IP SLA agents

Description

Software IP SLA agents (formerly known as SAA) are integrated into the IOS software available on most Cisco devices. They include several specific measurement components called OPERATION. Each OPERATION sends several requests to the remote target in order to test the performance and availability of network, system or application.

Integration into the Alaloop portal

The Alaloop SLA portal easily interfaces with Cisco IP SLA software agents. It provides:

easy configuration steps;
storage measures in SQL database;
different operating modes : dashboards, maps, graphs standard or custom;
notification based on programmable thresholds;
the inclusion of maintenance periods, range analysis, ...

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IPSLA theory of operations

IP SLA operations can be used to measure performance in many situations: integration_ipsla

network performance measurement to a remote router which integrates the RESPONDER feature. This configuration provides a high measurement accuracy (UDP Jitter Operation or UDP Jitter for VoIP Codec)
network performance measurement to any network device. (Operation IP SLAs ICMP Path Jitter)
measurement of application services: DNS, HTTP, .... (SLA TCP Connect Operation IP, HTTP, ...)

The parameters of the operation (the test) can be programmed directly on the router Shadow by CLI or via the web interface of the portal Alaloop. In this case, the portal must have write access to the RTTMON MIB.

In all cases, the Alaloop portal must have at least read access to RTTMON MIB of the shadow in order to retrieve the IP SLA measurement results.

IP SLA Responder

This feature is required for testing network performance based on the UDP Jitter operation.

precision_responder The IP SLA RESPONDER feature on the target router achieves precise network delay measurement through the use of timestamps by routers involved in the test (see diagram). The timestamps can ignore the processing time for test packets (specifically when the router is loaded).

All routers (source router and target router) must be synchronized to an NTP time server to get one way delay.

IP SLA Sender

IPSLA Sender feature is available :

on a dedicated router (router shadow) provided by the Customer or Alaloop. This option is recommended for conducting hundreds / thousands of tests
on a device already installed (router or switch): this option is recommended only for conducting unit testing.

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