Provision LSPs

LSPs can be provisioned using either PCEP or NETCONF. Whether provisioned using PCEP or NETCONF, LSPs can be learned via PCEP or by way of device collection. If learned by way of device collection, then the NorthStar Controller requires periodic device collection to learn about LSPs and other updates to the network. See Scheduling Device Collection for Analytics for more information. Once you have created device collection tasks, NorthStar Controller should be able to discover LSPs provisioned via NETCONF. Also unlike PCEP, the NorthStar Controller with NETCONF supports logical systems.

For more information about managing logical nodes, see Considerations When Using Logical Nodes later in this topic.

Provisioning LSPs

To provision an LSP, navigate to Applications>Provision LSP. The Provision LSP window is displayed as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Provision LSP Window, Properties Tab

As shown in Figure 1, the Provision LSP window has several tabs:

• Properties

• Path

• Advanced

• Design

• Scheduling

• User Properties

From any tab, you can click Preview Path at the bottom of the window to see the path drawn on the topology map, and click Submit to complete the LSP provisioning. These buttons become available as soon as Name, Node A, and Node Z have been specified.

Table 1 describes the data entry fields in the Properties tab of the Provision LSP window.

The Path tab includes the fields shown in Figure 2 and described in Table 2.

Figure 2: Provision LSP Window, Path Tab

The Advanced tab includes the fields shown in Figure 3 and described in Table 3.

Figure 3: Provision LSP Window, Advanced Tab

The Design tab includes the fields shown in Figure 4 and described in Table 4.

Figure 4: Provision LSP Window, Design Tab

When provisioning via PCEP, the NorthStar Controller’s default behavior is to compute the path to be used when provisioning the LSP. Alternatively, you can select the routeByDevice routing method in the Design tab, in which the router controls part of the routing. This alternate routing method is only meaningful for three types of LSP:

• RSVP TE PCC-controlled LSP

  Note

  For provisioning via NETCONF, routeByDevice is the default routing method.

• Segment routing PCE-based LSP

• Segment routing NETCONF-based LSP

To select routeByDevice as the routing method:

1. On the Design tab, select routeByDevice from the Routing Method drop-down menu.
2. On the Path tab, select dynamic from the Selection drop-down menu.

The LSP is then set up to be provisioned with the specified attributes, and no explicit path.

The Scheduling tab relates to bandwidth calendaring. By default, tunnel creation is not scheduled, which means that tunnels are provisioned immediately upon submission. Click the Scheduling tab in the Provision LSP window to access the fields for setting up the date/time interval. Figure 5 shows the Scheduling tab of the Provision LSP window.

Figure 5: Provision LSP Window, Scheduling Tab

Select Once to select start and end parameters for a single event. Select Daily to select start and end parameters for a recurring daily event. Click the calendar icon beside the fields to select the start and end dates, and beginning and ending times.

In the User Properties tab shown in Figure 6, you can add provisioning properties not directly supported by the NorthStar UI. For example, you cannot specify a hop-limit in the Properties tab when you provision an LSP. However, you can add hop-limit as a user property in the User Properties tab.

Figure 6: Provision LSP Window, User Properties Tab

1. Access the NETCONF template file that is used for adding new LSPs (lsp-add-junos.hjson), located in the /opt/northstar/netconfd/templates/ directory.
2. At the edit > protocols > mpls > label-switched-path hierarchy level, add the statements needed to provision with the property you are adding. For example, to provision with a hop-limit of 7, you would add the lines below in bold:

   The result of adding these statements is that if hop-limit, with the value defined in the user properties, is present, then the provisioning statement is executed. You could also edit the template used for modifying LSPs (lsp-modify-junos.hjson).

3. Restart netconfd so the changes can take effect:
4. Add the user property and corresponding value in the User Properties tab of the Provision LSP window (see Figure 6).
5. Verify the router configuration:

Click Submit when you have finished populating fields in all of the tabs of the Provision LSP window. The LSP is entered into the work order management process.

To modify an existing LSP, select the tunnel on the Tunnels tab in the network information table and click Modify at the bottom of the table. The Modify LSP window is displayed, which is very similar to the Provision LSP window.

If you modify an existing LSP via NETCONF, NorthStar Controller only generates the configuration statements necessary to make the change, as opposed to re-generating all the statements in the full LSP configuration as is required for PCEP.

Considerations When Using Logical Nodes

NorthStar fully supports creating and provisioning LSPs that incorporate logical nodes. In the Junos OS, PCEP is not supported for logical nodes, but NorthStar can still import logical node information using NETCONF-based device collection. When a device collection task is run, NorthStar uses the Junos OS show configuration command on each router to obtain both physical and logical node information. The logical device information must then be correlated with the physical before LSPs using logical devices can be provisioned.

Use the following procedure:

1. Navigate to Adminstration > Device Profile.
2. Click the Sync with Live Network button to create (or update) the physical and logical devices list. The NorthStar BGP-LS session toward the Junos VM automatically discovers both the physical and logical devices in the topology. However, there is no automatic correlation between the two.

   In the Topology view, navigate to the Node tab of the network information table to confirm that the PCEP Status is UP for all the physical nodes as shown in Figure 7. Logical nodes are blank in the PCEP Status column because there is no PCEP for logical nodes.

   Figure 7: PCEP Status Column Showing Physical and Logical Nodes

   

3. In the Device Profile window, enable NETCONF for the physical devices (if not already done).

   Select one or more devices and click Modify to display the Modify Device window. On the Access tab, click the check box for Enable Netconf. Click Modify in the lower right corner of the window to complete the modification.

4. Test the NETCONF connectivity of the devices.

   Select one or more devices in the device list and click Test Connectivity. In the Profile Connectivity window, click Start. The test is complete when the green (pass) or red (fail) status icons are displayed. Figure 8 shows an example.

   Figure 8: Connectivity Test Results

   

5. In Topology view, check the Node tab of the network information table to ensure that the NETCONF status column now reports UP for physical devices.
6. Create and run a device collection task to obtain updated information.

   Navigate to Administration > Task Scheduler and click Add to display the Create New Task window. If you use the Selective Devices option, select only the physical devices. For complete information about the Create new Task windows, see Scheduling Device Collection for Analytics.

   When this device collection task is run, NorthStar uses the Junos OS show configuration command on each physical router to obtain both physical and logical node information, and reports it to NorthStar. This step allows NorthStar to correlate each logical node to its corresponding physical node, which you can confirm by examining the network information table, Node tab.

   Note

   When you first install NorthStar, the device profile page is empty. Use the Sync with Live Network button to update and synchronize with the live network devices, and update the Node tab in the network information table. The device collection task correlates the logical system with its physical system and also updates LSP information for the logical system since the logical system does not have a PCEP session to report its LSP status.

   It is helpful to add two optionally-displayed columns to the Node tab as shown in Figure 9:

   • Physical Hostname

   • Physical Host IP

   Figure 9: Adding Optionally-Displayed Columns

   

   For a logical node, the hostname and IP address in those columns tell you which physical node correlates to the logical node.

7. Provision LSPs.

   Now that the logical nodes are in the NorthStar device list and they are correlated to the correct physical nodes, you can create LSPs that incorporate logical nodes. You do this using the same procedure as for LSPs using only physical nodes except that the provisioning method MUST be specified as Netconf as shown in Figure 10.

   Figure 10: Provisioning an LSP That Uses Logical Nodes

   

8. Run your device collection task periodically to keep the logical node information updated. There are no real time updates for logical devices.