IP SLAs Multicast Support

This module describes how to configure and schedule an IP Service Level Agreements (SLAs) multicast UDP jitter operation for measuring and reporting statistics such as one way latency, jitter, and packet loss for each multicast receiver in a user-specified multicast group. .

Finding Feature Information

Your software release may not support all the features documented in this module. For the latest caveats and feature information, see Bug Search Tool and the release notes for your platform and software release. To find information about the features documented in this module, and to see a list of the releases in which each feature is supported, see the feature information table.

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.

Prerequisites for IP SLAs Multicast Support

  • Time synchronization, such as that provided by Network Time Protocol (NTP), is required between the source and the target device in order to provide accurate one-way delay (latency) measurements. To configure NTP on the source and target devices, perform the tasks in the "Performing Basic System Management" chapter of the Network Management Configuration Guide. Time synchronization is not required for the one-way jitter and packet loss measurements. However, if the time is not synchronized between the source and target devices, one-way jitter and packet loss data will be returned, but values of "0" will be returned for the one-way delay measurements provided by the UDP jitter operation.

  • All devices must be part of the same VRF in order for IP SLAs multicast operations to succeed.

  • The devices on which the responder and probe are to configured must both be running Cisco software images that support the IP SLAs Multicast Support feature. Before configuring any IP SLAs application, use the show ip sla application command to verify that the operation type is supported on your software image.

Restrictions for IP SLAs Multicast Support

The multicast UDP Jitter operation can provide only One Way (OW) data.

Information About IP SLAs Multicast Support

Multicast UDP Jitter Operations

A multicast UDP jitter operation measures and reports statistics, such as one way latency, jitter, and packet loss, for each multicast receiver in a user-specified multicast group. Multicast UDP jitter operations enable you to perform the following tasks:

  • Analyze and evaluate the performance of a multicast network after deploying a new multicast network application or implementing new multicast-based protocols on the network.

  • Check the network behavior for multicast before actually utilizing the multicast network for an important event.

  • Take a proactive approach to monitoring a network to isolate possible problem areas.

The sender in a multicast UDP jitter operation sends UDP packets at a specified interval from the source device to a multicast IP address. During the initial configuration, a specified endpoint list provides a list of all the responders to be contacted for a given multicast operation. The multicast subsystem sends a unicast control packet to each of the multicast receivers in the endpoint list, utilizing the unicast path. A control message is sent to each receiver so that it can join the multicast group.

The IP SLAs multicast responder on the multicast receiver receives the UDP packets and records the time-stamp data.

A list of valid responders that have completed a successful IGMP join is maintained on the sender side. Once the responder list is received, multicast packet generation can proceed.

Because all multicast traffic is one way, from sender on the source to responder on the receiver, each responder that is part of the operation is responsible for performing local calculations and for storing the statistics. The statistics are sent back to the sender to be displayed at the end of each cycle of the operation (after all packets have been transmitted to the responder). Because the responder does not maintain a history of the statistics, and also releases all associated memory after sending the information to the sender, each scheduled operation (based on the frequency) is considered a new operation by the multicast responder, with no relationship to the previous one.

Multicast UDP jitter operations are supported in IPv4 networks.

How to Configure IP SLAs Multicast Support

Configuring the IP SLAs Responder on a Destination Device


Note

A responder should not configure a permanent port for a sender. If the responder configures a permanent port for a sender, even if the packets are successfully sent (no timeout or packet-loss issues), the jitter value is zero.

SUMMARY STEPS

    1.    enable

    2.    configure terminal

    3.    Enter one of the following commands:

    • ip sla responder
    • ip sla responder udp-echo ipaddress ip-address port portvrf vrf

    4.    end


DETAILED STEPS
     Command or ActionPurpose
    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 3Enter one of the following commands:
    • ip sla responder
    • ip sla responder udp-echo ipaddress ip-address port portvrf vrf


    Example:
    Device(config)# ip sla responder
    Device(config)# ip sla responder udp-echo ipaddress 192.0.2.132 port 5000 vrf vrf1
     

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

    (Optional; required only if protocol control is disabled on the source.) Enables IP SLAs responder functionality on the specified IP address, port and VRF.

    • Protocol control is enabled by default.

     
    Step 4 end


    Example:
    Device(config)# end
     

    Exits global configuration mode and returns to privileged EXEC mode.

