C H A P T E R

27-1
Catalyst 2960Switch SoftwareConfiguration Guide
OL-8603-04
27
Configuring Cisco IOS IP SLAs Operations
This chapter describes how to use Cisco IOS IP Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on the Catalyst 2960
switch. Cisco IP SLAs is a part of Cisco IOS software that allows Cisco customers to analyze IP service
levels for IP applications and services by using active traffic monitoringthe generation of traffic in a
continuous, reliable, and predictable mannerfor measuring network performance. With Cisco IOS IP
SLAs, service provider customers can measure and provide service level agreements, and enterprise
customers can verify service levels, verify outsourced service level agreements, and understand network
performance. Cisco IOS IP SLAs can perform network assessments, verify quality of service (QoS), ease
the deployment of new services, and assist with network troubleshooting. The Catalyst 2960 switch
supports only IP SLAs responder functionality and must be configured with another device that supports
full IP SLAs functionality.
For more information about IP SLAs, see the Cisco IOS IP SLAs Configuration Guide, Release 12.4T at
this URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6441/products_configuration_guide_book09186a0080707055
.html
For command syntax information, see the command reference at this URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6441/products_command_reference_book09186a008049739b
.html
This chapter consists of these sections:
Understanding Cisco IOS IP SLAs, page 27-1
Configuring IP SLAs Operations, page 27-5
Monitoring IP SLAs Operations, page 27-7
Understanding Cisco IOS IP SLAs
Cisco IOS IP SLAs sends data across the network to measure performance between multiple network
locations or across multiple network paths. It simulates network data and IP services and collects
network performance information in real time. Cisco IOS IP SLAs generates and analyzes traffic either
between Cisco IOS devices or from a Cisco IOS device to a remote IP device such as a network
application server. Measurements provided by the various Cisco IOS IP SLAs operations can be used for
troubleshooting, for problem analysis, and for designing network topologies.
Depending on the specific Cisco IOS IP SLAs operation, various network performance statistics are
monitored within the Cisco device and stored in both command-line interface (CLI) and Simple Network
Management Protocol (SNMP) MIBs. IP SLAs packets have configurable IP and application layer

27-2
Catalyst 2960Switch SoftwareConfiguration Guide
OL-8603-04
Chapter27 Configuring Cisco IOS IP SLAs Operations
Understanding Cisco IOS IP SLAs
options such as source and destination IP address, User Datagram Protocol (UDP)/TCP port numbers, a
type of service (ToS) byte (including Differentiated Services Code Point [DSCP] and IP Prefix bits),
Virtual Private Network (VPN) routing/forwarding instance (VRF), and URL web address.
Because Cisco IP SLAs is Layer 2 transport independent, you can configure end-to-end operations over
disparate networks to best reflect the metrics that an end user is likely to experience. IP SLAs collects a
unique subset of these performance metrics:
Delay (both round-trip and one-way)
Jitter (directional)
Packet loss (directional)
Packet sequencing (packet ordering)
Path (per hop)
Connectivity (directional)
Server or website download time
Because Cisco IOS IP SLAs is SNMP-accessible, it can also be used by performance-monitoring
applications like CiscoWorks Internetwork Performance Monitor (IPM) and other third-party Cisco
partner performance management products. You can find more details about network management
products that use Cisco IOS IP SLAs at this URL:
http://www.cisco.com/go/ipsla
Using IP SLAs can provide these benefits:
Service-level agreement monitoring, measurement, and verification.
Network performance monitoring
Measures the jitter, latency, or packet loss in the network.
Provides continuous, reliable, and predictable measurements.
IP service network health assessment to verify that the existing QoS is sufficient for new IP services.
Edge-to-edge network availability monitoring for proactive verification and connectivity testing of
network resources (for example, shows the network availability of an NFS server used to store
business critical data from a remote site).
Troubleshooting of network operation by providing consistent, reliable measurement that
immediately identifies problems and saves troubleshooting time.
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) performance monitoring and network verification (if the
switch supports MPLS)
This section includes this information about IP SLAs functionality:
Using Cisco IOS IP SLAs to Measure Network Performance, page 27-2
IP SLAs Responder and IP SLAs Control Protocol, page 27-3
Response Time Computation for IP SLAs, page 27-4
Using Cisco IOS IP SLAs to Measure Network Performance
You can use IP SLAs to monitor the performance between any area in the networkcore, distribution,
and edgewithout deploying a physical probe. It uses generated traffic to measure network performance
between two networking devices. Figure 27-1 shows how IP SLAs begins when the source device sends
a generated packet to the destination device. After the destination device receives the packet, depending

