Working with the flowmeter

Setting Up Bandwidth Utilization Per Flow

Access the Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Rules page to obtain the current report from the flowmeter, which is useful when determining bandwidth utilization on a per-flow basis. Bandwidth measurements for the various flows on configured ports are available in the Traffic page. The critical step when creating or managing bandwidth usage per flow is defining the applicable Layer-2, IPv4 or IPv6 filters.

The system is designed in such a way that the traffic flow must first be defined as a set of valid received frames that match a filter. Once classified, bandwidth usage can then be determined for a flow.

flowmeter can count a frame only once. The frame will be counted in the first matching filter in priority order.

The flowmeter calculates throughput as the average rate of successful message delivery over a port, expressed in bits per second (bps). Throughput samples are collected on each supported port with counters that are continuously incremented, making it possible to determine the maximum, minimum and average throughput for each report period, expressed in bits per second. The minimum and maximum throughput are function of the sampling period while the average throughput is a cumulative value over a 1 second period.

Collecting all statistics on the ports and flows once is called a measurement. Each such measurement has a sampling period, which is defined as the time that elapses between when each measurement is sampled.

The statistics for each report period include the throughput, the number of bytes, and the number of packets for the configured flow. Port statistics are reported as flow statistics as soon as the flowmeter is enabled; they cannot be disabled.

Setting Up flowmeter Flow Rules

Once you have set up filters, you are ready to assign them to a traffic flow whose bandwidth utilization can be calculated. Use the following procedure to view or configure port settings for the various traffic flows for which bandwidth utilization is to be calculated in the system.

By default, four rules are created per port and you can have up to 28 rules per remote device. The additional 20 rules must first be added to a specific port.

To view traffic flow port settings

1. Access the page Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Rules.

   A listing of all flowmeter ports available in the system is displayed.

2. (Optional) To limit the view to only certain ports, enter a value on which to filter, then click Search.

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   Note: Enter an asterisk ( * ) as a wildcard to replace one or several characters.

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3. Click the Port Name of a flowmeter port from the list to see its settings.

   The page refreshes to reflect your selection.

4. The following statistics are provided in the Flow Statistics Sample section:

   • The number of packets

   These statistics are shown for each flow defined, as well as for the port (which indicates the sum of all the flows’ statistics).

5. The following statistics are provided in the Flow Statistics Report section for each report period:

   • The number of packets
   • The number of bytes
   • The average, minimum and maximum throughput calculated.
   • The average throughput L1 calculated.

   These statistics are shown for each flow defined, as well as for the port (which indicates the sum of all the flows’ statistics).

Configuring Flow Filters per Port

You can define the flows for which statistics will be gathered for each of the Skylight sensor: control’s available ports. Follow the steps below to configure flows for which statistics will be calculated on a per port basis.

To edit flows for calculating per-port statistics

1. Access the page Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Rules.
   A listing of all flowmeter ports available in the system is displayed.

2. (Optional) To limit the view to only certain ports, enter a value on which to filter, then click Search.

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   Note: Enter an asterisk ( * ) as a wildcard to replace one or several characters.

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3. Click the Port Name of a flowmeter port from the list to view its settings.

   The page refreshes to reflect your selection.

4. In the Flow configuration section, click on the Priority of the flow you want to modify or delete.

   The Flow Configuration window opens.

5. Enter values in the required fields, then click Apply to confirm your changes. Use the Delete button to delete specific flows.

The parameters in the Flow Configuration section are described in the table at the end of this section.

To add flows for calculating per-port statistics

1. Access the page Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Rules.

   A listing of all flowmeter ports available in the system is displayed.

2. Click Add.

   The New Flow Configuration window opens.

3. Enter values in the required fields, then click Apply to confirm your changes.

The parameters in the Flow Configuration section are described in the following table.

Flow Configuration Parameters (Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Rules)

Viewing Flow Statistics per Port

Once flow filters have been configured, you can view the statistics for each flow, as well as for the port to which the flows are configured.

To view per-port flow statistics

1. Access the page Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Rules.

   A listing of all flowmeter ports available in the system is displayed.

2. (Optional) To limit the view to only certain ports, enter a value on which to filter, then click Search.

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   Note: Enter an asterisk ( * ) as a wildcard to replace one or several characters .

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3. Click the Name of a flowmeter port from the list to view its settings.

   The page refreshes to reflect your selection.

The values in the Flow Statistics Sample section and the Flow Statistics Report section are described in the following tables.

Flow Statistics Sample (Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Rules)

Flow Statistics Report Values (Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Rules)

Viewing flowmeter Sampling Configuration

Use the Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Sampling page to view the flowmeter sampling configurations of the devices for which bandwidth utilization will be calculated.

To view flowmeter sampling configurations

1. Access the page Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Sampling.

   A listing of all devices for which flowmeter sampling has been configured is displayed.

For information on specific parameters, refer to the following table.

flowmeter Sampling Configuration Parameters (Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Sampling)

Configuring Flow Sampling

You can configure the flow sampling period used for the reporting of the bandwidth utilization calculated by the flowmeter. Use the Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Sampling page to configure the flow sampling settings on a per device basis.

The device must have a NFV tunnel operational for flow reporting to be possible.

To configure the flow sampling period

1. Access the page Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Sampling.

   A listing of all devices for which flowmeter sampling has been configured is displayed.

2. (Optional) To limit the view to only certain devices, enter a value on which to filter, then click Search.

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   Note: Enter an asterisk ( * ) as a wildcard to replace one or several characters.

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3. Click the Device Name from the list to edit its settings.

   The flowmeter Sampling Configuration window opens.

4. Enter the Sampling Period (ms), then click Apply to confirm your changes.

For more information on specific parameters, refer to the following table.

flowmeter Sampling Configuration Parameters (Traffic ▶ flowmeter ▶ Sampling)