Geek Speak

Using IP SLA, RTT, SAA, or whatever you'd like to call it these days...

Some of the coolest technology out there today is basically free - or at least something most of us have already bought and paid for but never used. I'm talking about Cisco's IP SLA which has also been called RTT and SAA. IP SLA is a feature within Cisco IOS that let's you use the router/switch as sort of a probe or agent out on the network. IP SLA can generate test traffic from these devices deployed out on your network to other devices out on the network giving you a sort of "fully meshed" view of network performance.

Some of the IP SLA operations include things like UDP Jitter, UDP Echo, ICMP, HTTP, and FTP. You can read about all of the different tests and features here. In situations where latency sensitve applications are deployed to remote locations - especially on for instance a fully meshed MPLS network - this information is a huge help.

We're planning a more detailed blog post and a short video on how to leverage IP SLA with SolarWinds tools. If you have some specific ideas or requests please send them my way.


Flame on...
Josh

Published Aug 29 2008, 09:59 AM by Josh Stephens

Comments

 

redpineapple said:

I have used SAA (IPSLA is a poor name) in a number of different products and really believe that it is great. However, most of them do a poor job at aggregation. When investigating a problem it helps to be able to visualize multiple responses. IPSLA is a poor name as what it does is not a SLA. Maybe a small part of a small section of a SLA but not a SLA. In actual fact the original RTT was the best technical description.
August 29, 2008 11:12 AM
 

tdvojmoc said:

Shouldn't there be RTR instead of RTT? Before SAA there was only Response Time Reporter (RTR).

And of course there is also RTTMON MIB to query data from all of them (RTR, SAA and IP SLA).

September 1, 2008 2:44 AM
 

jonchill said:

We've just started using IPSLA for voice and have found it extremely useful we're also using it for testing DHCP response. We aggregate all our stats to Plixer Denika, we would of used Solarwinds VOIP monitoring but 1. Its to expensive for our small deployment of IPSLA and 2. It only supports the VOIP parts of IPSLA and nothing else.

September 1, 2008 8:35 AM
 

Josh Stephens said:

tdmojmoc,

You're right - should be RTR. I was thinking about the MIB name when I wrote RTT.

Josh

September 4, 2008 6:21 PM
 

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About Josh Stephens

Josh Stephens is a Vice President – and Head Geek – at SolarWinds, where he plays an integral part in the development and delivery of our award-winning network management products. Josh has extensive experience in network management systems, network engineering, and software development. His 15-plus years of experience in technology include designing and deploying advanced networks and network management systems within organizations including the US Air Force, Sprint, MCI/UUNET, and Wal-Mart. He has received several industry certifications including those from Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and HP.