Manual Chapter : WANJet® Appliance Administrator Guide: 8 - Monitoring Performance

Applies To:

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WANJet

  • 4.2.10, 4.2.3, 4.2.2, 4.2.1, 4.2.0
Manual Chapter

8

Monitoring Performance


Introducing reports

The WANJet appliance provides reports that you can use to monitor the status, connectivity, and performance of your WANJet appliance. You can display the reports in the Web UI by expanding Reports in the navigation pane and clicking one of the following report options:

  • Status
  • Real Time Traffic
  • Comparative Throughput
  • Diagnostics

It is easier to view the reports if your Web UI browser window is full-screen size.

Note

To ensure accurate reports, we suggest that you frequently synchronize the time setting on all WANJet appliances. For more information, see Configuring time settings, on page 5-6 .

This chapter describes how to display the reports and also explains other ways of obtaining information about performance, including using network diagnostic tools, reviewing operational logs, and integrating with third-party reporting tools.

Status report

The Status report provides the status and details of remote WANJet appliances. If the remote WANJet appliance has a redundant peer, the Status report also displays details about the peer appliance. The Status report is the first screen displayed when you log on to the WANJet Web UI.

To view the Status report

In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Status.
The initial WANJet Status screen displays the following information for all remote WANJet appliances:

  • Status (active or inactive)
  • IP address of the remote WANJet appliance
  • Alias
  • Version of the WANJet appliance software

The WANJet Status screen displays the following information for the local WANJet appliance:

  • License key status (not entered, not valid, expired, or OK)
Note

If you change the settings of a remote WANJet appliance, it takes a couple of minutes for the two WANJet appliances to communicate the changes and display an updated Status report.

Figure 8.1 shows a sample Status report for a WANJet appliance that has one active remote WANJet appliance.

 

Figure 8.1 WANJet Appliance Status report

To test connectivity with the remote WANJet appliance

Click the information in the Status column of any remote WANJet appliance. The Remote WANJet Link Status screen opens and shows the results of running the ping and traceroute commands to the remote WANJet appliance. For details on the ping command, see Ping ; for details on the traceroute command, see Traceroute .

Real Time Traffic report

The Real Time Traffic report displays a graph of all network traffic, in real time, over both the LAN and the WAN. This provides an at-a-glance overview of the network traffic that is passing through the WANJet appliance.

To view a graph of network traffic in real time

In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Real Time Traffic.
The Real Time Traffic report opens as shown in Figure 8.2 . You may need to reply to Security Information questions, and press Enter or spacebar to view the report.

Figure 8.2 Real Time Traffic report (standard inline configuration)

In a Real Time Traffic report for a standard inline configuration:

  • The vertical axis indicates the amount of network traffic, in bits per second.
  • The horizontal axis shows the time (using a 24-hour clock) in hours, minutes, and seconds, in 10-second intervals.
  • The blue line (LAN In) represents the raw data that is destined for the WAN passing into the local WANJet appliance from the LAN.
  • The yellow line (LAN Out) represents optimized data passing out of the local WANJet appliance on its LAN interface.
  • The red line (WAN In) represents optimized data passing into the local WANJet appliance from its remote partner.
  • The green line (WAN Out) represents reconstituted data passing out of the local WANJet appliance on its WAN interface.

If you run the Real Time Traffic report on a WANJet appliance set up using a one-arm configuration, the report changes. Because there are no LAN and WAN connections in that configuration, you see only two lines showing the Data In and Data Out, as shown in Figure 8.3 .

Figure 8.3 Real Time Traffic report (one-arm configuration)

In a Real Time Traffic report for a one-arm configuration:

  • The vertical axis indicates the amount of network traffic, in bits per second.
  • The horizontal axis shows the time (using a 24-hour clock) in hours, minutes, and seconds, in 10-second intervals.
  • The blue line (Data In) represents the raw data that is coming into the local WANJet appliance.
  • The yellow line (LAN Out) represents optimized data passing out of the local WANJet appliance.

For more information on one-arm configuration, refer to One-arm deployment, on page 3-4 .

Comparative Throughput reports

You can generate a Comparative Throughput report based on any combination of traffic direction, data type, and time period. Comparative Throughput reports refresh automatically every two minutes.

At the top of each report, there is a summary of the amount of data handled before and after compression, and the compression ratio achieved (expressed as a percentage). These figures vary according to the time period selected and the direction of traffic.

You can download any of the reports as text files with comma-separated values (CSV). Then, you can import CSV reports into a database or spreadsheet package.

