Licensing Requirements and Limitations for iPCA

Involved Network Elements

Other network elements also need to support iPCA.

Licensing Requirements

iPCA is a basic feature of a switch and is not under License control.

Feature Support in V200R019C10

Only the following switch models support iPCA:

S5720-HI, S5730-HI, S5731-H, S5731-S, S5731S-H, S5731S-S, S5732-H, S6720-HI, S6730-H, S6730S-H, S6730-S, S6730S-S

For details about software mappings, visit Hardware Query Tool and search for the desired product model.

Feature Limitations

• Network-level packet loss measurement:
  • The prerequisite of network-level packet loss measurement is time synchronization between iPCA devices. Therefore, before configuring iPCA, configure NTP on the devices.
  • In network-level packet loss measurement, the device can color known IP unicast packets but not MPLS packets or unknown IP unicast packets.
  • Network-level packet loss measurement is based on target flows, you can specify target flows. If the packet content is modified (for example, NAT is performed on packets, packets are encapsulated in tunnels, and packet priority is changed), the device cannot precisely match the packets, so the measurement result may be inaccurate.
  • In an MPLS L2VPN scenario, network-level packet loss measurement cannot be configured, including end-to-end packet loss measurement, regional network packet loss measurement, and network-level hop-by-hop packet loss measurement.
  • In an MPLS L3VPN scenario, end-to-end packet loss measurement can be configured on private network interfaces of PEs, regional network packet loss measurement can be configured on the CEs, and network-level hop-by-hop packet loss measurement cannot be configured.
  • End-to-end and regional network packet loss measurement support on-demand and proactive packet loss measurement. Network-level hop-by-hop packet loss measurement only supports on-demand packet loss measurement.
• Packet loss measurement for a direct link:
  • The prerequisite of packet loss measurement for a direct link is time synchronization between iPCA devices. Therefore, before configuring iPCA, configure NTP on the devices.
  • You cannot specify target flows in packet loss measurement for direct links.
  • In device-level packet loss measurement for direct links, the device can color IP unicast packets (including known and unknown IP unicast packets) but not MPLS packets.
• Packet loss measurement for the entire device:
  • You cannot specify target flows in packet loss measurement for a device.
  • In packet loss measurement for the entire device, the device can color known IP unicast packets but not MPLS packets or unknown IP unicast packets.
  • In MPLS L3VPN, packet loss measurement for the entire device is also supported if the device functions as only PE.