General Overview
Q. What are the key features and benefits of Cisco Prime Network Analysis Module (NAM) Software 5?
A. Cisco Prime NAM Software offers intuitive web-based graphical user interface (GUI) with prepackaged reports, workflows, and contextual navigation to expedite problem resolution and optimization decisions. It also includes a new Performance Database that preserves historical data, allowing you to understand what happened in the past when an event that affected network performance occurred. This allows you to understand the data trends and patterns to not only fix the performance issue but prevent the reoccurrence. The key features and benefits of Cisco Prime NAM Software 5 are provided in Table 1. Note that the feature implementation may differ across individual Cisco NAM platforms, please refer to the individual datasheets for specific details.
Table 1. Key Features and Benefits of Cisco Prime NAM Software
Q. What are the business benefits of deploying Cisco Prime NAM Software 5?
A. Table 2 provides an overview of the business benefits that Cisco Prime NAM Software offers.
Table 2. Business Benefits of Deploying Cisco NAM
Software 5.1/5.1(2) Introduction
Q. What key innovations does Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1 offer?
A. The key Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1 innovations are described in Table 3.
Table 3. New Capabilities in Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1
|
Feature |
Benefit |
|
Increased deployment flexibility |
Deploy Cisco Prime NAM Software with Cisco ISR G2 SM-SRE-700 series and SM-SRE-900 series platforms for comprehensive multiservice visibility, traffic analysis, and performance assurance in Cisco Borderless Networks |
|
Cisco Performance Agent (PA) Reporting |
Gain visibility into application response time and traffic statistics at remote branch utilizing Cisco PA, supported on ISR 880, ISR 890, and ISR G2 platforms. Cisco Performance Agent (PA) is introduced with Cisco IOS Software Release 15.1(4)M. Deployed in conjunction with WAAS Express, this feature allows an end-to-end view into the WAN-optimized network, delivering a cost-effective and scalable solution. |
|
Cisco WAAS Central Manager (WCM) Integration |
Access NAM performance reports from WCM for assessment and validation of WAN optimization benefits. Integrated offering delivers the most comprehensive solution for application performance monitoring and troubleshooting in a WAN optimization deployment. Unified management experience improves user productivity, enhances the operational efficiency and elevates the end-user service quality levels. |
Q. When is Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1 available?
A. Starting April 2011, current Cisco NAM customers can download Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1 from the Cisco.com Software Center at no charge using their Cisco SMARTnet® contract access privileges. Cisco Prime NAM 5.1 will be available in May 2011 as part of new NAM hardware orders.
Q. What is the latest version of Cisco Prime NAM Software?
A. The latest version of Cisco Prime NAM Software is 5.1(2). Starting October 2011, current Cisco NAM customers can download Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1(2) from the Cisco.com Software Center at no charge using their Cisco SMARTnet® or applicable service contract privileges. Cisco Prime NAM 5.1(2) will be available in November 2011 as part of new NAM hardware orders.
Q. Will I be able to perform a software upgrade from NAM 4.x to NAM 5.1/5.1(2) or do I need to freshly install Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1?
A. Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.0 introduced a new embedded Performance Database and a new internal data schema. As a result, a fresh install is needed.
Q. Will I lose any data when I migrate from NAM 4.x to Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1/5.1(2)?
A. Since Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.0 introduced a new "backend," installing Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1/5.1(2) will result in loss of data and configuration settings. The configuration settings can be exported prior to upgrade and reimported after the upgrade to minimize the loss. The "config upload" and "config network" commands to perform these tasks are documented in the command reference guide. Note that some of the configuration settings are no longer applicable.
Supported Platforms
Q. Which NAM hardware platforms support Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1/5.1(2)?
A. Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1 is supported on the hardware platforms listed in Table 4. All of the platforms in the list include a minimum of 1 GB memory. Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1 requires that the platform include this minimum. In addition, the platforms marked by an asterisk (*) include memory configurations above the 1 GB minimum. These memory configurations optimize Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1 performance. Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1(2) is supported on all hardware platforms listed in Table 4. In addition, it is also supported on Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series NAM-3 (Hardware Part Number: WS-SVC-NAM3-6G-K9).
Table 4. NAM Hardware Platforms Supported with NAM 5.1 Software
Q. If the NAM platform that I have is not supported, what options exist to allow me to use NAM 5.1(2) Software?
A. As indicated in the answer above, NAM Software 5.1(2) is supported on NAM hardware platforms that include at least 1 GB of memory. If you have either of the two end-of-sale NAM hardware platforms indicated below that include less than 1 GB of memory, Cisco recommends the following:
• For WS-SVC-NAM-1 (Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series NAM-1): Consider upgrading the memory to 2 GB by purchasing the field-installable Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series NAM-1 and NAM-2 Memory Upgrade Kit, MEM-C6KNAM-2GB=.
