IP SLAs -- Analyzing IP Service Levels Using the FTP Operation [Cisco IOS and NX-OS Software]

Table Of Contents

IP SLAs—Analyzing IP Service Levels Using the FTP Operation

Finding Feature Information

Contents

Prerequisites for the IP SLAs FTP Operation

Information About the IP SLAs FTP Operation

FTP Operation

How to Configure the IP SLAs FTP Operation

Configuring and Scheduling an FTP Operation on the Source Device

Configuring and Scheduling a Basic FTP Operation on the Source Device

Configuring and Scheduling an FTP Operation with Optional Parameters on the Source Device

Configuration Examples for the IP SLAs FTP Operation

Configuring an FTP Operation: Example

Where to Go Next

Additional References

Related Documents

Standards

MIBs

RFCs

Technical Assistance

Feature Information for the IP SLAs FTP Operation

IP SLAs—Analyzing IP Service Levels Using the FTP Operation

First Published: August 14, 2006

Last Updated: July 16, 2008

This module describes how to use the Cisco IOS IP Service Level Agreements (SLAs) FTP operation to measure the response time between a Cisco device and a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server to retrieve a file. The IP SLAs FTP operation supports an FTP GET request only. IP SLAs is a portfolio of technology embedded in most devices that run Cisco IOS software, which allows Cisco customers to analyze IP service levels for IP applications and services, to increase productivity, to lower operational costs, and to reduce the frequency of network outages. IP SLAs uses active traffic monitoring—the generation of traffic in a continuous, reliable, and predictable manner—for measuring network performance. This module also demonstrates how the results of the FTP operation can be displayed and analyzed to determine the capacity of your network. The FTP operation can be used also for troubleshooting FTP server performance.

Finding Feature Information

Your software release may not support all the features documented in this module. For the latest feature information and caveats, see 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 for the IP SLAs FTP Operation" section.

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco IOS and Catalyst OS software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.

Contents

•Prerequisites for the IP SLAs FTP Operation

•Information About the IP SLAs FTP Operation

•How to Configure the IP SLAs FTP Operation

•Configuration Examples for the IP SLAs FTP Operation

•Where to Go Next

•Additional References

•Feature Information for the IP SLAs FTP Operation

Prerequisites for the IP SLAs FTP Operation

Before configuring the IP SLAs FTP operation you should be familiar with the "Cisco IOS IP SLAs Overview" chapter of the Cisco IOS IP SLAs Configuration Guide.

Information About the IP SLAs FTP Operation

To perform the tasks required to analyze FTP server response times using IP SLA, you should understand the following concept:

•FTP Operation

FTP Operation

The FTP operation measures the round-trip time (RTT) between a Cisco device and an FTP server to retrieve a file. FTP is an application protocol, part of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/IP protocol stack, used for transferring files between network nodes.

In Figure 1 Router B is configured as the source IP SLAs device and an FTP operation is configured with the FTP server as the destination device.

Figure 1 FTP Operation

Connection response time is computed by measuring the time taken to download a file to Router B from the remote FTP server using FTP over TCP. This operation does not use the IP SLAs Responder.

Note To test the response time to connect to an FTP port (Port 21), use the IP SLAs TCP Connect operation.

Both active and passive FTP transfer modes are supported. The passive mode is enabled by default. Only the FTP GET (download) operation type is supported. The URL specified for the FTP GET operation must be in one of the following formats:

•ftp://username:password@host/filename

•ftp://host/filename

If the username and password are not specified, the defaults are anonymous and test, respectively.

FTP carries a significant amount of data traffic and can affect the performance of your network. The results of an IP SLAs FTP operation to retrieve a large file can be used to determine the capacity of the network but retrieve large files with caution because the FTP operation will consume more bandwidth. The FTP operation also measures your FTP server performance levels by determining the RTT taken to retrieve a file.

How to Configure the IP SLAs FTP Operation

This section contains the following procedure:

•Configuring and Scheduling an FTP Operation on the Source Device (required)

Configuring and Scheduling an FTP Operation on the Source Device

To measure the response time between a Cisco device and an FTP server to retrieve a file, use the IP SLAs FTP operation. The IP SLAs FTP operation only supports FTP GET (download) requests. This operation does not require the IP SLAs Responder to be enabled so there are no tasks to be performed on the destination device.

Perform one of the following tasks in this section, depending on whether you want to configure a basic FTP operation or configure an FTP operation with optional parameters:

•Configuring and Scheduling a Basic FTP Operation on the Source Device

•Configuring and Scheduling an FTP Operation with Optional Parameters on the Source Device

Configuring and Scheduling a Basic FTP Operation on the Source Device

Perform this task to enable an FTP operation without any optional parameters.

Note For information on scheduling a group of operations, see the "IP SLAs—Multioperation Scheduling of IP SLAs Operations" chapter of the Cisco IOS IP SLAs Configuration Guide.

SUMMARY STEPS

1. enable

2. configure terminal

3. ip sla operation-number

4. ftp get url [source-ip {ip-address | hostname}] [mode {passive | active}

5. frequency seconds

6. exit

7. 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]

8. exit

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action

Purpose

Step 1

enable
Example:

Router> enable

Enables privileged EXEC mode.