     

    Creating a List of Multicast Responders on the Source Device

    Before You Begin

    All responders to be added to the endpoint list (of responders) must first be configured on the destination device. For configuration information, see the "Configuring an IP SLAs Responder on the Destination Device" section.

    SUMMARY STEPS

      1.    enable

      2.    configure terminal

      3.    ip sla endpoint-list type ip template-name

      4.    description description

      5.    ip-address address [-address | , ... , address] port port

      6.    end

      7.    show ip sla endpoint-list [type ip [template-name]]


    DETAILED STEPS
       Command or ActionPurpose
      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 endpoint-list type ip template-name


      Example:
      Device(config)# ip sla endpoint-list type ip mcast-rcvrs
       

      Begins configuring an endpoint list and enters endpoint-list configuration mode.

       
      Step 4 description description


      Example:
      Device(config-epl)# description list of receivers
       

      (Optional) Adds descriptive text to the template being configured.

       
      Step 5 ip-address address [-address | , ... , address] port port


      Example:
      Device(config-epl)# ip-address 10.1.1.1-13 port 6500
       

      Adds the IPv4 or IPv6 address of a multicast responder to the endpoint list being configured.

      • Repeat this command until all desired addresses are configured.

      • Use the no from of this command to modify the endpoint list by removing one or more addresses.

       
      Step 6 end


      Example:
      Device(config-epl)# end
       

      Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

       
      Step 7 show ip sla endpoint-list [type ip [template-name]]


      Example:
      Device# show ip sla endpoint-list type ip mcast-rcvrs
       

      (Optional) Displays the configuration of the endpoint list.

       

      Configuring Multicast UDP Jitter Operations


      Note
      • The IP SLAs UDP jitter operation does not support the IP SLAs History feature (statistics history buckets) because of the large data volume involved with UDP jitter operations. Therefore, the following commands are not supported for UDP jitter operations: history buckets-kept, history filter, history lives-kept, samples-of-history-kept, and show ip sla history.
      • The MIB used by IP SLAs (CISCO-RTTMON-MIB) limits the hours-of-statistics kept for the UDP jitter operation to two hours. Configuring a larger value using the history hours-of-statistics hours global configuration change will not increase the value beyond two hours. However, the Data Collection MIB can be used to collect historical data for the operation. For information, see the CISCO-DATA-COLLECTION-MIB at http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​go/​mibs).
      SUMMARY STEPS

        1.    enable

        2.    configure terminal

        3.    ip sla operation-number

        4.    udp-jitter {destination-ip-address | destination-hostname} destination-port endpoint-list endpoint-list [ssm] [source-ip ip-address] [source-port port-number] [num-packets number-of-packets] [interval interpacket-interval]

        5.    control retry retries

        6.    control timeout seconds

        7.    dscp dscp-value

        8.    tree-init number

        9.    history distributions-of-statistics-kept size

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

        11.    frequency seconds

        12.    history hours-of-statistics-kept hours

        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.    tos number

        20.    verify-data

        21.    vrf vrf-name

        22.    end

        23.    show ip sla configuration [operation-number]


      DETAILED STEPS
         Command or ActionPurpose
        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 udp-jitter {destination-ip-address | destination-hostname} destination-port endpoint-list endpoint-list [ssm] [source-ip ip-address] [source-port port-number] [num-packets number-of-packets] [interval interpacket-interval]


        Example:
        Device(config-ip-sla)# udp-jitter 239.1.1.1 5000 endpoint-list mcast-rcvrs source-ip 10.10.10.106 source-port 7012 num-packets 50 interval 25
         

        Configures the IP SLAs operation as a multicast UDP jitter operation and enters multicast UDP jitter configuration mode.

         
        Step 5control retry retries


        Example:
        Device(config-ip-sla-multicast-jitter-oper)# control retry 2
         

        (Optional) Configures the number of times a sending device will resend a control protocol message.

         
        Step 6control timeout seconds


        Example:
        Device(config-ip-sla-multicast-jitter)# control timeout 4
         

        (Optional) Configures the number of seconds that the destination device will wait for a control protocol message.

         
        Step 7dscp dscp-value


        Example:
        Device(config-ip-sla-multicast-jitter-oper)# dscp 10
         

        (Optional) Configures the DSCP value for the operation.

         
        Step 8tree-init number


        Example:
        Device(config-ip-sla-multicast-jitter-oper)# tree-init 1
         

        (Optional) Sets up the multicast tree.

