Cisco ASR 5000 Series Product Overview â–„
Chapter 4
Software Architecture
The operating system software is based on a Linux software kernel and runs specific applications in the system such as
monitoring tasks, various protocol stacks, and other items. The following figure shows an example block diagram of the
operating system's software architecture.
Figure 29. Software Architecture Block Diagram
Processing Card 1
Hardware Engines
Filtering
Encryp-
tion
Com-
pression
Proc
Card 3
Hardware Engines
Filtering
Encryp-
tion
Com-
pression
Proc
Card 2
Hardware Engines
Filtering
Encryp-
tion
Com-
pression
AAA
Managers
AAA
Managers
...
Proc
Card 14
Redundant
NPU
Manager
Session
Managers
Signaling
Demux
Managers
VPN
Manager
In-line
Service
Managers
Session
Managers
Signaling
Demux
Managers
VPN
Manager
NPU
Manager
NPU
Manager
Session
Managers
In-line
Service
Managers
VPN
Manager
SYNC
Control
Paths
Primary
Management Card
Boot
Configuration
Switch
Fabric
Resource
Manager
High
Availability
Tasks
Controller Tasks
(VPN, Port, Session, Signaling)
Boot
Configuratio
n
Switch
Fabric
Resource
Manager
High
Availability
Tasks
Controller Tasks
(VPN, Port, Session, Signaling)
Secondary
Management Card
The software architecture is designed for high availability, flexibility, and performance. The system achieves these goals
by implementing the following key software features:
Scalable control and data operations:
System resources can be allocated separately for control and data paths. For example, certain processing cards
could be dedicated to performing routing or security control functions while other cards are dedicated to
processing user session traffic. As network requirements grow and call models change, hardware resources can
be added to accommodate processes, such as encryption, packet filtering, etc., that require more processing