To generate a Comparative Throughput report and save it to a file

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Comparative Throughput.
  2. Near the top of the main screen, click one of the following to select the direction of traffic and display the associated report:
    • Total Throughput
      Shows all traffic that the WANJet appliance processes.
    • Sent Throughput
      Shows the outgoing (sent) data that was optimized.
    • Received Throughput
      Shows the incoming (received) data that was optimized.
  3. To determine how to display the data, click one of the following options within the report:
  4. Link Utilization report
    Displays the average amount of bandwidth used, compared to what would have been used without optimization. See Link Utilization report .
  5. Under the report, click the time period for which you want to view collected data (hour, day, week, month, quarter, or year). The default is hour.
  6. Note: The WANJet appliance saves all of the reports generated for the last hour, every hour. If you stop or restart the WANJet appliance, or any external termination occurs, you can view the last set of saved reports when you restart the WANJet appliance.
  7. If you want to save the report to a file, in the Download Report box, click the Download button.
    The report is saved into a text file with a CSV extension.

Performance Increase report

The Performance Increase report displays the percentage increase in bandwidth due to using the WANJet appliance.

 

 

Figure 8.4 Performance Increase report

In this report, the vertical axis indicates the percentage increase in bandwidth. This is calculated by comparing the bandwidth freed up by the WANJet appliance with the bandwidth used after optimization. This is calculated as follows:

(Freed Bandwidth / Bandwidth after optimization) x 100 = Percentage Performance Increase

For example, if your bandwidth before the optimization was 100 MB, and the bandwidth used by data after the optimization is 25 MB, then the amount of bandwidth freed up by the WANJet appliance is 75 MB. Using these values in the equation results in the following performance increase:

(75 MB/25 MB) x 100 = 300% performance increase

Actual Bandwidth Expansion report

The Actual Bandwidth Expansion report displays the actual bandwidth amount that the WANJet appliance has freed by optimizing network data.

Figure 8.5 Actual Bandwidth Expansion report

In this report, the vertical axis represents the bandwidth expansion in kilobytes, megabytes, and so forth. (The unit used depends on the extent to which the bandwidth has expanded over the selected time period.)

Optimized Data report

The Optimized Data report displays the difference in the amounts of network traffic before and after the WANJet appliance processes the data.

 

 

Figure 8.6 Optimized Data report

In this report:

  • The vertical axis indicates the amount of network traffic before and after optimization (in kilobytes, megabytes, and so forth).
  • The blue bar represents the amount of traffic before optimization.
  • The yellow bar represents the amount of freed bandwidth.

Overall Data report

The Overall Data report allows you to view and compare the amounts of passthrough data, raw data, and optimized data.

 

 

Figure 8.7 Overall Data report

In this report:

  • The vertical axis indicates the amount of data passing through the link (in kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, and so forth).
  • The green bars represent the amount of passthrough data.
  • The blue bars represent the amount of compressed (optimized) data.
  • The yellow bars represent the amount of freed bandwidth.
  • The bars as a whole represent the total amount of data passing through the WANJet appliance.

Link Utilization report

The Link Utilization report is similar to the Optimized Data report . However, instead of showing the total amount of data optimized over a given time period, this Link Utilization report displays the average amount of bandwidth used per second, compared to what would have been used if network traffic had not been optimized.

 

 

Figure 8.8 Link Utilization report

In this report:

  • The vertical axis indicates the amount of bandwidth (in kilobits per second, megabits per second, and so forth).
  • The blue bars represent the actual bandwidth used.
  • The bars as a whole represent the amount of bandwidth that would have been used if network traffic had not been optimized; therefore, the yellow bars represent the amount of bandwidth saved.

Diagnostics reports

Diagnostics reports provide you access to a range of useful information, such as IP addresses, error log files, and the results of popular network analysis tools.

To view diagnostics information

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. On the menu bar, click one of the following options to display detailed reports:
    • Monitoring
    • General
    • Each menu bar option provides several additional reports.

Monitoring

The following monitoring diagnostic reports are available:

  • Interfaces
  • Optimized Sessions
  • Passthrough Sessions
  • WANJet Links
  • RADIUS
  • TCP Statistics
  • TDR Statistics
  • QoS
  • VLANs

Interfaces diagnostics

A WANJet appliance typically has at least two active network interfaces: one for the connection to the LAN and one for the connection to the WAN. In addition, if a redundant peer WANJet appliance is present on your LAN, there is an interface for that connection. For more information, see Configuring redundant peers, on page 6-26 .

