One important upgrade to QPM 3.0 is its ability to determine the IOS version of each device it manages. This is a major improvement over version 2.0, which required manual determination of the IOS version for each managed device (see "Cisco Systems' QPM-Pro Puts QoS Into Policy Management").

Another plus, version 3.0 indicates which QoS features can be used on each device managed. Still, the most beneficial enhancement to QPM 3.0 is its support of the complete QoS life cycle: The product's closed-loop QoS management means support from design to deployment to monitoring (real time and historical)--no need for third-party monitoring tools.

On the security front, if you use Cisco's ACS (Access Control Server) 3.1, QPM 3.0 will inherit existing permissions for disparate roles-based and device-based groups. This is a boon, especially in conjunction with the available audit-trail feature that tracks changes to policies, such as modifications and deployments, thereby improving accountability and troubleshooting.

QPM 3.0 requires Microsoft Windows 2000, at least 1 GB of RAM and a 1.4-GHz processor. The bigger the disk the better, as both the audit- and historical-monitoring features call for additional storage. Make sure your devices have the latest firmware upgrades to take advantage of QPM 3.0's new functionality. QPM 3.0 leverages Cisco's Class-Based QoS MIB for defining modular QoS (Quality of Service) policies, found in Cisco IOS versions 12.2 and 12.2T.

Design

After installing a beta version of QPM 3.0 in Network Computing's Green Bay, Wis., Real-World Labs®, I configured our network to simulate a remote and corporate campus, with T1 connectivity provided by two Cisco 7200 VXR routers. If you don't run CiscoWorks2000, don't worry. The installation includes the core CiscoWorks2000 framework necessary to run QPM 3.0.

Good Integrated with CiscoWorks2000. Supports MPLS. Manages the full QoS life cycle. Bad Minimum system requirements may call for new hardware. Supports only Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher.

QPM 3.0 can import devices from CiscoWorks2000, or you can add them manually, which is the route I took during testing. I added the campus and remote 7200s, in addition to the local Catalyst 6500 providing our core routing and workgroup switch functionality.

On the "remote" site, I fired up Caw Networks' WebAvalanche stress-testing appliance and NetIQ's Chariot 4.2 and oversubscribed the T1 with Citrix, FTP, HTTP, telnet and RealAudio traffic. QPM 3.0 communicates via TACACS (Terminal Access Controller Access Control System), telnet or SSH (Secure Shell) to deploy policies and monitors via SNMP, so if the link is swamped it can take some time to deploy a policy. (Note to self: Next time deploy policies before oversubscribing the link.)

The QPM 3.0 wizard interface walks you through the design of QoS policies. Because QPM 3.0 determines QoS functionality based on the IOS version a device is running, you don't deploy policies that are not supported. Cisco has striven to ensure that the policies configured via QPM are valid and will notify you if you attempt to combine QoS features that aren't compatible in a single policy.

Deploy and Monitor

QPM 3.0 uses a combination of Cisco's NBAR (Network-Based Application Recognition) filter to police the HTTP traffic and port-based policies to manage the additional traffic. I clicked "deploy" and fired up the new real-time monitoring feature. I was presented with a visual representation of the flow of traffic before the QoS policy was enforced, and the effects of the deployed QoS policy. This let me see a large number of drops for HTTP traffic before deployment, with the Citrix and FTP traffic hogging the pipe. After deployment, the traffic smoothed out as expected. RealAudio traffic now maintained an even flow, with jitter rates down in the 2-millisecond range.

Vendor Info QoS Policy Manager 3.0, starts at $6,995. Cisco Systems, (800) 326-1941. www.cisco.com

A feature I walked through in testing but was unable to deploy was the new VoIP (voice over IP) wizard, which assists in both the design and development of QoS policies specifically for Cisco-based VoIP implementations. The wizard includes several preconfigured templates that define typical QoS policies deployed to ensure quality communications through your VoIP network. You can modify or create these templates from scratch, and then save and use them to perform a corporatewide rollout. A word of warning: If your VoIP implementation hasn't been deployed according to Cisco's VoIP recommendations, the wizard won't help much.

My only complaints regarding QPM 3.0 center on the deployment platform and prepolicy classification of traffic, both of which Cisco promises to improve in future releases. Prepolicy classification, such as is performed by competitor NetReality, in which traffic is monitored and classified to assist in the design of QoS policies, would complement the full life-cycle management facet of QPM 3.0. For a Cisco-based networking environment, however, QPM is still the obvious choice for your QoS management solution--and version 3.0's enhancements are excellent.

Lori MacVittie is a technology editor for Network Computing. Write to her at lmacvittie@nwc.com.