Configuring IP SLAs TCP Connect Operations

This module describes how to configure an IP Service Level Agreements (SLAs) TCP Connect operation to measure the response time taken to perform a TCP Connect operation between a Cisco router and devices using IPv4 or IPv6. TCP Connect accuracy is enhanced by using the IP SLAs Responder at the destination Cisco router. This module also demonstrates how the results of the TCP Connect operation can be displayed and analyzed to determine how the connection times to servers and hosts within your network can affect IP service levels. The TCP Connect operation is useful for measuring response times for a server used for a particular application or connectivity testing for server availability.

Information About the IP SLAs TCP Connect Operation

TCP Connect Operation

The IP SLAs TCP Connect operation measures the response time taken to perform a TCP Connect operation between a Cisco device and devices using IP. TCP is a transport layer (Layer 4) Internet protocol that provides reliable full-duplex data transmission. The destination device can be any device using IP or an IP SLAs Responder.

In the figure below Device B is configured as the source IP SLAs device and a TCP Connect operation is configured with the destination device as IP Host 1.

Connection response time is computed by measuring the time taken between sending a TCP request message from Device B to IP Host 1 and receiving a reply from IP Host 1.

TCP Connect accuracy is enhanced by using the IP SLAs Responder at the destination Cisco device. If the destination device is a Cisco device, then IP SLAs makes a TCP connection to any port number that you specified. If the destination is not a Cisco IP host, then you must specify a known destination port number such as 21 for FTP, 23 for Telnet, or 80 for an HTTP server.

Using the IP SLAs Responder is optional for a TCP Connect operation when using Cisco devices. The IP SLAs Responder cannot be configured on non-Cisco devices.

TCP Connect is used to test virtual circuit availability or application availability. Server and application connection performance can be tested by simulating Telnet, SQL, and other types of connection to help you verify your IP service levels.

How to Configure the IP SLAs TCP Connect Operation

Configuring the IP SLAs Responder on the Destination Device

Before you begin

If you are using the IP SLAs Responder, ensure that the networking device to be used as the responder is a Cisco device and that you have connectivity to that device through the network.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. enable
  2. configure terminal
  3. Do one of the following:
    • ip sla responder
    • ip sla responder tcp-connect ipaddress ip-address port port vrf vrf
  4. exit

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

Do one of the following:

  • ip sla responder
  • ip sla responder tcp-connect ipaddress ip-address port port vrf vrf

Example:


Device(config)# ip sla responder

Example:


Device(config)# ip sla responder tcp-connect ipaddress 172.29.139.132 port 5000 vrf vrf1

(Optional) Temporarily enables IP SLAs responder functionality on the Cisco device in response to control messages from source.

or

(Optional) Required only if protocol control is explicitly disabled on the source device. Permanently enables IP SLAs responder functionality on the specified IP address and port and the VRF.

  • Control is enabled by default.

Step 4

exit

Example:


Device(config)# exit

(Optional) Exits global configuration mode and returns to privileged EXEC mode.

Configuring and Scheduling a TCP Connect Operation on the Source Device

Perform only one of the following tasks:

Prerequisites

If you are using the IP SLAs Responder, complete the "Configuring the IP SLAs Responder on the Destination Device" section before you start this task.

Configuring a Basic TCP Connect Operation on the Source Device

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. enable
  2. configure terminal
  3. ip sla operation-number
  4. tcp-connect {destination-ip-address | destination-hostname } destination-port [source-ip {ip-address | hostname } source-port port-number ] [control {enable | disable }]
  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 10

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

Step 4

tcp-connect {destination-ip-address | destination-hostname } destination-port [source-ip {ip-address | hostname } source-port port-number ] [control {enable | disable }]

Example:

Device(config-ip-sla)# tcp-connect 172.29.139.132 5000

Defines a TCP Connect operation and enters IP SLA TCP configuration mode.

  • Use the control disable keyword combination only if you disable the IP SLAs control protocol on both the source and target devices.

Step 5

frequency seconds

Example:

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

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

Step 6

end

Example:

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

Returns to global configuration mode.

Configuring a TCP Connect Operation with Optional Parameters on the Source Device

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. enable
  2. configure terminal
  3. ip sla operation-number
  4. tcp-connect {destination-ip-address | destination-hostname } destination-port [source-ip {ip-address | hostname } source-port port-number ] [control {enable | disable }]
  5. history buckets-kept size
  6. history distributions-of-statistics-kept size
  7. history enhanced [interval seconds ] [buckets number-of-buckets ]
  8. history filter {none | all | overThreshold | failures }
  9. frequency seconds
  10. history hours-of-statistics-kept hours
  11. history lives-kept lives
  12. owner owner-id
  13. history statistics-distribution-interval milliseconds
  14. tag text
  15. threshold milliseconds
  16. timeout milliseconds
  17. Do one of the following:
    • tos number
    • traffic-class number
  18. flow-label number
  19. exit
  20. show ip sla configuration [operation-number ]

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 10

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

Step 4

tcp-connect {destination-ip-address | destination-hostname } destination-port [source-ip {ip-address | hostname } source-port port-number ] [control {enable | disable }]

Example:
Device(config-ip-sla)# tcp-connect 172.29.139.132 5000

Defines a TCP Connect operation and enters IP SLA TCP configuration mode.

