eG Monitoring
 

Measures reported by CtxNsIfaceTest

Network interfaces in the NetScaler appliance are numbered in <slot>/<port> notation. For each such network interface, this test reports the following:

  • The current state of the interface;
  • The duration for which the link to the interface was up;
  • The bandwidth utilized by the interface and the nature of traffic handled by the interface - i.e., multicast packets, NetScaler packets, LACPDUs, etc.
  • Issues experienced by the network during transmission/reception of packets - eg., packet drops, discards, errors, stalls, hangs, and more!

The measures made by this test are as follows:

Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation
Interface_state Indicates the current status of this network interface.   This measure reports a value Up if the Interface is up and a value Down to indicate that the Interface is down.

The numeric equivalents of these measure values have been discussed in the table below:

Numeric Value Measure Value
0 Up
1 Down

Note:

By default, this measure reports the above-mentioned Measure Values to indicate whether/not the NetScaler Interface is Up or Down. However, in the graph of this measure, these values will be represented using their corresponding numeric equivalents only.

Link_state Indicates the current status of the logical NetScaler Interface i.e., the link.   This measure reports a value Up if the link is up and a value Down to indicate that the link is down.

The numeric equivalents of these measure values have been discussed in the table below:

Numeric Value Measure Value
0 Up
1 Down

Note:

By default, this measure reports the Measure Values (listed in the table above) to indicate whether the link is Up or Down. However, in the graph of this measure, these values will be represented using their corresponding numeric equivalents only.

Link_uptime Indicates the time duration for which this link was Up. Mins A high value is desired for this measure.
Link_downtime Indicates the time duration for which this link was Down Mins Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0.
Data_received Indicates the amount of data being received by this NetScaler interface over a network link during the last measurement period. MB These measures serve as good indicators of the bandwidth utilized by a network interface. Compare the values of these measures across interfaces to isolate that interface which is handling bandwidth-intensive traffic.
Data_transmitted Indicates the amount of data being transmitted by this NetScaler interface over a network link during the last measurement period. MB
Packets_received Indicates the number of packets received by this NetScaler interface during the last measurement period. Number  
Packets_transmitted Indicates the number of packets transmitted by this NetScaler interface during the last measurement period. Number
Multicast_packets Indicates the number of packets received on this NetScaler interface that were destined for multiple hosts during the last measurement period. Number  
NetScaler_packets Indicates the number of packets received during the last measurement period on this NetScaler interface in which the destination MAC address is either the address of one of the NetScaler interfaces or the VMAC address configured by the user. Number  
LACPDUs_received Indicates the number of the Link Aggregation Control Protocol Data Units (LACPDUs) that were received on the selected port during the last measurement period. Number LACP (802.3ad) is a control protocol that configures multiple ports into a single high-speed link. An aggregated link is referred to as a channel. On this aggregated link, the LACP-enabled appliances exchange LACP data units (LACPDU).

After LACP is enabled on a port, the port sends LACPDUs to notify the remote system of its system LACP priority, system MAC address, port LACP priority, port number, and operational key. Upon receipt of an LACPDU, the remote system compares the received information with the information received on other ports to determine the ports that can operate as selected ports. This allows the two systems to reach agreement on the states of the related ports.

LACPDUs_transmitted Indicates the number of the Link Aggregation Control Protocol Data Units (LACPDUs) that were transmitted by the selected port during the last measurement period. Number
Dropped_packets_received Indicates the number of error-free outbound packets that were dropped when received by this NetScaler interface during the last measurement period. Number Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero. The packets may be dropped due to a VLAN mismatch, an oversized packet or a disabled network interface card.
Dropped_packets_transmit Indicates the number of error-free outbound packets that were dropped during transmission by this NetScaler interface during the last measurement period. Number  
Inbound_packets_discard Indicates the number of error-free inbound packets that were discarded by this NetScaler interface during the lasrt measurement period. Number Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero. These measures may report a non-zero value when an interface runs short of resources - e.g., NIC buffers.
Outbound_packets_discard Indicates the number of error-free outbound packets that were discarded by this NetScaler interface during the last measurement period. Number
Error_packets_received Indicates the number of packets that were received with errors by this NetScaler interface during the last measurement period. Number Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.
Error_packets_transmit Indicates the number of packets that were transmitted with errors by this NetScaler interface during the last measurement period. Number
MAC_moves_registered Indicates the number of MAC moves that were registered between ports during the last measurement period. Number  
NIC_hangs Indicates the number of times the Network Interface Card (NIC) hanged.   Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero. A non-zero value is reported when the Netscale detects an error on the transmission or reception path of the NIC.
Status_stalls Indicates the number of system detected stalls that occurred during transmission or reception of packets on this Network Interface Card during the last measurement period. Number When the status is not updated within 0.8 seconds by the NIC hardware, the NIC is said to be in a status stall state.
Receive_stalls Indicates the number of system registered stalls that occurred during reception of packets on this NetScaler Interface. Number When the link is UP for more than 10 minutes and packets are transmitted, but no packets are received for 16 seconds, the NIC is said to be in a receive stall state. This commonly occurs in lab environments when no packets, including spanning tree, are received on the wire.
Transmit_stalls Indicates the number of system detected stalls that occurred during transmission of packets on this Network Interface Card. Number When a packet posted for transmission is not transmitted in 4 seconds, the NIC is said to be in a transmit stall state.
Error_disables Indicates the number of times this NetScaler Interface has been disabled. Number Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero. The NetScaler interface would be disabled due to errors such as the stall in the transmission or reception of packets.
Duplux_mismathces Indicates the number of duplux mismatches that were detected on this NetScaler Interface. Number Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.
Link_re_initializations Indicates the number of times the network link has been re-initialized. Number Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.
Times_NIC_became_muted Indicates the number of times this NetScaler interface was muted i.e., this NetScaler interface stopped transmitting or receiving the packets. Number Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero. The Netscalrer interface may be muted when there were too many dropped packets or when there were too many MAC moves on this NetScaler interface which would occur due to a suspected configuration issue.
Input_throughput Indicates the rate at which packets were received by this Network Interface card during the last measurement period. Mbps  
Output_throughput Indicates the rate at which packets were transmitted through this Network Interface card during the last measurement period. Mbps