Cisco Dashbaord

In order to ascertain how well the network is utilized in an environment and how well the Cisco Router routes the network traffic, an exclusive Cisco dashboard is necessary. This dashboard provides the administrators with in-depth insights to the overall performance of the net flow over the network and enables them to accurately isolate the root-cause of any network slowdown.

In addition, like the System, Network and Application dashboards that is available for other applications managed by the eG Enterprise System, the contents of the Cisco dashboard too are further governed by the Subsystem than can be chosen by the user. By default, the Overview option is chosen from the Subsystem list. If need be, you can change this default setting by picking a different option from the Subsystem list. The sections that follow will discuss each of the Subsystems offered by the Cisco dashboard in detail.

1. Overview

   The Overview dashboard of a Cisco Router provides an all-round view of the health of the router being monitored, and helps administrators pinpoint the problem areas. Using this dashboard therefore, you can determine the following quickly and easily:

   • Has the Cisco Router encountered any issue currently? If so, what is the issue and how critical is it?
   • How problem-prone has the Cisco Router been during the last 24 hours? Which application layer has been badly hit?
   • Has the administrative staff been able to resolve all past issues? On an average, how long do the administrative personnel take to resolve an issue?
   • How well the Network traffic flows through each of the Network Interfaces?
   • Is the Network currently available?
   • How well the memory is utilized from the memory pools associated with the Cisco device?
   • How many packets of data were lost over the network while being transmitted?

   The contents of the Overview Dashboard have been elaborated on hereunder:

   1. The Alerts section reveals the number of currently open alerts and type of issues currently affecting the performance of the Cisco Router that is being monitored. To know more about the current issues, click on any cell against Distribution that represents the problem priority of interest to you; the details of the current problems of that priority will then appear in a pop up window.

      If the Alarms pop-up window reveals too many problems, you can use the Search text boxes that have been provided at the end of the Description, Layer, and StartTime columns to run quick searches on the contents of these columns, so that the alarm of your interest can be easily located. For instance, to find the alarm with a specific description, you can provide the whole/part of the alarm description in the text box at the end of the Description column in the Alarms pop up window; this will result in the automatic display of all the alarms with descriptions that contain the specified search string.

   2. To zoom into the exact layer, test, and measure that reported any of the listed problems, click on a particular alarm in the Alarms window. Doing so will introduce an Alarm Details section into the Alarms window, which provides the complete information related to the problem clicked on. These details include the Layer affected by the problem for which the alarm was raised, the test that reported the problem, and the last measure that was reported will be reported in the Last Measure.

   3. To further drill down the exact cause of this problem and for how long this problem has been persistent, you can click on the icon under the DD column. This will lead you the page that shows the Detailed Diagnosis of the problem for which the alarm was raised.
   4. The Device Uptime section reveals the statistics of how long the Cisco Router has been up and running.
   5. The dial graphs in the Overview Subsystem provide you with quick updates on the status of a pre-configured set of resource usage and network related metrics pertaining to the Cisco Router.
   6. Clicking on a dial graph will lead you to the layer model page of the Cisco Router; this page will display the exact layer-test combination that reports the measure represented by the dial graph.
   7. The Top Interfaces section that follows next provides a series of graphs for the Bandwidth usage and the Network traffic flowing through the Top - 10 Network Interfaces of the Cisco Router. The time period for which the graph is to be displayed can be altered using the Timeline drop-down list. Each individual graph can be enlarged using the button. Apart from viewing the graphical display of network flow through the Top - 10 Network Interfaces, you can also alternately view a data table for the Top - 10 Network interfaces.
   8. By default, the Bandwidth used list i.e., the percentage utilization of the bandwidth available over a network link is sorted in the ascending order of the usage. If need be, you can change the sort order so that the Interfaces are arranged in, say, the descending order of values displayed in the Data transmit rate column - this column displays the rate of data being transmitted from the network interface over a network link. To achieve this, simply click on the column heading Data transmit rate. Doing so tags the Data transmit rate label with an up arrow icon - this icon indicates that the Top Interfaces data table is currently sorted in the ascending order of the data that is transmitted from each network interface. To change the sort order to ‘descending’, all you need to do is just click again on the Data transmit rate label or the up arrow icon. Similarly, you can sort the table based on any column available in it.
   9. You can also view the Top Interfaces data table in an enlarged mode in the Overview Subsystem. To achieve this, simply click on the button in the Top Interfaces data table.