         
        Step 9 history distributions-of-statistics-kept size


        Example:
        Device(config-ip-sla-multicast-jitter-oper)# history distributions-of-statistics-kept 5
         

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

         
        Step 10 history enhanced [interval seconds] [buckets number-of-buckets]


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

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

         
        Step 11 frequency seconds


        Example:
        Device(config-ip-sla-multicast-jitter-oper)# frequency 30
         

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

         
        Step 12 history hours-of-statistics-kept hours


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

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

         
        Step 13 owner owner-id


        Example:
        Device(config-ip-sla-multicast-jitter-oper)# 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-multicast-jitter-oper)# 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-multicast-jitter-oper)# 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-multicast-jitter-oper)# tag TelnetPollServer1
         

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

         
        Step 17 threshold milliseconds


        Example:
        Device(config-ip-sla-multicast-jitter-oper)# 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-multicast-jitter-oper)# timeout 10000
         

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

         
        Step 19 tos number


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

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

         
        Step 20 verify-data


        Example:
        Device(config-ip-sla-multicast-jitter-oper)# verify-data
         

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

         
        Step 21 vrf vrf-name


        Example:
        Device(config-ip-sla-multicast-jitter-oper)# vrf vpn-A
         

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

         
        Step 22 end


        Example:
        Device(config-ip-sla-multicast-jitter-oper)# end
         

        Returns to privileged EXEC mode.

         
        Step 23 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 ActionPurpose
          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 Multicast Support

          Example: Multicast UDP Jitter Operation

          Device# show ip sla endpoint-list

Endpoint-list Name: multicast
    Description:
    ip-address 192.0.2.1 port 1111
    ip-address 192.0.2.2 port 2222
    ip-address 192.0.2.3 port 3333

          Device# show ip sla configuration 22

IP SLAs Infrastructure Engine-III
Entry number: 22
Owner:
Tag:
Operation timeout (milliseconds): 5000
Type of operation to perform: udp-jitter
Target address/Source address: 224.1.1.1/0.0.0.0
Target port/Source port: 2460/0
Type Of Service parameter: 0x0
Request size (ARR data portion): 32
Packet Interval (milliseconds)/Number of packets: 20/10
Verify data: No
Vrf Name:
Control Packets: enabled
Schedule:
   Operation frequency (seconds): 60  (not considered if randomly scheduled)
   Next Scheduled Start Time: Pending trigger
   Group Scheduled : FALSE
   Randomly Scheduled : FALSE
   Life (seconds): 3600
   Entry Ageout (seconds): never
   Recurring (Starting Everyday): FALSE
   Status of entry (SNMP RowStatus): notInService
Threshold (milliseconds): 5000
Distribution Statistics:
   Number of statistic hours kept: 2
   Number of statistic distribution buckets kept: 1
   Statistic distribution interval (milliseconds): 20
Enhanced History:

  sno    oper-id             dest-ip-addr		!<---Responders in endpoint list: multicast
    1   976271337              192.0.2.1
    2  1632881300              192.0.2.2
    3  2138021658              192.0.2.3

          Additional References for IP SLAs Multicast Support

          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

          MIBs

          MIB

          MIBs Link

          CISCO-IPSLA-TC-MIB

          To locate and download MIBs for selected platforms, Cisco software 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 IPSLA Multicast Support

          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 IPSLA Multicast Support

          Feature Name

          Releases

          Feature Information

          IPSLA Multicast Support

          15.2(4)M

          15.3(1)S

          Cisco IOS XE Release 3.8S

          15.1(2)SG

          Cisco IOS XE Release 3.4SG

          This feature introduced the multicast UDP jitter operation for measuring and reporting statistics such as one way latency, jitter, and packet loss for each multicast receiver in a user-specified multicast group.

          The following commands were introduced or modified: clock-tolerance ntp oneway, control (IP SLA), dscp (IP SLA), history distributions-of-statistics-kept, history enhanced, history hours-of-statistics-kept, ip-address (endpoint list), operation-packet priority, owner, precision, show ip sla application, show ip sla configuration, show ip sla endpoint-list, show ip sla statistics, show ip sla statistics aggregated, tag (IP SLA), timeout (IP SLA), tos, tree-init, udp-jitter, verify-data (IP SLA), vrf.