Cisco Cisco Catalyst 6000 Multilayer Switch Feature Card MSFC2 Data Sheet
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SERIAL COMMUNICATION CHANNELS
The AIC has an embedded operating system that interfaces with the Cisco IOS Software in the router. Communication between the AIC operating
system and Cisco IOS Software is accomplished through two serial communications channels, as illustrated in Figure 7:
•
Serial data channel
•
Asynchronous craft port
Serial Data Channel
The serial data channel supports all TCP/IP traffic to and from the AIC, including communication over IP with NOCs and data centers. The channel
consists of one physical interface that provides support for the following applications:
•
Telnet—Used to communicate directly with the AIC OS and command-line interface (CLI)
•
TL-1—Used to transport TL-1 messages between the NOC and the AIC
•
Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP)—Used to download firmware to the AIC
•
SNMP—Used to transport SNMP traps between the Network Operations Center and the AIC
The Cisco IOS Software assigns an IP address to the AIC for use by the serial data channel. To route traffic, the serial data channel uses IP over
synchronous High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC). All IP packets coming to the Cisco router with a destination IP address that matches the AIC
IP address are forwarded to the serial data channel using IP over HDLC.
Asynchronous Craft Port
The asynchronous craft port supports Telnet to the AIC port number. This Telnet method, called local CLI, is useful for debugging when remote
Telnet to the AIC IP address (remote CLI) is not applicable. The asynchronous craft port also supports an AIC boot sequence, similar to the ROM
monitor in Cisco IOS Software, which allows the user to recover from a corrupted software image or configuration.
Figure 7. TOS Boundary into the AIC
SUPPORTED STANDARDS, MIBS, AND RFCS
Standards
The new standard that the AIC adds to the Cisco portfolio of protocols supported is Transaction Language One (TL-1).