The Cisco NSO Essentials for Programmers and Network Architects (NSO201) course introduces you to Cisco® Network Services Orchestrator (NSO). You will learn to install Cisco NSO and use it to manage devices and create services based on YANG templates with XPath. This course provides a brief overview of NSO as a network automation solution, as well as an introduction to NETCONF, YANG, and XPath. You will learn about service packages, network element drivers, and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). The course also covers service creation, device and configuration management, NSO maintenance, NSO options and integrations, and basic NSO troubleshooting.

After completing this course, you should be able to:

• Explain transactional service activation and how it relates to business requirements
• Explain the benefits and uses of Cisco NSO
• Explain how Cisco NSO communicates with network devices
• Understand the NETCONF protocol and be able to read and write simple YANG models
• Install NSO and describe how NSO uses NETCONF and the Device Manager component
• Understand the difference between devices that are fully NETCONF capable and those that are less or not NETCONF capable
• Explain the YANG service model structure
• Describe how YANG is used with NSO, create and deploy a service, and explain NSO FASTMAP
• Design and manage services with YANG models
• Perform NSO configuration and basic troubleshooting, and describe the following NSO features: integration options, alarms and reporting, scalability and performance options, and available function packs
• Use logs to troubleshoot the Cisco NSO deployment and check NSO communication with network devices
• Explain the mapping logic of service parameters to device models and consequently to device configurations
• Describe the use of different integration options and APIs
• Explain the use of Reactive FASTMAP for manipulating and implementing advanced Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) components
• Describe the use of feature components and function packs
• Define and explain the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Open Source NFV Management and Orchestration (MANO) principles and solution
• Work with the alarm console, and understand the NSO alarm structure and how it conforms to modern network operations procedures

• Introduction to Cisco NSO
  • Meeting Challenges with Orchestration
    • Challenges of Network Management
    • Challenges of Network Orchestration
    • NSO Features and Benefits That Meet Challenges
    • Standardized Approach
• What Is NSO?
  • Logical Architecture
  • Components
• What Does NSO Do?
  • Orchestration Use Cases
• How Does NSO Work?
  • Introduction to NETCONF and YANG
  • Packages
  • Mapping Logic
  • Network Element Drivers (NEDs)
• Resources and Training
  • Resources
  • Training
• Get Started with Cisco NSO
  • Installing Cisco NSO
    • Setup Overview
    • Cisco NSO Local Installation
    • Installing NEDs
    • Using NetSim
• NETCONF Overview
  • Challenges of Network Management
  • Introduction to NETCONF
  • NETCONF Operation
• Device Manager
  • Device Manager Overview
  • Device Configuration Management
  • Device Connection Management
  • Templates and Groups
  • Other Device Management Tools
• Service Manager Essentials
  • YANG Overview
    • Introduction to YANG
    • Other Representations of YANG
    • Data Types
    • XPath Overview
    • Basic YANG Statements
    • Can You Spot the Error?
• Using Services
  • Package Architecture
  • Creating a Service Package
  • Sample Service Configuration
  • Service Template
  • YANG Service Model
  • Deploying a Service
• Model-to-Model Mapping
  • Mapping Introduction
  • Mapping Logic
  • FASTMAP
  • Template Processing
• Service Design and Cisco NSO Programmability
  • Service Design
    • Service Design Overview
    • Top-Down Approach
    • Bottom-Up Approach
    • Device Configuration
    • Service Model
• Service Management
  • Service Management Tasks
  • Service Lifecycle Management Guidelines
• NSO Programmability Introduction
  • NSO Programmability Overview
  • Python Service Skeleton
  • Creating a Service YANG Model
  • Creating a Service Template
  • Template Processing with Python
• Cisco NSO Flexibility
  • System Configuration and Troubleshooting
    • System Configuration
    • System Troubleshooting
• Integration
  • Integration Options
  • NETCONF Server
  • Web Integration
  • SNMP Agent
• Alarm Management and Reporting
  • Alarm Management
  • Reporting
• Scalability and Performance
  • High Availability
  • High-Availability Cluster Communications
  • Clustering
  • Layered Service Architecture
  • Addressing Performance Limitations
• Components and Function Packs
  • Function Packs
  • NFV Orchestration
  • Reactive FASTMAP

• System installers
• System integrators
• System administrators
• Network administrators
• Solutions designers

We require the following knowledge and skills before taking this course:

• Basic knowledge of the Cisco Command-Line Interface (CLI) or the CLI of UNIX-like operating systems
• Working knowledge of UNIX-based operating systems and basic tasks
• Basic knowledge of programming constructs and YANG data modeling
• Basic knowledge of Python programming
• Basic knowledge of the NETCONF communication protocol
• Knowledge of XML data structures and schemas
• Basic management of network components (routers, switches, etc.)