Configuring IP SLAs ICMP Echo Operations

This module describes how to configure an IP Service Level Agreements (SLAs) Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo operation to monitor end-to-end response time between a Cisco router and devices using IPv4 or IPv6. ICMP Echo is useful for troubleshooting network connectivity issues. This module also demonstrates how the results of the ICMP Echo operation can be displayed and analyzed to determine how the network IP connections are performing.

Restrictions for IP SLAs ICMP Echo Operations

We recommend using a Cisco networking device as the destination device although any networking device that supports RFC 862, Echo protocol, can be used.

Information About IP SLAs ICMP Echo Operations

ICMP Echo Operation

The ICMP Echo operation measures end-to-end response time between a Cisco router and any devices using IP. Response time is computed by measuring the time taken between sending an ICMP Echo request message to the destination and receiving an ICMP Echo reply.

In the figure below ping is used by the ICMP Echo operation to measure the response time between the source IP SLAs device and the destination IP device. Many customers use IP SLAs ICMP-based operations, in-house ping testing, or ping-based dedicated probes for response time measurements.

Figure 1. ICMP Echo Operation

The IP SLAs ICMP Echo operation conforms to the same IETF specifications for ICMP ping testing and the two methods result in the same response times.

How to Configure IP SLAs ICMP Echo Operations

Configuring an ICMP Echo Operation


Note

There is no need to configure an IP SLAs responder on the destination device.

Perform one of the following tasks:

Configuring a Basic ICMP Echo Operation on the Source Device

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. enable
  2. configure terminal
  3. ip sla operation-number
  4. icmp-echo {destination-ip-address | destination-hostname } [source-ip {ip-address | hostname } | source-interface interface-name ]
  5. frequency seconds
  6. end

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

enable

Example:

Device> enable

Enables privileged EXEC mode.

  • Enter your password if prompted.

Step 2

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 3

ip sla operation-number

Example:

Device(config)# ip sla 6

Begins configuration for an IP SLAs operation and enters IP SLA configuration mode.

Step 4

icmp-echo {destination-ip-address | destination-hostname } [source-ip {ip-address | hostname } | source-interface interface-name ]

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla)# icmp-echo 172.29.139.134

Defines an ICMP Echo operation and enters IP SLA ICMP Echo configuration mode.

Step 5

frequency seconds

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# frequency 300

(Optional) Sets the rate at which a specified IP SLAs operation repeats.

Step 6

end

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# end

Exits to privileged EXEC mode.

What to do next

To add proactive threshold conditions and reactive triggering for generating traps, or for starting another operation, to an IP SLAs operation, see the "Configuring Proactive Threshold Monitoring" section.

Configuring an ICMP Echo Operation with Optional Parameters

Perform this task on the source device.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. enable
  2. configure terminal
  3. ip sla operation-number
  4. icmp-echo {destination-ip-address | destination-hostname } [source-ip {ip-address | hostname } | source-interface interface-name ]
  5. data-pattern hex value
  6. history buckets-kept size
  7. history distributions-of-statistics-kept size
  8. history enhanced [interval seconds ] [buckets number-of-buckets ]
  9. history filter {none | all | overThreshold | failures }
  10. frequency seconds
  11. history hours-of-statistics-kept hours
  12. history lives-kept lives
  13. owner owner-id
  14. request-data-size bytes
  15. history statistics-distribution-interval milliseconds
  16. tag text
  17. threshold milliseconds
  18. timeout milliseconds
  19. Do one of the following:
    • tos number
    • traffic-class number
  20. flow-label number
  21. verify-data
  22. vrf vrf-name
  23. end

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

enable

Example:

Device> enable

Enables privileged EXEC mode.

  • Enter your password if prompted.

Step 2

configure terminal

Example:

Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 3

ip sla operation-number

Example:

Device(config)# ip sla 6

Begins configuration for an IP SLAs operation and enters IP SLA configuration mode.

Step 4

icmp-echo {destination-ip-address | destination-hostname } [source-ip {ip-address | hostname } | source-interface interface-name ]

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla)# icmp-echo 172.29.139.134 source-ip 172.29.139.132

Defines an Echo operation and enters IP SLA Echo configuration mode.

