Avaya ExpertNet Lite Assessment Tool ELAT User Manual
ExpertNet™ Lite Assessment Tool
User Guide
May 2008
© 2008 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved.
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accurate at the time of printing, Avaya Inc. can assume no liability for any errors. Changes and corrections
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ExpertNet Lite Assessment Tool - User Guide
About this guide
This guide is intended for BusinessPartners and Avaya Associates using the
ExpertNet™ Lite Assessment Tool (ELAT) for the first time. It describes how to get
started and how to use ELA T fo r customers purchasing an IP Telephony solution that
requires an IP Network Readiness Assessment.
About the ExpertNet™ Lite Assessment Tool
ELAT is a software application designed to gather information from an IP network. The
data gathered is used to produce a Network Readiness Assessment report. It is
designed to run for an extended period of time (usually 5 days), in order to see trends
in network performance. The data is summarized graphically and can be included in
the report.
Three types of queries are used to perform the measurements: RTP tests, ping probes
and SNMP GET requests.
● ELAT provides RTP test functionality through the use of Traffic Simulators, which
are installed on remote machines on the customer network.
● ELAT supports two ping protocols: UDP (default) and ICMP. On some networks,
the default UDP protocol may not work. (For example, a firewall may be
configured to block traffic to certain ports.) In such cases, the user can switch
the protocol to ICMP.
● ELAT Controller supports SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 protocols. It collects processor
and layer-3 interface utilization variables from devices on network paths. F or the
Controller to be able to retrieve SNMP data, it must be configured with a list of
SNMP community strings.
The ELA T Controller c ollects R ound Trip Time and One Way Delay measurements along
network paths. Network paths can be entered manually by the user, or discovered
automatically. To discover paths automatically, the Controller employs, transparently
to the user, a bundled ExpertNet Discovery Tool. The EDT tool discovers network
topology in a scope configured by the user.
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ExpertNet Lite Assessment Tool Architecture
● ExpertNet™ Lite Assessment Tool Controller – Runs on a PC to measure delay
and packet loss and to produce a dataset.
● Avaya Traffic Simulator – A remote agent that is deployed on various PCs on the
customer network to work with the ELAT controller.
● Dataset from the agent in the form of a compressed file is uploaded
automatically or manually to the FTP server.
● ExpertNet™ Lite Assessment Tool Server – Analyzes uploaded datasets to
produce graphical representations that can be browsed or included in the
Network Assessment Report.
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Requirements for ELAT Controller
Hardware
● Standard IBM PC-compatible
● Intel x86 CPU or compatible, Pentium 1Ghz performance
● 512MB of RAM for Windows XP
● 3GB free disk space.
Operating System
● Windows XPTM Professional Edition with Service Pack 2
● .Net framework 2.0 preferable.
Network
● 100Mb /s (or greater) Ethernet adapter (NOTE: If multiple NIC’s exist, it is
preferable, but not required, to disable all but one)
Requirements for Avaya Traffic Simulator
Hardware
● Standard IBM PC-compatible
● Intel x86 CPU or compatible, Pentium 1Ghz performance
● 512MB of RAM for Windows XP
● 150MB free disk space.
Operating System
● Windows XPTM Professional Edition with Service Pack 2
● .Net framework 2.0
Network
● 100Mb /s (or greater) Ethernet adapter (NOTE: If multiple NIC’s exist, it is
preferable, but not required, to disable all but one)
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Installing ExpertNet Lite Assessment Tool
Controller
Before installing ELAT, please ensure that all PCs on which ELAT will be installed are
set up as follows:
● Disable screen savers.
● Disable any time synchronization services.
● Check the Power control panel and disable any options that make the PC move
from the active state.
● Verify the current time and date.
● If the Controller PC has time synchronization services enabled, there is a
potential problem of having the Controller PC time roll back to some past time.
To avoid this, disable the time synchronization services during the ELAT run on
the Controller PC.
● Disable virus scan and SMS software.
It is preferable, but not essential, that you:
● Disable all background services, like Office Find, Indexing Service, SETI@home,
etc.
● If you have multiple NICs installed, enable only one NIC and disable all other
NICs.