• For NME-NAM-80S (Cisco Branch Routers Series NAM): Consider taking advantage of the Cisco Technical Migration Program to trade in your NME-NAM-80S NAM for the SRE hardware platform to host Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1.
Q. What are the different NAM form factors in the NAM product family that are supported by Cisco Prime NAM Software 5?
A. Cisco Prime NAM Software 5 is supported on Cisco NAM form factors listed in Table 5.
Table 5. Cisco NAM Form-factors Supported with Cisco Prime NAM Software 5
Technical Deep Dive
Q. How does Cisco NAM with Cisco Prime Software 5 work?
A. Cisco NAM collects packets or flows information being sent to it from the switch, router, or WAAS devices. The NAM parses the packets and flow information, gathers relevant data, computes various performance and usage metrics, and stores processed information in the new Performance Database. This database provides valuable traffic information on voice, video, and data traffic, VLANs, Differentiated Services (DiffServ) configurations, hosts, conversation pairs, application usage, and application response times. This information is presented in the Cisco Prime NAM's GUI in easy-to-read interactive reports.
The packets that Cisco NAM collects are defined by the user's selecting one or more data sources. Data sources, which are features of the switch, router, or WAAS device, are described in Table 6.
Table 6. Cisco NAM Traffic Sources
Q. How does Cisco Prime NAM Software 5 use NetFlow?
A. Cisco Prime NAM supports monitoring of both packet- and NetFlow-based traffic sources using independent backplane interfaces. These two data sources complement each other to provide a powerful and comprehensive monitoring solution. NetFlow can be used to gain an extensive view of the traffic to analyze who is using your network, what applications they're using, and how much bandwidth is being consumed. For deeper analysis, it can be combined with packet data using traffic sources such as SPAN, VACL, ERSPAN, or RSPAN. Also, NetFlow can be used to obtain visibility into traffic where SPAN is not available (for example, WAN interfaces, remote router interfaces, and so on).
NetFlow can be enabled on interfaces of local or remote devices and sent to the NAM for analysis. As a consumer, the NAM can receive NetFlow packets on its management port from devices such as Cisco routers and switches. Those records are stored in its performance database as if that traffic had appeared on one of the NAM data ports. The NAM understands NetFlow versions 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Incoming NetFlow data is parsed by the NAM, stored in its internal database, and presented in the GUI in the same way as traffic from other data sources.
Some network devices have more than one "engine" that is capable of independently exporting NetFlow. Depending upon features of the device, flows can be exported from multiple flow caches in the hardware and/or software. For example, supervisor and line cards may be able to export flows independently from their local caches. By default, NAM 5 will automatically create independent data sources for each engine exporting NetFlow records to NAM.
Q. What versions of NetFlow does Cisco Prime NAM Software support?
A. The NAM supports versions 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
Q. How is Cisco Prime NAM Software secured?
A. Cisco Prime NAM can be secured with up to 256-bit encryption. The NAM also supports role-based user authorization and authentication locally or using TACACS+.
Q. What protocols does Cisco NAM monitor?
A. Cisco NAM monitors several hundred unique protocols, including those defined in RFC 2896, and several Cisco proprietary protocols. In addition, the NAM can automatically detect unknown protocols and offers users the flexibility to customize the protocol directory to meet their specific requirements. Examples of protocols supported by Cisco NAM for monitoring follow:
• TCP and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) over IP including IPv6
• HTTP and HTTPS
• VoIP including Skinny Client Control Protocol (SCCP), RTP/Real-Time Control Protocol (RTCP), Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP), and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
• SigTran and Mobile IP protocols including General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol
• Storage area network (SAN) protocols including Fibre Channel over TCP/IP
• AppleTalk, DECnet, Novell, Microsoft
• Database protocols, including Oracle and Sybase
• Peer-to-peer protocols such as Gnutella, Fasttrack, and winmix
• Bridge and router protocols
• Cisco proprietary protocols
• Unknown protocols by TCP/UDP ports, Remote Procedure Call (RPC) program numbers, and so on
Q. What is the REST/XML API and how does it help me?
A. The NAM API provides a mechanism for provisioning and retrieving data from the NAM servers using an XML interface. The API utilizes Representational State Transfer (REST) methodology to execute requests (web services) over HTTP or HTTPS by sending the XML data to the API server. The REST XML interface is capable of configuring a subset of the software features through create, read, update, and delete operations mapped to a particular HTTP or HTTPS method. APIs are provided for sites, data sources, application, application groups, action, threshold, packet capture, WAAS-monitored server, system info, and NetFlow Data Export. The interface also allows you to create an outgoing stream of exported performance data from NAM as NetFlow records.
