eG Monitoring
 

Measures reported by TopConverTest

Bandwidth-intensive conversations between two hosts over the network is one of the reasons why users may experience slowness when communicating over the network. To resolve this, network administrators must first keep a close watch on the NetFlow between each pair of hosts that is interacting over the network, study the bandwidth usage of and data exchange between each pair, and identify the pair that is engaged in an bandwidth-intensive conversation. This is what the TopConverTest test helps administrators achieve!

This test auto-discovers the top-n conversations in terms of the amount of data exchanged over the network. For each conversation, this test reports the amount of data exchanged between the hosts engaged in that conversation and the bandwidth consumed in the process. This way, the test points administrators to the pair of hosts that are engaged in bandwidth-intensive communication.

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each of the top-n conversations (in terms of traffic volume) happening over every network interface supported by the target device.

First level descriptor: Interface name

Second level descriptor: IP addresses of the hosts engaged in an conversation over the network. Format is <SourceHost> to <DestinationHost>

Metrics are also reported for an Others descriptor. Netflow statistics pertaining to all conversations that are not the top-n conversations are aggregated and presented against the Others descriptor for each interface.

The measures made by this test are as follows:

Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation
bytes Indicates the total amount of data transmitted and received over this conversation during the last measurement period. KB Compare the value of this measure across conversations to identify which conversation is contributing to the high level of network traffic.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to determine the top netflows (in terms of the volume of data transacted) between the two hosts engaged in this conversation, and the amount of data transacted in bytes and packets in every flow. With the help of this detailed diagnosis, you can quickly compare the top netflows and know which netflow generated the maximum traffic. Once the problem flow is isolated, you can then investigate why traffic was abnormally high on that flow.
packets Indicates the total number of packets transmitted and received over this conversation during the last measurement period. Packets Compare the value of this measure across conversations to identify which conversation is contributing to the high level of network traffic.
bytesPerSec Indicates the rate at which data was transmitted/received over this conversation. Kbps  
packetsPerSec Indicates the rate at which packets were transmitted/received over this conversation. Packets/sec  
trafficRate Indicates what percentage of the total traffic on this interface was generated by this conversation. Percent A value close to 100% for this measure indicates that traffic generated by this conversation is imposing the maximum load on the network. If users complain of a latent network, you can compare the value of this measure across conversations to accurately identify which two hosts are exchanging a large volume of data over the network and choking it.
BWUtilized Indicates the bandwidth utilized by this conversation. Percent A value close to 100% is indicative of excessive bandwidth utilization by this conversation.

If users complain of a latent network, you can compare the value of this measure across conversations to accurately identify which two hosts are engaged in a bandwidth-intensive conversation over the network.
in_traffic Indicates what percentage of total incoming traffic on this interface pertains to this conversation. Percent  
out_traffic Indicates what percentage of total outgoing traffic on this interface pertains to this conversation. Percent  
in_bw Indicates the percentage of bandwidth utilized by traffic coming into this interface during this conversation. Percent A value close to 100% is a cause for concern as it implies a potential congestion in incoming traffic on this interface.
out_bw Indicates the percentage of bandwidth utilized by traffic going out of this interface during this conversation. Percent A value close to 100% is a cause for concern as it implies a potential congestion in outgoing traffic on this interface.
in_octets Indicates the amount of data received by this interface during this conversation. KB Compare the value of this measure across conversations to know which conversation is imposing the maximum load on the interface.
out_octets Indicates the amount of data sent by this interface during this conversation. KB Compare the value of this measure across conversations to know which conversation is imposing the maximum load on the interface.
in_packets Indicates the number of packets sent by this interface as part of this conversation. Number  
out_packets Indicates the number of packets received by this interface during this conversation. Number  
in_octetsRate Indicates the rate at which data is received by this interface during this conversation. Kbps If the value of this measure consistently drops for this conversation, it could indicate an incoming traffic congestion.
out_octetsRate Indicates the rate at which data is sent by this interface during this conversation. Kbps If the value of this measure consistently drops for this conversation, it could indicate an outgoing traffic congestion.
in_packetsRate Indicates the rate at which packets are received by this interface during this conversation. Packets/Sec If the value of this measure consistently drops for this conversation, it could indicate an incoming traffic congestion.
out_packetsRate Indicates the rate at which packets are transmitted by this interface during this conversation. Packets/Sec If the value of this measure consistently drops for this conversation, it could indicate an outgoing traffic congestion.
protocol Indicates the rate at which packets are transmitted by this interface during this conversation.   The values that this measure can report and their corresponding numeric values are listed in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
ICMP 1
IGMP 2
CGP 3
IPv4 4
ST 5
TCP 6
CBT 7
EGP 8
IGP 9
BBN-RCC-MON 10
NVP-II 11
PUP 12
ARGUS 13
EMCON 14
XNET 15
CHAOS 16
UDP 17
MUX 18
RDP 27
IPv6 41
IPv6-Route 43
IPv6-Frag 44
IDRP 45
RSVP 46
Encrypt 47
SWIPE 53
MOBILE 55
IPv6-ICMP 58
IPv6-NoNxt 59
IPv6-Opts 60
VISA 70
PVP 75
DGP 86
IPIP 94
PNNI 102
UDPLite 136

Note:

By default, this test reports the Measure Values listed above to indicate the protocol used by this conversation. In the graph of this measure however, the same is represented using the numeric equivalents only.