IWAN APIC-EM and Prime (AVC and WAAS)

 IWAN solutions, with a deployment application.

• Got proposed Prime as it support all iWAN features to deploy, e.g. DMVPN, PfR, QOS, AVC and WAAS .-correct.

• APIC-EM IWAN APP is very helpful in policy administration, as it designed mainly for policy control.-Not correct. IWAN app allows you to deploy and manage your IWAN. Not only it allows you to manage your policies, it also allows you to provision hub sites and spoke sites.

• But APIC-EM cannot be used to deploy full iWAN solution, as it does not support AVC.- IWAN app supports AVC.

• Also APIC-EM cannot deploy WAAS and AKAMAI,.-Correct. IWAN app / APIC-EM don't support WAAS or Akamai.

• what is the deifference between AVC and WAAS deployment in general.-WAAS performs WAN optimization. AVC gives you visibility over the performance of your applications. They are quite different features

• Now if all above is correct, we have to choose Prime for full WAN deployment(WAAS/AKAMAI/AVC included), - That is correct. If you want WAAS, Akamai and AVC you cannot use IWAN app.

• So how to use APIC-EM in operation while already used prime for IWAN deployment.-You need to choose between Prime and IWAN app. If you already provisioned your hubs and spokes with Prime, you won't be able to manage them with IWAN app. You need to provision all your hubs and spokes with IWAN app in order to be able to manage policy.

• if we deployed everything using Prime, is there any need to purchase the APIC-EM IWAN APP for operation purpose and control the PfR and Policy on daily basis, How to configure the iWAN hub and sites on APIC-EM while it is already configured via Prime!!
• If we used Prime for IWAN deployment, prime is not helpful in Policy operation, i.e. it is not simple in prime to change policy and control it during production, APIC-EM is capable to do this job.

Like many of Cisco's management/deployment products, there are many features/functions which overlap across the platforms, hence the confusion over which one to use. The thing to remember in this case is that the primary function of Prime Infrastructure is for monitoring and reporting. Having said that, it also does some automation regarding deployment, licensing, and managing support contracts. It has a broad scope of products/technologies that it is able to monitor. In contrast, APIC-EM is designed to more specifically orchestrate, automate and deploy the many layers of IWAN technologies which, if managed manually, is quite cumbersome for most people. It also provides statistical analysis and reporting.

 APIC-EM is more of a controller and less of a monitoring tool and is specific to those products which run IWAN, although will see that expand soon. Prime Infrastructure is more of a monitoring tool and less of a controller. Are there features that overlap.. Yes! But in many ways the two products compliment each other greatly.