Cisco IOS IP SLA is a capability embedded in most devices that run Cisco IOS software. Its service-level assurance metrics and methodology allows you to increase network reliability by verifying service guarantees with precise service-level assurance measurements. IP SLA can validate network performance, proactively identify network issues, and simplify the deployment of new IP services.

Cisco IOS IP SLAs generate synthetic test traffic in a continuous, reliable, and predictable manner to enable accurate measurement of network performance. This traffic can be sent across the network to measure performance among multiple network locations or across multiple network paths. IP SLA uses timestamp information to facilitate the calculation of performance metrics such as jitter, latency, network and server response times, packet loss, and Mean Opinion Score (MOS).