Step 5

data-pattern hex value

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# data pattern FFFFFFFF

(Optional) Sets the hexadecimal value for data pattern.

The range is 0 to FFFFFFFF.

Step 6

history buckets-kept size

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# history buckets-kept 25

(Optional) Sets the number of history buckets that are kept during the lifetime of an IP SLAs operation.

Step 7

history distributions-of-statistics-kept size

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# history distributions-of-statistics-kept 5

(Optional) Sets the number of statistics distributions kept per hop during an IP SLAs operation.

Step 8

history enhanced [interval seconds ] [buckets number-of-buckets ]

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# history enhanced interval 900 buckets 100

(Optional) Enables enhanced history gathering for an IP SLAs operation.

Step 9

history filter {none | all | overThreshold | failures }

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# history filter failures

(Optional) Defines the type of information kept in the history table for an IP SLAs operation.

Step 10

frequency seconds

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# frequency 30

(Optional) Sets the rate at which a specified IP SLAs operation repeats.

Step 11

history hours-of-statistics-kept hours

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# history hours-of-statistics-kept 4

(Optional) Sets the number of hours for which statistics are maintained for an IP SLAs operation.

Step 12

history lives-kept lives

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# history lives-kept 5

(Optional) Sets the number of lives maintained in the history table for an IP SLAs operation.

Step 13

owner owner-id

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# owner admin

(Optional) Configures the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) owner of an IP SLAs operation.

Step 14

request-data-size bytes

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# request-data-size 64

(Optional) Sets the protocol data size in the payload of an IP SLAs operation's request packet.

Step 15

history statistics-distribution-interval milliseconds

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# history statistics-distribution-interval 10

(Optional) Sets the time interval for each statistics distribution kept for an IP SLAs operation.

Step 16

tag text

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# tag TelnetPollServer1

(Optional) Creates a user-specified identifier for an IP SLAs operation.

Step 17

threshold milliseconds

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# threshold 10000

(Optional) Sets the upper threshold value for calculating network monitoring statistics created by an IP SLAs operation.

Step 18

timeout milliseconds

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# timeout 10000

(Optional) Sets the amount of time an IP SLAs operation waits for a response from its request packet.

Step 19

Do one of the following:

  • tos number
  • traffic-class number
Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-jitter)# tos 160
Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-jitter)# traffic-class 160

(Optional) In an IPv4 network only, defines the ToS byte in the IPv4 header of an IP SLAs operation.

or

(Optional) In an IPv6 network only, defines the traffic class byte in the IPv6 header for a supported IP SLAs operation.

Step 20

flow-label number

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# flow-label 112233

(Optional) In an IPv6 network only, defines the flow label field in the IPv6 header for a supported IP SLAs operation.

Step 21

verify-data

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# verify-data

(Optional) Causes an IP SLAs operation to check each reply packet for data corruption.

Step 22

vrf vrf-name

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# vrf vpn-A

(Optional) Allows monitoring within Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) using IP SLAs operations.

Step 23

end

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla-echo)# end

Exits to privileged EXEC mode.

What to do next

To add proactive threshold conditions and reactive triggering for generating traps, or for starting another operation, to an IP SLAs operation, see the "Configuring Proactive Threshold Monitoring" section.

Scheduling IP SLAs Operations

Before you begin

  • All IP Service Level Agreements (SLAs) operations to be scheduled must be already configured.
  • The frequency of all operations scheduled in a multioperation group must be the same.
  • The list of one or more operation ID numbers to be added to a multioperation group must be limited to a maximum of 125 characters in length, including commas (,).

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. enable
  2. configure terminal
  3. Enter one of the following commands:
    • ip sla schedule operation-number [life {forever | seconds }] [start-time {[hh:mm:ss ] [month day | day month ] | pending | now | after hh:mm:ss }] [ageout seconds ] [recurring ]
    • ip sla group schedule group-operation-number operation-id-numbers {schedule-period schedule-period-range | schedule-together } [ageout seconds ] frequency group-operation-frequency [life {forever | seconds }] [start-time {hh:mm [:ss ] [month day | day month ] | pending | now | after hh:mm [:ss] }]
  4. end
  5. show ip sla group schedule
  6. show ip sla configuration

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

enable

Example:


Device> enable

Enables privileged EXEC mode.

