Re: Cisco's IOS-XE and PCEP implementation

[Mohamed Kamal <mkamal () noor net>]

Here is Cisco's reply!

“Given PCEP’s main use-case is inter-area TE tunnels (or SDN controller in
TE environment) and ASR1K is not marketed for TE, support is unlikely”

What is .. "not marketed for TE"?! 

All in all, I don't mind replacing them with some cheaper, powerful, flexible and SDN-ready juniper MX that are 
marketed for TE.

Mohamed Kamal
Core Network Sr. Engineer

On 4/5/2015 10:42 PM, Mohamed Kamal wrote:
> > and hence being implemented on IOS-XR within the Cisco environment today
> I disagree! .. Engineering is all about optimization, and using an ASR1k
> (which is being marketed as an "edge/PE router") in my edge doesn't mean
> that my network is not a "high-scale environment", it does mean that it
> fits my needs in this location, where other IOS-XR (ASR9k) fits in others.
>
> Plus, PCEP is no magic, Juniper's MX series starting from the vMX is
> supporting PCEP. They didn't claim that, a "higher-scale environment" is
> being required for this.
>
> > the demand for online calculation has increased - either due to dependencies for new TE path-instantiating protocols 
> > (e.g., SR), or more complex constraints that cannot be well met by offline calculation or CSPF
> That's why PCEP support should be added to the road-map in the near future.
>
> Mohamed Kamal
> Core Network Sr. Engineer
>
> On 4/5/2015 8:33 PM, Rob Shakir wrote:
> > On 30 March 2015 at 15:42:59, Mohamed Kamal (mkamal () noor net) wrote:
> > > I'm wondering, why there is no MPLS-TE PCE support for IOS-XE till now?!
> > >  
> > > Should I be getting a 9k/CRS on the edge to implement an automatic tool
> > > to build MPLS-TE tunnels!
> > In general, PCE(P) implementations have been limited. IMHO the last 10 years of RSVP-TE management has generally 
> > been done with auto-mesh tools, or in-house driven offline path calculation tools (e.g., WANDL, Cariden, Aria…). 
> >
> > As such, the demand for online calculation has increased - either due to dependencies for new TE path-instantiating 
> > protocols (e.g., SR), or more complex constraints that cannot be well met by offline calculation or CSPF (e.g., 
> > path-diversity with disjoint head-end PEs). This demand is mainly coming in higher-scale environments - and hence 
> > being implemented on IOS-XR within the Cisco environment today. I expect this is why IOS-XE is lagging. There are 
> > certainly requests for support - but as Mark says, you’ll need to interface with your account team to figure out 
> > when code will be available for your platform.
> >
> > As to whether you should buy an IOS XR device for your edge, I’m not sure what kind of logic would mean that device 
> > selection is solely based on PCEP support :-). I would certainly look more into the existing “automatic” tools, and 
> > possibilities for offline calculation in the interim period.
> >
> > r.