To view diagnostics for interfaces

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Monitoring menu, choose Interfaces.
    The Interfaces report opens with the following information for each network interface:
    • MAC address (a unique identifier attached to most forms of networking equipment).
    • Maximum speed (in Mbits per second) and duplex setting (Full Duplex or Half Duplex).
    • Current status (Link OK/Link error).
    • Reception (RX) errors raised by the interface, including dropped packets, overruns, and frame errors.
  3. Transmission (TX) errors raised by the interface, including dropped packers, overruns, carrier errors, and collisions
Figure 8.9 Interfaces diagnostics report

Optimized Sessions diagnostics

The Optimized Sessions report displays all of the network connections at the application layer that the WANJet appliance is currently optimizing. In contrast to the number of optimized sessions shown on the dashboard, the report shows established sessions only, and does not include those in the process of being set up or torn down. Therefore, the number of optimized sessions shown in the dashboard may not match the number in the Optimized Sessions report.

To view diagnostics for Optimized Sessions

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Monitoring menu, choose Optimized Sessions.
    The Optimized Sessions screen opens.
  3. Note: Optionally, you can view the Optimized Sessions report by clicking Optimized Sessions from the navigation pane on any screen in the Web UI. The counter beside the Optimized Sessions link in the dashboard displays the number of optimized sessions including those in the process of being set up.

    The Optimized Sessions report has two sections: one for TCP and another for UDP traffic.

    The TCP section contains the following information:

    • Processing mode
      How the traffic is processed, optimized or passthrough.
    • Local IP
      IP address and port for the local machine.
    • Direction
      Direction of optimized data traffic flow. A right arrow indicates that the direction is from the local machine to the remote machine. A left arrow indicates that the direction is from the remote machine to the local machine.
    • Remote IP
      IP address and port for the remote WANJet appliance.
    • WANJet IP
      IP address for the remote WANJet appliance handing the optimized session.
    • The UDP section contains two columns with the IP address and port number for each UDP session's source (from) and destination (to).

Note

For information about how to specify connections for optimization, see Creating optimization policies , located in Chapter 6.

Passthrough Sessions diagnostics

A passthrough session is a network connection (at the application layer) for traffic that the WANJet appliance does not optimize, but allows that particular type of traffic to pass through the appliance untouched.

To view diagnostics for Passthrough Sessions

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Monitoring menu, choose Passthrough Sessions.
    The Passthrough Sessions screen opens.
  3. The Passthrough Sessions report has two sections: one for TCP traffic and another for UDP traffic, with specific information in each section.

    From this screen, you can view the following reports:

    • All Passthrough Connections
      Displays a detailed list of all passthrough connections.
    • Optimize Eligible Connections
      Displays connections that were set up before the WANJet appliance was last activated. If the protocol and software allow it, you can intercept and reset these connections so that from this point on, they will be optimized. This is most useful for connections that need to be live for a long time so that they can transfer large amounts of data, such as replication processes.
    • Autopass
      Displays a list of connections that pass through automatically when the destination server is refusing connections.
    • Realtime
      Displays passthrough traffic throughput in real time.
Note

For information about how to specify connections for optimization, see Creating optimization policies , located in Chapter 6.

WANJet Links diagnostics

The WANJet Links report displays information about other WANJet appliances that connect to the one you are working on.

To view diagnostics for WANJet Links

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Monitoring menu, choose WANJet Links.
    The WANJet Links report opens and displays the following information:
    • Remote IP
      IP address of the remote WANJet appliance.
    • #Retrans
      Number of retransmitted packets to the remote WANJet appliance.
    • #ACM5
      Number of network connections to the remote WANJet appliance that are being optimized.
    • #ACM5 without compression
      Number of passthrough network connections (not optimized).
Note

For additional information about links to remote WANJet appliances, refer to Managing remote WANJet appliances , located in Chapter 6.

RADIUS status diagnostics

The RADIUS report displays information about RADIUS authentication servers known to the local WANJet appliance. Remote authentication through the RADIUS protocol is an alternative to local authentication with a user name and password stored on the WANJet appliance.

Note

For information about how to configure WANJet appliance to use RADIUS authentication, see Configuring remote authentication , located in Chapter 5. For technical details about the RADIUS protocol, refer to http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2865.txt.

