Network Management: Accounting and Performance Strategies (Paperback)

Product Description

Network Management: Accounting and Performance Strategies

The definitive guide to collecting usage information from Cisco networks

Benoit Claise, CCIE® No. 2868

Ralf Wolter

Understanding network performance and effectiveness is now crucial to business success. To ensure user satisfaction, both service providers and enterprise IT teams must provide service-level agreements (SLA) to the users of their networks–and then consistently deliver on those commitments. Now, two of the Cisco® leading network performance and accounting experts bring together all the knowledge network professionals need to do so.

Network Management: Accounting and Performance Strategies imparts a deep understanding of Cisco IOS® embedded management for monitoring and optimizing performance, together with proven best strategies for both accounting and performance management.

Benoit Claise and Ralf Wolter begin by introducing the role of accounting and performance management in today’s large-scale data and voice networks. They present widely accepted performance standards and definitions, along with today’s best practice methodologies for data collection.

Next, they turn to Cisco devices and the Cisco IOS Software, illuminating embedded management and device instrumentation features that enable you to thoroughly characterize performance, plan network enhancements, and anticipate potential problems and prevent them. Network standards, technologies, and Cisco solutions covered in depth include Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Management Information Bases (MIB), Remote Monitoring (RMON), IP accounting, NetFlow, BGP policy accounting, AAA Accounting, Network Based Application Recognition (NBAR), and IP SLA (formerly known as SAA). For each, the authors present practical examples and hands-on techniques.

The book concludes with chapter-length scenarios that walk you through accounting and performance management for five different applications: data network monitoring, capacity planning, billing, security, and voice network performance.

Network Management: Accounting and Performance Strategies will be indispensable to every professional concerned with network performance, effectiveness, or profitability, especially NMS/OSS architects, network and service designers, network administrators, and anyone responsible for network accounting or billing.

Benoit Claise, CCIE® No. 2868, is a Cisco Distinguished Engineer working as an architect for embedded management and device instrumentation. His area of expertise includes accounting, performance, and fault management. Claise is a contributor to the NetFlow standardization at the IETF in the IPFIX and PSAMP Working Groups. He joined Cisco in 1996 as a customer support engineer in the Technical Assistance Center network management team and became an escalation engineer before joining the engineering team.

Ralf Wolter is a senior manager, consulting engineering at Cisco. He leads the Cisco Core and NMS/OSS consulting team for Europe, works closely with corporate engineering, and supports large-scale customer projects. He specializes in device instrumentation related to accounting and performance management.

• Compare accounting methods and choose the best approach for you
• Apply network performance best practices to your network
• Leverage built-in Cisco IOS network management system components to quantify performance
• Uncover trends in performance statistics to help avoid service degradation before it occurs
• Identify under use of network paths, so you can improve overall network efficiency

• Walk through hands-on case studies that address monitoring, capacity planning, billing, security, and voice networks
• Understand Cisco network performance, deliver on your SLAs, and improve accounting and billing

This book is part of the Networking Technology Series from Cisco Press®, which offers networking professionals valuable information for constructing efficient networks, understanding new technologies, and building successful careers.