•Enter your password if prompted.

Step 2

configure terminal
Example:

Router# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 3

ip sla operation-number
Example:

Router(config)# ip sla 10

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

Step 4

ftp get url [source-ip {ip-address | hostname}] [mode {passive | active}
Example:

Router(config-ip-sla)# ftp get ftp://username:password@hostip/test.cap

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

Step 5

frequency seconds
Example:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# frequency 30

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

Step 6

exit
Example:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# exit

Exits IP SLA FTP configuration mode and returns to global configuration mode.

Step 7

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]
Example:

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

Configures the scheduling parameters for an individual IP SLAs operation.

Step 8

exit
Example:

Router(config)# exit

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

Examples

The following example shows the configuration of an IP SLAs operation type of FTP to retrieve a file named test.cap. The FTP operation number 10 is scheduled to start immediately and run indefinitely.
ip sla 10
 ftp get ftp://username:password@hostip/test.cap
 frequency 30
!
ip sla schedule 10 life forever start-time now
What to Do Next

To view and interpret the results of an IP SLAs operation use the show ip sla statistics command. Checking the output for fields that correspond to criteria in your service level agreement will help you determine whether the service metrics are acceptable.

Configuring and Scheduling an FTP Operation with Optional Parameters on the Source Device

Perform this task to enable an FTP operation on the source device and configure some optional IP SLAs parameters. The source device is the location at which the measurement statistics are stored.

Note For information on scheduling a group of operations, see the "IP SLAs—Multioperation Scheduling of IP SLAs Operations" chapter of the Cisco IOS IP SLAs Configuration Guide.

SUMMARY STEPS

1. enable

2. configure terminal

3. ip sla operation-number

4. ftp get url [source-ip {ip-address | hostname}] [mode {passive | active}

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. exit

18. 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]

19. exit

20. show ip sla configuration [operation-number]

DETAILED STEPS

Command or Action

Purpose

Step 1

enable
Example:

Router> enable

Enables privileged EXEC mode.

•Enter your password if prompted.

Step 2

configure terminal
Example:

Router# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 3

ip sla operation-number
Example:

Router(config)# ip sla 10

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

Step 4

ftp get url [source-ip {ip-address | hostname}] [mode {passive | active}
Example:

Router(config-ip-sla)# ftp get ftp://username:password@hostip/filename

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

Step 5

history buckets-kept size
Example:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# 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:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# 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:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# 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:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# history filter failures

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

Step 9

frequency seconds
Example:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# frequency 30

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

Step 10

history hours-of-statistics-kept hours
Example:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# 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:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# history lives-kept 5

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

Step 12

owner owner-id
Example:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# owner admin

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

Step 13

history statistics-distribution-interval milliseconds
Example:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# 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:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# tag TelnetPollServer1

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

Step 15

threshold milliseconds
Example:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# threshold 10000

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

Step 16

timeout milliseconds
Example:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# timeout 10000

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

Step 17

exit
Example:

Router(config-ip-sla-ftp)# exit

Exits FTP configuration submode and returns to global configuration mode.

Step 18

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]
Example:

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

Configures the scheduling parameters for an individual IP SLAs operation.

Step 19

exit
Example:

Router(config)# exit

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

Step 20

show ip sla configuration [operation-number]
Example:

Router# show ip sla configuration 10

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

Examples

The following sample output shows the configuration of all the IP SLAs parameters (including defaults) for the FTP operation number 10.
Router# show ip sla configuration 10
Complete Configuration Table (includes defaults)
Entry number: 10
Owner: FTP-Test
Tag: FTP-Test
Type of operation to perform: ftp
Source address: 0.0.0.0
FTP URL: ftp://username:password@hostip/filename
Type Of Service parameters: 128
Operation timeout (milliseconds): 30000
Operation frequency (seconds): 30
Next Scheduled Start Time: Start Time already passed
Group Scheduled: FALSE
Life (seconds): Forever
Entry Ageout (seconds): never
Recurring (Starting Everyday): FALSE
Status of entry (SNMP RowStatus): Active
Threshold (milliseconds): 30000
Number of statistic hours kept: 2
Number of statistic distribution buckets kept: 1
Statistic distribution interval (milliseconds): 20
Number of history Lives kept: 0
Number of history Buckets kept: 15
Troubleshooting Tips

Use the debug ip sla trace and debug ip sla error commands to help troubleshoot issues with the FTP operation.

What to Do Next

To view and interpret the results of an IP SLAs operation use the show ip sla statistics command. Checking the output for fields that correspond to criteria in your service level agreement will help you determine whether the service metrics are acceptable.

Configuration Examples for the IP SLAs FTP Operation

This section contains the following configuration example:

•Configuring an FTP Operation: Example

Configuring an FTP Operation: Example

The following example shows how to configure an FTP operation as shown in Figure 1 from Router B to the FTP server. The operation is scheduled to start every day at 1:30 a.m. In this example, the file named test.cap is to be retrieved from the host, cisco.com, with a password of abc using FTP in active mode.