To view diagnostics for RADIUS status

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Monitoring menu, choose RADIUS.
    The RADIUS report shows the RADIUS status, the number of RADIUS servers defined, and displays the following information for each RADIUS server:
    • IP address
    • Secret
      The key that is used to authenticate RADIUS transactions between client and server.
    • Timeout period, in seconds
    • Number of times to retry a connection
Note

The WANJet appliance displays a warning message if the settings for both the timeout and number of retries are too high; this could cause a delay in determining whether the RADIUS server is responding to a login attempt.

TCP Statistics diagnostics

The TCP Statistics menu provides the following reports for TCP connectivity activity:

  • Connection States
  • Packet retransmissions
  • Receive queued packets pruned

The Connections States report is displayed by default.

To view diagnostics for TCP Statistics

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Monitoring menu, choose TCP Statistics.
    The TCP Statistics screen displays with the Connections States report, by default.
  3. Click the options above the report to view the following reports:
    • Connections States
    • Packet Retransmissions
    • Receive Queue Packets Pruned

Connection States

The Connection States report displays a graph of current state for each TCP connection that is visible to the WANJet appliance, for both optimized and passthrough connections. In this report, three lines represent the number of connections in the following states:

  • ESTABLISHED
    Established connections have been successfully opened and are working normally.
  • TIME-WAIT
    Connections in the TIME-WAIT status are waiting to see that the remote TCP received the acknowledgment of a connection termination request. This can take up to four minutes.
  • Other
    Other possible connection states include:
    • LISTEN
    • SYN-SENT
    • SYN-RECEIVED
    • FIN-WAIT-1
    • FIN-WAIT-2
    • CLOSE-WAIT
    • CLOSING
    • LAST-ACK

For more information about these states, see IETF RFC #793 at http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc793.txt.

Packet Retransmissions

TCP segments that time out without being acknowledged by a destination host are retransmitted by the source host. A high number of these retransmitted segments can indicate network problems. Therefore, the Web UI includes a report that tracks those numbers and their trends.

The Packet Retransmissions report consists of a graph with a blue line. The blue line indicates the number of TCP segments (which often correspond to IP packets) that had to be retransmitted per second.

Receive Queue Packets Pruned

The Receive Queue Packets Pruned report provides a graphic representation of the number of segments pruned from the TCP receive queue due to socket overrun. Pruning can occur if the TCP receive buffer on the receiving host is too large. The optimal buffer size is twice the product of the bandwidth and the delay.

For more information about TCP tuning background, see http://www-didc.lbl.gov/TCP-tuning/background.html.

TDR Statistics diagnostics

Transparent Data Reduction (TDR) further enhances network optimization by storing the contents of frequently accessed files in memory. You can view information about TDR statistics through the WANJet appliance Web UI. The report shows TDR-2 statistics that relate to repeat transfer data reduction. For more information about TDR, refer to Transparent Data Reduction, on page 2-2 .

Note

The WANJet appliance updates the statistics in the report at the completion of a session. For example, if you transfer a 1 GB file, the updated TDR-2 statistics are available when the file transfer is complete.

To view diagnostics for TDR Statistics

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Monitoring menu, choose TDR Statistics.
    The TDR Statistics screen opens and displays the following TDR-2 information:
    • WANJetIP
      IP address of the remote WANJet appliance.
    • Sent Bytes (TDR)
      The amount of data sent in bytes, to which TDR-2 has been applied since the WANJet Link became active.
    • Sent Bytes (other)
      Amount of data in bytes to which TDR has not been applied.
    • Received Bytes (TDR)
      Amount of received date in bytes to which TDR-2 has been applied.
    • Received Bytes (other)
      Amount of received date in bytes to which TDR has not been applied.
    • TDR efficiency %
      Percentage of data sent across the link to which TDR-2 has been applied. The bold number at the bottom of the report is the average for all remote WANJet appliance links.

QoS diagnostics

Quality of Service (QoS) policies can help to improve network performance by dedicating bandwidth to specific network traffic.

To view diagnostics for QoS policies for remote networks

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Monitoring menu, choose QoS.
    The QoS report opens and displays the following information:
    • Remote
      The Remote network that has a QoS policy assigned to it.
    • Policy
      Name of the QoS policy assigned to the remote network.
    • Rate
      Actual bandwidth assigned to each QoS policy.
    • Bytes Sent
      Number of bytes sent for each QoS policy.
    • Packets Sent
      Number of packets successfully sent for each QoS policy.
    • Dropped
      Number of packets dropped for each QoS policy.
Note

For additional information about QoS, refer to Creating Application QoS policies, on page 7-3 .

