| Measurement |
Description |
Measurement Unit |
Interpretation |
| Packets_transmitted |
The rate at which packets were transmitted by this network interface. |
Packets/Sec |
An increase in traffic from the server can indicate an increase in accesses from the server (from users on the ESX server, or from the virtual machines on the server). |
| Data_transmitted |
The rate at which data was transmitted by this network interface. |
Mbps |
| Packets_received |
The rate at which data packets were received by this network interface. |
Packets/Sec |
An increase in traffic to the server can indicate an increase in accesses to the server (from users or from other applications external to the server) or that the server is under an attack of some form. |
| Data_received |
The rate at which data was received by this network interface. |
Mbps |
| Availability |
Indicates whether the network interface card is available or not. |
|
If this measure reports the value Up, it indicates that the NIC is accessible. Whereas, if the status is Down, it indicates that the NIC cannot be accessed.
The numeric values that correspond to each of the states discussed above are listed in the table below:
| State |
Value |
| Up |
100 |
| Down |
0 |
Note:
By default, this measure reports the values Up or Down to indicate the status of an NIC. The graph of this measure however, represents the status of an NIC using the numeric equivalents - 0 or 100. |
| Speed |
Indicates the current speed of this network interface card. |
Mbps |
Compare the value of this measure across NICs to identify the slowest NIC and to assess network usage across NICs. You can also use the value of this measure to predict the maximum throughput that can be reached. |
| droppedTx |
Indicates the rate at which packet were dropped by this interface during transmissions. |
Packets/Sec |
A low value is typically desired for this measure. |
| droppedTx_perc |
Indicates the percentage of packets that were dropped by this network interface during transmissions. |
Percent |
A very high value of this measure is a cause for concern, as it could indicate a network congestion. |
| droppedRx |
Indicates the rate at which packets were dropped by this interface during reception. |
Packets/Sec |
A low value is typically desired for this measure. |
| droppedRx_perc |
Indicates the percentage of packets that were dropped by this network interface during reception. |
Percent |
A very high value of this measure is a cause for concern, as it could indicate a network congestion. |
| Network_iops |
Indicates the rate at which packets were received and transmitted by this network interface. |
Packets/Sec |
A high value is desired for this measure. A consistent drop in the value of this measure is a cause for concern, as it indicates a strain on the network interface, which is causing it to slowdown. |
| Network_throughput |
Indicates the rate at which data was received and transmitted by this network interface. |
MB/Sec |
A high value is desired for this measure. A consistent drop in the value of this measure is a cause for concern, as it indicates a strain on the network interface, which is causing it to slowdown. |
| unknow_Protocol |
Indicates the rate at which packets with unknown protocol were received by this network interface. |
Packets/Sec |
For packet-oriented interfaces, this measure will report the number of packets received via the interface which were discarded because of an unknown or unsupported protocol. For character-oriented or fixed-length interfaces that support protocol multiplexing, this measure reports the number of transmission units received via the interface which were discarded because of an unknown or unsupported protocol. For any interface that does not support protocol multiplexing, this counter will always be 0. |
| multi_Receivs |
Indicates the rate at which multicast packets were received by this interface. |
Packets/Sec |
Multicast is the term used to describe communication where a piece of information is sent from one or more points to a set of other points. In this case there is may be one or more senders, and the information is distributed to a set of receivers (theer may be no receivers, or any other number of receivers). Multicasting is the networking technique of delivering the same packet simultaneously to a group of client. |
| multi_Trans |
Indicates the rate at which multicast packets were transmitted by this interface. |
Packets/Sec |
| broadcast_Receivs |
Indicates the rate at which broadcast packets were received by this interface.
|
Packets/Sec |
Broadcast is the term used to describe communication where a piece of information is sent from one point to all other points. In this case there is just one sender, but the information is sent to all connected receivers.
Broadcast transmission is supported on most LANs (e.g. Ethernet), and may be used to send the same message to all computers on the LAN (e.g. the address resolution protocol (arp) uses this to send an address resolution query to all computers on a LAN). Network layer protocols (such as IPv4) also support a form of broadcast that allows the same packet to be sent to every system in a logical network (in IPv4 this consists of the IP network ID and an all 1's host number).
|
| broadcast_Trans |
Indicates the rate at which broadcast packets were sent by this interface. |
MB/Sec |
| error_Receivs |
Indicates the rate at which packets with errors were received by this interface. |
Packets/Sec |
Ideally, the value of these measures should be 0. |
| error_Trans |
Indicates the rate at which packets with errors were transmitted by this interface. |
Packets/Sec |
To know the network health across all network interfaces supported by the ESX server, just click on the descriptor with the name of the ESX 3i server being monitored. The following measure is then reported: