Creating Performance Sessions Using the Deployment Tool

The deployment tool is a utility that makes it easy to create sender endpoints, reflector endpoints, and sessions. You use an Appliance Monitor command (sdmm-deploytool) to run the deployment tool.

Typically, the deployment tool is used to create multiple sessions from one sender to multiple reflectors. The tool requires two Comma Separated Values (CSV) files as input:

• CSV file that defines the reflectors to use in the sessions to be created
• CSV file that defines the sender and the sessions to be created

You must do the following tasks to use the deployment tool:

1. Prepare the CSV file that defines the reflector endpoints. See below.
2. Prepare the CSV file that defines the sender and the sessions. See below.
3. Upload the CSV files to the Skylight orchestrator appliance.
4. Run the deployment tool (specifying the CSV files) to generate a script that contains the mgr-commands required to create all the necessary endpoints and sessions.
5. Run the generated script to create the endpoints and sessions.

Preparation of the Reflector CSV File

The CSV file should include a line in the following format for each reflector:
NAME,ADDRESS,[ADDRESS],[ADDRESS]

where:
NAME is the hostname of the reflector

ADDRESS is an address of the reflector.
Can be an ipv4, ipv6 or MAC address.

[ADDRESS] Additional addresses are optional but can be specified for the reflector.
At least one address (but no more than three) must be entered.
If more than one address is entered, the addresses must be of different types. One IPv4 address and one MAC address is a valid combination.
Two IPv4 addresses is not a valid combination.

For example:

Preparation of the Sessions CSV File

The CSV file should include a line that defines a template used to create sessions. The format of the line depends on the type of session to be created.

Definition of TWAMP sessions (also Echo-UDP and 2xOneWay sessions)

The line for creating TWAMP sessions should be in the following format:
TYPE, NAME, SLANAME, AF, TX, TXIF, SRCPORT, DSTPORT, PPS, INTERVAL, TOS, TTL, VPRIO, PLSIZE, ROUNDTRIPDELAY, REFLECTORTIMESUBTRACTION

where:
TYPE is the session type. Possible values: TWAMP, Echo-UDP, 2xOneWay

NAME is the pattern for naming sessions. Must include $RXE which will be replaced by the hostname of the reflector.

SLANAME is the name of the SLA (the session group that will be exported via the XML interface) to which these sessions will be added. Can be left blank.

AF is the address family. Possible values: ipv4, ipv6-global or ipv6-local

TX is the hostname of the sender endpoint.

TXIF is the interface of the sender endpoint.

SRCPORT is the base UDP port for the source (the sender endpoint).
Incremented by 1 for each new session.

DSTPORT is the UDP port on the destination (the reflector endpoint).

PPS is the packet rate used for the session. Expressed in packets per second.

INTERVAL is interval over which packets will be collected and for which performance metrics will be calculated. Expressed in seconds. Possible values: 5 to 900 seconds.

TOS is the Type Of Service. Possible values: 0 to 255

TTL is the Time To Live. The number of hops after which packets will be discarded.

VPRIO is the value for the VLAN priority bits to be used for the performance session.
Possible values: 0 to 7

PLSIZE is the payload size. Expressed in bytes.

ROUNDTRIPDELAY is round trip delay.

• TWAMP
• TWAMP-SL
• ETH-DM
• ETH-VS
• 2xOneWay
  

  ---

REFLECTORTIMESUBTRACTION is reflector time subtraction.

• TWAMP
• TWAMP-SL
• ETH-DM
• ETH-VS
• 2xOneWay
  

  ---

For Skylight orchestrator 22.10 and prior, example of line used to define TWAMP sessions:
TWAMP,twamp1_$RXE,,ipv4,VCX01,e2,14001,6000,10,30,3,255,6,100

For Skylight orchestrator 23.04 and later, example of line used to define TWAMP sessions:
TWAMP,twamp1_$RXE,,ipv4,VCX01,e2,14001,6000,10,30,3,255,6,100,enable,disable

Definition of ETH-OAM ( Y.1731) Sessions

The line for creating Ethernet-OAM sessions should be in the following format:
TYPE,NAME,SLANAME,TX,TXIF, MEGLEVEL,PPS,INTERVAL,VPRIO,PLSIZE,MACSRC, ROUNDTRIPDELAY, REFLECTORTIMESUBTRACTION

where:

TYPE is the session type. Possible values: ETH-DM, ETH-LB, ETH-VS

NAME is the pattern for naming sessions. Must include $RXE which will be replaced by the hostname of the reflector when a session is created.

SLANAME is the name of the SLA (the session group that will be exported via the XML interface) to which these sessions will be added. Can be left blank.

TX is the hostname of the sender endpoint.

TXIF is the interface of the sender endpoint.

MEGLEVEL is MEG Level to be used for the session. Possible values: 0 to 7

PPS is the packet rate used for the session. Expressed in packets per second.

INTERVAL is the interval over which packets will be collected and for which performance metrics will be calculated. Expressed in seconds. Possible values: 5 to 900 seconds.

VPRIO is the value for the VLAN priority bits to be used for the performance session.
Possible values: 0 to 7

PLSIZE is the payload size. Expressed in bytes.

ROUNDTRIPDELAY is round trip delay.

• TWAMP
• TWAMP-SL
• ETH-DM
• ETH-VS
• 2xOneWay
  

  ---

REFLECTORTIMESUBTRACTION is reflector time subtraction.

