Product Overview

Service Level Manager (SLM) is an application designed for enterprise customers who want to monitor service levels provided by their Internet service providers (ISPs). SLM provides a distributed and extensible architecture, allowing for scalable solutions and easy integration with third-party network monitoring and reporting tools.

SLM is designed to monitor round-trip response time, which requires Cisco IOS versions that support Service Assurance Agent (SA Agent) capability. The SA Agent measures response time between a Cisco router and a destination device, which can be any TCP/IP enabled device or another Cisco router.

SLM uses Service Level Contracts (SLCs) to describe the connectivity and performance agreements for a WAN service from a service provider to the service customer. SLCs comprise Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that measure performance between a pair of devices defined by the user. Using SLM, you can monitor the percentage of SLA conformance that exists for that SLC.

The SLM solution consists of the elements shown in Figure 1-1.

Figure 1-1: SLM Solution

SLM Server

The SLM server resides on the CiscoWorks2000 Server and provides the following services:

Provides a web-based interface
Allows you to create new SLCs
Allows you to create SLAs
Provides web-based reporting, allowing you to easily verify if your SLCs are being met
Works with one or more Management Engine 1100 (ME 1100) Series to gather network performance data needed to verify the SLCs

The ME 1100 Series configures the SA Agent in Cisco IOS and gathers performance data for a set of devices. Because SLM supports multiple ME 1100 Series, you can add ME 1100 Series as your network grows, providing a scalable management solution.

System Requirements

This section contains:

Server Requirements

The SLM server is the central reporting and processing unit. It contains the user interface, aggregation functions, data storage and reporting framework.

SLM is a component of the CiscoWorks2000 Service Management Solutions (SMS) bundle, so you must install SLM on a CiscoWorks2000 Server. For more information about installing the SMS bundle, refer to Service Management Solution Quick Reference Guide.

Windows NT

Table 1-1 shows the server requirements for a Windows NT platform. Server requirements are based on the entire SMS bundled product.

Table 1-1: Server Requirements---Windows NT

Requirement Type SMS Bundle

Hardware

IBM PC-compatible computer with 600 MHz or faster Pentium processor

Color monitor with video card capable of 256 colors or greater

CD-ROM drive

10BaseT or faster (10 Mbps or faster network connection)

Memory (RAM)

512 MB minimum

Available disk drive space¹

6 GB minimum

1 GB virtual memory

NTFS file system recommended

System software

One of the following:

Windows NT Workstation 4.0

Windows NT Server 4.0

Service Pack 5

One of the following:

Internet Explorer 5.01 or later with Java Virtual Machine (JVM) 5.00.3182 or later

Navigator 4.6.1 or 4.7

¹The disk space requirement will be much higher if you install on a FAT file system.

Requirement Type	SMS Bundle
Hardware	IBM PC-compatible computer with 600 MHz or faster Pentium processor Color monitor with video card capable of 256 colors or greater CD-ROM drive 10BaseT or faster (10 Mbps or faster network connection)
Memory (RAM)	512 MB minimum
Available disk drive space¹	6 GB minimum 1 GB virtual memory NTFS file system recommended
System software	One of the following: Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Windows NT Server 4.0 Service Pack 5 One of the following: Internet Explorer 5.01 or later with Java Virtual Machine (JVM) 5.00.3182 or later Navigator 4.6.1 or 4.7

Note The download and installation programs for these required software packages are sensitive to your system configuration and are subject to change by Microsoft at any time. Therefore, it is not possible to provide step-by-step instructions. The major installation points are provided in the installation documentation for the prerequisite products.

Solaris

Table 1-2 shows server requirements for a Solaris platform. Server requirements are based on the SMS bundled product.

Table 1-2: Server Requirements---Solaris

Requirement Type SMS Bundle

System hardware

Sun Ultra 10 or faster

17-inch color monitor

CD-ROM drive

10BaseT or faster (10 Mbps or faster network connection)

Memory (RAM)

512 MB minimum

Available disk drive space

6 GB on the partition on which you install the product (the default is /opt)

1 GB swap space

Enough space for downloaded files in the /var directory

The /tmp directory must be on a swap partition

System software

Solaris 2.6

Navigator 4.6.1 or 4.7

Requirement Type	SMS Bundle
System hardware	Sun Ultra 10 or faster 17-inch color monitor CD-ROM drive 10BaseT or faster (10 Mbps or faster network connection)
Memory (RAM)	512 MB minimum
Available disk drive space	6 GB on the partition on which you install the product (the default is /opt) 1 GB swap space Enough space for downloaded files in the /var directory The /tmp directory must be on a swap partition
System software	Solaris 2.6 Navigator 4.6.1 or 4.7

Client Requirements

Table 1-3 shows client requirements.

Table 1-3: SLM Client Requirements

Requirement Type Description

System hardware and software

One of the following:

IBM PC-compatible computer with 266 MHz or faster Pentium processor running Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0

Solaris SPARCstation or Sun Ultra 10 running Solaris 2.6

Available Disk Space

2 GB minimum

One of the following:

400 MB virtual memory

512 MB swap space

Memory

64 MB minimum

Browser

One of the following:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or later with
JVM 5.1.3182 or later

Netscape Navigator 4.6.1 or 4.7

Requirement Type	Description
System hardware and software	One of the following: IBM PC-compatible computer with 266 MHz or faster Pentium processor running Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0 Solaris SPARCstation or Sun Ultra 10 running Solaris 2.6
Available Disk Space	2 GB minimum One of the following: 400 MB virtual memory 512 MB swap space
Memory	64 MB minimum
Browser	One of the following: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or later with JVM 5.1.3182 or later Netscape Navigator 4.6.1 or 4.7

Cisco IOS SA Agent Support

SLM is designed to monitor round-trip response monitoring, which requires Cisco IOS versions that support SA Agent capability. The SA Agent measures response time between a Cisco router and a destination device, which can be any TCP/IP-enabled device or another Cisco router.

Details on additional SA Agent features not used by SLM Version 1.0 can be found at: http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/software/ios120/120newft/
120t/120t5/saaoper.htm.

Detailed SA Agent MIB information can be found on Cisco's MIB web site at http://www.cisco.com/public/sw-center/netmgmt/cmtk/mibs.shtml.

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Product Overview