PMOL Working Group D. Malas
Internet-Draft CableLabs
Intended status: Standards Track February 25, 2008
Expires: August 2008
SIP End-to-End Performance Metrics
draft-ietf-pmol-sip-perf-metrics-00.txt
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Abstract
This document defines a set of metrics and their usage to evaluate
the performance of end-to-end Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) based
services in both production and testing environments. The purpose of
this document is to combine a set of common metrics, allowing
interoperable performance measurements, easing the comparison of
industry implementations.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction and Scope.........................................2
2. Terminology....................................................4
3. SIP Performance Metrics........................................5
3.1. Registration Request Delay (RRD)..........................5
3.1.1. Successful REGISTER Completion RRD...................5
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3.1.2. Failed REGISTER Attempt RRD..........................6
3.2. Session Request Delay (SRD)...............................7
3.2.1. Successful Session Setup SRD.........................7
3.2.2. Failed Session Setup SRD.............................8
3.2.3. Instant Messaging....................................9
3.3. Session Disconnect Delay (SDD)...........................10
3.3.1. Successful session completion SDD...................10
3.3.2. Failed session completion SDD.......................11
3.4. Session Duration Time (SDT)..............................12
3.4.1. Successful session completion SDT...................13
3.4.2. Failed session completion SDT.......................14
3.5. Average Hops per Request (AHR)...........................15
3.6. Session Establishment Rate (SER).........................17
3.6.1. Instant Messaging...................................18
3.7. Session Establishment Efficiency Rate (SEER).............18
3.8. Session Defects (SD).....................................19
3.9. Ineffective Session Attempts (ISA).......................19
3.10. Session Disconnect Failures (SDF).......................20
3.11. Session Completion Rate (SCR)...........................20
3.11.1. Successful Session Completion......................21
3.11.2. Failed Session Completion..........................22
3.12. Session Success Rate (SSR)..............................22
4. Metric Correlations...........................................23
5. Additional Considerations.....................................23
5.1. Back-to-back User Agent (B2BUA)..........................23
5.2. Authorization and Authentication.........................23
5.3. Forking..................................................24
5.4. Data Collection..........................................24
5.5. Testing Documentation....................................24
5.6. Metric Template..........................................25
6. Security Considerations.......................................25
7. IANA Considerations...........................................25
8. Conclusions...................................................25
9. Contributors..................................................26
10. Acknowledgments..............................................26
11. References...................................................26
11.1. Normative References....................................26
11.2. Informative References..................................27
Author's Addresses...............................................27
Intellectual Property Statement..................................27
Disclaimer of Validity...........................................28
Copyright Statement..............................................28
Acknowledgment...................................................28
1. Introduction and Scope
SIP has become a widely-used standard among many service providers,
vendors, and end users. Although there are many different standards
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for measuring the performance of signaling protocols, none of them
specifically address SIP.
The scope of this document is limited to the definitions of a
standard set of metrics for measuring and reporting SIP performance
from an end-to-end perspective. The metrics introduce a common
foundation for understanding and quantifying performance expectations
between service providers, vendors, and the users of services based
on SIP. The intended audience for this document can be found among
network operators, who often collect information on the
responsiveness of the network to customer requests for services.
Measurements of the metrics described in this document are affected
by variables external to SIP. The following is a non-exhaustive list
of examples:
. Network connectivity
. Switch and router performance
. Server processes and hardware performance
Note that some metrics in this document may not apply to all
applications of SIP. This document provides an overview of pertinent
metrics, which may be used individually or as a set based on the
usage of SIP within the context of a given service.
The metrics defined in this document DO NOT take into consideration
the impairment or failure of actual application processing of a
request or response. The metrics do not distinguish application
processing time from other sources of delay, such as packet transfer
delay.
Metrics designed to quantify single device application processing
performance are beyond the scope of this document.
This document does not provide any numerical objectives or acceptance
threshold values for the SIP performance metrics defined below, as
these items are beyond the scope of IETF activities, in general.
The metrics defined in this document are applicable in scenarios
where the SIP messages launched (into a network under test) are
dedicated messages for testing purposes, or where the messages are
user-initiated and a portion of the live traffic present. These two
scenarios are sometimes referred to as active and passive
measurement, respectively.
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2. Terminology
The following terms and conventions will be used throughout this
document:
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC-2119 [1].
End-to-End - This is described as two or more elements utilized for
initiating a request, receiving the request, and responding to the
request. It encompasses elements as necessary to be involved in a
session dialog between the originating user agent client (UAC),
destination user agent server (UAS), and any interim proxies (may
also include back-to-back user agent's (B2BUA's)). This may be
relative to a single operator's set of elements or extend to
encompass all elements (if beyond a single operator's network)
associated with a session.