Table of Contents

Part I     Data Collection and Methodology Standards 3

Chapter 1    Understanding the Need for Accounting and Performance Management 5

Definitions and the Relationship Between Accounting and Performance

Management 11

    Defining Accounting Management 11

    Defining Performance Management 13

    The Relationship Between Accounting and Performance 17

    A Complementary Solution 20

The Purposes of Accounting 22

    Network Monitoring 22

    User Monitoring and Profiling 24

    Application Monitoring and Profiling 26

    Capacity Planning 31

    Traffic Profiling and Engineering 34

    Peering and Transit Agreements 37

    Billing 43

    Security Analysis 57

Purposes of Performance 61

    Device Performance Monitoring 62

    Network Performance Monitoring 65

    Service Monitoring 66

    Baselining 68

    Fault Management 70

Applying the Information to the Business 74

Summary 80

Chapter 2    Data Collection Methodology 85

Data Collection Details: What to Collect 86

    What Are the Keys? 89

    What Are the Values? 89

    What Are the Required Versus Nice-to-Have Types of Data? 93

    Data Types List 93

    Example: Application Monitoring 94

    Example: Traffic Matrix 98

    Example: SLA Monitoring 99

Defining the User 100

Metering Methods: How to Collect Data Records 102

    Active Versus Passive Monitoring 103

    Passive Monitoring Concepts 104

Active Monitoring Concepts 120

    Best Practice: How to Position Active and Passive Monitoring 128

    Outlook: Passive Monitoring for One-Way Delay Analysis 129

Metering Positions: Where to Collect Data Records 130

    Network Element Versus End Device Collection 130

    Edge Versus Core Collection 132

    Embedded Versus External Device Collection 136

    Ingress Versus Egress Collection 138

    Flow Destination or Source Lookup 140

    Technology-Dependent Special Constraints 141

Collection Infrastructure: How to Collect Data Records 144

Pull Versus Push Model 144

Event-Based Model 145

Export Protocols 146

Network Design for the Collection Infrastructure 151

    Communication Concepts 152

    Collection Server Concepts 154

Mediation Device Functionality: How to Process Data Records 157

    Filtering 157

    Estimation from Sampling 159

    Threshold Monitoring 159

    Data Aggregation 160

    Data Record Correlation and Enrichment 164

    Flow De-Duplication 165

    Data Record Formatting and Storage 165

Security Considerations: How to Ensure Data Authenticity and Integrity 167

    Source Authentication 167

    Ensuring Data and Device Integrity 168

    Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attacks 169

Summary 170

Chapter 3    Accounting and Performance Standards and Definitions 173

Understanding Standards and Standards Organizations 173

Architectural and Framework Standards: The TMN/FCAPS Model (ITU-T) 176

    Fault Management 180

    Configuration Management 181

    Accounting Management 181

    Performance Management 182

    Security Management 183

    The TMN Framework 184

Architectural and Framework Standards: the eTOM Model (TMF) 185

Informational IETF Standards 189

    IETF RFC 2924, Accounting Attributes and Record Formats 189

    IETF RFC 2975, Introduction to Accounting Management 189

Information Modeling 190

Data Collection Protocols: SNMP, SMI, and MIB 191

    Internet Management Model and Terminology 191

    MIB Modules and Object Identifiers 193

    SMI Definitions 194

    SNMP Versions 196

    References for SMIv1 and SMIv2 199

Data Collection Protocols: NetFlow Version 9 and IPFIX Export Protocols 201

    NetFlow Version 9 Export Protocol 202

    IPFIX 208

Data Collection Protocols: PSAMP 212

    PSAMP Protocol Specifications 212

    PSAMP References 213

Data Collection Protocols: AAA (RADIUS, Diameter, and TACACS+) 214

    RADIUS 214

    TACACS+ 216

    Diameter 216

Data Collection Protocols: IPDR 217

Data Collection Protocols: CMISE/CMIP and GDMO 218

Service Notions 219

Summary 222

