Session Inventory Overview

What is a Session?

Sessions (or monitored objects) are the building blocks/lowest level of our data model. Our sensors and third-parties report session data at this raw level, and Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance supports augmenting that construct via metadata (Understanding Metadata).

In the Inventory application, you can:

• Search sessions by name, using metadata or reporting status (active or inactive)
• Add new sessions
• Archive sessions to hide them from the active inventory
• Quick view a session’s information, including:

  • reporting status
    

  • a map view of the session (if location metadata is provisioned)
    

  • upcoming maintenance windows (if found)
    

  • metadata (location, custom, and dynamic)
    

• Change metadata for a single or multiple session at a time
• Pin and analyze multiple sessions to compare performance
• Drill into session details by clicking Open details from the sidebar, or by clicking a session’s name in the session list

Adding a Session

To add a session:

1. Go to Inventory ► Sessions.
2. On the top right, click +. The New session modal appears.
   
3. Select an Agent from the drop-down menu.
4. Select the Session type:
   • TWAMP-SL (stateless)
   • TWAMP-SF (stateful)
   • Throughput
   • Echo ICMP
   • Echo UDP
   • Transfer
   • Path trace
5. Click Next: session configuration.
6. Configure the parameters.
   Note: The parameters vary depending on the selected session type.
7. Click ✔.

Reporting Status

Sessions are classified as active or inactive based on whether metrics have been fully processed and stored in analytics.

Note: A session's status reflects whether metrics have completed the full ingestion pipeline into Provider Connectivity Assurance analytics — not simply whether a sensor collector is receiving data. A session can appear inactive even while actively sending metrics if those metrics have not yet been processed.

Session Inventory Filters

The session inventory supports filtering by reporting status:

All sessions — no status filter applied
Inactive for 24 hours — no processed metrics in the last 24 hours
Inactive for 7 days — no processed metrics in the last 7 days

Archiving

Sessions cannot be deleted, but they can age out of data retention. You can archive sessions to help clean up the session inventory view.

This can be done in bulk through the inventory view:

To archive sessions:

1. In Sessions ► Inventory, select the check box for the sessions you want to archive.
2. On the right panel, click the ellipsis ... and then select Archive all.

Note: Archiving is only a flag against the session used for query support, and does not prevent new data from being reported.