Q. Is Simple Network Management Protocol Version 3 (SNMPv3) supported in Cisco Prime NAM Software 5?
A. With Cisco Prime NAM Software 5, you have the ability to manage devices with SNMPv3. Note that for the WS-SVC-NAM-1, WS-SVC-NAM-2, and WS-SVC-NAM-3 platforms, SNMPv3 is not required. SNMP requests and responses are communicated over an internal interface within the chassis, and SNMPv3 is not used.
Q. How can I recognize and configure applications reported as unknown by Cisco Prime NAM Software 5?
A. Cisco Prime NAM Software 5 recognizes applications on the basis of port number, port number range, or standardized application identifiers exported by Cisco platforms with NDE. If NAM is not able to recognize an application using any of these mechanisms, the application type of the traffic is reported as unknown. You can configure the application reported as unknown using the Application configuration table on the Traffic Analysis dashboard (Analyze -> Traffic-Application). When selecting an "unknown" application, the table will list all protocol/port combinations that were not recognized by NAM and allow you to configure them as custom applications.
Q. Can I define my own applications or application groups?
A. Cisco Prime NAM Software 5 identifies applications/protocols based on the TCP/UDP port number; thus if there are any applications using custom ports, the NAM can be configured to identify those applications by name instead of by port number. Custom applications can be defined combining a select protocol with port or port-range definitions. Custom application groups can be defined as a set of existing applications that can be monitored together. Please refer to the Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1(2) User Guide (Chapter 2) for instructions on how to create a custom application or application group.
Q. How can I understand various response time metrics, and how do they help me in troubleshooting application performance issues?
A. Please refer to the Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.1(2) User Guide (Chapter 3).
Q. Why do I need custom filters for the interactive reports?
A. Interactive reports use advanced filters to allow you to focus on information of interest and create a context for further analysis. For example, when analyzing application performance, you can create a filter to focus on a select site, application, time range, client, server, or a combination of the foregoing, offering a powerful mechanism to isolate performance issues. In addition, the custom filters allow you to save a specific context for ongoing analysis. Typically, this is valuable when watching a recurring performance issue. In such cases, you would create a custom filter having the appropriate filter attributes. When you select the custom filter, the interactive report will load the data as per the context defined in the custom filter.
Q. Can more than one user concurrently use Cisco NAM?
A. Cisco Prime NAM allows multiple users to access NAM concurrently. However, depending on what information the users are accessing, an increase in the number of concurrent users can result in a suboptimal user experience in terms of interface response times.
Q. When would I define a site using data sources or VLANs?
A. Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.0 introduced the concept of logical sites as collections of network endpoints. A site can be defined as a set of subnets specified by an address prefix and mask. In addition, sites can be defined using a remote device data source (such as a remote WAAS device, NDE from a remote network device) or VLANs. As examples, a site can be defined as a remote WAAS device representing the collection of endpoints for which an application is being optimized, or in the case of managed service delivery, a site could be defined as a VLAN representing a customer's premises. A combination of these mechanisms offers a granular way to define a site.
Q. How many simultaneous packet captures does Cisco Prime NAM Software support?
A. Cisco Prime NAM Software can support up to 10 simultaneous packet capture sessions.
Q. Can I trigger packet capture when the threshold is violated?
A. Yes, Cisco Prime NAM Software allows you to define "Trigger Capture" as one of the alarm actions to start or stop a predefined capture session.
Q. How can I replicate my site definitions and application definitions across all my NAMs?
A. The REST/XML API introduced with Cisco Prime NAM Software 5 allows you to create, update, and delete site definitions. It also allows you to retrieve all site definitions from a given NAM. The functions allow you to replicate the site definitions programmatically across all the NAMs deployed in the network. A similar API exists for the definitions or applications and application groups.
Q. Does Cisco Prime NAM Software perform historical traffic analysis?
A. Yes, Cisco Prime NAM Software 5 takes you back to the past to understand what happened when an event affecting network performance occurred. It supports historical data analysis to accelerate problem resolution and to advance optimization and capacity planning decisions.
Q. Does Cisco Prime NAM Software support voice monitoring for Cisco VoIP deployments only?
A. No. Cisco Prime NAM Software monitors Real-Time Monitoring Protocol and thus, by extension, can provide reporting on any VoIP protocol that runs on top of RTP, a Layer 4 protocol.