Session - As described in RFC 3261, SIP is used primarily to request,
create, and conclude sessions. "These sessions include Internet
telephone calls, multimedia distribution, and multimedia conferences
[2]." The metrics within this document measure the performance
associated with the processes necessary to establish these sessions;
therefore, they are titled as: Session Request Delay, Session
Disconnect Delay, etc. Although the titles of many of the metrics
include this term, they are specifically measuring the signaling
aspects only.
Session Establishment - Session establishment occurs when a 200 OK
response from the UAS has been received, in response to a
corresponding UAC's INVITE setup request, indicating the session
setup request was successful.
Session Setup - As referenced within the sub-sections of 3.2 in this
document, session setup is the set of messages and included
parameters directly related to the process of a UAC requesting to
establish a session with a corresponding UAS. This is also described
as a set of steps in order to establish "ringing" [2].
Time Begin (TB) - This is the time instant that starts a continuous
time interval running when a request is sent. TB occurs when the
designated request has been processed by the SIP application and the
first bit of the request packet has been sent from the proxy or UA
(and is externally observable at some logical or physical interface).
Time Stop (TS) - This is the time instant that ends a continuous time
interval running from when the related request is sent. TS occurs
when the last bit of the designated response is received by the SIP
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application at the requesting device (and is externally observable at
some logical or physical interface).
3. SIP Performance Metrics
In regards to all of the following metrics, TB begins with the first
associated SIP message sent by the UAC or UAS, and is not reset if
the UAC or UAS must retransmit the same request multiple times. The
first associated SIP message indicates the TB associated with the
user or application expectation relative to the request.
Some metrics are calculated based on the final response message.
These metrics do not take into consideration route advances to
additional signaling functions based on "final" failure responses.
In these unique cases, the final response related to the initial
setup attempt should be utilized for input to the metric.
In regards to all of the metrics, the output values are directly
related to the accuracy and the equivalent level of granularity of
the input values.
The following metrics may be utilized for many different SIP
applications.
3.1. Registration Request Delay (RRD)
Registration Request Delay is utilized to detect failures or
impairments causing delays in responding to a UAC REGISTER request.
RRD is measured for both successful and failed REGISTER requests.
This metric is measured at the UAC only. The output value of this
metric is numerical and should be adjusted to indicate milliseconds.
The following represents the calculation for this metric:
RRD = Time of Final Response - Time of REGISTER Request
An average is one of the uses of this metric. The following
represents the calculation for this metric as an average:
SUM (Time of Final Response - Time of REGISTER Request)
ARRD = -------------------------------------------------------
SUM # of REGISTER Requests
3.1.1. Successful REGISTER Completion RRD
In a successful registration attempt, RRD is defined as the time
interval from the moment the initial REGISTER message containing the
necessary information is passed by the originating UAC to the
intended registrar until the 200OK is received indicating the
registration attempt has completed successfully. This dialog
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includes an expected authentication challenge prior to receiving the
200OK as describe in the following registration flow examples.
The following flow provides an example of identifiable events
necessary for inputs in calculating RRD during a successful
registration completion:
UA1 Registrar
| |
|REGISTER |
TB---->|--------------------->|
/\ | 401|
|| |<---------------------|
RRD |REGISTER |
|| |--------------------->|
\/ | 200|
TS---->|<---------------------|
| |
3.1.2. Failed REGISTER Attempt RRD
In a failed registration attempt, the interval is defined from the
initial REGISTER request and the final response indicating a failure
received from the destination registrar or interim proxies. In
addition to a failure response, a failure is also indicated by a
timeout of the REGISTER request at UA1. The failure is identified by
the timer F expiring. A failure response is described as a 4XX
(excluding 401, 402, and 407 non-failure challenge response codes),
5XX, or possible 6XX message. RRD may be used to detect problems in
downstream signaling functions, which may be impairing the REGISTER
message from reaching the intended registrar.
The following flow provides a timeout example of identifiable events
necessary for inputs in calculating RRD during a failed registration
attempt:
UA1 Registrar
| |
|REGISTER |
TB---->|--------------------->|
/\ |REGISTER |
|| |--------------------->|
RRD |REGISTER |
|| |--------------------->|
\/ | |
TS---->|***Timer F Expires |
| |
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The following flow provides a registrar servicing failure example of
identifiable events necessary for inputs in calculating RRD during a
failed registration attempt:
UA1 Registrar
| |
|REGISTER |
TB---->|--------------------->|
/\ | |
|| | |
RRD | |
|| | |
\/ | 503|
TS---->|<---------------------|
| |
3.2. Session Request Delay (SRD)
Session Request Delay is utilized to detect failures or impairments
causing delays in responding to a UA session request. SRD is
measured for both successful and failed session setup requests.