Obtain the ELAT License File
After purchasing a 30-day ELAT subscription, email the ELAT administrator
(elatadmin@avaya.com
(license.txt), save it in the ELAT config directory (by default it is C:\Program
Files\Avaya\ELAT\config).
BusinessPartners
After you have purchased a 30-day subscription, you can install ELAT on as many
machines as you like at the customer site. Once ins talled, the lic ense permits 30 days
of usage.
) to obtain a license file. When you receive the file
Avaya Engineers
You do not need to purchase a subscription, but can generate one from ESDP directly.
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Install the Controller
Download the ELAT Controller (a 40Mb binary file) from http://support.avaya.com.
The installation typically takes less than 5 minutes. For more detail about installing
the Controller, refer to Appendix A: Installing the Controller and Test Agents
Launch the Program
After you have installed the ELAT Controller application and copied a valid license file
to the config directory, you can launch the ELAT Controller. To launch ELAT select:
Start > All Programs > Avaya > ExpertNet™ Lite Assessment Tool >
ExpertNet™ Lite Assessment Tool > Controller. The main window is displayed:
.
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Configuring the ELAT Controller
To run the ELAT Controller Configuration wizard, select Configuration > Modify
Configuration. You can review all the parameters and accept the defaults or change
any parameter as per your network needs. The most frequently modified parameters
are:
● Data Collection Interval from the General Settings page.
● Community strings from the Read SNMP Community Strings page. (Without
the SNMP community strings ELAT cannot retrieve CPU and other metrics of
devices and the report will not be as detailed.)
● Topology option from the Network Discovery Options page.
Other configuration parameters rarely require modification.
Step 1. General Settings
This page allows to to set up general settings for the tool. Most fields will not need to
be changed.
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Data Collection
Interval
Logging Verbosity
Level
Web Server Port Enter the port number of the bundled Web Server for downloading the
FTP User Name* Enter the user name of the FTP Server account for uploading data to
FTP Password* Enter the password of the FTP server account for loading data to Avaya.
FTP Server* Enter the name of the FTP Server to which the data is u p loaded.
Specify the period for which the ELAT Controller will collect data. At the
end of this period, ELAT will stop running tests and automatically upload
the data to the Avaya FTP Server. The default interval is 5 days.
Select the level of detail the logging subsystem will store in the log file.
You can select: None, Low, Medium, and High. The default is High.
RTP Traffic Simulator to remote endpoints. To download the Traffic
Simulator, point the Web browser to http://
<controller_IP_address>:<port_number>
Avaya.
* Default values for these fields should never be changed.
Step 2: Network Discovery Options
Each time the user selects Network Paths > Discover Paths menu item from
ELAT’s main menu, the EDT tool discovers the network and leaves behind a topology
file. (The default location is C:\Documents and Settings\<userid>\My
Documents\Avaya\ExpertNet Discovery Tool\topology_files\ topology.vpa).
This file can be reused next time the user wants to discover paths.
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Discover Topology Select this option if you want the Controller to discover network
Use Existing Topology Select this option if you want the Controller to reuse the existing
No Topology Select this option if you do not want to (or cannot) discover network
topology from scratch. Steps 2.1 and 2.2 in the Configuration Wizard
are enabled. You must have SNMP access to network routers to use
this option.
topology file from a previous discovery.
paths. The Network Tests > Discover Ping Tests entry in the main
menu bar will be disabled, but you will still be able to add Ping tests
manually. You may want to consider this option if SNMP access to
network routers is not allowed.
Step 2.1: Location to Start Network Discovery
Steps 2.1 and 2.2 will only display if you selected the Discover Topology option.
Use default gateway Select this option if you want the Controller to use the default gateway
Use this hostname or
IP address
configured on the Controller PC to start network discovery from.
Select this option if you want the Co ntroller to use a specified initial
gateway to start network discovery from.
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Step 2.2: Parts of Network to Discover
Limit layer 3 discovery
to <n> hops
Include network
address ranges larger
than 512
Select this option if you want to limit the scope of network discovery to a
specified number of hops (routers) on network paths.
Select this option if you want to scan ranges of network addresses greater
than 512 in search of layer 2 devices. Discovery time may increase
significantly if you select this option.