Q. Which VoIP signaling protocols does Cisco Prime NAM Software support?
A. Cisco Prime NAM Software supports a breadth of standards-based VoIP signaling protocols, namely, SCCP, SIP, MGCP, and H.323.
Q. What are the key performance indicators for monitoring voice?
A. Cisco Prime NAM Software offers real-time voice quality monitoring using standards-based MOS and key performance indicators such as jitter and packet loss. It calculates MOS based on ITU-T G.107 recommendations.
Q. Can I identify the phones affected by voice quality degradation?
A. Yes. Cisco Prime NAM Software allows the administrator to pinpoint the individual RTP stream experiencing voice quality degradation. By correlating the RTP and signaling streams, Cisco Prime NAM Software can report the phone numbers and alias for each endpoint.
Q. What Cisco Unified Communications Management Solutions support Cisco NAM?
A. The solutions are Cisco Unified Service Monitor and Cisco Unified Operations Manager.
Q. How do Cisco Unified Service Monitor and Cisco Unified Operations Manager support Cisco NAM?
A. Cisco Unified Service Monitor collects voice metrics from multiple NAMs to provide enterprisewide visibility into voice quality. Cisco Unified Service Monitor generates alerts on the voice quality degradation that is reported by Cisco Unified Operations Manager. Based on these alerts, Cisco Unified Operations Manager allows the user to navigate into NAM to glean near real-time views of both voice and network performance to perform rapid troubleshooting.
Q. How does Cisco Prime NAM Software support Cisco Wide Area Application Services?
A. Cisco Prime NAM Software uses the built-in instrumentation of Cisco Wide-Area Application Engine devices as a data source to gather information on the optimized traffic to provide end-to-end application performance visibility in a Cisco WAAS environment. It measures application response time, transaction time, bandwidth usage, LAN/WAN data, and so on to provide end-to-end application performance metrics, accurately quantifying the impact of WAAS optimization and helping to validate ongoing optimization improvements. NAM is also able to identify the applications that would benefit the most from deploying Cisco WAAS. Analyzing response time data over a period of time, the administrator can identify the applications where optimization can result in a material increase in available bandwidth.
Third-Party Reporting
Q. Does Cisco Prime NAM Software include an API to allow third-party reporting applications to use NAM as a source of data?
A. Yes, Cisco Prime NAM Software includes multiple mechanisms, such as NetFlow Version 9, SNMP, and comma-separated value (CSV)/HTTP to enable third-party reporting applications to collect data for networkwide reporting, trending, baselining, and capacity planning. The API allows you to use computed NAM data to feed in-house or third-party reporting applications that you already own, building up additional value and building out existing investments. Cisco Prime NAM Software 5.0 introduces an XML/REST-based API for NAM configuration and NetFlow Version 9 as a flexible and standard mechanism for data export.
Q. How can a third party apply for approval to use the Cisco Prime NAM Software API for integration?
A. A third party can enroll in the Cisco Developer Network Program at http://www.cisco.com/go/cdn. During the enrollment process, the third party must select Network and Service Management as the solution technology and Cisco NAM as the network management product for integration. Once approved and the nondisclosure agreement (NDA) and NAM developer license agreement are signed, the third party will receive the API for integration.
Q. Are there currently third parties who have joined this program? How can a list of these vendors be obtained?
A. Yes. Today, reporting applications from third parties such as NetQoS, Compuware, Infovista, and others offer support for Cisco NAM. These reporting applications complement Cisco NAM by using its rich metrics to build end-to-end views of application usage and performance and also to streamline the number of collection points in the network. A list of third parties supporting Cisco NAM can be found at http://www.cisco.com/go/cdn, under Find a Partner, Network and Services Management, and Network Management Services Modules.
Ordering
Q. How can Cisco NAM be ordered?
A. The ordering information related to Cisco NAM products can be obtained from the corresponding datasheets:
• Cisco Prime Network Analysis Module (NAM) for ISR G2 SRE
• Cisco Branch Routers Series NAM (NME-NAM)
• Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series NAM (NAM-3)
• Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series and Cisco 7600 Series NAM (NAM-1, NAM-2)
• Cisco NAM 2200 Series Appliances
• Cisco Prime Network Analysis Module (NAM) for Nexus 1010
• Cisco Prime Network Analysis Module (NAM) for WAAS VB
To place an order, visit the Cisco Ordering Homepage. To download software, visit the Cisco Software Center.
Additional Information
Q. Where is additional information about Cisco NAM found?
A. For more information about Cisco NAM, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/nam or contact either your local account representative or the NAM product marketing group at nam-info@cisco.com.