This metric is similar to Post-Selection Delay [9] or Post-Dial Delay
(PDD) in telephony applications of SIP, and it is measured at the UAC
only. The output value of this metric is numerical and should be
adjusted to indicate milliseconds. The following represents the
calculation for this metric:
SRD = Time of Status Indicative Response - Time of INVITE
An average is one of the uses of this metric. The following
represents the calculation for this metric as an average:
SUM (Time of Status Indicative Response - Time of INVITE)
ASRD = ---------------------------------------------------------
SUM # of INVITE Requests
3.2.1. Successful Session Setup SRD
In a successful request attempt, SRD is defined as the time interval
from the moment the INVITE message containing the necessary
information is passed by the originating agent or user to the
intended mediation or destination agent until the first provisional
response is received indicating an audible or visual status of the
initial session setup request. In SIP, the message indicating status
would be a non-100 Trying provisional message received in response to
an INVITE request. In some cases, a non-100 Trying provisional
message is not received, but rather a 200 message is received as the
first status message instead. In these situations, the 200 message
would be used to calculate the interval.
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The following flow provides an example of identifiable events
necessary for inputs in calculating SRD during a successful session
setup request without a redirect (i.e. 3XX message):
UA1 UA2
| |
|INVITE |
TB---->|--------------------->|
/\ | |
|| | |
SRD | |
|| | |
\/ | 180|
TS---->|<---------------------|
| |
The following flow provides an example of identifiable events
necessary for inputs in calculating SRD during a successful session
setup with a redirect (e.g. 302 Moved Temporarily):
UA1 Redirect Server UA2
| | |
|INVITE | |
TB---->|--------------------->| |
/\ | 302| |
|| |<---------------------| |
|| |ACK | |
SRD |--------------------->| |
|| |INVITE |
|| |------------------------------------------->|
\/ | 180|
TS---->|<-------------------------------------------|
3.2.2. Failed Session Setup SRD
In a failed request attempt, the interval is defined from the initial
session request and a non-100 Trying provisional message or a failure
indication response. A failure response is described as a 4XX
(excluding 401, 402, and 407 non-failure challenge response codes),
5XX, or possible 6XX message. SRD may be used to detect problems in
downstream signaling functions, which may be impairing the INVITE
message from reaching the intended UA.
The following flow provides an example of identifiable events
necessary for inputs in calculating SRD during a failed session setup
attempt without a redirect (i.e. 3XX message):
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UA1 UA2
| |
|INVITE |
TB---->|--------------------->|
/\ | |
|| | |
SRD | |
|| | |
\/ | 480|
TS---->|<---------------------|
| |
The following flow provides an example of identifiable events
necessary for inputs in calculating SRD during a failed session setup
attempt with a redirect (e.g. 302 Moved Temporarily):
UA1 Redirect Server UA2
| | |
|INVITE | |
TB---->|--------------------->| |
/\ | 302| |
|| |<---------------------| |
|| |ACK | |
SRD |--------------------->| |
|| |INVITE |
|| |------------------------------------------->|
\/ | 480|
TS---->|<-------------------------------------------|
3.2.3. Instant Messaging
This metric is also applicable to MESSAGE [10] requests. In the
above metric, INVITE can be replaced with MESSAGE to provide SRD for
instant messaging (IM). The dialog will vary slightly as described
in [10]. The inputs for this metric should be utilized regardless of
whether a prior SIP dialog was utilized to setup the session. In
that case both the SIP dialog and the MESSAGE requests are measured
independently.
The following flow provides an example of identifiable events
necessary for inputs in calculating SRD during a successful session
MESSAGE request:
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UA1 UA2
| |
|MESSAGE |
TB---->|--------------------->|
/\ | |
|| | |
SRD | |
|| | |
\/ | 200|
TS---->|<---------------------|
| |
Failure requests occur similarly as to those described in section
3.2.2 with MESSAGE in replacement of INVITE as the IM session request
method.
