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Cisco SCE 8000 10GBE Software Configuration Guide
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Chapter 14 Value-Added Services (VAS) Traffic Forwarding
Information About VAS Traffic Forwarding
Information About VAS Traffic Forwarding
The VAS feature uses the Cisco SCE platform to access an external “expert system” for classification
and control of services not supported by SCA BB. Using the VAS feature, you can forward selected flows
to an external, third-party system for per-subscriber processing in addition to the existing services and
functions of the SCA BB solution. For example, this feature can be used to forward selected subscriber
traffic to third-party servers for intrusion detection or content-filtering.
The VAS feature enables you to divert a specified part of the traffic stream to an individual VAS server
or a cluster of servers. The diversion of the traffic stream is based on the subscriber package, flow type,
and the availability of the VAS servers. The feature provides load balancing for even distribution of the
load on the various VAS servers.
The VAS feature supports multiple VAS service types using different VAS server groups. Several servers
of the same type can be deployed in a group to increase the processing capacity and provide redundancy
for each VAS service type.
The Cisco SCE platform performs subscriber load sharing between the active servers of the same server
group. It is able to identify the active servers among the defined servers through a dedicated health check
mechanism.
VAS Service Goals
The VAS traffic forwarding functionality enables the Service Control solution to meet several important
service goals:
•
Service providers can provide a range of value-added services to their subscribers, thus increasing
customer satisfaction.
•
The Cisco SCE platform can forward part of the traffic to third-party devices that can provide
additional, complementary services.
The Cisco SCE platform, due to its strong classification capabilities, forwards only the part of the
traffic that should get the additional service based on:
–
Subscriber awareness
–
Policy that was configured
•
The Service Control solution can include value-added servers that cannot be deployed inline for
various reasons (for example, they cannot support throughput or are not carrier grade for inline
insertion).
•
Easy interoperability and flexibility for setting different services.
Because the VAS feature emulates a regular IP network for the third-party devices, no special
support is required on the part of the third-party entity.