Cisco ASR 903 Router: Major Applications
Cisco ASR 903 Router: Major Applications
Major Applications
Broadband Aggregation
The Cisco ASR 903 Router supports broadband aggregation for delivering “any-play” services (voice, video, data,
and mobility). Designed to support thousands of subscribers, quality of service (QoS) on the Cisco ASR 903
Router is capable of scaling up to a large number of queues per device. This large number of queues, combined
with a highly granular QoS algorithm (three-level hierarchical QoS), results in a greatly enhanced broadband user
experience. This full-featured Layer 2 and Layer 3 switch router supports a variety of broadband applications
including IPTV and video on demand (VoD), enhancing and extending the Cisco IP Next-Generation Network (IP
NGN) architecture.
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Pre-Aggregation for Mobile Applications
Deployed as a pre-aggregation platform for mobile backhaul, the Cisco ASR 903 Router can aggregate cell sites
and use Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) as a transport for Radio Access Network (RAN) backhaul traffic.
The Cisco ASR 903 Router provides the timing services required in today’s converged access networks, by
offering integrated support for the Building Integrated Timing Supply (BITS), 10 MHz, 1 Pulse Per Second (1PPS)
and Time Of Day (TOD) interfaces. The Cisco ASR 903 Router also supports synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) and
IEEE-1588, and can act as the source for network clocking for time-division multiplexing (TDM), SDH and SONET,
SyncE, and GPS interfaces. In addition to the timing services, the Cisco ASR 903 Router can be deployed in small
and harsh environments, due to its shallow depth and qualification for extended temperature ranges.
Major Differentiators
The Cisco ASR 903 Router helps service providers deliver advanced services for residential broadband, mobile,
and Metro Ethernet applications. This allows an operator to provide differentiated and cost-effective services to
end-users.
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Service Enhancement
With the Cisco ASR 903 Router, each service is assigned enhanced QoS and security attributes. The ASR 903
Router accomplishes advanced per-traffic-class metering and offers bidirectional packet count and byte count
statistics. The service offering is enhanced with operations, administration, and maintenance (OAM) functionality
that includes Layer 2 Connectivity Fault Management (CFM), IP service-level agreement (SLA) for Layer 3, and
MPLS OAM.
Service Scale
The Cisco ASR 903 Router delivers flexible service scalability in a small footprint. This router delivers high
performance and high scale for point-to-point and multipoint VPN services. The HQoS capabilities of the Cisco
ASR 903 Router scale to eight queues per service, three levels of scheduling, and buffer sizes capable of
accommodating today’s most demanding wireline and wireless applications.
Operational Efficiency
The Cisco ASR 903 Router features essential capabilities that help service providers simplify and automate the
management of their networks, resulting in efficiency gains in the deployment and operation of the networks.
These features enhance performance awareness, facilitate troubleshooting, and simplify service turn-up and
restoration, ultimately reducing operational cost. The Cisco ASR 903 Router provides proactive diagnostic tools
including Generic On-Line Diagnostics (GOLD) and Onboard Failure Logging (OBFL). These tools help service
providers avoid potential problems before they occur, troubleshoot any problems, and when these are diagnosed,
implement solutions.
Network Simplification
Cisco network Virtualization (nV) technology can simplify network operations by reducing the number of
components that must be managed and allowing for easier configuration. The result is increased network
scalability, improved service velocity and lower cost operating costs. The nV capable ASR 903 Series can be
deployed as a component in a Cisco ASR 9000 system to reduce the complexity of today’s mobile Internet
networks.
System Design
The Cisco ASR 903 Router is a fully modular system, with a future-ready design. The chassis supports online field
replacement and upgrades of all components. The chassis contains four different components, one fan tray, two
power supplies, two RSP cards, and up to six interface module cards.
Fan Tray
The Cisco ASR 903 Router has a single fan tray slot, which must be populated for the system to operate. The fan
tray contains redundant fans and the system will continue to operate on a single fan failure. In addition to cooling
the chassis, the fan tray also contains a connector for four dry-contact inputs and several system-level alarm
LEDs.
Power Supply
Both an AC and a DC power supply are available for the Cisco ASR 903 Router. The system supports operation
on a single power supply, while with two power supplies, both will function in a load-share configuration. Mixing of
AC and DC power supplies in a single operational chassis is not supported.
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Route Switch Processor
The Cisco ASR 900 Route Switch Processor (RSP1) is the centralized card in the system performing the data
plane, network timing, and control plane functions for the system. This card contains separate control plane and
data plane components. The main packet processing and traffic management is performed by the Cisco Carrier
®
Ethernet ASIC. The RSP also contains the main control plane CPU for the Cisco IOS XE operating system and
platform control software.
