Configuration of TcpTrafficTest

This test monitors the TCP protocol traffic to and from a server. Since most popular applications (Web servers, Citrix, Databases, Application servers, etc.) rely on the TCP protocol for their proper functioning, traffic monitoring at the TCP protocol layer can provide good indicators of the performance seen by the applications that use TCP. The most critical metric at the TCP protocol layer is the percentage of retransmissions. Since TCP uses an exponential back-off algorithm for its retransmissions, any retransmission of packets over the network (due to network congestion, noise, data link errors, etc.) can have a significant impact on the throughput seen by applications that use TCP.

The default parameters associated with this test are:

• The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

• In the HOST text box, specify the host for which the test is to be configured.

• Specify the minimum threshold for the number of segments sent/transmitted over the network in the segments_sent_min textbox. The default value is 10; in this case, the test will compute/report the TCP retransmit ratio measure only if more than 10 segments are sent over the network. On the other hand, if less than 10 segments are sent, then the test will not compute/report the TCP retransmit ratio measure. This is done to ensure that no false alerts are generated by the eG Enterprise system for the TCP retransmit ratio measure. You can change this minimum threshold to any value of your choice.

• If multiple components of the same component type are awaiting configuration, then an APPLY TO OTHER COMPONENTS button will appear in this page. Clicking on this button will allow you to apply the configuration to all/selected components of that type.

• Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the UPDATE button will register the changes made.

When changing the configuration for specific servers, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$” or contain a series of “*”. A value of “none” in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.