Part II    Implementations on the Cisco Devices 225

Chapter 4    SNMP and MIBs 227

MIBs 228

IOS Support for SNMP Versions 229

net-snmp Utilities 229

CLI Operations and Configuration Example for SNMPv2c 230

    SNMPv2c Configuration Example 230

    SNMPv2c Data Retrieval 231

    Displaying SNMPv2c Statistics 231

CLI Operations and Configuration Examples for SNMPv3 231

    authNoPriv SNMP Example 233

    authPriv SNMP Example 235

MIB Table Retrieval Example 235

MIB Functional Area Comparison Table 237

General-Purpose MIBs for Accounting and Performance 239

    MIB-II (RFC 1213), IF-MIB (RFC 2863), and CISCO-IF-EXTENSION-MIB 240

    CISCO-PING-MIB 241

    CISCO-PROCESS-MIB 242

    CISCO-ENVMON-MIB and CISCO-HEALTH-MONITOR-MIB 244

    CISCO-MEMORY-POOL-MIB 244

    CISCO-DATA-COLLECTION-MIB 244

Advanced Device Instrumentation 247

Technology-Specific MIBs for Accounting and Performance 247

    Frame Relay 247

    IPv6 251

Multicast 252

    VLAN 253

    Traffic Management and Control 255

    Telephony 257

Creating New MIB Objects: EXPRESSION-MIB 265

    EXPRESSION-MIB Examples 266

    EVENT-MIB Associated with EXPRESSION-MIB 268

Obtaining MIBs 269

Chapter 5    RMON 273

RMON 1 and RMON 2 MIBs 273

    RMON Principles 277

    Supported Devices and IOS Versions 277

    Cisco NAM Modules 278

    CLI Operations 279

    SNMP Operations 280

    Examples 282

DSMON MIB 284

    DSMON MIB Principles 286

    Supported Devices and IOS Versions 286

    CLI Operations 286

    SNMP Operations 286

    Examples 287

SMON MIB 287

    Supported Devices and IOS Versions 288

    CLI Operations 288

    SNMP Operations 288

    Examples 289

    Collection Monitoring 289

APM MIB and ART MIB 289

    Supported Devices and IOS Versions 291

    CLI Operations 291

    SNMP Operations 291

    Examples 291

    Collection Monitoring 291

Applicability 292

Further Reading 293

Chapter 6    IP Accounting 297

IP Accounting (Layer 3) 298

    IP Accounting (Layer 3) Principles 298

    Supported Devices and IOS Versions 299

    CLI Operations 299

    SNMP Operations 300

    Examples (CLI and SNMP) 301

IP Accounting Access Control List (ACL) 303

    IP Accounting ACL Principles 304

    Supported Devices and IOS Versions 304

    CLI Operations 304

    SNMP Operations 305

    Examples (CLI and SNMP) 305

IP Accounting MAC Address 308

    IP Accounting MAC Address Principles 308

    Supported Devices and IOS Versions 309

    CLI Operations 309

    SNMP Operations 310

    Examples (CLI and SNMP) 311

IP Accounting Precedence 312

    IP Accounting Precedence Principles 313

    Supported Devices and IOS Versions 313

    CLI Operations 314

    SNMP Operations 314

    Examples (CLI and SNMP) 315

Applicability 317

Chapter 7    NetFlow 319

Fundamentals of NetFlow 322

    Flow Definition 322

    Cache Concept 325

    Aging Flows on a Router 327

    Aging Flows on a Catalyst 328

    Export Version and Related Information Elements 329

    Supported Interfaces 339

    Export Protocol: UDP or SCTP 340

    NetFlow Device-Level Architecture: Combining the Elements 342

    Cisco NetFlow Collector 344

CLI Operations 345

SNMP Operations with the NETFLOW-MIB 346

Example: NetFlow Version 5 on a Router 347

Example: NetFlow Configuration on the Catalyst 348

Example: NetFlow Version 8 350

Example: NetFlow Version 9 350

New Features Supported with NetFlow Version 9 351

    SCTP Export 351

    Sampled NetFlow 353

    NetFlow Input Filters 358

    MPLS-Aware NetFlow 360

    BGP Next-Hop Information Element 362

    NetFlow Multicast 363

    NetFlow Layer 2 and Security Monitoring Exports 365

    Top Talkers 366

    Flexible NetFlow 370

Deployment Guidelines 385

Supported Devices and IOS Versions 387

Chapter 8    BGP Policy Accounting 389

Input BGP Policy Accounting 390

Output BGP Policy Accounting 391

Summary of All Four BGP Policy Accounting Combinations 392

Fundamentals 393

BGP Policy Accounting Commands 394

SNMP Operations 395

Examples (CLI and SNMP) 396

    Initial Configuration 396

