Cisco ASR 9000 Series System Configuration Manual page 20

Overview of Port Extender Model
features of the satellite are visible in the control plane of Cisco IOS XR software running on the host. This
allows the complete management of the satellites and the host as a single logical router.
Figure 2: Port Extender Satellite Switching System
In this model, a single Cisco ASR 9000 Series Router hosts two satellite switches, SAT1 and SAT2, to form
an overall virtual Cisco ASR 9000 switching system; this is shown by the dotted line surrounding the Cisco
ASR 9000 Series Router, SAT1, and SAT2 in the Figure.
This structure effectively appears as a single logical Cisco ASR 9000 Series Router to the external network.
External access switches A1, A2 and A3 connect to this overall virtual switch by physically connecting to
SAT1 and SAT2 using normal ethernet links. The links between the satellite switches and the Cisco ASR
9000 Series Router are ethernet links, and are referred as ICLs (Inter-Chassis Links). The Cisco ASR 9000
Series Router is referred as the host in this system. When there is congestion on the interchassis links, an
inbuilt QoS protection mechanism is available for the traffic.
SAT1, SAT2, and the host Cisco ASR 9000 Series Router need not be located in the same geographic
Note
location. This means that the ICLs need not be of nominal length for only intra-location or intra-building
use. The ICLs may be tens, hundreds, or even thousands of miles in length, thereby creating a logical
satellite switch spanning a large geography.
In a Cisco ASR 9000 Series Router multi-chassis cluster system, there are multiple Cisco ASR 9000 Series
Note
Router systems within a single virtual switch system. Logically, however, it is still considered a single
host system.
Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Router nV System Configuration Guide, Release 5.3.x
10
Configuring the Satellite Network Virtualization (nV) System