Router B Configuration
ip sla 10
 ftp get ftp://user1:abc@test.cisco.com/test.cap mode active
 frequency 20
 tos 128
 timeout 40000
 tag FLL-FTP
ip sla schedule 10 start-time 01:30:00 recurring
Where to Go Next

For information about other types of IP SLAs operations and IP SLAs features, see the Cisco IOS IP SLAs Features Roadmap.

Additional References

The following sections provide references related to the IP SLAs FTP operation.

Related Documents

Related Topic

Document Title

Cisco IOS IP SLAs command-line interface enhancements

Cisco IOS IP Service Level Agreements Command Line Interface, Cisco white paper

Cisco IOS IP SLAs commands

Cisco IOS IP SLAs Command Reference

Standards

Standards

Title

No new or modified standards are supported by this feature, and support for existing standards has not been modified by this feature.

—

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

RFCs

RFCs

Title

No new or modified RFCs are supported by this feature, and support for existing RFCs has not been modified by this feature.

—

Technical Assistance

Description

Link

Technical Assistance Center (TAC) home page, containing 30,000 pages of searchable technical content, including links to products, technologies, solutions, technical tips, and tools. Registered Cisco.com users can log in from this page to access even more content.

http://www.cisco.com/public/support/tac/home.shtml

Feature Information for the IP SLAs FTP Operation

Table 1 lists the release history for this feature.

Not all commands may be available in your Cisco IOS software release. For release information about a specific command, see the command reference documentation.

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and software image support. Cisco Feature Navigator enables you to determine which Cisco IOS and Catalyst OS software images support a specific software release, feature set, or platform. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.

Note Table 1 lists only the Cisco IOS software release that introduced support for a given feature in a given Cisco IOS software release train. Unless noted otherwise, subsequent releases of that Cisco IOS software release train also support that feature.

Table 1 Feature Information for the IP SLAs FTP Operation

Feature Name

Releases

Feature Information

IP SLAs FTP Operation

12.3(14)T, 12.2(31)SB2, 12.2(33)SRB1, 12.2(33)SXH, Cisco IOS XE Release 2.1

The Cisco IOS IP SLAs File Transfer Protocol (FTP) operation allows you to measure the network response time between a Cisco device and an FTP server to retrieve a file.

CCDE, CCENT, Cisco Eos, Cisco HealthPresence, the Cisco logo, Cisco Lumin, Cisco Nexus, Cisco StadiumVision, Cisco TelePresence, Cisco WebEx, DCE, and Welcome to the Human Network are trademarks; Changing the Way We Work, Live, Play, and Learn and Cisco Store are service marks; and Access Registrar, Aironet, AsyncOS, Bringing the Meeting To You, Catalyst, CCDA, CCDP, CCIE, CCIP, CCNA, CCNP, CCSP, CCVP, Cisco, the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert logo, Cisco IOS, Cisco Press, Cisco Systems, Cisco Systems Capital, the Cisco Systems logo, Cisco Unity, Collaboration Without Limitation, EtherFast, EtherSwitch, Event Center, Fast Step, Follow Me Browsing, FormShare, GigaDrive, HomeLink, Internet Quotient, IOS, iPhone, iQuick Study, IronPort, the IronPort logo, LightStream, Linksys, MediaTone, MeetingPlace, MeetingPlace Chime Sound, MGX, Networkers, Networking Academy, Network Registrar, PCNow, PIX, PowerPanels, ProConnect, ScriptShare, SenderBase, SMARTnet, Spectrum Expert, StackWise, The Fastest Way to Increase Your Internet Quotient, TransPath, WebEx, and the WebEx logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries.

All other trademarks mentioned in this document or website are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (0812R)

Any Internet Protocol (IP) addresses used in this document are not intended to be actual addresses. Any examples, command display output, and figures included in the document are shown for illustrative purposes only. Any use of actual IP addresses in illustrative content is unintentional and coincidental.

© 2006-2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Cisco IOS and NX-OS Software

IP SLAs -- Analyzing IP Service Levels Using the FTP Operation

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Table Of Contents

IP SLAs—Analyzing IP Service Levels Using the FTP Operation

Finding Feature Information

Contents

Prerequisites for the IP SLAs FTP Operation

Information About the IP SLAs FTP Operation

FTP Operation

How to Configure the IP SLAs FTP Operation

Configuring and Scheduling an FTP Operation on the Source Device

Configuring and Scheduling a Basic FTP Operation on the Source Device

SUMMARY STEPS

DETAILED STEPS

Examples

What to Do Next

Configuring and Scheduling an FTP Operation with Optional Parameters on the Source Device

SUMMARY STEPS

DETAILED STEPS

Examples

Troubleshooting Tips

What to Do Next

Configuration Examples for the IP SLAs FTP Operation

Configuring an FTP Operation: Example

Where to Go Next

Additional References

Related Documents

Standards

MIBs

RFCs

Technical Assistance

Feature Information for the IP SLAs FTP Operation

All other trademarks mentioned in this document or website are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (0812R)