In the Cisco Ultra M Deployment and Operations (SPMBL301) v1.0 course, you will learn about the hardware components of the Cisco Ultra M virtual packet core solution, including the Cisco Nexus® spine and leaf switches and the Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS) C240 M4S (Small Form Factor) servers.

You will also learn about the software components of the Ultra M solution, including the OpenStack Virtual Infrastructure Manager (VIM), the Ultra M virtual network function (VNF) architecture, and the Cisco Elastic Services Controller and how the different components operate. Lastly you will learn how the virtual packet core distributed instance (VPC-DI) operates.

Ultra M is a pre-packaged deployment model designed to simplify the deployment of VNFs. This model is a VPC-DI deployment option and distributes the processes across multiple virtual machines (VMs) in a manner that is similar, but not identical, to the distribution of processes across multiple SMC, PSC, and LC cards in a Cisco Aggregation Services Router (Cisco ASR) 5000 Series chassis. It addresses scaling and redundancy by extending the StarOS boundaries beyond a single VM. The solution combines the Cisco Ultra Services Platform™ architecture, Cisco validated OpenStack infrastructure, and Cisco networking and computing hardware platforms into a fully integrated and scalable stack. As such, Ultra M provides the Ultra Automation Services (UAS) suite of automation tools to instantiate and provide basic lifecycle management for VNF components on a complete OpenStack VIM.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the underlying operating system used in the Ultra M deployment. This course covers the operation and administration of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system as it pertains to the Ultra M Undercloud and Overcloud deployments. This course does not cover how to configure the StarOS component of the use cases, such as SAEGW, ePDG, or MME/SGSN, that are part of the Ultra M deployment model. Prerequisite courses cover StarOS configuration of these use cases.

Associated Certification: None

Associated Exam: None

Course Objectives

After taking this course, you should be able to:

• Describe the Cisco hardware components used in the Cisco Ultra virtualized packet core solution
• Identify the Openstack components and functions used in the Cisco Ultra virtualized packet core solution.
• Describe Ultra services platform virtual network function components.
• Use the Elastic Services Controller virtual network function manager to maintain and operate the Ultra M virtualized packet core solution.
• Deploy the Ultra M Solution and Ultra Automation Services Tools
• Identify potential issues and maintenance items in the Ultra M virtualized packet core solution.

Target Audience

The primary audience for this course is technical professionals who will be deploying or have deployed the Ultra M virtual packet core solution in their network, such as:

• Systems engineers
• Technical support personnel
• Channel partners and resellers

Course Prerequisites

To fully benefit from this course, you should have the following knowledge and skills:

• Cisco Service Provider Mobility Foundation LTE (LTE100) (or equivalent knowledge)
• Cisco Service Provider Mobility Intermediate LTE (LTE200) (or equivalent knowledge)
• Familiarity with the operation and administration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Familiarity with TripleO (OpenStack on OpenStack)