VLAN diagnostics

A Virtual LAN (VLAN) is a computer network which has its boundaries defined logically, rather than physically. VLANs must be explicitly added to the WANJet Web UI, since they are often implemented by adding tags to Ethernet frames, and these tags must be preserved during optimization.

To view VLANs supported by the WANJet appliance

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Monitoring menu, choose VLANs.
    The VLANs Information report opens and displays the following information.
    • Packets/Bytes
      Number of packets and total size in bytes of the network traffic exchanged with the VLAN.
    • Aware
      Indicates whether the WANJet appliance can identify this virtual LAN.
Note

For information about configuring VLANs to work with the WANJet appliance, refer to Managing virtual LANs, on page 6-17 .

Connectivity

Connectivity diagnostic information includes the following reports:

  • All
  • Ethernet
  • IP
  • Bridge
  • Remote WANJet appliance

All connectivity diagnostics

The Diagnose Connectivity report displays details about all types of connectivity (Ethernet, IP, bridge, and remote WANJet appliance).

To view diagnostics for all connectivity

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Connectivity menu, choose All.
    The Diagnose Connectivity screen opens.

For details on the information included for each type of connectivity, refer to the following sections.

Ethernet diagnostics

The Diagnose Ethernet screen displays details about the Ethernet interfaces for the local WANJet appliance. For WANJet appliances to work correctly, the speed and duplex settings for the LAN and WAN interfaces should be the same. The Diagnose Ethernet screen confirms whether that is the case, and displays a warning if it is not.

Note

For information about configuring the speed and duplex settings for Ethernet interfaces, see Changing the interface speed, on page 6-22 .

To view diagnostics for Ethernet connectivity

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Connectivity menu, choose Ethernet.
    The Diagnose Ethernet report opens and includes a section for each of the Ethernet interfaces on the WANJet appliance:
    • eth2 (PEER)
    • eth3 (ETH3)
    • eth1 (WAN)
    • eth0 (LAN)
    • The following information displays for each interface:

    • Speed
    • Transmitted
    • Received
    • Receive errors
    • Collisions
    • Application QoS does not work unless the Ethernet interfaces are connected as follows:

    • The eth0 interface must connect to the LAN switch or router.
    • The eth1 interface must connect to the WAN gateway.
Note

If a redundant pair is present, the eth2 interface (also labeled Peer on some WANJet appliances) must be connected to the redundant peer. For more information, see Configuring redundant peers, on page 6-26 .

IP diagnostics

The Diagnose IP screen displays technical details about the local WANJet appliance's IP configuration.

To view diagnostics for IP connectivity

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Connectivity menu, choose IP.
    The Diagnose IP report opens and displays the following information:
    • The IP address of the local WANJet appliance.
    • The netmask of the local subnet.
      This determines how much of the address identifies the subnetwork on which the WANJet appliance host resides, and how much identifies the host itself.
    • The IP address of the WAN gateway used by the local WANJet appliance.
    • The results of the local gateway ping.
Note

Addresses must adhere to the Internet Protocol standards. For more information about configuring addresses, see Updating a configuration, on page 6-14 .

Bridge diagnostics

The Diagnose Bridge screen displays details of the internal connectivity, or bridge, between Ethernet interfaces between the two WANJet appliances.

To view diagnostics for bridge connectivity

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Connectivity menu, choose Bridge.
    The Diagnose Bridge report opens and displays the following information:
    • The IP address and MAC address of the WAN gateway that the local WANJet appliance uses
    • The Ethernet interfaces that are linked by the bridge

The WANJet appliance bridge does not work unless the Ethernet interfaces are connected as follows:

  • The eth0 interface must connect to the LAN switch or router.
  • The eth1 interface must connect to the WAN gateway.

Remote WANJet appliance diagnostics

The Diagnose Remote WANJet screen displays details about the remote WANJet appliances that are connected to the local WANJet appliance.

Note

For information about how to configure remote WANJet appliances, see Managing remote WANJet appliances, on page 6-20 .

To view diagnostics for remote WANJet appliance connectivity

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the Connectivity menu, choose Remote WANJets.
    The Diagnose Remote WANJet report opens and displays the following information for each remote WANJet appliance:
    • The software version number, which is compared to the local version number
    • The status of the local WANJet appliance
    • The number of remote WANJet appliances
    • The IP address for the remote WANJet appliance
    • The WANJet appliance type, which is Single if there is no redundant peer at the remote end
    • Whether the remote WANJet appliance is responding to pings from the local WANJet appliance
    • Whether the local WANJet appliance can connect to the remote WANJet appliance on the ports that WANJet appliances use to communicate with each other. These ports are 3701, 3702, and 3703, by default.

