eG Monitoring
 

Measures reported by MLXPortStatTest

Quality of Service (QoS) prioritizes network traffic and manages available bandwidth so that the most important traffic goes first. QoS is implemented as rules or policies that prioritize packets, optionally change information in the packet header, and assign them to outbound port queues based on their priority. The priority interface in Mellanox switch allows for the configuration of priority rules and handles the incoming traffic accordingly. Given the ports are responsible management of traffic, it is imparitive for administrators to make sure that ports are working properly and effectively.

This test monitors the traffic and collects key stats about the working of ports like number of pause packets received and tranmsmitted. Looking at the trend of these stats, the administrators can understand how the switch is behaving and if there are any issues.

Outputs of the test: One set of result for each switch.

Descriptor: Switch

The measures made by this test are as follows:

Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation
RecvPauPkts Indicates the total number of pause packets received during the last measurement period on Priority Flow Control (PFC) queue. Number

In case receiver is not able to receive the messages fast enough it will send pause messages, which means switch is sending too many messages.
TranPauPkts Indicates the total number of pause packets transmitted during the last measurement period on Priority Flow Control (PFC) queue. Number

If you see too many pause packets being sent over the network, it means switch is not able to receive the messages fast enough as sent by source, it could be a sign of problem and needs to be looked at.