ICMP Echo-Based IP SLA

Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is a commonly used utility to test Layer 3 connectivity between devices. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is a target that must be met; there is no set criteria for an SLA. ICMP echo-based IP SLA is a way to monitor end-to-end response time between Cisco devices using IPv4 or IPv6. According to Cisco, “Response time is computed by measuring the time taken between sending an ICMP Echo request message to the destination and receiving an ICMP Echo reply.” Using IP SLA ICMP echo to test far-end devices is much more practical than pinging manually.

Configure

Router#configure terminal
Router(config)#ip sla operation-number
Router(config-ip-sla)#icmp-echo {destination-ip-address | destination-hostname} [source-ip {ip-address | hostname} | source-interface interface-name
Router(config-ip-sla-echo)#frequency 300
Router(config-ip-sla-echo)#end

The ‘ip sla operation-number’ begins configuration for an IP SLA operation and enters IP SLA configuration mode. Icmp-echo defines an ICMP Echo operation and enters IP SLA ICMP Echo configuration mode.  The frequesncy sets the rate at which a specified IP SLAs operation repeats.

Verify

You can verify the IP SLA configuration with the following show commands.

show ip sla configuration
show ip sla statistics

Reference


https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/ios-xml/ios/ipsla/configuration/15-mt/sla-15-mt-book/sla_icmp_echo.html

CCNA ICND2 Study Guide, 3rd Edition by Todd Lammle