Monitoring Domain Traffic

Overview of Domain Discovery

Starting Domain Discovery

Understanding the Domain Discovery Window

Overview of Domain History

Starting Domain History

Displaying Different Domain History Views

Displaying Numeric Values

Monitoring Domain Traffic

The TrafficDirector application includes tools for monitoring domain traffic.

The following sections describe the traffic monitoring methods:

For more information about creating domains, see Chapter 5, "Working with Domains."

Overview of Domain Discovery

Using Domain Discovery to monitor traffic on your network lets you establish a baseline of normal or expected performance and note any deviations from that performance that might signal broader network problems.

For example, by using Domain Discovery you can:

View a variety of statistics for domains and agents or switches.
Learn which protocols are on the network.
Learn which domains are present in an agent.
Start other applications.
Determine which alarms have been established.

Domain Discovery is a real-time, two-part application if you use it for a specific agent, switch port, or DLCI. The two parts are described below:

Part 1---Details domain information.
Part 2---Details established alarm information.

Detailed domain information is essential to establishing a clear picture of what is happening on your network. Domain Discovery lets you view the level of traffic currently seen by each domain and all of the configured alarms for domains installed on selected network devices. Based on the activity displayed, you can start other applications (such as Domain History, TopN Talkers, All Talkers, and All Conversations Data Capture) to get more detailed information.

The Alarm Discovery window displays a summary of all alarms configured on a specific agent, switch port, or DLCI. You can get more information about a specific alarm by double-clicking one of the alarms listed in the Alarm list box.

Starting Domain Discovery

Domain Discovery is started from the Traffic, Protocol, or Application level of the main window. To start Domain Discovery, follow these steps:

Step 1 Click the Traffic, Protocol, or Application radio button in the TrafficDirector main window.

Step 2 Click the Agent, Switch, or Frame Relay radio button.

Step 3 Do one of the following:

If you selected Agent, select an agent name from the agent list box.
If you selected Switch, select a switch name from the switch list box. Then, select a switch port name from the interface list box (lower left of screen).
If you selected Frame Relay, select a Frame Relay agent name from the Frame Relay list box. If necessary, select a DLCI interface from the interface list box (lower left of screen).

Step 4 Click the Domain Discovery icon in the TrafficDirector main window.

The Domain Discovery window opens for the RMON domain, regardless of the domain you selected (Figure 12-1):

Figure 12-1: Domain Discovery Window

The following section describes the Domain Discovery window:

Understanding the Domain Discovery Window

Understanding the Domain Discovery Window

The Domain Discovery window is a two-part display.

The top part contains detailed domain information---Table 12-1 lists the various headings in the detailed domain information part and describes the information displayed under each.

Table 12-1: Detailed Domain Information
This Heading... Displays This Information

Domain

The domain names installed on the agent.

Group

A letter under this heading indicates whether or not RMON groups for statistics (S), hosts (H), conversations (C), or response time (R) have been enabled on the agent.

Buckets SH

The number of buckets used to track short-term history for the selected domain.

Buckets LH

The number of buckets used to track long-term history for the selected domain.

Intervals SH

The interval (in seconds) at which the agent fills the short-term history buckets.

Intervals LH

The interval (in seconds) at which the agent fills the long-term history buckets.

Total Pkts

The total packets seen for this domain since the agent booted.

Total Bytes

The total number of bytes for this domain.

Util%

The average percentage of network utilization for the domain.

PktRate

The packets per second on the network segment that meet the requirements of the domain specified.

**Table 12-1: Detailed Domain Information**
This Heading...	Displays This Information
Domain	The domain names installed on the agent.
Group	A letter under this heading indicates whether or not RMON groups for statistics (S), hosts (H), conversations (C), or response time (R) have been enabled on the agent.
Buckets SH	The number of buckets used to track short-term history for the selected domain.
Buckets LH	The number of buckets used to track long-term history for the selected domain.
Intervals SH	The interval (in seconds) at which the agent fills the short-term history buckets.
Intervals LH	The interval (in seconds) at which the agent fills the long-term history buckets.
Total Pkts	The total packets seen for this domain since the agent booted.
Total Bytes	The total number of bytes for this domain.
Util%	The average percentage of network utilization for the domain.
PktRate	The packets per second on the network segment that meet the requirements of the domain specified.

The lower part of the Domain Discovery window contains detailed or basic alarm information:
- Table 12-2 describes the information in the Alarm portion of the Domain Discovery window.
- You can supplement the basic alarm discovery information displayed on the lower portion of the Domain Discovery window by highlighting an alarm listed and double-clicking the right mouse button. Detailed information for the highlighted alarm displays.

Table 12-2: Detailed Alarm Information
This Heading... Displays This Information

Trap Variable

The type of variable established for the particular alarm.

Sample type

Determines whether the trap will be generated when a specific absolute value is reached or a changed value is reached.

Rising Threshold

The rising threshold established for the alarm. In terms of utilization, the number displayed is a percentage; for other terms, the number displayed is an absolute value.

Falling Threshold

The falling threshold established for the alarm. In terms of utilization, the number displayed is a percentage; for other terms, the number displayed is an absolute value.

Sample Interval

The interval (in seconds) at which the agent checks to see if the specified rising and falling thresholds have been crossed.

Table 12-2: **Detailed Alarm Information**
This Heading...	Displays This Information
Trap Variable	The type of variable established for the particular alarm.
Sample type	Determines whether the trap will be generated when a specific absolute value is reached or a changed value is reached.
Rising Threshold	The rising threshold established for the alarm. In terms of utilization, the number displayed is a percentage; for other terms, the number displayed is an absolute value.
Falling Threshold	The falling threshold established for the alarm. In terms of utilization, the number displayed is a percentage; for other terms, the number displayed is an absolute value.
Sample Interval	The interval (in seconds) at which the agent checks to see if the specified rising and falling thresholds have been crossed.

Overview of Domain History

You can use Domain History to display real-time statistics for an agent, Frame Relay agent, DLCI, or switch port, and domains in various graphical formats according the short- and long-term history interval values you specify in the default.dvp file.

When you start Domain History, a date stamp displays on the far right of the window to indicate that the history has started. Over time, new statistics display as a sliding window of time, thereby making the real-time statistics historical. The display is refreshed according to the default refresh interval. You can change the default refresh interval by using the Refresh option in the menu bar on the Domain History window.

Starting Domain History

To start Domain History, follow these steps:

Step 1 Click the Traffic icon on the TrafficDirector main window.

Step 2 Click the Agent, Switch, or Frame Relay button.

Step 3 Do one of the following:

If you selected Agent, select an agent name from the agent list box.
If you selected Switch, select a switch name from the switch list box. Then, select a switch port name from the interface list box (lower left of screen).
If you selected Frame Relay, select a Frame Relay agent name from the Frame Relay list box. If necessary, select a DLCI interface from the interface list box (lower left of screen).

Step 4 Select a Domain name from the Domain Name list box.

Step 5 Click the Domain History icon.

The Domain History window opens for the selected domain (Figure 12-2).

Figure 12-2: Domain History Window

Displaying Different Domain History Views

By default, the Domain History display is set to Utilization. For a different view, follow these steps:

Step 1 Select View from the Menu bar.

Step 2 Select a different view from the list.

Displaying Numeric Values

To display the numerical value that a point or bar in a graph represents, click the specific point or bar. Its value appears in the status bar at the bottom of the window (Figure 12-3).

Figure 12-3: Domain History Status Bar

Table of Contents

Monitoring Domain Traffic