IP SLA 101
IP SLA is a feature that enables a router to monitor the status of a connection by measuring different KPIs. The SLA can be measured end-to-end from one host to another and is independent of the Layer 2 encapsulation.
First, you must define a SLA Operation:
R(config)# ip sla SLA-ID
Then, you must choose the SLA type:
R(config-ip-sla)# ?
IP SLAs entry configuration commands:
dhcp DHCP Operation
dns DNS Query Operation
ftp FTP Operation
http HTTP Operation
icmp-echo ICMP Echo Operation
icmp-jitter ICMP Jitter Operation
path-echo Path Discovered ICMP Echo Operation
path-jitter Path Discovered ICMP Jitter Operation
tcp-connect TCP Connect Operation
udp-echo UDP Echo Operation
udp-jitter UDP Jitter Operation
voip Voice Over IP Operation
Each type of SLA is doing a type of measuring and it has paritcular options that can be configured:
- dhcp – measures RTT (routing-trip-time) taken to discover a DHCP server and obtain a leased IP
- dns – measures RTT (routing-trip-time) taken to receive a DNS reply
- ftp – time taken to download a file from an FTP Server
- http – time taken to retrive a web page from an HTTP Server
- icmp-echo – measures end-to-end response time between the router and another IP device
- icmp-jitter – measures jitter, latency and packet-loss of the ICMP echos and echo-replies
- path-echo – measures end-to-end and hop-by-hop respone time
- path-jitter – measures end-to-end and hop-by-hop jitter, latency and packet-loss
- path-jitter – measures end-to-end and hop-by-hop jitter, latency and packet-loss
- tcp-connect – measures time to perform a TCP connect with a host
- udp-echo – measures end-to-end response when sending UDP packets
- udp-jitter – measures jitter when sending UDP packets. Useful for troubleshooting VoIP performance
- voip – voip related measurements
Once the operation type is selected, you can define even more options, like:
! Frequency of the operation
R(config-ip-sla-echo)# frequency SECONDS
! Timeout of the response:
R(config-ip-sla-echo)# timeout MSEC
! Limit of the rising threshold
R(config-ip-sla-echo)# threshold MSEC
! Size of the Padding:
R(config-ip-sla-echo)# request-data-size BYTES
! ToS value of the packets sent
R(config-ip-sla-echo)# tos TOS-VALUE
! Force the router to check for data-corruption:
R(config-ip-sla-echo)# verify-data
! SNMP Owner
R(config-ip-sla-echo)# owner STRING
IP SLA maintains several history statistics. They can be configured with the history command:
R(config-ip-sla-echo)#history ?
buckets-kept Maximum number of history buckets to collect
distributions-of-statistics-kept Maximum number of statistics distribution buckets to capture
enhanced Enable enhanced history collection
filter Add operation to History when...
hours-of-statistics-kept Maximum number of statistics hour groups to capture
lives-kept Maximum number of history lives to collect
statistics-distribution-interval Statistics distribution interval size
R(config)# ip sla schedule SLA-ID [start-time WHEN] [recurring] [life {SEC|forever}] [ageout SEC]
! life = how long to run the SLA operation
! ageout = how long to keep the Entry when inactive
! recurring = reschedule it daily
! start-time: WHEN can be one of the following:
! HH:MM:[SS] - start at the specified time
! after HH:MM:SS - start HH hours, MM minuts, SS seconds later
! now - start now
! pending - does not collect information
You can restart a SLA operation using:
R(config)# ip sla restart SLA-ID
The responder should be configured on a router that responds to IP SLA requests
! TCP Connect or UDP Echo:
R(config)# ip sla responder {tcp-connect|udp-echo} IP-ADDR port PORT
! Frame-Relay:
R(config)# ip sla responder frame-relay all
A SLA responder and an initiator can be authenticated using a Key-chain:
R(config)# ip sla key-chain KEY-CHAIN
You can monitor the status of the SLA operations using:
R# show ip sla statistics SLA-ID [details]
! or some other show ip sla commands
R# show ip sla {configuration...|history...| ...}
Proactive monitoring allows a router to take action when a SLA operation is below requirements. You can enable sending of trap messages using:
R(config)# ip sla logging traps
A reaction can be defined with the following command:
R(config)# ip sla reaction-configuration SLA-ID react EVENT ...
! The reaction can be to send a trap, to generate a trigger, both or none
If a trap is generated then the SNMP server must be configured to send that kind of trap:
R(config)# snmp-server enable traps TRAP
If a trigger is generated, it can put into an active state other SLA operations:
R(config)# ip sla reaction-trigger SLA-ID TRIGGERED-SLA-ID