Cisco Cisco Performance Agent 1.0 Data Sheet

Page 1 of 3

Data Sheet

Cisco Performance Agent

Organizations today face several challenges when determining application performance management and

ensuring service availability and quality to their users. The problem becomes more complex because of the

multiple solutions and point products available to meet these needs without a unified, simple, and consistent

solution across the network.

Cisco

Performance Agent is a licensed software feature of Cisco IOS

Software that offers comprehensive

application performance and network usage data valuable for network administrators to accurately characterize

end-user experiences and optimize the use of network resources. You can enable the feature—introduced with the

Cisco IOS Software Release 15.1(4)T Base image—with a simple software activation. After you enable the

feature, you can configure it to export application performance analytics, traffic statistics, and WAN-optimization

statistics.

Moreover, Cisco Performance Agent works transparently with other Cisco IOS Software services and the Cisco

Network Analysis Module (NAM). Aggregated metrics are sent over standard Cisco IOS Flexible NetFlow, and can

easily be consumed and displayed by Cisco NAM Version 5.1. Cisco NAM 5.1 is conveniently available as a virtual

blade on Cisco Wide Area Application Engine (WAE) appliances, or as a standalone appliance. When Cisco IOS

Wide Area Applications Services (WAAS) Express (Cisco IOS WAAS Express) is enabled, Cisco Performance

Agent helps to maximize the value of WAN optimization in the branch office.

Cisco Performance Agent is integrated in your network. Because the software is integrated as part of the routers in

Cisco IOS Software, IT administrators need only to upgrade the Cisco IOS Software image on the routers. Then

they immediately can start gathering valuable data such as measurement of application response time.

The Cisco Performance Agent:

●

Uses the deep-packet-inspection capabilities of Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR) for more

accurate application representation

●

Supports tailoring and summarization for reduced effect on WAN resources

●

Provides application performance analytics for easy consumption by Cisco and partner management

●

Inherits Cisco WAAS Express classification policy to minimize configuration

Designed to meet the needs of today’s integrated branch offices, Cisco Performance Agent focuses on three

primary areas: simplicity, integration, and low total cost of ownership (TCO).

Simplicity and Completeness

One of the primary challenges when gathering application-performance data is to find a simple method of

gathering metrics for application performance. Most tools provide individual pieces of the application-delivery

chain, providing a partial view of:

●

IT service meeting or exceeding end users’ expectations

●

Challenges around application response time and unavailability