General

General diagnostic information includes the following three reports:

  • Bridge Forwarding Database
  • Administration Tools
  • Diagnostic Log

To view general diagnostic information

From the General menu, choose the option that corresponds to the information that you want to view.

Bridge Forwarding Database diagnostics

The Bridge Forwarding Database report lists all of the network devices, by Media Access Control (MAC) Address, that have sent traffic through the local WANJet appliance bridge.

To view diagnostics for Bridge Forwarding Database

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the General menu, choose Bridge Forwarding Database.
    The Bridge Forwarding Database report opens and displays the following information for each network device:
    • MAC Address
      A unique identifier attached to most networking devices, and used by many network protocols.
    • IP Address
      Available only if the device has communicated directly with the WANJet.
    • Interface
      The interface is defined as eth0 if the device is connected to the local WANJet appliance through the LAN and as eth1 if the device is connected through the WAN.
  3. Local
    This column displays Yes if the interface is one of the WANJet appliance's internal network interface cards.

Administration tools

The WANJet appliance provides a browser-based user interface for the following three network administration diagnostic tools:

  • Ping
  • Traceroute
  • Packet Capture

To use the administration tools

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the General menu, choose Administration Tools.
    The Administration Tools screen opens. Each tool includes a box where you can specify command-line parameters, and a button to initiate the program.
  3. Click the button for the tool that you want to run.
    The lower half of the screen shows the command results:
    • The full path including parameters to the process, as it appears on the command line.
    • The process number allocated by the operating system. You can stop a process by clicking the process number before it has finished running.
    • The process output, which is similar to what you would see in the shell after running the program from the command line.
    • The return code, which is 0 if the program completes successfully.

Ping

The ping tool provides a simple test to confirm that a target host is online and reachable through a TCP/IP network. It works by sending ICMP request packets to the target and listening for response packets in return. The percentage of packets lost and the time taken to send and receive them indicate how well the connection is working.

Note

If a ping is unable to reach a target host, such as when the statistical summary shows a 100% packet loss, it does not necessarily mean that there is no working network connection between source and target. For example, a firewall might be blocking ICMP requests from reaching the target host, but allowing some other network traffic through.

By default, WANJet appliance provides the following parameters for ping:

-R -c 5 -w 10 <IP address of target host>

The default target is the gateway machine for the subnet on which the WANJet appliance resides. You can change the parameters by typing new parameters in the associated text box.

Important

F5 Networks recommends that only advanced users change parameters.

The WANJet appliance displays the following output for ping:

  • The IP addresses of both the target host and the source host (the server on which ping is running)
  • A line for each ICMP response packet received back from the target showing the packet's sequence number, time-to-live value, and round-trip time (request time + response time)
  • A statistical summary showing:
    • The number of request packets transmitted
    • The number of response packets received back
    • The percentage of lost packets
    • The minimum, average, and maximum round-trip times

Traceroute

The traceroute tool plots the route that packets take to a target host. It can be helpful in determining the location of any network disruption.

Traceroute works by incrementing the time-to-live (TTL) value of successive packets sent out. TTL values are decremented as packets pass through intermediate hosts (known as hops). When the TTL reaches a value of 1, a time exceeded message is sent back to the source host (the host on which traceroute is running). By examining the origins of these messages, you can reconstruct the path that packets take to the target host.

Note

Traceroute sends out UDP datagram packets by default. If UDP probes are being blocked by a firewall, you can use ICMP echo requests instead (as ping does) by specifying the -I option. Packets are normally sent to port 33434, which should not be in use. If the target host is listening on port 33434, you can specify a different port using the -p option.

By default, the WANJet appliance provides the following parameters for traceroute:

-v <IP address of target host> -c 10 (not port 10000)

As with the ping tool, the default target is the gateway for the local subnet. You can change the parameters by typing new parameters in the associated text box.

Important

F5 Networks recommends that only advanced users change parameters.

The WANJet appliance displays the following output for traceroute:

  • The IP address of the target host, the maximum number of hops (that is, the maximum TTL), and the size of the packets sent.
  • A list of hosts through which packets are passing together with the round-trip time taken for each of the three packets (packets are sent out in threes, by default) to travel from the source host, to the intermediate host, and back again.