  • Enter your password if prompted.

Step 2

configure terminal

Example:


Device# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 3

Enter one of the following commands:

  • ip sla schedule operation-number [life {forever | seconds }] [start-time {[hh:mm:ss ] [month day | day month ] | pending | now | after hh:mm:ss }] [ageout seconds ] [recurring ]
  • ip sla group schedule group-operation-number operation-id-numbers {schedule-period schedule-period-range | schedule-together } [ageout seconds ] frequency group-operation-frequency [life {forever | seconds }] [start-time {hh:mm [:ss ] [month day | day month ] | pending | now | after hh:mm [:ss] }]

Example:


Device(config)# ip sla schedule 10 life forever start-time now

Device(config)# ip sla group schedule 10 schedule-period frequency

Device(config)# ip sla group schedule 1 3,4,6-9 life forever start-time now 

Device(config)# ip sla schedule 1 3,4,6-9 schedule-period 50 frequency range 80-100

  • Configures the scheduling parameters for an individual IP SLAs operation.

  • Specifies an IP SLAs operation group number and the range of operation numbers for a multioperation scheduler.

Step 4

end

Example:


Device(config)# end

Exits global configuration mode and returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Step 5

show ip sla group schedule

Example:


Device# show ip sla group schedule

(Optional) Displays IP SLAs group schedule details.

Step 6

show ip sla configuration

Example:


Device# show ip sla configuration

(Optional) Displays IP SLAs configuration details.

Troubleshooting Tips

  • If the IP Service Level Agreements (SLAs) operation is not running and not generating statistics, add the verify-data command to the configuration (while configuring in IP SLA configuration mode) to enable data verification. When data verification is enabled, each operation response is checked for corruption. Use the verify-data command with caution during normal operations because it generates unnecessary overhead.

  • Use the debug ip sla trace and debug ip sla error commands to help troubleshoot issues with an IP SLAs operation.

What to Do Next

To add proactive threshold conditions and reactive triggering for generating traps (or for starting another operation) to an IP Service Level Agreements (SLAs) operation, see the “Configuring Proactive Threshold Monitoring” section.

Configuration Examples for IP SLAs ICMP Echo Operations

Example Configuring an ICMP Echo Operation

The following example shows how to configure an IP SLAs operation type of ICMP Echo that will start immediately and run indefinitely. 


ip sla 6
 icmp-echo 172.29.139.134 source-ip 172.29.139.132
 frequency 300
 request-data-size 28
 tos 160
 timeout 2000
 tag SFO-RO
ip sla schedule 6 life forever start-time now

Additional References for IP SLAs ICMP Echo Operations

Related Documents

Related Topic

Document Title

Cisco IOS commands

Cisco IOS Master Commands List, All Releases

IP SLAs commands

Cisco IOS IP SLAs Command Reference

Information about Cisco IP SLAs

“Cisco IOS IP SLAs Overview” module of the IP SLAs Configuration Guide

Standards and RFCs

Standard/RFC

Title

RFC 862

Echo Protocol

MIBs

MIBs

MIBs Link

CISCO-RTTMON-MIB

To locate and download MIBs for selected platforms, Cisco IOS releases, and feature sets, use Cisco MIB Locator found at the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/go/mibs

Technical Assistance

Description

Link

The Cisco Support and Documentation website provides online resources to download documentation, software, and tools. Use these resources to install and configure the software and to troubleshoot and resolve technical issues with Cisco products and technologies. Access to most tools on the Cisco Support and Documentation website requires a Cisco.com user ID and password.

http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/support/index.html

Feature Information for IP SLAs ICMP Echo Operations

The following table provides release information about the feature or features described in this module. This table lists only the software release that introduced support for a given feature in a given software release train. Unless noted otherwise, subsequent releases of that software release train also support that feature.

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.
Table 1. Feature Information for IP SLAs ICMP Echo Operations

Feature Name

Releases

Feature Information

IP SLAs ICMP Echo Operation

The Cisco IOS IP SLAs Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo operation allows you to measure end-to-end network response time between a Cisco device and other devices using IP.

IPv6 - IP SLAs (UDP Jitter, UDP Echo, ICMP Echo, TCP Connect)

Support was added for operability in IPv6 networks.