you to move licenses freely through the network, wherever you need them.
The licenses that you have purchased are maintained in a centralized database called the Cisco Smart Software Manager (CSSM). Applications will report their license usage to a Smart Agent (SA) which will then use Call Home to report the usage to the CSSM. For more information, refer to https://software.cisco.com.
You can use Cisco Smart Licensing to:
- Register with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite
- See the license usage and count
- See the product licenses available on Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite
- Renew License Authorization with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite
- Renew the License Registration
- De-register with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite
For detailed information about the Smart Licensing process, see Chapter6, “Smart Licensing”
Traditional Licensing
In Prime Access Registrar 9.3, licensing is based on transactions per second (TPS) or concurrent online/active subscribers/devices sessions (SUB). TPS is calculated based on the number of packets flowing into Prime Access Registrar. In Session based licensing model, the license is managed based on the number of sessions that reside in Prime Access Registrar. During Prime Access Registrar startup, either TPS based licensing or session based licensing model should be loaded.
The Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) transaction in Prime Access Registrar constitutes:
- Access-Request/Access-Accept pair
- Access-Request/Access-Reject pair
- Access-Request/Access-Challenge pair
- Accounting-Request/Accounting-Response pair
Each pair (request and its response) is one transaction. In a proxy scenario, the additional traffic created by the proxy request from Prime Access Registrar and its response will not be considered as a different transaction. However, only those requests from the RADIUS client/NAS is taken as a transaction.
The Diameter transaction constitutes a complete Diameter-Request and Diameter-Answer.
Prime Access Registrar can be deployed in an active/stand-by server combination (with RHEL clustering solution). The active server performs all the AAA functionality. Only if the active server goes down, RHEL cluster will trigger the stand-by server.
Prime Access Registrar can optionally be deployed in a two-tier architecture—front-end and back-end server. The front-end server performs AAA functions. The back-end server performs session management functions.
License Slabs
Greenfield customers can purchase Prime Access Registrar 9.3 version by purchasing the required part numbers. Prime Access Registrar is also available by e-delivery; with e-delivery, the licenses are obtained electronically. The licenses need to be ordered using the part numbers in Table 2 .
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Physical delivery of Prime Access Registrar software/license. |
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Electronic delivery of Prime Access Registrar software/license. |
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Prime Access Registrar Base license; support for RADIUS; required for each region, supports 100 transactions per second |
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Prime Access Registrar Next Generation Base license; required for each region, support for RADIUS, Diameter, and IPv6; |
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Prime Access Registrar Director Base license; intelligent AAA proxy, and Accounting write support; Includes RADIUS support; required for each region; |
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Prime Access Registrar Director Additional license; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License; |
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Prime Access Registrar Subscriber Base license; required for each region; support for RADIUS; supports up to 100,000 concurrent active sessions |
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Prime Access Registrar Next Generation Subscriber Base license; required for each region; support for RADIUS, Diameter, and IPv6; supports up to 100,000 concurrent active sessions |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional Subscriber License region; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License; |
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Prime Access Registrar License for RADIUS<->Diameter translations framework |
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Prime Access Registrar License for interaction with HSS and EAP-SIM / EAP-AKA / EAP-AKA’ authentication |
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Prime Access Registrar Base license with SIGTRAN enabled; support for RADIUS only; supports 100 transactions per second |
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Prime Access Registrar Next Generation Base license with SIGTRAN enabled; RADIUS, Diameter, and IPv6; supports 100 transactions per second |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License with SIGTRAN enabled; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License with SIGTRAN enabled; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License with SIGTRAN enabled; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License with SIGTRAN enabled; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License with SIGTRAN enabled; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License with SIGTRAN enabled; |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License with SIGTRAN enabled; |
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Prime Access Registrar Subscriber Base license with SIGTRAN enabled; support for RADIUS; supports up to 100,000 concurrent active sessions |
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Prime Access Registrar Next Generation Subscriber Base license with SIGTRAN enabled; required for each region; support for RADIUS, Diameter, and IPv6; supports up to 100,000 concurrent active sessions |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional Subscriber License with SIGTRAN enabled; supports 100,000 concurrent active sessions |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional Subscriber License with SIGTRAN enabled; supports 200,000 concurrent active sessions |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional Subscriber License with SIGTRAN enabled; supports 500,000 concurrent active sessions |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional Subscriber License with SIGTRAN enabled; supports 1 million concurrent active sessions |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional Subscriber License with SIGTRAN enabled; supports 2 million concurrent active sessions |
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Prime Access Registrar License for enabling Enhanced IP Allocation feature with the capacity of 1,000 IP allocations. For details about the Enhanced IP Allocation feature, refer to the Cisco Prime Access Registrar 9.3 Administrator Guide. |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License with Enhanced IP Allocation enabled; supports 10,000 IP allocations |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License with Enhanced IP Allocation enabled; supports 100,000 IP allocations |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License with Enhanced IP Allocation enabled; supports 1 million IP allocations |
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Prime Access Registrar Additional License with Enhanced IP Allocation enabled; supports 2 million IP allocations |
Getting a Prime Access Registrar 9.3 License
When you order the Cisco Prime Access Registrar product, a text license file will be sent to you by e-mail. If you are evaluating the software, Cisco will provide you with an evaluation license.
If you decide to upgrade your Prime Access Registrar software, a new text license file will be sent to you by e-mail.
Note While upgrading, the licenses of previous versions cannot be used with Prime Access Registrar 9.3. Backward compatibility support in terms of license will not be available in this version.
If you receive a Software License Claim Certificate, you can get your Prime Access Registrar license file at the following URL:
Note You need to be the registered user of Cisco.com to generate a Software License.
Within one hour of registration at the above website, you will receive your license key file and installation instructions in e-mail.
Installing Prime Access Registrar 9.3 Licenses
You must have a license in a directory on the Prime Access Registrar machine before you attempt to install Prime Access Registrar software. If you have not installed the Prime Access Registrar license file before beginning the software installation, the installation process will fail.
You can store the Prime Access Registrar license file in any directory on the Prime Access Registrar machine. During the installation process, you will be asked the location of the license file, and the installation process will copy the license file to the /opt/CSCOar/license directory, or $INSTALL/license directory if you are not using the default installation location.
The license file might have the name ciscoar.lic, but it can be any filename with the suffix .lic. To install the Prime Access Registrar license file, you can copy and paste the text into a file, or you can simply save the file you receive in e-mail to an accessible directory.
Adding Additional Prime Access Registrar 9.3 Licenses
If you add additional licenses, you can open the file in /opt/CSCOar/license and add additional lines to the license file, or you can create an additional license file to hold the new lines. If you add a new file, remember to give it a .lic suffix. You must restart the Prime Access Registrar server for the new license to take effect. To restart the Prime Access Registrar server, enter the following on the server command line:
Sample License File
The following is an example of a Cisco Prime Access Registrar license file.
Displaying License Information
Prime Access Registrar provides two ways of getting license information using aregcmd :
aregcmd Command-Line Option
Prime Access Registrar provides a -l command-line option to aregcmd. The syntax is:
where directory_name is the directory where the Prime Access Registrar license file is stored. The following is an example of the aregcmd -l command:
Licensed Application: Cisco Prime Access Registrar (Standard Version)
Following are the licensed components:
Launching aregcmd
The Prime Access Registrar server displays license information when you launch aregcmd, as shown in the following:
Related Documentation
For a complete list of Cisco Access Registrar 9.3 documentation, see the Cisco Prime Access Registrar 9.3 Documentation Overview.
Note We sometimes update the documentation after original publication. Therefore, you should also review the documentation on Cisco.com for any updates.
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