Two RSP slots are provided in the Cisco ASR 903 Router for optional inter-chassis redundancy. With two RSPs
inserted in the Cisco ASR 903 Router, one RSP operates in active mode and the other RSP operates in hot standby
mode. The RSP is a field replaceable unit (FRU) and can be online inserted and removed (OIR) while the system is
operating. The removal or failure of the active RSP results in the automatic switchover to the standby RSP.
There are two versions of the RSP, which provide the same capabilities and throughput, while differing in service
scale. These differences are described in Table 7.
Interface Module
The Cisco ASR 903 Router has six interface module slots. There are two types of interface module slots. Four
slots support all of the available interface modules. The remaining two slots support only the Gigabit Ethernet and
TDM Interface modules, the 10 Gigabit Ethernet modules are not supported in these slots. One of these two slots
is limited to a maximum of seven Gigabit Ethernet ports with the Cisco ASR 900 Route Switch Processor (RSP1).
● Cisco ASR 900 Series 1-Port 10GE XFP Interface Module, this module supports a single 10-Gigabit
Ethernet Small Form-Factor Pluggable (XFP) port.
● Cisco ASR 900 Series 8-Port Copper Gigabit Ethernet Interface Module, this module supports eight Copper
RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet ports.
● Cisco ASR 900 Series 8-Port SFP Gigabit Ethernet Interface Module, this module supports eight Gigabit
Ethernet Small Form-Factor Pluggable (SFP)ports.
All of the Ethernet ports will only operate in non-oversubscribed mode. The SFP and XFP pluggables are hot
swappable, and are listed in Table 2.
● Cisco ASR 900 Series 16-Port T1/E1 Interface Module, this module supports 16 T1 or E1 ports.
● Cisco ASR 900 Series 4-Port OC3/STM-1 or 1-Port OC12/STM-4 Interface Module, this combo module
supports one of four modes: 4xOC3, 4xSTM-1, 1xOC12, and 1xSTM-4. If the module is configured for
4xOC3 or 4xSTM-1, then the individual interfaces can be configured to be clear-channel, POS, or
channelized. 4xOC3/4xSTM-1/1xOC12/1xSTM-4 Interface Module
The T1/E1 Interface Module has a single high-density connector on the module. This high-density connector
requires a single cable to connect to an external breakout patch-panel for connectivity to the individual T1/E1
ports.
The TDM interface modules support the Any Service Any Port (ASAP) concept, including Asynchronous Transfer
Mode (ATM) and circuit emulation functionality.
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Table 1 lists the hardware parts available for Cisco ASR 903 Router.
A900-IMA8S= ASR 900 8-Port SFP Gigabit Ethernet Interface Module, Spare
A900-IMA4OS= ASR 900 4-Port OC3/STM1 or 1-Port OC12/STM4 Interface Module, Spare
A903-RCKMNT-ETSI ETSI Rack Mount Option for the Cisco ASR 903
A903-RCKMNT-ETSI= ETSI Rack Mount Option for the Cisco ASR 903, Spare
A903-RCKMNT-19IN EIA 19in Rack Mount Option for the Cisco ASR 903
A903-RCKMNT-19IN= EIA 19in Rack Mount Option for the Cisco ASR 903, Spare
A903-RSPA-BLANK= ASR 900 Route Switch Processor Type-A Blank Cover, Spare
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Part Number Description
The Cisco ASR 903 Router supports a wide range of SFP and XFP optic modules. Table 2 lists their part
numbers.
Table 2. SFP and XFP Modules Supported with Cisco ASR 903 Router
Part Number
Software
The Cisco ASR 903 Router is supported in Cisco IOS XE Software, which was introduced with the Cisco ASR
1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers as a modular operating system. Based on Cisco IOS Software, Cisco
IOS XE Software is designed to provide modular packaging, feature velocity, and powerful resiliency.
With the Cisco ASR 903 Router supported as of Cisco IOS XE Software Release 3.5.0S, the concept of Cisco
Software Activation is introduced to the Cisco ASR 903 Router. Table 3 describes the two Cisco IOS XE universal
consolidated packages supported on the Cisco ASR 903 Router, and the functionality supported in each of these
universal images. The functionality is enforced through the appropriate technology package licenses.