3.3. Session Disconnect Delay (SDD)
This metric is utilized to detect failures or impairments delaying
the time necessary to end a session. It can be measured from both a
UAC and UAS perspective. SDD is measured for both successful and
failed session completions. The output value of this metric is
numerical and should be adjusted to indicate milliseconds. The
following represents the calculation for this metric:
SDD = Time of 2XX or Timeout - Time of Completion Message (BYE)
An average is one of the uses of this metric. The following
represents the calculation for this metric as an average:
SUM (Time of 2XX or Timeout - Time of Completion Message)
ASDD = ---------------------------------------------------------
SUM # of Completed Sessions
3.3.1. Successful session completion SDD
In a successful session completion, SDD is defined as the interval
between sending a session completion message, such as a BYE, and
receiving the subsequent 2XX acknowledgement. The following flows
provide an example of identifiable events necessary for inputs in
calculating SDD during a successful session completion:
Measuring SDD at the UAC -
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UA1 UA2
| |
|INVITE |
|--------------------->|
| 180|
|<---------------------|
| 200|
|<---------------------|
|ACK |
|--------------------->|
|BYE |
TB---->|--------------------->|
/\ | |
|| | |
SDD | |
|| | |
\/ | 200|
TS---->|<---------------------|
Measuring SDD at the UAS -
UA1 UA2
| |
|INVITE |
|--------------------->|
| 180|
|<---------------------|
| 200|
|<---------------------|
|ACK |
|--------------------->|
| BYE|
|<---------------------|<----TB
| | /\
| | ||
| | SDD
| | ||
|200 | \/
|--------------------->|<----TS
3.3.2. Failed session completion SDD
In some cases, no response is received after a session completion
message is sent and potentially retried. In this case, SDD is
defined as the interval between sending a session completion message,
such as a BYE, and the resulting Timer F expiration. The following
flows provide an example of identifiable events necessary for inputs
in calculating SDD during a failed session completion attempt:
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Measuring SDD at the UAC -
UA1 UA2
| |
|INVITE |
|--------------------->|
| 180|
|<---------------------|
| 200|
|<---------------------|
|ACK |
|--------------------->|
|BYE |
TB---->|--------------------->|
/\ |BYE |
|| |--------------------->|
SDD |BYE |
|| |--------------------->|
\/ | |
TS---->|***Timer F Expires |
Measuring SDD at the UAS -
UA1 UA2
| |
|INVITE |
|--------------------->|
| 180|
|<---------------------|
| 200|
|<---------------------|
|ACK |
|--------------------->|
| BYE|
|<---------------------|<----TB
| BYE| /\
|<---------------------| ||
| BYE| SDD
|<---------------------| ||
| | \/
| Timer F Expires***|<----TS
3.4. Session Duration Time (SDT)
This metric is used to detect problems (e.g. poor audio quality)
causing short session durations. SDT is measured for both successful
and failed session completions. It can be measured from both a UAC
and UAS perspective. This metric is similar to Call Hold Time, and
is traditionally calculated as Average Call Hold Time (ACHT) in
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telephony applications of SIP. The output value of this metric is
numerical and should be adjusted to indicate minutes and seconds.
The following represents the calculation for this metric:
SDT = Time of BYE or Timeout - Time of 200 OK response to INVITE
An average is one of the uses of this metric. The following
represents the calculation for this metric as an average:
SUM (Time of BYE or Timeout - Time of 200 OK response to INVITE)
ASDT = --------------------------------------------------------------
SUM # of INVITE w/ 200OK & BYE or Timeout
3.4.1. Successful session completion SDT
In a successful session completion, SDT is calculated as an average
and is defined as the duration of a dialog from receipt of a 200 OK
response to an INVITE and an associated BYE message indicating dialog
completion.
The following flows provide an example of identifiable events
necessary for inputs in calculating SDT during a successful session
completion (The message flows are changed between the UAC and UAS to
provide varying examples.):
Measuring SDT at the UAC -
UA1 UA2
| |
|INVITE |
|--------------------->|
| 180|
|<---------------------|
| 200|
TB---->|<---------------------|
/\ |ACK |
|| |--------------------->|
|| | |
SDT | |
|| | |
|| | |
\/ |BYE |
TS---->|--------------------->|
| |
Measuring SDT at the UAS -
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UA1 UA2
| |
|INVITE |
|--------------------->|
| 180|
|<---------------------|
| 200|
|<---------------------|<----TB
|ACK | /\
|--------------------->| ||
| | ||
| | SDT
| | ||
| | ||
| BYE| \/
|<---------------------|<----TS
| |
(In these two examples, TS is the same even if the UAC/UAS receives
the BYE instead of sending it.)