Packet Capture

You can use the tcpdump utility to intercept and display the contents of TCP/IP packets on the network. This is useful for debugging your network configuration, because it allows you to isolate the source of a problem by determining if all routing is working correctly. The utility saves the data in a PCAP file.

Note

You need a specialized application, such as Ethereal (a network protocol analyzer that runs on both Linux and Windows) to read PCAP files produced by tcpdump. You can download Ethereal and its documentation for free from http://www.ethereal.com/.

By default, the WANJet appliance provides the following parameters for tcpdump:

-c 10 (not port 1000)

Packets sent to port 10000 are ignored, since this is the port that the Web UI uses to communicate with the local WANJet appliance. You can change the parameters by typing new parameters in the associated text box.

Important

F5 Networks recommends that only advanced users change parameters.

When the tcpdump process has finished running, the Tools screen displays a link to the PCAP file that is produced. If you have an application that can read PCAP files, you can open the PCAP file directly, or you can save the file to disk. The PCAP file is also stored on the server where tcpdump is running, at the following location:

/usr/local/NetOptimizer/logs/dump.pcap

Diagnostic Log

The Diagnostic Log contains status information and errors that the WANJet appliance records during a session. This log keeps you informed and helps resolve problems that you might encounter while working with the WANJet appliance. You can clear the data in the Diagnostic Log at any time.

To view the Diagnostic Log

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Reports and click Diagnostics.
    The initial diagnostics screen opens.
  2. From the General menu, choose Diagnostic Log.
    The Diagnostic Log opens.

To clear the Diagnostic Log

  1. At the top of the Diagnostic Log screen, click the Clear Logs button.
    A warning message displays to inform you that this action will delete all data in the error and report logs.
  2. Click OK to delete the logs.

System Snapshots

You can create a system snapshot and download it as a zipped text file to your hard disk. You can provide this zipped text file to the F5 Networks Technical Support team to help resolve technical issues.

To create a system snapshot

  1. At the top the Diagnostic Log screen, next to System Snapshot, click now to get the current system status.
    The browser opens a download window for you to save the snapshot file to your local disk.
  2. Note: Next to System Snapshot, you can also click historic to get a tar file containing previously taken snapshots.
  3. Save the snapshot file. The system snapshot file is named snapshot.txt.gz. This is a compressed plain text file.
  4. Note: To view the snapshot file, you first need to extract it using a tool such as gunzip, which is available at www.gzip.org.
  5. Rename the compressed file using the following format:
  6. snapshot-<yourcompanyname-yyyy-mm-dd>

    For example:

    snapshot-acme-2005-04-22

    You can provide this file to F5 Networks Technical Support for assistance with troubleshooting issues.

Third-party reporting systems

You can configure the WANJet appliance to work with several third-party reporting systems, including Syslog, SNMP, and RMON2.

Syslog reports

With the WANJet appliance, you can view syslog reports from an external syslog server. These reports include data, such as the amount of sent and received data that the WANJet appliance has processed.

Note

You must configure the IP address of the syslog server in the Syslog Server IP box of the Syslog and SNMP screen, to view syslog data. For more information, see Configuring Syslog and SNMP settings, on page 6-24 .

SNMP reports

With the WANJet appliance, you can use an external computer as a management station for viewing Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) logs that the WANJet appliance produces on the local appliance. The SNMP data trees reside in a Management Information Base (MIB).

The SNMP data on the WANJet appliance includes information about the network cards, the total bandwidth saved for sent and received data, and the amount of sent and received data that was optimized.

For the private MIB file, see Appendix B, WANJet Appliance Private MIB File .

To configure the WANJet appliance to use an SNMP server

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Configuration and click Monitoring.
    The WANJet Syslog and SNMP screen opens.
  2. For SNMP Server IP, select the check box, then type the IP address of the SNMP server.
    For additional instructions, see Configuring Syslog and SNMP settings, on page 6-24 .
  3. For SNMP IP, select which IP address you want SNMP to use as the source address in response to SNMPv1 GET requests, and for sending SNMP traps. The choices are Management IP (set by default) or WANJet IP.
  4. For Community String, type the shared community string used on both the SNMP server and the WANJet appliance.
  5. Click Save to save your settings.
  6. In the navigation pane, expand Security and click IP Access Control.
    The IP Access Control screen opens.
  7. Verify that the SNMP server can access the WANJet appliance. The default setting is Allow all addresses, but an administrator may have changed it to allow or deny listed addresses. If so, you must make sure that the SNMP server is listed (if allowing listed addresses) or not listed (if denying listed addresses).
  8. For additional instructions, see Granting Web UI access, on page 5-4 .