  • Use the control disable keyword combination only if you disable the IP SLAs control protocol on both the source and target devices.

Step 5

history buckets-kept size

Example:
Device(config-ip-sla-tcp)# history buckets-kept 25

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

Step 6

history distributions-of-statistics-kept size

Example:

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

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

Step 7

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

Example:
Device(config-ip-sla-tcp)# history enhanced interval 900 buckets 100

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

Step 8

history filter {none | all | overThreshold | failures }

Example:

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

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

Step 9

frequency seconds

Example:
Device(config-ip-sla-tcp)# frequency 30

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

Step 10

history hours-of-statistics-kept hours

Example:
Device(config-ip-sla-tcp)# history hours-of-statistics-kept 4

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

Step 11

history lives-kept lives

Example:
Device(config-ip-sla-tcp)# history lives-kept 2

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

Step 12

owner owner-id

Example:
Device(config-ip-sla-tcp)# owner admin

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

Step 13

history statistics-distribution-interval milliseconds

Example:
Device(config-ip-sla-tcp)# history statistics-distribution-interval 10

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

Step 14

tag text

Example:
Device(config-ip-sla-tcp)# tag TelnetPollServer1

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

Step 15

threshold milliseconds

Example:
Device(config-ip-sla-tcp)# threshold 10000

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

Step 16

timeout milliseconds

Example:
Device(config-ip-sla-tcp)# timeout 10000

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

Step 17

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) For IPv4: Defines the ToS byte in the IPv4 header of an IP SLAs operation.

or

(Optional) For IPv6: Defines the traffic class byte in the IPv6 header for a supported IP SLAs operation.

Step 18

flow-label number

Example:
Device(config-ip-sla-tcp)# flow-label 112233

(Optional) For IPv6: Defines the flow label field in the IPv6 header for a supported IP SLAs operation.

Step 19

exit

Example:
Device(config-ip-sla-tcp)# exit

Exits TCP configuration submode and returns to global configuration mode.

Step 20

show ip sla configuration [operation-number ]

Example:
Device# show ip sla configuration 10

(Optional) Displays configuration values including all defaults for all IP SLAs operations or a specified operation.

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 TCP Connect Operations

Example Configuring a TCP Connect Operation

The following example shows how to configure a TCP Connect operation from Device B to the Telnet port (TCP port 23) of IP Host 1 (IP address 10.0.0.1), as shown in the "TCP Connect Operation" figure in the "Information About the IP SLAs TCP Connect Operation" section. The operation is scheduled to start immediately. In this example, the control protocol is disabled on the source (Device B). IP SLAs uses the control protocol to notify the IP SLAs responder to enable the target port temporarily. This action allows the responder to reply to the TCP Connect operation. In this example, because the target is not a Cisco device and a well-known TCP port is used, there is no need to send the control message.

Device A (target device) Configuration


configure terminal
 ip sla responder tcp-connect ipaddress 10.0.0.1 port 23

Device B (source device) Configuration


ip sla 9
 tcp-connect 10.0.0.1 23 control disable
 frequency 30
 tos 128
 timeout 1000
 tag FLL-RO
ip sla schedule 9 start-time now

The following example shows how to configure a TCP Connect operation with a specific port, port 23, and without an IP SLAs responder. The operation is scheduled to start immediately and run indefinitely. 


ip sla 9
 tcp-connect 173.29.139.132 21 control disable
 frequency 30
ip sla schedule 9 life forever start-time now

Additional References

Related Documents

Related Topic

Document Title

Cisco IOS IP SLAs commands

Cisco IOS IP SLAs Command Reference, All Releases

Cisco IOS IP SLAs: general information

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

Multioperation scheduling for IP SLAs

“Configuring Multioperation Scheduling of IP SLAs Operations” module of the Cisco IOS P SLAs Configuration Guide

Proactive threshold monitoring for IP SLAs

“Configuring Proactive Threshold Monitoring of IP SLAs Operations” module of the Cisco IOS IP SLAs Configuration Guide

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 the IP SLAs TCP Connect Operation

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 the IP SLAs TCP Connect Operation

Feature Name

Releases

Feature Information

IP SLAs TCP Connect Operation

The Cisco IOS IP SLAs Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connect operation allows you to measure the network response time taken to perform a TCP Connect operation 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.

IP SLAs VRF Aware 2.0

Support was added for IP SLAs VRF-aware capabilities for TCP connect, FTP, HTTP and DNS client operation types.