27-3
Catalyst 2960Switch SoftwareConfiguration Guide
OL-8603-04
Chapter27 Configuring Cisco IOS IP SLAs Operations
Understanding Cisco IOS IP SLAs
on the type of IP SLAs operation, it responds with time-stamp information for the source to make the
calculation on performance metrics. An IP SLAs operation performs a network measurement from the
source device to a destination in the network using a specific protocol such as UDP.
Figure27-1 Cisco IOS IP SLAs Operation
To implement IP SLAs network performance measurement, you need to perform these tasks:
1. Enable the IP SLAs responder, if required.
2. Configure the required IP SLAs operation type.
3. Configure any options available for the specified operation type.
4. Configure threshold conditions, if required.
5. Schedule the operation to run, then let the operation run for a period of time to gather statistics.
6. Display and interpret the results of the operation using the Cisco IOS CLI or a network
management system (NMS) system with SNMP.
For more information about IP SLAs operations, see the operation-specific chapters in the Cisco IOS IP
SLAs Configuration Guide at this URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6441/products_configuration_guide_book09186a0080707055
.html
Note The switch does not support Voice over IP (VoIP) service level analysis or IP service level analysis using
DLSw+ operation. Before configuring any IP SLAs application, you can use the show ip sla application
privileged EXEC command to verify that the operation type is supported on your software image.
IP SLAs Responder and IP SLAs Control Protocol
The IP SLAs responder is a component embedded in the destination Cisco device that allows the system
to anticipate and respond to IP SLAs request packets. The responder provides accurate measurements
without the need for dedicated probes. The responder uses the Cisco IOS IP SLAs Control Protocol to
provide a mechanism through which it can be notified on which port it should listen and respond. Only
a Cisco IOS device can be a source for a destination IP SLAs Responder.
1
2
1
3
8
1
IP SLA source IP SLA responder
IP SLA
Any IP device
SNMP
Performance
management
application
IP network
IP SLA
IP SLA measurement
and IP SLA responder to
IP SLA Responder
IP SLA measurement
and IP SLA responder to
IP SLA Responder

27-4
Catalyst 2960Switch SoftwareConfiguration Guide
OL-8603-04
Chapter27 Configuring Cisco IOS IP SLAs Operations
Understanding Cisco IOS IP SLAs
Note The IP SLAs responder can be a Cisco IOS Layer 2, responder-configurable switch, such as a
Catalyst 2960 or Cisco ME 2400 switch. The responder does not need to support full IP SLAs
functionality.
Figure 27-1 shows where the Cisco IOS IP SLAs responder fits in the IP network. The responder listens
on a specific port for control protocol messages sent by an IP SLAs operation. Upon receipt of the
control message, it enables the specified UDP or TCP port for the specified duration. During this time,
the responder accepts the requests and responds to them. It disables the port after it responds to the IP
SLAs packet, or when the specified time expires. MD5 authentication for control messages is available
for added security.
You do not need to enable the responder on the destination device for all IP SLAs operations. For
example, a responder is not required for services that are already provided by the destination router (such
as Telnet or HTTP). You cannot configure the IP SLAs responder on non-Cisco devices and Cisco IOS
IP SLAs can send operational packets only to services native to those devices.
Response Time Computation for IP SLAs
Switches and routers can take tens of milliseconds to process incoming packets due to other high priority
processes. This delay affects the response times because the test-packet reply might be in a queue while
waiting to be processed. In this situation, the response times would not accurately represent true network
delays. IP SLAs minimizes these processing delays on the source device as well as on the target device
(if the responder is being used) to determine true round-trip times. IP SLAs test packets use time
stamping to minimize the processing delays.
When the IP SLAs responder is enabled, it allows the target device to take time stamps when the packet
arrives on the interface at interrupt level and again just as it is leaving, eliminating the processing time.
This time stamping is made with a granularity of sub-milliseconds (ms).
Figure 27-2 demonstrates how the responder works. Four time stamps are taken to make the calculation
for round-trip time. At the target router, with the responder functionality enabled, time stamp 2 (TS2) is
subtracted from time stamp 3 (TS3) to produce the time spent processing the test packet as represented
by delta. This delta value is then subtracted from the overall round-trip time. Notice that the same
principle is applied by IP SLAs on the source router where the incoming time stamp 4 (TS4) is also taken
at the interrupt level to allow for greater accuracy.
Figure27-2 Cisco IOS IP SLAs Responder Time Stamping
An additional benefit of the two time stamps at the target device is the ability to track one-way delay,
jitter, and directional packet loss. Because much network behavior is asynchronous, it is critical to have
these statistics. However, to capture one-way delay measurements, you must configure both the source
router and target router with Network Time Protocol (NTP) so that the source and target are
synchronized to the same clock source. One-way jitter measurements do not require clock
synchronization.
1
2
1
3
8
0
T1
Source router
RTT (Round-trip time) = T4 (Time stamp 4) - T1 (Time stamp 1) -
Target router
Responder
=T3-T2
T4
T2
T3

