
Virtualization and Cloud executives share their predictions for 2014. Read them in this VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed article by Mike Patterson, CEO, Plixer International
2014: The Year of Greater Application Performance Insight
The steady virtualization of more
applications is increasing the need for greater insight into the performance of
each business application. 2014 will be a year when network administrators
seek more in-depth performance metrics that answer tough questions such as:
-
Which subnets or end systems are
suffering from the slowest connections?
-
Why are connections slow?
-
Are the slow connections caused
by excessive packet loss, retransmits or low priority?
-
Where was the problem
introduced?
-
Which router hop is witnessing
the issues first and who is downstream?
Managing application performance
is a tricky business. The complexity
introduced when deploying them in a virtual environment can make it more
difficult to pin point problem sources. In the virtual world, the
application could be hosted on the Internet or within the confines of a local
data center. Even then, the exact location of the application can change
dynamically based on resources. Traditional troubleshooting involved knowing
where the application resided. This was a big part of the normal routine, but no
longer a simple process in a virtual world.
Today it is important to identify
the traffic that belongs to an application and be able to see all of it regardless
of where it came from. In addition, the
ability to identify which end of a connection is server related and which is
client related is also important. This knowledge can help ascertain
whether a particular problem can be attributed to a server, the application or
client device. Correlating flow data with authentication systems such as
Cisco ISE allows administrators to follow users by their login credentials
regardless of the IP address from which they login. Loaded with these contextual
details, network administrators can compile information related to connection
speeds from certain desktops, mobile devices or areas of the application being
executed. Starting with a big picture view of all application issues
allows IT professionals to focus on the most critical areas and work toward
problem resolution.
Cisco Application Visibility and
Control (AVC) is the best technology available today that delivers the types of
statistics needed to gain full comprehension of all application issues. More specifically, AVC exports application-rich
details using NetFlow and IPFIX. Available on both new and legacy
routers, AVC flow exports provide layer 7 awareness of applications such as
Salesforce, Citrix, Skype, Facebook and thousands of others. Application
identification is just the beginning. AVC provides performance metrics related
to round trip time, jitter, packet loss, retransmits, packet size distribution,
TCP windows size and dozens of other critical metrics that you simply won't
have access to any other way in a virtual environment.
With this in mind as we look to
pop the cork on a new year, it's clear from my perspective that 2014 will
become the year more network administrators will turn to NetFlow and IPFIX to gain
greater application performance insight needed to optimize virtual
environments.
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About the Author
Michael Patterson is the Founder and CEO of Plixer International. He has
a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Maine and a Masters in
Computer Information Systems from Southern New Hampshire University.
Prior to starting the company in 1998, he worked for Cabletron Systems
in Support, Training and Professional Services. He is an experienced
leader with strong insight into the industry and the needs of his
customers. He has an aptitude for delivering high performing, value
added, systems and service solutions to meet challenging business
demands. He started the company as a one man shop and has grown it into a
multi-million dollar organization. All this done without the assistance
of venture capital.