3.4.2. Failed session completion SDT
In some cases, no response is received after a session completion
message is sent and potentially retried. In this case, SDT is
defined as the interval between sending a session completion message,
such as a BYE, and the resulting Timer F expiration. The following
flows provide an example of identifiable events necessary for inputs
in calculating SDT during a failed session completion attempt:
Measuring SDT at the UAC -
UA1 UA2
| |
|INVITE |
|--------------------->|
| 180|
|<---------------------|
| 200|
TB---->|<---------------------|
/\ |BYE |
|| |--------------------->|
|| |BYE |
SDT |--------------------->|
|| |BYE |
|| |--------------------->|
\/ | |
TS---->|***Timer F Expires |
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Measuring SDT at the UAS -
UA1 UA2
| |
|INVITE |
|--------------------->|
| 180|
|<---------------------|
| 200|
|<---------------------|<----TB
| BYE| /\
|<---------------------| ||
| BYE| ||
|<---------------------| SDT
| BYE| ||
|<---------------------| ||
| | \/
| Timer F Expires***|<----TS
3.5. Average Hops per Request (AHR)
This metric is used to indicate potential inefficient routing and to
detect failure occurrences related to the number of elements
traversed by a single SIP INVITE or MESSAGE request. AHR is defined
as the number of hops traversed by an INVITE or MESSAGE request. It
is calculated as an average. This metric requires the Max-Forwards
value to be captured at both the originating UAC or proxy and the
terminating UAS or proxy perspective as relative to the end-to-end
network under measurement. The output value of this metric is
measured in a numerical value indicating a number of hops.
Variables =
a = Initial INVITE/MESSAGE "Max-Forwards" value
b = Initial INVITE/MESSAGE received by terminating UAS "Max-
Forwards" value
c = # of Hops for INVITE/MESSAGE requests
d = SUM # of INVITE/MESSAGE requests
c = a - b
This metric is calculated as an average. The following represents
the calculation for this metric:
AHR = (SUM of aggregate c's / d)
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The following dialog provides an example describing the inputs
necessary for this calculation. Although this example is of an
INVITE SIP dialog request, a MESSAGE request is similar in its use of
the Max-Forwards header. (The dialog continuation was omitted for
clarity):
UA1 Proxy 1 Proxy 2 UA2
| | | |
|INVITE | | |
|--------------->| | |
| 407| | |
|<---------------| | |
|ACK | | |
|--------------->| | |
|INVITE (F4) | | |
|--------------->|INVITE (F5) | |
| 100|--------------->|INVITE (F6) |
|<---------------| 100|--------------->|
| |<---------------| |
Message Details (Only the message details of the INVITE messages have
been included for clarity. Also, some headers after Max-Forwards
have been omitted for additional clarity.):
(F4) INVITE UA1 -> Proxy 1
INVITE sip:ua2@biloxi.example.com SIP/2.0
Via: SIP/2.0/TCP
client.atlanta.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bK74bf9
Max-Forwards: 70
Route: <sip:ss1.atlanta.example.com;lr>
From: UA1 <sip:ua1@atlanta.example.com>;tag=9fxced76sl
To: UA2 <sip:ua2@biloxi.example.com>
(F5) INVITE Proxy 1 -> Proxy 2
INVITE sip:ua2@biloxi.example.com SIP/2.0
Via: SIP/2.0/TCP
ss1.atlanta.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bK2d4790.1
Via: SIP/2.0/TCP
client.atlanta.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bK74bf9
;received=192.0.2.101
Max-Forwards: 69
Record-Route: <sip:ss1.atlanta.example.com;lr>
From: UA1 <sip:ua1@atlanta.example.com>;tag=9fxced76sl
To: UA2 <sip:ua2@biloxi.example.com>
(F6) INVITE Proxy 2 -> UA2
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INVITE sip:ua2@client.biloxi.example.com SIP/2.0
Via: SIP/2.0/TCP ss2.biloxi.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bK721e4.1
Via: SIP/2.0/TCP
ss1.atlanta.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bK2d4790.1
;received=192.0.2.111
Via: SIP/2.0/TCP
client.atlanta.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bK74bf9
;received=192.0.2.101
Max-Forwards: 68
Record-Route: <sip:ss2.biloxi.example.com;lr>,
<sip:ss1.atlanta.example.com;lr>
From: UA1 <sip:ua1@atlanta.example.com>;tag=9fxced76sl
To: UA2 <sip:ua2@biloxi.example.com>
3.6. Session Establishment Rate (SER)
This metric is used to detect the ability of a terminating UA or
downstream proxy to successfully establish sessions per new session
INVITE requests. SER is defined as the number of new session INVITE
requests resulting in a 200 OK response, to the total number of
attempted INVITE requests less INVITE requests resulting in a 3XX
response. This metric is similar to Answer Seizure Rate (ASR) [8] in
telephony applications of SIP. It is measured at the UAC only. The
output value of this metric is numerical and should be adjusted to
indicate a percentage of successfully established sessions. The
following represents the calculation for this metric:
# of INVITE Requests w/ associated 200OK
SER = ---------------------------------------------------------------
(Total # of INVITE Requests)-(# of INVITE Requests w/ 3XX Response)
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The following flow provides an example of identifiable events
necessary for inputs in determining session establishment as
described above:
UA1 UA2
| |
|INVITE |
+----------->|------------------>|
| | 180|
| |<------------------|
Session Established | |
| | |
| | 200|
+----------->|<------------------|
| |
3.6.1. Instant Messaging
This metric is also applicable to MESSAGE [10] requests. In the
above metric, INVITE can be replaced with MESSAGE to provide SER for
IM. The dialog will vary slightly as described in [10].
