Cisco IP SLA Configuration for Proactive Network Monitoring

IP SLA stands for Internet Protocol Service Level Agreement. It is a Cisco feature that allows you to monitor the performance of your network. You can use IP SLA to measure the round-trip time (RTT), jitter, and packet loss between two devices on your network.

Why use IP SLA?

There are many reasons why you might want to use IP SLA. For example, you might want to use it to:

• Monitor the performance of your network links
• Detect and troubleshoot network problems
• Ensure that your network meets your service level agreements (SLAs)

How does IP SLA work?
IP SLA works by sending a series of packets to a remote device. The remote device then responds to the packets, and the time it takes for the packets to travel to and from the remote device is measured. This measurement is called the round-trip time (RTT). IP SLA can also measure jitter, which is the variation in the RTT. Jitter can be caused by factors such as congestion on the network or errors in the network.

Router(config)#ip sla 1
Router(config-ip-sla)#icmp-echo 10.10.10.1 source-interface FastEthernet1/0
Probing parametrs :
Router(config-ip-sla-echo)#timeout 2000
Router(config-ip-sla-echo)#frequency 5
Router(config-ip-sla-echo)#threshold 250
Run the probing:
Router(config)#ip sla schedule 1 start-time now life forever
Define tracking that will result with TRUE or FALSE depending on IP SLA status:
Router(config)#track 10 ip sla 1 reachability
Bidning the track to static route:
Router(config)#ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.10.10.1 track 10
Configuring the alternate route in case of primary is removed by track result:
Router(config)#ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.10.10.2 5

How to monitor IP SLA
To monitor IP SLA, you can use the show ip sla command. This command will show you the status of the operation, as well as the RTT, jitter, and packet loss statistics.

ip sla 1
icmp-echo 10.10.10.1 source-interface FastEthernet1/0
timeout 2000
frequency 5
threshold 250
ip sla schedule 1 start-time now life forever
track 10 ip sla 1 reachability
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.10.10.1 track 10
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 10.10.10.2 5