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Table 3. Universal Cisco IOS XE Software Consolidated Packages for Cisco ASR 903 Router
Cisco ASR 903 Series RSP1 IOS XE Universal SASR903R1U ● Provides low-cost base consolidated package
● Offers only basic feature support
● Satisfies export requirements for non-cryptographic software
Cisco ASR 903 Series RSP1 IOS XE - No Payload SASR903R1NPEK9 ● Provides low-cost base consolidated package
Encryption ● Offers only basic feature support, including SSH and SNMPv3
support
● The Metro Services license offers advanced QoS, Carrier Ethernet Layer 2 features, synchronous
Ethernet and Ethernet OAM capability.
● The Metro IP Services license offers all capabilities of the Metro Services license with the addition of IEEE
1588-2008 Ordinary Clock and Transparent Clock, Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD), Layer 3
features for advanced IP routing protocols, multi-VPN routing, Layer 3 Multicast and Forwarding Customer
Edge (multi-VRF CE) capabilities.
● The Metro Aggregation Services license adds the following capabilities to the Metro IP Services license:
MPLS Transport Profile (MPLS-TP); MPLS, Ethernet over MPLS (EoMPLS), Circuit Emulation Service over
Packet Switched Network (CESoPSN), and Structure Agnostic TDM over Packet (SAToP) pseudowires;
MPLS traffic engineering (TE); MPLS Fast Reroute (FRR); and MPLS VPN support.
Table 4 lists the main features in the Cisco IOS licenses for the Cisco ASR 903 Router.
All features in Metro Services plus: All features in Metro IP Services plus:
QoS, with deep buffers and Hierarchical QoS IP routing (RIP, OSPF, EIGRP, BGP, IS-IS) MPLS (LDP and VPN)
Layer 2: 802.1d, 802.1q PIM (SM, DM, SSM), SSM mapping MPLS TE and FRR
Ethernet OAM (802.1ag, 802.3ah) Multi-VRF CE (VRF lite) with service awareness MPLS-TP
(ARP, ping, SNMP, syslog, trace-route, FTP,
TFTP)
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Additional Feature Licenses
In addition to the preceding Cisco IOS licenses, two licenses used to enable new software functionality in the base
Cisco IOS capabilities, and two others are used to enable ports on the multirate OC3 and OC12 interface module.
These four additional feature licenses for the Cisco ASR 903 Router are:
● The ATM license allows service providers to enable ATM functionality on TDM interfaces when required.
One license is required for each Cisco ASR 903 Router that needs ATM functionality to be enabled in the
system. This includes support for ATM Pseudowires over MPLS (ATMoMPLS), ATM local switching, ATM
interworking, and local ATM termination.
● The IEEE 1588-2008 BC/MC license allows service providers to enable IEEE 1588-2008 Boundary Clock
(BC) or Master Clock (MC), or both, when required. One license is required for each chassis that needs
IEEE 1588-2008 BC or MC functionality to be enabled in the system.
● The OC3 port license allows service providers to enable one OC3/STM-1 port, supporting a pay-as-you-
grow strategy and simplified spare part management. One license is required for each OC3/STM-1 port
that needs to be enabled on the Cisco ASR 903 Router (requires the purchase of a combined OC3, STM-1,
OC12, and STM-4 combination interface module).
● The OC12 port license allows service providers to enable one OC12/STM-4 port, supporting simplified
spare part management. One license is required for each OC12/STM-4 port that needs to be enabled
Cisco ASR 903 Router (requires the purchase of a combined OC3, STM-1, OC12, and STM-4 combination
interface module).
Table 5 lists the Cisco ASR 903 Router software options.
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Part Number Product Name
Major Features
Table 6 lists the features of the Cisco ASR 903 Router.
Features
Ethernet Services
● Ethernet Virtual Connections (EVCs) for:
◦ 802.1q
◦ Selective QinQ
◦Inner and Outer VLAN classification
● IEEE bridging
● Resilient Ethernet Protocol (REP)
● 802.3ad Link Aggregation Bundles
● Layer 2 Protocol Tunneling (L2PT)
● Hierarchical VPLS (HVPLS), Virtual Private Wire Service (VPWS), EoMPLS
● Pseudowire redundancy
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Features
IPv6
● Addressing and discovery
● Manual IPv6 interface addressing
● ICMPv6 (RFC 4443)
● IPv4 and IPv6 dual stack
● IPv6 static routing
● OSPF for IPv6 (RFC 5340)
● Hardware based IPv6 data forwarding
QoS
● IEEE 802.1p QoS
● IP Precedence Type of Service (ToS)
● Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) traffic shaping and policing
● Class-Based Weighted Fair Queuing (CBWFQ)
● Priority Queuing
● 2-rate 3-color (2R3C) Policing
● Egress shaping per queue
● Modular QoS CLI (MQC)
● Hierarchical QoS (HQoS)
● Classification based on inner and outer CoS or VLAN ID
● Copy inner to outer CoS
Timing
● IEEE1588-2008 Ordinary Clock
● IEEE 1588-2008 Boundary Clock
● T1/E1 line timing
● Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) ports, Time of Day (ToD), 10MHz, 1 Pulse Per Second (1PPS)
● Building Integrated Timing Supply (BITS),
● Adaptive Clock Recovery
● ITU-T SyncE with Ethernet Synchronization Messaging Channel (ESMC) support
● Synchronization Status Messages (SSM)
OAM
● IEEE 802.1ag Connectivity Fault Management (CFM)
● Ethernet Local Management Interface (E-LMI)
● IEEE 802.3ah Link OAM
● MPLS OAM
● ITU-T Y.1731
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Features
Security
● Authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) with TACACS+ and RADIUS
● Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol v2
● MAC limiting per Ethernet flow point (EFP) or bridge domain
● Layer 3 ACLs
Manageability
● Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
● MIBs
● Command Line Interface (CLI)
● Cisco Prime™ Network: fault, provisioning and performance management
Product Specifications
Tables 7 through 9 list the product, power, and environmental specifications for the Cisco ASR 903 Router. Table
10 gives safety and compliance information.
