ServAssure Collection Platform2.14 includes the following components:

ServAssure Collection Manager

The ServAssure Collection Manager manages polling profiles and configurations, including MiB definitions and scheduling. It is responsible for scheduling and polling DOCSIS network data (SNMP and TFTP) as specified by profiles, issuing SNMP commands for On Demand polls and actions through ServAssure Poller nodes, as well as coordination of data collection at CMTS and cable modem levels.

The ServAssure Collection Manager nodes are Java processes that leverage an in-memory data grid (Apache Ignite) for fast, in-memory computing and analysis of data. The ServAssure Collection Manager also normalizes collected data and pushes it to the ServAssure NXT Application Engine.

ServAssure Poller

The ServAssure Poller is a lightweight process that passes SNMP and TFTP network data between the ServAssure Collection Manager and customer equipment (CMTS and CPE). The poller translates device data to an API format that the ServAssure Collection Manager can control. It is responsible for the actual data collection from customer equipment devices. The poller nodes do not maintain any state, they are driven by instructions fed to them by the ServAssure Collection Manager.

All control communication between the ServAssure Collection Manager and Controller flow over the RabbitMQ message bus. Any message on this bus can be consumed by any of the pollers in their assigned network region. All collected data is pushed from a poller back to the ServAssure Collection Manager.

ServAssure Poller supports designation of a single poller node as a ServAssure TFTP Receiver to listen for and process all TFTP-related PNM requests from Cisco and Casa CMTSs.

NOTE: You can useServAssure® NXT Metrics Platform(Metrics Platform) to detect pollers that are idle or timing out. Use the dashboards % Timeouts > 25% and Poll Execution Samples by Host to track poller performance.

ServAssure L2TP Receiver

ServAssure Collection Platform can also support poller nodes used to listen for and process Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)-related PNM data from Remote PHY devices (RPD) and Remote MACPHY devices (RMD). This poller is referred to as the ServAssure L2TP Receiver.

The ServAssure L2TP Receiver receives a stream of spectrum data using Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol Version 3 (L2TPv3), configured to use IP (IP_PROTO(115)) as its transport protocol. In a Remote PHY system, L2TPv3 is carried directly over IP and does not use TCP or UDP. Routing of L2TPv3 traffic over a network to the ServAssure L2TP Receiver involves configuring network devices to support and recognize L2TPv3 traffic using IP protocol number 115. You must ensure that the network allows for these packets to be forwarded, for example, by ensuring that any configured ACLs on intervening switches allow packets with IP protocol 115. This configuration is necessary to ensure that L2TPv3 traffic is correctly routed, especially if the ServAssure L2TP Receiver is not on the same network as the RPD/RMD.

Important: Two steps are required to make an L2TP connection between an RPD/RMD and the ServAssure L2TP Receiver:

1. Establish a route between the RPD/RMD management IP/subnet and the ServAssure L2TP Receiver IP/subnet.
2. Configure any firewalls on the route to permit L2TP traffic.

Message Bus

The RabbitMQ message bus is used for various inter-process communications. The RabbitMQ CAP is installed on the ServAssure Collection Manager and communicates with the RabbitMQ core installed on ServAssure NXT.