    Collection Monitoring 397

Destination-Sensitive Services 398

    Destination-Sensitive Billing 398

    Destination-Sensitive Traffic Shaping (DSTS) 399

Applicability 400

Chapter 9    AAA Accounting 403

Fundamentals of AAA Accounting 405

High-Level Comparison of RADIUS, TACACS+, and Diameter 406

RADIUS 407

    RADIUS Attributes 409

    RADIUS CLI Operations 415

    Voice Extensions for RADIUS 416

Diameter Details 428

Chapter 10    NBAR 433

NBAR Functionality 434

    Distributed NBAR 435

    NBAR Classification Details 435

    NBAR Packet Description Language Module (PDLM) 437

    NBAR Scope 438

Supported Devices and IOS Versions 438

NBAR Protocol Discovery (PD) MIB 439

    NBAR Supported Protocols 440

    NBAR Protocol Discovery Statistics 440

    NBAR Top-N Statistics 441

    NBAR Protocol Discovery Thresholds, Traps, and History 442

NBAR Configuration Commands 443

NBAR show Commands 443

NBAR Examples (CLI and SNMP) 445

    Basic NBAR Configuration 445

    Custom Application Example 446

    Limiting Peer-to-Peer Traffic 447

    HTTP Requests Payload Inspection 447

NBAR Applicability 449

IP SLA 451

Measured Metrics: What to Measure 453

    Network Delay 454

    Jitter 454

    Packet Loss 455

    Measurement Accuracy 455

    TCP Connect 456

    DHCP and DNS Response Time 456

    HTTP Response Time 456

    Linking Metrics to Applications 456

Operations: How to Measure 457

    Operations Parameters 457

    MPLS VPN Awareness 459

    IP SLA Responder 459

    Operation Types 463

IP SLA CLI Operations 480

SNMP Operations with the CISCO-RTTMON-MIB 482

Application-Specific Scenario: HTTP 483

Application-Specific Scenario: VoIP 486

Advanced Features 488

    Scheduling 488

    Distribution of Statistics 491

    History Collection 494

    Thresholds and Notifications 495

    Enhanced Object Tracking for IP SLA 499

Implementation Considerations 501

    Supported Devices and IOS Versions 501

    Performance Impact 503

    Accuracy 504

    Security Considerations 506

    IP SLA Deployment 507

Chapter 12    Summary of Data Collection Methodology 515

Applicability 515

Part III    Assigning Technologies to Solutions 523

Chapter 13    Monitoring Scenarios 525

Network Blueprint for Monitoring 525

Device and Link Performance 526

Network Connectivity and Performance 530

Application Monitoring 534

Service Monitoring and Routing Optimization 536

Chapter 14    Capacity Planning Scenarios 541

Link Capacity Planning 541

Network Blueprint for Capacity Planning 543

Problem Space 544

Capacity Planning Tools 546

Methods for Generating the Core Traffic Matrix 548

    NetFlow BGP Next Hop ToS Aggregation 551

    Flexible NetFlow 552

    MPLS-Aware NetFlow 553

    BGP Passive Peer on the NetFlow Collector 554

    BGP Policy Accounting 555

    Other Methods 556

Additional Considerations: Peer-to-Peer Traffic 557

Summary 557

Chapter 15    Voice Scenarios 559

Network Blueprint for IP Telephony 560

Voice Performance Measurement 561

    Standards and Technology 561

    Network Elements in the Voice Path 564

    Cisco CallManager (CCM) 565

    Application Examples 570

Voice Accounting 573

    Standards and Technology 573

    Network Elements in the Voice Path 574

    Gateway, Gatekeeper, Multimedia Conference Manager 575

    Cisco CallManager (CCM) 575

    Application Example 575

Is Your Network Ready for IP Telephony? 577

Chapter 16    Security Scenarios 579

Network Blueprint for Security Management 580

Security Management Process 582

    Preparation 583

    Identification 584

    Classification 587

    Trace Back 591

    Reaction 593

    Postmortem 594

Summary 596

Chapter 17    Billing Scenarios 599

Network Blueprint for Billing 600

Billing Approaches 602

    Time-Based Billing 602

    Volume-Based Billing 603

    Destination-Sensitive Billing 606

    Time- and Distance-Based Billing 606

    Service-Based Billing 607

    Enterprise Departmental Charge Back 608

    Flat Rate Billing 609

Summary 609