Air flow Side-to-side airflow; inlet on the right side, outlet on the left side when looking from the front
A900-RSP1A-55 A900-RSP1B-55
Maximum Transmission Configurable maximum transmission unit (MTU) of up to 9,216 bytes, for bridging on Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit
Unit Ethernet
1
Management ports Copper 10/100/1000Base-T LAN management port – RJ45 connector port
Console/Aux RS232 serial ports – RJ45 connector port
Console – USB 2.0 type A receptacle connector port
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Description Cisco ASR 903 Router
Timing ports BITS simultaneous input and output (T1/E1) – RJ48 connector port
1PPS input – mini-coax connector port
1PPS output – mini-coax connector port
2.048/10MHz input – mini-coax connector port
2.048/10MHz output – mini-coax connector port
1PPS input or output and ToD input or output – RJ45 connector port
External USB flash Mass storage – USB 2.0 type A receptacle connector port
memory
1. At one moment in time either the USB console port or the RS232 Serial Console/Aux port can be active. These ports cannot be active
concurrently.
AC input voltage and Voltage range: 85VAC to 264 VAC, Nominal 115VAC/230VAC
frequency Frequency Range: 47Hz to 63Hz, Nominal 60Hz/50Hz
Operating environment
1
–40ºC to 65ºC operating temperature (DC operation)
and altitude –5ºC to 55ºC operating temperature (AC operation)
2
Seismic Zone 4
Type Standards
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Type Standards
Telecom T1:
● ITU-T G.703/G.824
● TIA-968-B
● IC CS-03
● HKTA 2028
● ID0002
● DSPR Technical Conditions
● ANSI T1.403
E1:
● ITU-T G.703/G.704
● AS/ACIF S016
● ETSI TBR12/13
● RRA 2009-38 (RRL 2005-96)
● IDA TS DLCN
SONET/SDH subrate:
● GR-253-CORE
● ANSI T1.105
● ITU G.957
● ITU G.783
● ITU G.707
Ethernet
● DSPR Technical Conditions
● RRA 2009-38 (RRL 2005-96)
● IEEE 802.3-2005
1. Notable exceptions: Fans do not have filters, and all cabling is provided through the front panel.
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Warranty Information
Find warranty information on Cisco.com at the Product Warranties page.
Cisco is committed to minimizing your total cost of ownership. Cisco offers a portfolio of technical support services to
help ensure that Cisco products operate efficiently, remain highly available, and benefit from the most up-to-date
system software. The services and support programs described in Table 11 are available as part of the Cisco Carrier
Ethernet Switching Service and Support solution and are available directly from Cisco and through resellers.
Cisco Total Implementation Solutions (TIS), ● Project management ● Supplement existing staff
available directly from Cisco ● Site survey, configuration, and deployment ● Help ensure functions meet needs
Cisco Packaged TIS, available through resellers ● Installation, text, and cutover ● Mitigate risk
● Training
● Major moves, adds, and changes
● Design review and product staging
Cisco SP Base Support and Service Provider- ● 24-hour access to software updates ● Facilitate proactive or expedited problem
Based Onsite Support, available directly from ● Web access to technical repositories resolution
Cisco ● Lower total cost of ownership by taking
● Telephone support through the Cisco
Cisco Packaged Service Provider- Based Technical Assistance Center (TAC) advantage of Cisco expertise and knowledge
Support, available through resellers ● Minimize network downtime
● Advance Replacement of hardware parts
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