Table Of Contents
The Cisco GPRS OAM&P Architecture
Cisco Mobile Wireless PM Architecture
Cisco Performance-Monitoring Solutions
White Paper
Cisco General Packet
Radio Service
Performance ManagementIntroduction
This document defines a performance-management (PM) architecture that will allow service providers (SPs) deploying General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) wireless services to track the ongoing performance of their network from end to end. The solution should provide visibility not only into the Cisco IP domain, including the Gn/Gi links (links between the Gateway GPRS Support Node [GGSN] and the packet data network [PDN] and Serving GPRS Support Node [SGSN], respectively) within the GPRS Support Node (GSN) complex that comprises SGSN, GGSN, and Catalyst® Switches, but also into the radio domain of the wireless infrastructure.
Scope
The PM architecture focuses on the interactions between Cisco and third-party network-management systems and Cisco network elements (NEs).
The managed Cisco NEs in a typical GPRS network include:
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Cisco Catalyst Ethernet Switches (Catalyst 4000, 5000, and 6000)
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The following topics are covered in this document:
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Customer Benefits
The Cisco Performance-Management philosophy delivers the following benefits to GPRS SPs:
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The Cisco GPRS OAM&P Architecture
End-to-End Network View
Cisco GPRS NEs, including the GGSN and its neighbor Catalyst Switch, are managed through the CiscoWorks2000 for Mobile Wireless bundle (CW4MW), which is a suite of applications that enable wireless next-generation service delivery by Cisco mobility platforms such as the GGSN. It includes:
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Figure 1 shows a typical Cisco GPRS network alongside the radio infrastructure. The PM application is located in the Network Operations Center (NOC) area and is provided by Cisco ecosystem partners.
Figure 1 GPRS OAM&P View
Cisco Mobile Wireless PM Architecture
The Telecommunications Management Network (TMN)-based diagram shown in Figure 2 illustrates the PM architecture. Network-level PM solutions such as Metrica/NPRcollect performance statistics either from the element management system (EMS) or directly from NEs and provide monitoring and analysis functions. As described in the following sections, CiscoWorks2000 also provides PM and troubleshooting capabilities with CiscoView, Cisco Internetwork Performance Monitor (IPM), and Cisco nGenius Real-Time Monitor (RTM).
Initially, the different PM solutions collect statistics directly from the Cisco devices. The dotted lines indicate future interfaces between management systems.
Figure 2 TMN-Based PM Diagram
The PM process involves several steps:
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Management entities continually monitor performance variables. When a performance threshold is exceeded, an alert is generated and sent to higher-level management systems such as Cisco Info Center for further processing.
Table 1 shows the types of statistics that are available from Cisco platforms and the applications that provide the overall PM functionality.
Table 1 Performance Metrics from Platforms and Applications
The IP and the wireless statistics that can be collected from Cisco devices are discussed in the next section.
Performance Monitoring
Performance monitoring is used for observing and collecting data on a specified set of attributes associated with network resources to measure network performance.
This section defines the statistics that can be collected from the Cisco devices in the mobile wireless environment and then describes Cisco PM solutions at the element-management layer.
Cisco Performance Statistics
Generic IP Statistical Data
The standard IP performance statistics for Cisco devices are defined in various Management Information Bases (MIBs), such as RFC 1213, CISCO-ENTITY-MIB, and so on. Table 2 provides a sample of statistics available from Cisco devices in a typical GPRS environment. They are from MIB groups such as if, ip, icmp, and tcp. The data is stored in the NE MIB table; PM applications retrieve the statistics from the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) agent.
Table 2 Generic IP Statistical Data
Cisco GGSN-Specific Statistical Data
In addition to IP generic statistics, Cisco GGSNs also provide GPRS operating data to allow PM applications to periodically read throughput and traffic volumetrics.
Tables 3 through 5 describe statistics available from the CISCO-GPRS-GTP-MIB. This MIB is being implemented within Cisco GGSN Release 1.4. A new MIB (and variables) will be introduced with GGSN Release 3.0 and later.
Table 3 GTP Statistics
Table 4 APN and IP Address Allocation Statistics
Table 5 Charging Gateway Statistics
When the Cisco devices make the data available, the following two applications can provide some generic IP PM functionality at the element-management layer, as shown in Figure 2 earlier in the paper. These applications are part of the CiscoWorks2000 Routed WAN Management Solution (RWAN).
Cisco Performance-Monitoring Solutions
CiscoView
CiscoView is a Web-based device-management application that provides dynamic status, monitoring, and configuration information for the broad range of Cisco internetworking products. (See Figure 3.) CiscoView displays a physical view of a device chassis, with color-coding of modules and ports for at-a-glance status. It provides real-time monitoring of key information that relates to device performance, traffic, and usage, with metrics such as utilization percentage, frames transmitted and received, errors, and a variety of other device-specific indicators.
