Router Management Center (MC)
Introduction to the Router MC

This section introduces and explains the Management Center for VPN Routers, also known as the Router Management Center. The CiscoWorks Router Management Center (Router MC), a component of the CiscoWorks VPN/Management Solution (VMS), provides scalable security management for the configuration and deployment of VPN connections. One of the greatest challenges in implementing large site-to-site and remote access VPNs is management. The primary role of the Router MC is to manage site-to-site VPNs .

The Router MC can be defined as follows:

  • A Web-based application for the setup and maintenance of VPN connections using Cisco VPN Routers
  • Centralizes the configuration of IKE and tunnel policies for multiple devices
  • Scalable to a large number of VPN routers
  • Router MC is a web-based application designed for large-scale management of virtual private network (VPN) and firewall configurations on Cisco routers, as shown in Figure . Router MC 1.2.1 provides the following features:
    • Enables the setup and maintenance of VPN connections among multiple Cisco VPN routers, in a hub-and-spoke topology.
    • Enables the provisioning of the critical connectivity, security, and performance parameters of a site-to-site VPN, quickly and easily.
    • Allows for efficient migration from leased line connections to Internet or intranet-based VPN connections.
    • Allows for the overlay of a VPN over a Frame Relay network for added security.
    • Enables the configuration of Cisco IOS routers to function as firewalls.

Router MC is scalable to a large number of routers. Its hierarchical router grouping and policy inheritance features enable the configuration of multiple like routers simultaneously, instead of having to configure each router individually. Router MC enables deployment of VPN or firewall configurations to groups of routers or individual routers. It translates the configurations into command line interface (CLI) commands and either deploys them directly to the routers in the network, or to a configuration file for each router. It also uses reusable policy components that can be referenced across multiple connections.

Router MC is integrated with CiscoWorks Common Services, which supplies core server-side components required by Router MC, such as Apache Web server, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) libraries, Secure Shell (SSH) libraries, embedded SQL database, Tomcat servlet engine, the CiscoWorks desktop, and others.

Before installing Router MC 1.2.1, CiscoWorks Common Services 2.2 must be installed and operational. CiscoWorks Common Services provides centralized management of certain functions for all the CiscoWorks VMS products that are installed. These functions include:

  • Backup and restore of data
  • Integration with Access Control Server (ACS) or Common Management Framework (CMF) for user authentication and permissions
  • Licensing
  • Starting/stopping the database
  • Logging of administration tasks
NOTE:

These functions are not performed from within the Router MC user interface, but are accessed using the CiscoWorks user interface.

Once CiscoWorks Common Services 2.2 is installed, the Router MC 1.2.1 VMS module, or any of the other VMS modules as shown in Figure , can be installed.


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