Cisco Systems 5 Deployment, Deploying NAMs in the Branch, Deploying NAMs for WAN Optimization

Chapter 6 NAM Traffic Analyzer 5.0 Usage Scenarios

Deployment

Deployment

Deploying NAMs in the Branch

A NAM Traffic Analyzer deployed in the branch will provide a detailed view of the traffic traversing to and from the branch. The NAM can monitor and analyze the traffic locally, and troubleshoot issues related to application response time, voice degradation, and overall network performance, and you will be able to see these results by accessing the NAM web interface.

There are many advantages of this deployment. First, outside of a branch deployment, there is no ability to view response time or monitor voice. Second, deploying the NAM in the branch also eliminates the need to send RSPAN, ERSPAN or NetFlow across the WAN link (the result is less network traffic).

Third, you can set up some features that you could not elsewhere, such as alerts from the NAM and packet capture. Fourth, you can more quickly troubleshoot network problems.

See related content Response Time Summary, page 3-5and Analyze, Response Time, page 3-19.

Deploying NAMs for Voice/Video applications

The NAM Traffic Analyzer's ability to monitor voice applications provides an extra benefit. The NAM monitors and analyzes Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) streams and alerts you when MOS, Jitter, and Packet Loss degrades below the threshold setting.

The NAM can be integrated with the Cisco Unified Communications Management Suite (CUCMS), so that NAM will report the MOS, Jitter, and Packet Loss measurements to Cisco Unified Service Monitor (SM).

See related content Analyzing Traffic, RTP Streams, page 3-38

See related content Setting Voice Signaling Thresholds, page 2-46

Deploying NAMs for WAN Optimization

If you are deploying WAN optimization and already have NAMs in the network, the WAAS from the corporate side and branch can be sent to the NAM for analysis of the traffic before and after optimization. NAM also provides a breakdown of the optimization regarding application response time. The response times are broken down into client LAN and WAN segments, and server LAN and WAN segments.

If you are deploying WAN optimization using WAVE-574 or WAE-674 and you have limited real estate in the closet, the NAM WAAS Virtual Blade can be deployed on the WAVE-574 or WAE-674 for analysis of traffic before and after optimization on the WAAS headend and branch devices.

See related content WAN Optimization, page 3-17.

Deploying Multi-NAM Consolidation

In a multiple-NAM environment, all of the NAMs can be configured to forward NetFlow v9 data to one of the NAMs, which can then be used as a NetFlow collector. Using a “central” NAM like this results in consolidated reporting and problem isolation. This functionality is limited to top hosts, conversations, and applications.

Use the IP Address and Port of the “Central NAM” on Setup > Data Export > NetFlow.

User Guide for the Cisco Network Analysis Module (NAM) Traffic Analyzer, 5.0

6-2 OL-22617-01