Figure 3 CiscoView
Specific to the GPRS context, CiscoView displays in a graph form the following GGSN performance statistics over a time scale:
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The user has the option to set the frequency at which the statistics are retrieved.
Cisco Internetwork Performance Monitor
Cisco Internetwork Performance Monitor (IPM) is a network response time and availability troubleshooting application. (See Figure 4.) This application empowers network engineers to proactively troubleshoot network-wide performance to diagnose congestion and latency problems utilizing real-time and historical statistics.
With Cisco IPM, network managers have the tool they need to identify performance problems, locate performance bottlenecks, diagnose latency and jitter, and identify performance trends in the network.
Figure 4 Cisco IPM
Cisco IPM enables the network manager to perform path and hop performance analysis, thereby simplifying the identification of network devices that are contributing to network-performance problems. Cisco IPM can determine the possible network paths used between two network devices and display the response time for each of the router hops in each path.
Cisco IPM measures network performance based on the "synthetic traffic generation" technology within the Cisco IOS® Software, which is known as the Service Assurance agent (SA agent). The use of synthetic traffic by Cisco IPM gives the network manager a high degree of flexibility in selecting the endpoints in a network between which network performance will be measured. This flexibility makes Cisco IPM a highly effective performance-troubleshooting tool.
Cisco nGenius Real-Time Monitor
The Cisco nGenius RTM is a new Web-enabled system that delivers multiuser Web access to network-wide, real-time Remote Monitoring (RMON) information for monitoring, troubleshooting, and maintaining network availability. (See Figure 5.)
The RTM Traffic Monitor and Packet Analyzer applications graphically report and analyze
device-, link-, and port-level RMON collected traffic data from the following RMON-enabled devices:
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Figure 5 Cisco nGenius Real-Time Monitor
The powerful graphic capabilities within this application offer both real-time analysis of traffic behaviors and network usage information, as well as proactive trending data for network planners and managers.
Additional information can be found on the following Web page: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/cscowork/ps2803/index.html
Performance Analysis
The second phase of PM is performance analysis, an analysis of the performance data collected during the performance-monitoring stage. This analysis provides information on whether network congestion is occurring and helps the management system to determine if performance is adequate for existing services and planned new services.
Cisco recommends that wireless SPs take advantage of the breadth of feature-rich PM applications available from Cisco ecosystem partners. The philosophy behind this approach is described below.
Ecosystem Approach
Cisco Systems, Inc. has worked with best-of-breed application vendors and systems integrators to define and deliver integrated solutions that will help wireless SPs speed time to market and revenue for Internet Protocol (IP)-based New World networks and services.
Cisco and its partners are dedicated to defining and delivering solutions and business processes for New World OSSs deployed in the wireless environment. The partnership brings together product and implementation services from alliance partners with best-in-class application software from third-party vendors to complete the integrated, end-to-end OSS offerings. The partners will also offer postimplementation support and testing to help SPs measure the effectiveness of their New World communications infrastructures.
Cisco ecosystem partners have developed performance systems with analysis that includes real-time historical plotting of the following data:
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ADC Metrica
ADC Metrica is an ecosystem partner that is developing a PM solution specifically for GPRS networks. The solution will monitor, analyze, and control performance management of the radio domain, the GPRS data domain, and the IP cloud.
Metrica/NPR, which is part of the Metrica Service Assurance family of products, consists of a set of equipment interfaces, a database, and reporting modules. Interfaces are available for major equipment suppliers, including facilities for mapping each vendor's counters onto a generic network-wide data model. Other NPR components allow for calculation of daily, weekly, and monthly summary data based on a rich set of analysis functions. Standard reporting modules are provided to allow textual and graphical reporting of raw and summary data. Included are modules for traffic forecasting and an ad hoc point-and-click query interface.
For additional information on the ADC Metrica/NPR solution, refer to the following Web page: http://www.adc-oss.com/products/npr.htm.
Conclusion
This white paper documents how Cisco Systems meets the key requirements of New World wireless SPs for their performance-management needs by providing:
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Most importantly, Cisco wireless operations solutions have been developed and designed based on the unique insights, experience, and technical prowess of the leading practitioner of IP networking. The solutions are integrated with, and complemented by, the industry's most acclaimed infrastructure technology solutions, as well as by a comprehensive portfolio of support services.
Glossary
Reference
Rayes, A., and K. Sage. "Integrated Management Architecture for IP-Based Networks." IEEE Communications, April 2000.
For a complete list of Cisco device MIBs, refer to: http://www.cisco.com/public/sw-center/netmgmt/cmtk/mibs.shtml