The following flow provides an example of identifiable events
necessary for inputs in calculating SER for MESSAGE requests:
UA1 UA2
| |
|MESSAGE |
+----------->|------------------>|
| | |
Session Established | |
| | 200|
+----------->|<------------------|
| |
3.7. Session Establishment Efficiency Rate (SEER)
This metric is complimentary to SER, but is intended to exclude the
potential effects of the terminating UAS from the metric. SEER is
defined as the number of INVITE requests resulting in a 200 OK
response and INVITE requests resulting in a 480, 486, or 600; to the
total number of attempted INVITE requests less INVITE requests
resulting in a 3XX, 401, 402, and 407 response. This metric is
similar to Network Efficiency Rate (NER) [8] in telephony
applications of SIP. It is measured at the UAC only. The output
value of this metric is numerical and should be adjusted to indicate
a percentage of successfully established sessions less common UAS
failures. The following represents the calculation for this metric:
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a = 3XX, 401, 402, and 407
# of INVITE Requests w/ associated 200OK, 480, 486, or 600
SEER = --------------------------------------------------------------
(Total # of INVITE Requests)-(# of INVITE Requests w/ 'a' Response)
Reference the example flow is Section 3.6.
3.8. Session Defects (SD)
Session defects provide a subset of SIP failure responses, which
consistently indicate a failure in dialog processing. Defects are
necessary to provide input to calculations such as Defects per
Million (DPM) or other similar metrics. These failure responses are
in response to initial session setup requests, such as a new INVITE.
The output value of this metric is numerical and should be adjusted
to indicate a percentage of defective sessions. The following
failure responses provide a guideline for defective criterion:
. 500 Server Internal Error
. 503 Service Unavailable
. 504 Server Timeout
This set of failure responses was derived through correlating more
granular ISUP failure responses as described in RFC 3398.
3.9. Ineffective Session Attempts (ISA)
Ineffective session attempts occur when a proxy or agent internally
releases a setup request with a failed or congested condition. This
metric is similar to Ineffective Machine Attempts (IMA) in telephony
applications of SIP, and was adopted from Telcordia GR-512-CORE [7].
The output value of this metric is numerical and should be adjusted
to indicate a percentage of ineffective session attempts. The
following failure responses provide a guideline for this criterion:
. 408 Request Timeout
. 500 Server Internal Error
. 503 Service Unavailable
. 504 Server Timeout
This set was derived in a similar manner as described in Section 3.6,
in addition 408 failure responses is indicative a congested state
with a downstream element.
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This metric is calculated as a percentage of total session setup
requests. The following represents the calculation for this metric:
# of ISA
ISA % = -----------------------------
Total # of Session Requests
3.10. Session Disconnect Failures (SDF)
Session disconnect failures occur when an active session is
terminated due to a failure condition that can be identified by a
REASON header [5] in a BYE message. This occurs, for example, when a
user agent (UA) is controlling an IP or TDM (Time Division
Multiplexing) media gateway, and the media gateway notifies the UA of
a failure condition causing the loss of media related to an
established session. The UA will release the session with a BYE, but
should include a REASON header indicating the session was
disconnected abnormally. The REASON value is utilized to determine
the disconnect was a failure. This metric is similar to Cutoff Calls
(CC) in telephony applications of SIP, and was adopted from Telcordia
GR-512-CORE [7]. The input variables for this metric are captured
from the originating UAC or proxy perspective as relative to the end-
to-end network under measurement. The output value of this metric is
numerical and should be adjusted to indicate a percentage of session
disconnect failures.
This metric is calculated as a percentage of total session completed
successfully as defined in Section 3.5. The following represents the
calculation for this metric:
# of SDF's
SDF % = -------------------------------
Total # of Session Requests
3.11. Session Completion Rate (SCR)
A session completion is defined as a SIP dialog, which completes
without failing due to a lack of response from an intended proxy or
UA. This metric is only used when at least one proxy is involved in
the dialog. This metric is similar to Call Completion Rate (CCR) in
telephony applications of SIP. The output value of this metric is
numerical and should be adjusted to indicate a percentage of
successfully completed sessions.
