Cisco Cisco Configuration Engine 1.4 Guide D’Information
Q&A
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Cisco Configuration Engine 3.5
Q.
What is Cisco® Configuration Engine?
A.
Cisco Configuration Engine is a highly scalable network management software application designed to facilitate
rapid configuration and image distribution to thousands of devices simultaneously. Using Cisco IOS® Software
agents, Cisco Configuration Engine provides zero-touch deployment (ZTD) and near-ZTD by eliminating the
traditional device staging process. Using Cisco Configuration Engine for both rapid deployment and ongoing
configuration and image updates can drastically reduce operating expenses (OpEx), especially for networks with
a large number of remote devices.
Q.
What is new in Cisco Configuration Engine 3.5?
A.
Cisco Configuration Engine 3.5 provides the following new features and supports:
●
Operating-system support:
◦
Solaris 10
◦
Red Hat Linux 4.0 and 5.0
●
VMware support
●
Automated port assignment: This enhancement simplifies the bootstrap configuration process by allowing
the Cisco Configuration Engine to dynamically assign the port number for device-to- Cisco Configuration
Engine connections. With this feature, the bootstrap configuration is the same across all remote devices,
regardless of the number of devices being managed.
●
External user authentication with Microsoft Active Directory: This feature provides the flexibility of user
authentication using an external Active Directory in addition to server-based local authentication.
●
Dual-zone support: This feature allows the separation of different network zones between device access
and the Cisco Configuration Engine application, providing more flexibility for security zoning requirements.
●
Support of Cisco Unique Device Identifier (UDI) as device identification: This feature allows use of the
Cisco product UDI as the unique device identification.
●
Secure FTP support: With this feature, you can securely import and export configuration templates using
Secure FTP.
Q.
Cisco has previously offered a product called the Cisco Networking Services IE 2100 Intelligence
Engine, which also uses Cisco IOS agent technology. What is the difference between the Cisco
Networking Services IE 2100 Intelligence Engine and the Cisco Configuration Engine?
A.
The Cisco Networking Services IE 2100 Intelligence Engine is an older appliance that is in the end-of-life stage.
Although both the Cisco IE 2100 and the Cisco Configuration Engine use the CNS technology, newer CNS
agent features are supported only by the Cisco Configuration Engine. The Cisco Configuration Engine also
provides higher scaling than the Cisco IE 2100.