Cisco Cisco Active Network Abstraction 3.7 Leaflet
© 2011 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
Page 1 of 3
Data Sheet
Cisco Active Network Abstraction - Third-Party
Device Management
Device Management
Overview
For service providers and enterprises evolving their network to Cisco IP next-generation network equipment, Cisco
Active Network Abstraction (ANA) delivers network management capability for end-to-end networks consisting of
Cisco and non-Cisco equipment that ranges across access, aggregation, edge, and core devices.
ANA virtual network element (VNE) driver technology discovers and maintains an accurate network model of
physical and logical services allowing for event monitoring in near real time. Using VNE technology to mediate
device-
specific management information from each device, ANA provides a “single pane of glass” management
view of the network.
For customers with multivendor environments, ANA introduces third-party VNE drivers that are available for
common non-Cisco network devices. These ANA third-party VNE drivers are supported and maintained by Cisco
as part of the ANA product. This includes VNE upgrades for device releases to maintain management interface
compatibility. For non-Cisco devices that are not supported by a standard ANA third-party VNE driver, ANA
supports two VNE alternatives for management. ANA provides a generic VNE using standard MIB II to discover the
device, but this has limited capabilities. Additionally, customers can also create extensible, user-defined VNE
drivers for specific non-Cisco device types. Cisco Advanced Services routinely provides expert support for either of
these approaches and further customization.
Benefits
Network operators benefit from using ANA as a highly available and scalable platform to manage both Cisco and
non-Cisco devices. ANA provides a single, authoritative view into a network consisting of heterogeneous devices.
This reduces operating expenses (OpEx) by providing a unified user experience for real-time device discovery,
network topology, and centralized fault management. Additionally, organizations can further reduce OpEx and OSS
integration costs by utilizing a single northbound interface regardless of the network equipment vendor.
Cisco ANA Third-Party VNE Drivers
A full list of ANA third-party VNE drivers for the latest release of ANA (3.7.3) is available in the most recent version
of the
ANA Third-Party VNE Reference Guide
ANA releases.