This metric is calculated as a percentage of total sessions completed
successfully. The following represents the calculation for this
metric:
# of Successfully Completed Sessions
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SCR % = ---------------------------------------
Total # of Session Requests
3.11.1. Successful Session Completion
A session completes successfully when it begins with a setup request
and ends with a session completion message.
The following dialog [4] provides an example describing the necessary
events of a successful session completion:
UA1 Proxy 1 Proxy 2 UA2
| | | |
|INVITE | | |
|--------------->| | |
| 407| | |
|<---------------| | |
|ACK | | |
|--------------->| | |
|INVITE | | |
|--------------->|INVITE | |
| 100|--------------->|INVITE |
|<---------------| 100|--------------->|
| |<---------------| |
| | | 180|
| | 180 |<---------------|
| 180|<---------------| |
|<---------------| | 200|
| | 200|<---------------|
| 200|<---------------| |
|<---------------| | |
|ACK | | |
|--------------->|ACK | |
| |--------------->|ACK |
| | |--------------->|
| Both Way RTP Media |
|<================================================>|
| | | BYE|
| | BYE|<---------------|
| BYE|<---------------| |
|<---------------| | |
|200 | | |
|--------------->|200 | |
| |--------------->|200 |
| | |--------------->|
| | | |
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3.11.2. Failed Session Completion
Session completion fails when an INVITE is sent from a UAC, but there
is no indication the INVITE reached the intended UAS. This can also
occur if the intended UAS does not respond to the UAC or the response
never reaches the UAC associated with the session.
The following dialog provides an example describing the necessary
events of an unsuccessful session completion:
UA1 Proxy 1 Proxy 2 UA2
| | | |
|INVITE | | |
|--------------->| | |
| 407| | |
|<---------------| | |
|ACK | | |
|--------------->| | |
|INVITE | | |
|--------------->|INVITE | |
| 100|--------------->|INVITE |
|<---------------| 100|--------------->|
| |<---------------| |
| | |INVITE |
| | |--------------->|
| | | |
| | |INVITE |
| | |--------------->|
| | | |
| | 408| |
| 408|<---------------| |
|<---------------|ACK | |
| |--------------->| |
|ACK | | |
|--------------->| | |
3.12. Session Success Rate (SSR)
Session success rate is defined as the percentage of successfully
completed sessions compared to sessions, which fail due to ISA or
SDF. This metric is also known as Call Success Rate (CSR) in
telephony applications of SIP. The output value of this metric is
numerical and should be adjusted to indicate a percentage of
successful sessions. The following represents the calculation for
this metric:
SSR = 100% - (ISA% + SDF%)
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4. Metric Correlations
These metrics may be used to determine the performance of a domain
and/or user. This would be to provide a metric relative to one or
more dimensions. The following is a subset of dimensions for
providing further granularity per metric:
. To "user"
. From "user"
. Bi-direction "user"
. To "domain"
. From "domain"
. Bi-direction "domain"
5. Additional Considerations
5.1. Back-to-back User Agent (B2BUA)
A B2BUA may impact the ability to collect these metrics with an end-
to-end perspective. It is necessary to realize a B2BUA may act as an
originating UAC and terminating UAS or it may act as a proxy. In
some cases, it may be necessary to consider information collected
from both sides of the B2BUA in order to determine the end-to-end
perspective. In other cases, the B2BUA may act simply as a proxy
allowing data to be derived as necessary for the input into any of
the listed calculations.
5.2. Authorization and Authentication
During the process of setting up a SIP dialog, various authentication
methods may be utilized. These authentication methods will add to
the duration as measured by the metrics, and the length of time will
vary based on those methods. The failures of these authentication
methods will also be captured by these metrics, since SIP is
ultimately used to indicate the success or failure of the
authorization and/or authentication attempt. The metrics in section
3 are inclusive of the duration associated with this process, even if
the method is external to the SIP protocol. This was included
purposefully, due to its inherent impact on the protocol and the
subsequent SIP dialogs.
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5.3. Forking
Forking should be considered when determining the messages associated
with the input values for the described metrics. If all of the
forked dialogs were used in the metric calculations, the numbers
would skew dramatically. There are two different points of forking,
which must be considered. First, forking may occur at a proxy
downstream from the UAC that is being used for metric input values.
Since, the downstream proxy is responsible for forking a message and
then only sending the accepted response to the UAC, the UAC will only
see messages as indicated in the described metrics. Second, in the
cases where the observed UAC or proxy is forking the messages, then
it must utilize the first INVITE or set of INVITE messages sent and
the first accepted 200 OK. A tag will identify this dialog as
distinct from the other 200 OK responses, which are acknowledged and
an immediate BYE is sent. The application responsible for capturing
and/or understanding the input values must utilize this tag to
distinguish between dialogs.