• TWAMP
• TWAMP-SL
• ETH-DM
• ETH-VS
• 2xOneWay
  

  ---

For Skylight orchestrator 22.10 and prior, example of line used to define ETH-DM sessions:
ETH-DM, eth-dm_$RXE,,VCX01,e1,0,10,30,7,100

For Skylight orchestrator 23.04 and later, example of line used to define ETH-DM sessions:
ETH-DM, eth-dm_$RXE,,VCX01,e1,0,10,30,7,100,enable,disable

Scripts Generated by the Deployment Tool

When you run the deployment tool with your reflector and session CSV files, the deployment tool generates nine scripts that you can execute from the mgr-commands line according to your needs.

The scripts are generated at the following location:
/home/visionems/timestamp --> /tmp/timestamp

where:
timestamp is in the format: YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS

These scripts are used to create endpoints and sessions:

• full.cmd (does everything required to create and start sessions: adds reflectors, adds sender, creates sessions, starts sessions, adds SLAs)
• refl.cmd (adds reflector endpoints)
• sess.cmd (creates supervision sessions)
• start.cmd (starts the sessions)
• sla.cmd (adds the SLAs, if any SLAs were defined)

These scripts can be used to rollback sessions, endpoints and SLAs. If a rollback is necessary, you would need to execute the scripts in this order:

• back_sla.cmd (reverses the commands from sla.cmd)
• back_start.cmd (reverses the commands from start.cmd)
• back_sess.cmd (reverses the commands from sess.cmd)
• back_refl.cmd (reverses the commands from refl.cmd)

Requirements for Using the Deployment Tool

For procedures involving the deployment tool, you will need the following credentials:

1. Part of the procedure is performed in the Skylight orchestrator console (Appliance Monitor CLI). You must know the credentials of the visionems user.
2. Part of the procedure is performed in mgr-commands mode. To enter this mode, you must know the credentials for a valid Skylight orchestrator user account (an account for the Skylight orchestrator web interface).

To enter this mode, you must know the credentials for a valid Skylight orchestrator user account (an account for the Skylight orchestrator web interface).

Using the Deployment Tool to Create Sessions

During this procedure you will do the following:

• Upload the two previously prepared CSV files to the Skylight orchestrator appliance.
• Open an SSH session to the Appliance Monitor CLI in order to:
• Run the deployment tool on the CSV files
• Execute the script (generated by the deployment tool) that creates the sessions..

To upload the CSV files to the Skylight orchestrator appliance
You should have prepared two CSV files:

• Reflectors CSV file (defines the reflector endpoints).
• If you haven’t already prepared the file, see Preparation of the Reflector CSV File.
• Sessions CSV file (defines the sessions to be created).
  If you haven’t already prepared the file, see Preparation of the Sessions CSV File.

When you have the two CSV files, use an SCP client (such as WinSCP) and the visionems account to transfer the files to the following directory on the appliance:
/home/visionems

To run the deployment tool on the CSV files

1. Access the Skylight orchestrator console by opening an SSH session to the appliance IP address, port 2200.

2. Log in as the visionems user.

3. At the Skylight: prompt, enter this command to run the deployment tool on the two CSV files:
   sdmm-deploytool reflectors “/home/visionems/yourReflectorsCSV” sessions “/home/visionems/yourSessionsCSV”
   As the deployment tool runs, it displays some messages and indicates when it has completed generating the configuration scripts from your CSV files.

4. At the Skylight: prompt, enter this command to go into mgr-commands mode:
   mgr-commands

5. At the mgr/mgr# prompt, enter this command to execute one of the scripts generated by the deployment tool:
   execute /tmp/timestamp/requiredScript.cmd
   
   where:
   timestamp is in the format: YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS
   requiredScript is in the script generated by the deployment tool that you want to execute now. To create and start all sessions, the script is: full.cmd
   For the list of scripts, see Scripts Generated by the Deployment Tool.

The commands in the script are displayed as they are executed.

6. When the script has run to completion, enter this command to confirm that any new reflectors and supervision endpoints were created:
   show endpoint all
   Confirm that new endpoints appear in the list.

7. Enter this command to check that new sessions were created:
   show session
   Confirm that new sessions appear in the list.

8. Exit mgr-commands mode by entering:
   quit

Removing Sessions Created Using the Deployment Tool

If you want to remove the sessions created using the deployment tool, you can reverse the commands that were executed by the full.cmd script. This procedure explains how to do so.

To roll back sessions using deployment tool scripts

1. Access the Skylight orchestrator console by opening an SSH session to the appliance IP address, port 2200.

2. Log in as the visionems user.

3. At the Skylight: prompt, enter this command to go into mgr-commands mode:
   mgr-commands

4. At the mgr/mgr# prompt, enter these commands to roll back the full.cmd script:
   execute /home/visionems/timestamp/back_sla.cmd
   execute /home/visionems/timestamp/back_start.cmd
   execute /home/visionems/timestamp/back_sess.cmd
   execute /home/visionems/timestamp/back_refl.cmd
   
   where:
   timestamp is in the format: YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS
   The commands in the script are displayed as they are executed.

5. When the script has run to completion, enter this command to confirm that any new reflectors and supervision endpoints were removed:
   show endpoint all
   Confirm that endpoints do not appear in the list.

6. Enter this command to check that new sessions were created:
   show session
   Confirm that the sessions do not appear in the list.

7. Exit mgr-commands mode by entering:
   quit