Data collection

Objective

• In this article, we will look into Data collection.
• We will look at the terminology used by Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance (formerly Accedian) to collect data.
• We will have some screen captures showing the key performance indicator (KPI) from the Nids, Nodes, and Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensor Control (formerly Skylight sensor: control).
• We will look into the configuration of sensor orchestration capabilities within Provider Connectivity Assurance (formerly Skylight orchestrator) to send data to Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance (formerly Skylight performance analytics).
• We will see where the data came from.
• We will look at SNMP polling and SNMP traps.

Where is the data coming from

This section covers the manner Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance and non-Provider Connectivity Assurance devices collect the key performance indicator (KPI) and send it to Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance.

We need to understand the terminology between sensor orchestration capabilities within Provider Connectivity Assurance (formerly Skylight orchestrator) and Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance (formerly Skylight performance analytics) to see where data comes from. We will review the following diagram and several screen captures.

Sensor orchestration capabilities within Provider Connectivity Assurance

• A Network Element is a device that generates performance metrics.
• A Collection Matrix display the session of a device that is poll for data.
• Statistics have the Key performance indicators (KPIs).

Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

• A Monitor session is a device that generates performance metrics.
• A Session is a device collecting metrics that will be poll for data.
• Performance Metrics have the key performance indicators (KPIs).

Sensor orchestration capabilities within Provider Connectivity Assurance collect performance monitoring data from all its managed and non-managed devices to Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance.

These metrics collections come from:

• Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensors GT, LT, and LX (previously Skylight performance elements)
• Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensor Control (formerly Skylight sensor: control)
• Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensor SFP (formerly Skylight sensor: SFP compute)
• Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance Sensor Modules (formerly Skylight sensor: module)
• Other vendor applications reflecting frames or packets

Sensor orchestration capabilities within Provider Connectivity Assurance stream the collect performance monitoring data from all its managed devices to Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance in a CSV file format.

For other non-Provider Connectivity Assurance types of devices such as Ciena, Huawei, and so on, the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) will provide discovery of sessions and devices.
Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance will use rules based on discovery to determine which sessions, devices, and interfaces to visualize.
The Sensor Collector (formerly Roadrunner) instance will do the polling and send the files to Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance.

Capture data

• Packet capture is a networking term for intercepting a data packet crossing a specific point in a data network.
• Once a packet is captured in real-time, it is stored for a period of time to be analyzed and then either be downloaded, archived or discarded.
• Packet sniffers work by intercepting and logging network traffic via the wired or wireless network interface on a host machine.
• Once the raw packet data is captured, Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance analyzes it and presents it in a readable form so that the person using Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance can visualize it.

Sessions samples

The following are some examples of the data collected from the Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance devices via the sensor orchestration capabilities within Provider Connectivity Assurance.

TWAMP protocol session

The sensor orchestration capabilities within Provider Connectivity Assurance TWAMP sample session from a Control Sensor.

The information circled in this screen capture, presents the actual values that will be streamed to Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance.

Connectivity Fault Management (CFM) session

Assurance Sensor LT (formerly Skylight element: LT). CFM sample session

Assurance Sensor LT CFM sample session MEP statistics.

Assurance Sensor LT CFM sample session DMM statistics.

Accedian Skylight Element LT CFM sample Packet loss

TWAMP protocol session

Assurance Sensor LT. TWAMP sample session.

The information underlined in this screen capture, presents the actual values that will be streamed to Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance.

The KPI are outlined in red

Performance Assurance Agent (PAA) session

Assurance Sensor LT. Performance Assurance Agent (PAA) sample session.
PAA offers the capability to measure QoS performance metrics at the IP and Ethernet layers.

*The KPI are the columns boxed in gold. *

Sensor orchestration capabilities setup to stream csv files to Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance

• Sensor orchestration capabilities within Provider Connectivity Assurance send PM data (CSV files) to Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance
• The Metrics Collection option must be enabled on the sensor orchestration capabilities within Provider Connectivity Assurance
• Go to the Collection > Server Configuration tab:

SNMP Trap & Polling

SNMP is based on a command center and agent model.
You will have a command center, and at the various remote locations, you will have agents.
The agents job is to collect all kinds of information, even information about themselves like system alarms and report all this information to the command center.
They talk between them via SNMP trap messages; the way it works is whenever something happens, the agent immediately sends a trap to the command center.
The problem with this method is that if an agent does not send a trap, there is no way for the command center to know if the agent is still alive.

Another way used to talk between them is by SNMP polling.
The polling loop allows the command center to send a request to the agents at a regular interval. Therefore, if an agent is offline, you will not get a message back.

Which is the best method?
You need to decide based on your network and your operation. The best decision is to choose a hybrid system like Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance that supports SNMP trap and polling; you will be getting data from the best of both worlds.