5.4. Data Collection
The input necessary for these calculations may be collected in a
number of different manners. It may be collected or retrieved from
call detail records (CDR) or raw signaling information generated by a
proxy or UA. When using records, time synchronization must be
considered between applicable elements.
The information may also be transmitted through the use of network
management protocols like Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
[RFC 1157] and via future extensions to the SIP Management
Information Base (MIB) modules [6], or through a potential undefined
new performance metric event package [3] retrieved via SUBSCRIBE
requests.
Data may be collected for a sample of calls or all calls, and may
also be derived from test call scenarios. These metrics are flexible
based on the needs of the application.
5.5. Testing Documentation
In some cases, these metrics will be used to provide output values to
signify the performance level of a specific SIP-based element. When
using these metrics in a test environment, the environment must be
accurately documented for the purposes of replicating any output
values in future testing and/or validation.
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5.6. Metric Template
Although, this document provides details for a foundational set of
pertinent metrics, other metrics may be necessary as the SIP protocol
evolves or as deemed necessary by an individual or set of companies
and/or vendors. This section details a template, which should be
used when creating new performance metrics. This template will allow
for a common structure of information, which will enable a more
adaptable method of understanding and incorporating metrics defined
beyond the scope of this document.
All metrics should include the following characteristics:
. A metric should have a common 2-4 word summary description,
which can be identified as a 2-4 letter acronym.
. The metric must describe the problem or motivation for which
it is attempting to detect or identify.
. The metric must describe what is measured as indicated
specifically by defined SIP messages.
. The metric must identify the unit(s) of measure described in
the associated output.
. The metric must define the time at which the inputs are
captured, including both beginning and end.
. The metric must describe if the outputs can be utilized in a
manner other than the raw output (e.g. average, high/low,
etc.), and if so, how.
6. Security Considerations
Security should be considered in the aspect of securing the relative
data utilized in providing input to the above calculations. All
other aspects of security should be considered as described in [2].
7. IANA Considerations
There are no IANA considerations at this time.
8. Conclusions
The proposed guideline provides a description of common performance
metrics, and their defined use with SIP. The use of these metrics
will provide a common viewpoint across all vendors, service
providers, and customers. These metrics will likely be utilized in
production SIP environments for providing input regarding Key
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Performance Indicators (KPI) and Service Level Agreement (SLA)
indications; however, they may also be used for testing end-to-end
SIP-based service environments.
9. Contributors
The following people made substantial contributions to this work:
Carol Davids Illinois Institute of Technology
Al Morton AT&T Labs
Marian Delkinov Ericsson
Adam Uzelac Global Crossing
Jean-Francois Mule CableLabs
Rich Terpstra Level 3 Communications
10. Acknowledgments
I would like to thank John Hearty and Dean Bayless for their efforts
in reviewing the draft and providing insight regarding clarification
of certain aspects described throughout the draft.
11. References
11.1. Normative References
[1] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[2] Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, A.,
Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M. and E. Schooler, "SIP:
Session Initiation Protocol", RFC 3261, June 2002.
[3] Roach, A., "Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-Specific Event
Notification", RFC 3265, June 2002.
[4] Johnston, A., Donovan, S., Sparks, R., Cunningham, C., and K.
Summers, "Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Basic Call
Flow Examples", BCP 75, RFC 3665, December 2003.
[5] Schulzrinne, H., Oran, D., Camarillo, G., "The Reason Header
Field for the Sessions Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC 3326,
December 2002.
[6] Lingle, K., Mule, J., Maeng, J., Walker, D., "Management
Information Base for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)",
draft-ietf-sip-mib-10, Work in Progress.
[7] Telcordia, "LSSGR: Reliability, Section 12", GR-512-CORE, Issue
2, January 1998.
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[8] ITU-T, "Series E: Overall Network Operation, Telephone Service,
Service Operation and Human Factors", E.411, March 2000.
[9] ITU-T, "Series E: Overall Network Operation, Telephone Service,
Service Operation and Human Factors", E.721, May 1999.
[10] B. Campbell, Ed, Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Huitema, C.,
Gurle, D., "Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Extension for
Instant Messaging", RFC 3428, December 2002.
[11] Crocker, D. and Overell, P.(Editors), "Augmented BNF for Syntax
Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234, Internet Mail Consortium and
Demon Internet Ltd., November 1997.
11.2. Informative References
[12] Faber, T., Touch, J. and W. Yue, "The TIME-WAIT state in TCP
and Its Effect on Busy Servers", Proc. Infocom 1999 pp. 1573-
1583.
Author's Addresses
Daryl Malas
CableLabs
858 Coal Creek Circle
Louisville, CO 80027
USA
EMail: d.malas@cablelabs.com
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