2. Protocols

   If you want to assess how well the current traffic flows through each protocol of the Network Interface and assess the bandwidth usage for each protocol of the Network Interface, select the Protocols option from the Subsystem list.

   The contents of the Protocols Subsystem that then appears are as follows:
   1. The dashboard begins with a Top Interfaces by portion of current traffic section, which using pie charts enables you to visually track the percentage of total traffic flowing through a specific protocol in each Network Interface at a single glance.
   2. The Protocol distribution by bandwidth usage section that follows next will provide a graphical display of the bandwidth used by each protocol of the Network Interface during the last 24 hours. You can choose the Network Interface for which you wish to view the bandwidth usage of each protocol using the Interface drop down list that is pre-populated with all the available Network Interfaces. Clicking on the button will allow to view the enlarged graph.

3. Flows

   If you want to assess your network performance data that is recorded over a period of time, select the Flows option from the Subsystem list. This Subsystem thus helps you analyze how well the network traffic flows through the Cisco Router and what are the hosts that generated large volumes of data and the destinations to which the data was transmitted by the hosts.

   The contents of the Flows Subsystem are discussed hereunder:

   1. The dashboard begins with a Top source flows section, which using a pie chart enables you to visually track the hosts that generate a huge volume of data over the network. This table allows you to isolate the hosts/sources that are currently engaged in bandwidth intensive transactions with other hosts thus causing network slowdown. A Details table in this section provides a tabular view of the network traffic generated by each host/source over the network.
   2. By default, the Flow percentage list i.e., the percentage of top network flows from the host/source is sorted in the ascending order of the usage. If need be, you can change the sort order so that the Sources are arranged in, say, the descending order of values displayed in the Total flow packet column - this column displays the number of data packets being transmitted over the network by this source. To achieve this, simply click on the column heading Total flow packet. Doing so tags the Total flow packet label with an up arrow icon - this icon indicates that the Details table is currently sorted in the ascending order of the number of data packets transmitted over the network by each source. To change the sort order to ‘descending’, all you need to do is just click again on the Total flow packet label or the up arrow icon. Similarly, you can sort the table based on any column available in it.
   3. The Top destination flows section that follows next also uses a pie chart to enable you to visually track the destination of the net flow i.e., the data traffic leading to the destination. This table allows you to identify the destinations that are frequently accessed over the network. A Details table in this section provides a tabular view of the network traffic over the network leading to the destination.
   4. By default, the Flow percentage list i.e., the percentage of top network flows to the destination is sorted in the ascending order of the usage. If need be, you can change the sort order so that the Destination is arranged in, say, the descending order of values displayed in the Total flow packet column - this column displays the number of data packets being transmitted over the network to this destination. To achieve this, simply click on the column heading Total flow packet. Doing so tags the Total flow packet label with an up arrow icon - this icon indicates that the Details table is currently sorted in the ascending order of the number of data packets transmitted over the network to each destination. To change the sort order to ‘descending’, all you need to do is just click again on the Total flow packet label or the up arrow icon. Similarly, you can sort the table based on any column available in it.
   5. The Top conversations section in the Flows Subsystem also utilizes a pie chart to enable you to visually track the net flow over the network i.e., the communication happening between two hosts over the network. This table allows you to identify the hosts that are engaged in bandwidth intensive communication. A Details table in this section provides a tabular view of the net flow happening between the hosts.
   6. By default, the Data in flow list i.e., the percentage of total traffic of the net flow flowing through the input interface of the Cisco Router is sorted in the ascending order of the usage. If need be, you can change the sort order so that the Conversation is arranged in, say, the descending order of values displayed in the Total flow packet column - this column displays the number of data packets being received and transmitted in the net flow. To achieve this, simply click on the column heading Total flow packet. Doing so tags the Total flow packet label with an up arrow icon - this icon indicates that the Details table is currently sorted in the ascending order of the number of data packets transmitted and received in the net flow. To change the sort order to ‘descending’, all you need to do is just click again on the Total flow packet label or the up arrow icon. Similarly, you can sort the table based on any column available in it.