Cisco Cisco Prime Infrastructure 1.3 Livre blanc
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PRODUCT BRIEF
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Cisco Prime Infrastructure 2.2
While Cisco Systems is well known for its networking, compute, and collaboration products, important
aspects of Cisco solutions that are often overlooked and underappreciated are the company’s management
tools. EMA research regularly reveals Cisco’s management products are among the network management tools
most commonly used by enterprises today, primarily because they are used to directly configure and maintain
Cisco’s various infrastructure products. And yet, the Cisco management solutions suite is far more than simply
an integrated set of element management tools. As an example, Cisco Prime Infrastructure has deep roots in
element management but has been designed and architected to act as a fully functional operations monitoring
and troubleshooting platform that spans technology domains and functional areas.
The most recent release, Cisco Prime Infrastructure 2.2 (PI2.2), delivers a number of strong steps forward in
The most recent release, Cisco Prime Infrastructure 2.2 (PI2.2), delivers a number of strong steps forward in
terms of platform capacity as well as functional capability for assuring the health and integrity of enterprise
networks. At a high level, the release has broadened the scope of the product’s management features to include
data center technologies, has added a distributed architecture for managing large scale distributed infrastructures,
and has continued Cisco’s track record of iterative improvements to workflow and ease of use. Some of the more
specific areas of improvement are as follows:
• Intelligent WAN (IWAN) Support –
Cisco’s IWAN solutions are designed to allow flexible and consistent
security and application performance across multiple types of WAN connectivity. New PI2.2 features unite
visibility and control for IWAN features and capabilities. PI2.2 dramatically simplifies IWAN deployments
by introducing IWAN workflows and flexible templates. Once in place, direct visibility into network and
application performance will enhance service assurance. In the case of Cisco, this visibility is provided via
embedded Cisco equipment features, such as Application Visibility Control (AVC) and Network-Based
Application Recognition (NBAR). PI2.2 features for deploying and configuring network and application
control functions such as Performance Routing (PfR), Wide Area Application Services (WAAS), network
Quality of Service (QoS), and Dynamic Multipoint VPN (DMVPN) are just a few clicks away. This
combination of visibility and control allows network engineers and operators to take full advantage of
advanced embedded Cisco networking capabilities to optimize and secure the WAN.
• Topology Mapping –
New for this release is the ability to view Layer 2 topology maps to reveal relationships
and connectivity between networking devices (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Device and Site Connectivity