		Technical Library

Home
Contact Support
Search
Quick Index

Guidelines for Reading SNMP Reports

How do I interpret the reports?

The interface is indicated at the top, for example INFRXXXX.256k, is the serial interface for 256k service. INFRXXXX.lan0 is the LAN side of your router.

The headings are as follows:

	 KBit/sec	  Packets	  Errors
Time	In	Out	In	Out	In	Out

Time is in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) which you'll use to calculate your local time.

Each line shows the average KBits, Packets and Errors for the hour calculated from snapshots every 15 minutes. In other words, it gives you a general idea of how many kbits, packets or errors pass in and out of that particular interface averaged over time.

The Maximum Input and Output rate along with the time they occurred are provided at the bottom of each table.

When should I be concerned about the errors on my leased line(s)?

Intermittent errors are not usually a problem on a leased line. Many times they are produced by a short burst of traffic that exceeded the maximum speed of your line. If you see consistent errors on your leased line, it may indicate a problem. If this is the case please contact support.

For instance, a 56k line peaks at 56000 bits per second or 7Kbytes per second. Four or five people trying to web browse simultaneously will initially spike above what the line can handle. Packets will not make it over the line and TCP/IP will, by design, slow down on each machine to accommodate the demand vs. speed available. Some routers list every packet that didn't make it over the line as an "overrun" and add them to the total error count.

When should I be concerned about errors on my LAN ports?

LAN errors are more common than leased line errors. Most routers keep track of collisions on the Ethernet. If you have a busy LAN, you may have collisions. In most cases, consistent small numbers of errors on a LAN are not a problem and can be attributed to normal operation. Large amounts of errors should be investigated.

When should I upgrade my line?

56k leased lines should be upgraded when you pass an average of 50% usage. Our reports use a 15 minute glimpse into your traffic pattern. A 5 minute spike will be averaged against the other 10 minutes in that interval.

256k through 512k the target is around 65%. Spikes can easily run above max on your line.

Full T1 and above can run safely at 75%, assuming the traffic is fairly consistent, before you need to upgrade.

Sample Reports:

Daily SNMP Report for: 04/06/XXXX Interface: lan0 Kbit/sec Packets Errors Time In Out In Out In Out ---- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- 0000 0.14 0.28 749 1780 0 0 0100 44.58 2.08 16611 17795 0 0 0200 29.65 40.06 18177 19284 0 0 0300 2.37 26.26 11521 13063 0 0 0400 0.27 0.38 820 1707 0 0 0500 3.24 2.78 4936 6394 0 0 0600 1.30 0.57 1279 2208 0 0 0700 0.15 0.29 907 2076 0 0 0800 0.14 0.28 635 1508 0 0 0900 0.14 0.28 844 2008 0 0 1000 0.16 0.29 689 1555 0 0 1100 0.15 0.31 913 2079 0 0 1200 2.13 3.14 2528 3469 0 0 1300 0.16 0.31 935 2102 0 0 1400 0.15 0.30 911 2066 0 0 1500 0.14 0.28 633 1503 0 0 1600 0.16 0.31 703 1561 0 0 1700 0.00 0.17 0 1064 0 0 1800 0.00 0.17 0 1428 0 0 1900 0.00 0.18 0 1088 0 0 2000 0.00 0.17 0 1431 0 0 2100 0.00 0.18 0 1473 0 0 2200 0.00 0.19 0 1139 0 0 2300 0.00 0.18 0 1501 0 0 ---- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- Max Input Rate of 54.93 Kbits/sec. on 4/6/1999 2:9 GMT Max Output Rate of 55.16 Kbits/sec. on 4/6/1999 3:2 GMT Avg. Input Rate of 3.64 Kbits/sec. Avg. Output Rate of 3.23 Kbits/sec. Interface: 56K Kbit/sec Packets Errors Time In Out In Out In Out ---- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- 0000 0.14 0.16 1155 1253 0 0 0100 1.48 44.52 17184 17348 0 0 0200 39.48 28.94 18767 18647 0 0 0300 25.93 2.08 12333 12081 0 0 0400 0.23 0.28 1162 1263 0 0 0500 2.54 3.17 5676 5527 0 0 0600 0.40 1.31 1670 1726 0 0 0700 0.15 0.17 1366 1501 0 0 0800 0.14 0.16 978 1080 0 0 0900 0.14 0.15 1303 1436 0 0 1000 0.15 0.18 1028 1130 0 0 1100 0.16 0.17 1374 1505 0 0 1200 2.94 2.09 2927 2961 0 0 1300 0.17 0.17 1397 1518 0 0 1400 0.16 0.18 1362 1499 0 0 1500 0.14 0.16 976 1072 0 0 1600 0.17 0.18 1034 1141 0 0 1700 0.05 0.04 559 451 0 0 1800 0.05 0.04 758 600 0 0 1900 0.05 0.04 590 454 0 0 2000 0.05 0.04 763 599 0 0 2100 0.06 0.04 817 601 0 0 2200 0.06 0.04 645 448 0 0 2300 0.06 0.04 842 596 0 0 ---- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- Max Input Rate of 54.49 Kbits/sec. on 4/6/1999 3:2 GMT Max Output Rate of 54.53 Kbits/sec. on 4/6/1999 1:18 GMT Avg. Input Rate of 3.04 Kbits/sec. Avg. Output Rate of 3.62 Kbits/sec. Max Bandwidth Key: ------------------------------------- |Line - Max/Kbits | Line - Max/Kbits| |-----------------------------------| | t3 - 45000 | 512k - 512 | | 10M - 10000 | 256k - 256 | | e1 - 2048 | 64k - 64 | | t1 - 1536 | 56k - 56 | ------------------------------------- SNMP stats are a reflection of bandwidth used. You always have your full circuit bandwidth available to you.

WAN stats (Interface: 56k) - The Wan (Wide Area Network) stats are the statistics for the traffic going between your router and our network.

LAN stats (Interface: lan0) - The Lan (Local Area Network) stats are the statistics for the traffic going between your router and your internal network.