27-5
Catalyst 2960Switch SoftwareConfiguration Guide
OL-8603-04
Chapter27 Configuring Cisco IOS IP SLAs Operations
Configuring IP SLAs Operations
Configuring IP SLAs Operations
This section does not include configuration information for all available operations as the configuration
information details are included in the Cisco IOS IP SLAs Configuration Guide. It includes only the
procedure for configuring the responder, ad the Catalyst 2960 switch includes only responder support.
For details about configuring other operations, see he Cisco IOS IP SLAs Configuration Guide at this
URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6441/products_configuration_guide_book09186a0080707055
.html
This section includes this information:
Default Configuration, page 27-5
Configuration Guidelines, page 27-5
Configuring the IP SLAs Responder, page 27-6
Default Configuration
No IP SLAs operations are configured.
Configuration Guidelines
For information on the IP SLAs commands, see the Cisco IOS IP SLAs Command Reference, Release
12.4T command reference at this URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6441/products_command_reference_book09186a008049739b
.html
For detailed descriptions and configuration procedures, see the Cisco IOS IP SLAs Configuration Guide,
Release 12.4T at this URL:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6441/products_configuration_guide_book09186a0080707055
.html

27-6
Catalyst 2960Switch SoftwareConfiguration Guide
OL-8603-04
Chapter27 Configuring Cisco IOS IP SLAs Operations
Configuring IP SLAs Operations
Configuring the IP SLAs Responder
The IP SLAs responder is available only on Cisco IOS software-based devices, including some Layer 2
switches that do not support full IP SLAs functionality, such as the Catalyst 2960 or the Cisco ME 2400
switch. Beginning in privileged EXEC mode, follow these steps to configure the IP SLAs responder on
the target device (the operational target):
To disable the IP SLAs responder, enter the no ip sla responder global configuration command. This
example shows how to configure the device as a responder for the UDP jitter IP SLAs operation in the
next procedure:
Switch(config)# ip sla responder udp-echo 172.29.139.134 5000
Note For the IP SLAs responder to function, you must also configure a source device, such as a Catalyst 3750
or Catalyst 3560, that has full IP SLAs support. Refer to the documentation for the source device for
configuration information.
Command Purpose
Step1 configure terminal Enter global configuration mode.
Step2 ip sla responder {tcp-connect |
udp-echo} ipaddress ip-address port
port-number
Configure the switch as an IP SLAs responder.
The optional keywords have these meanings:
tcp-connectEnable the responder for TCP connect operations.
udp-echoEnable the responder for User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
echo or jitter operations.
ipaddress ip-addressEnter the destination IP address.
port port-numberEnter the destination port number.
Note The IP address and port number must match those configured on
the source device for the IP SLAs operation.
Step3 end Return to privileged EXEC mode.
Step4 show ip sla responder Verify the IP SLAs responder configuration on the device.
Step5 copy running-config startup-config (Optional) Save your entries in the configuration file.

27-7
Catalyst 2960Switch SoftwareConfiguration Guide
OL-8603-04
Chapter27 Configuring Cisco IOS IP SLAs Operations
Monitoring IP SLAs Operations
Monitoring IP SLAs Operations
Use the User EXEC or Privileged EXEC commands in Table 27-1 to display IP SLAs operations
configuration.
Table27-1 Monitoring IP SLAs Operations
Command Purpose
show ip sla authentication Display IP SLAs authentication information.
show ip sla responder Display information about the IP SLAs responder.

27-8
Catalyst 2960Switch SoftwareConfiguration Guide
OL-8603-04
Chapter27 Configuring Cisco IOS IP SLAs Operations
Monitoring IP SLAs Operations