Step 3: SNMP Read Community Strings
Read Community strings are used to retrieve SNMP data from the customer network.
Without the community strings we cannot retrieve retrieve performance criteria (CPU,
interface) from devices.
If your customer does not want to give y ou the community strings, a workaround is to
ask the customer to create temporary Read community strings that expire or will be
deleted when ELAT has concluded data collection. Once the community strings expire
or are deleted, the community strings in the dataset will no longer be valid and wi ll
not compromise the customer’s network. We recommend "public" or "Avaya" as the
Read community strings. Please have the customer v erify that the community strings
will expire after data collection has concluded.
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If the customer is not willing to allow this level of access you can proceed without read
community strings. Performance criteria data will not be collected.
Add the appropriate SNMP read community strings, and prioritize using Move Up and
Move Down buttons. Select the Prompt for a community string later if none of
these work option if you want a warning to display when a device is discovered that
does not use any of the configured strings.
Deselect this option if the customer has not given you the read community strings.
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Step 4: SNMP Settings
On this page you can set values for SNMP requests sent on th e ne twork. These
settings rarely need to be changed.
Poll Interval of Single
Node
Maximum Total
Number of Polls/Sec
Number of Request
Retries
Request Timeout
(secs)
Poll interval defines the interval for sending SNMP requests to a single
node on the network. The default Poll Interval is 120 seconds.
Used to set network throttling by limitin g the number of SNMP requests
per second sent to all nodes. This setting takes precedence over Poll
Interval: if Poll Interval is too small, it is automatically recalculated by
the Controller to satisfy the Maximum Total). Default setting is 2 polls
per second.
Defines the number of times the SNMP request i s sent to a network
device if the response does not arrive within the period set in the
Request Timeout field. The default setting is 1.
Defines how many seconds the Control ler will wait for a response to an
SNMP request before sending a retry. The default setting is 5 seconds.
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Step 5: Ping Settings
On this page you have the option to change the default settings for Ping tests run on
the network. Again, these settings rarely need to be modified.
Average Number of
Polls/Sec
Packet Size (bytes) Used to set the size of the packets sent by the Controller. The value is in
Request Timeout
(secs)
Diff Serv Code Point Defines the Differentiated Services Code Point of the IP Packet. By
Determines the frequency of sending ping probes to the network. The
default setting is 1 ping per second.
the byte size of the ping packet, without IP and Ethernet headers. The
default setting is 180 bytes.
Defines how many seconds the ELAT Controller will wait for a response
to a ping before it qualifies the packet as lost. The default setting is 1
second.
default this value is 46 (Expedited Forwarding).
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Step 6: RTP General Configuration
On this page you have the option to change the default settings for RTP tests run on
the network. All RTP tests that are added automatically will use these settings. You
can manually add further RTP tests with different settings when the Wizard settings
are configured.
Codec Defines the Codec of the RTP test calls. This will alter the rate and size of
Diff Serv Code Point Defines the Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) of the IP Packets of RTP
Voice Payload Size
(ms)
Number of
Simultaneous Calls
Test Duration Defines the duration of each RTP test call (in seconds).
Automatically Create
RTP Tests
SNMP Polling Check this box to allow the Controller to enable SNMP polling for RTP test
Discover Paths Check this box to allow the Controller to use traceroute to discover the paths
Protocol Select a traceroute protocol to be used to discover routers on the test path.
packets being sent between Traffic Simulators in order to emulate the G.711
and G.729 codecs.
test calls. Routers will treat packets differently depending on the DSCP value
set in outgoing packets. By default this value is 46 (Expedited Forwarding).
Defines the Voice Payload size of the RTP packets of a test call (in
milliseconds). Must be a multiple of 10.
Defines the number of RTP test calls to execute simultaneously for a single
test. The default value for this setting is 2. Measurements for each call can
only be taken in one direction. When two or more calls are configured, half of
them originate at the Controller and half at the test agent so data is collected
in both directions providing a more complete assessment of the network than
if a single call were run.
Check this box to allow the Controller to automatically create new RTP test
Calls from the Controller to the RTP Traffic Simulator as the simulato rs
register.
calls.
between the Controller and the Traffic Simulators during RTP test calls.
The default setting is UDP.
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