  9. Click Save if you change any information on the WANJet IP Access Control screen.

To view SNMP tables

SNMP data is stored in tables in the MIB. To view the SNMP tables, you need to use SNMP-compliant software. In the SNMP-compliant software, you must configure the IP address of the WANJet appliance and the community string that you specified on the WANJet Syslog and SNMP screen.

Note

For a list of WANJet appliance SNMP errors and descriptions, see Appendix  A, WANJet Appliance Messages .

RMON2 reports

The WANJet appliance provides monitoring of network and application performance through RMON2 (Remote Monitoring). You can configure the WANJet appliance so that you can view RMON2 reports (data trees), which are part of the SNMP data trees that are stored on the WANJet appliance. The RMON2 data is stored in a MIB. For information on the WANJet MIB file, see Appendix B, WANJet Appliance Private MIB File .

The RMON2 data on the WANJet appliance includes data sent and received between two nodes, the IP addresses of these nodes, the port used to send and receive data, data size before and after the WANJet appliance processes it, times at which data was sent, and the numbers of connections. You can configure the WANJet appliance to report these statistics as Raw Data (prior to being optimized) or WANJet Data (optimized).

To enable RMON2 Logs

  1. In the navigation pane, expand Configuration and click Monitoring.
    The initial WANJet Syslog and SNMP screen opens.
  2. Check the Enable RMON2 Logs box.
  3. Click either Raw Data or WANJet Data to control the type of data that the RMON2 tables will export: Raw Data exports unoptimized data and WANJet Data exports optimized data. For more details on these options, see RMON2 configuration settings , following.
  4. For Community String, type the shared community string that enables the SNMP server to access RMON2 data on the WANJet appliance.
  5. Click the Save button.

You access RMON2 data the same way that you access SNMP data. Before accessing RMON2 data, you must specify a community string and IP address for the SNMP server as discussed in the previous section for SNMP reports. Set the RMON2 preferences on the Syslog and SNMP screen.

For additional instructions, see Configuring Syslog and SNMP settings, on page 6-24 . Note that the SNMP server must have access to the WANJet, as described in Granting Web UI access, on page 5-4 .

To view RMON2 reports

To view the RMON2 data tree, you must use SNMP-compliant software. You need to provide SNMP-compliant software with the IP address of the WANJet appliance and the community string that you specified on the WANJet Syslog and SNMP screen.

RMON2 configuration settings

RMON2 provides network and application protocol statistics (bytes transmitted and bytes received) that include both the unoptimized protocol statistics from the LAN side, and the optimized (compressed) protocol statistics from the WAN side. When enabling RMON2 logs as described in the previous section, you can configure the WANJet appliance to report this information as:

  • Raw Data
  • WANJet Data

Which setting you choose depends on your RMON2-based monitoring software. Some RMON2 probes recognize only a fixed list of standard protocols, and do not recognize F5 Networks-added table entries. Thus, the software can monitor only one of the two types of data.

If your software recognizes a fixed list of entries, choose the setting that reports the type of data you require. If you want to monitor the unoptimized data, enable the Raw Data setting. If you want to monitor the optimized data, enable the WANJet Data setting.

If your RMON2-based monitoring software recognizes the F5 Networks-added table entries, the choice of setting is not as important. Select the setting that allows you to use both types of data in the way best suited to the configuration of your network management software.

The following sections provide further technical details concerning the implications of selecting either option.

Raw data

By selecting the Raw Data setting on the WANJet Syslog and SNMP screen, you instruct the WANJet appliance to augment the set of standard protocols reported through RMON2 with a second set of standard protocols, representing those protocols after optimization. For any table in the RMON2 MIB that contains network and application protocol statistics, the standard protocols contain the unoptimized data byte counts from the LAN, and each protocol is paired with a new instance that contains the optimized data byte counts from the WAN.

For example, the protocolDirTable object (OID 1.3.6.1.2.1.16.11.2 in the RMON2 MIB) includes the following entries:

Standard RMON2 protocols (LAN/unoptimized)

any.ip

any.ip.udp

any.ip.tcp

any.ip.tcp.22

F5 Networks-created pairing (WAN/optimized)

any.IPcompressed

any.IPcompressed.udp

any.IPcompressed.tcp

any.IPcompressed.tcp.22

In this example, the first three protocols in both lists are permanent entries. The fourth protocol in both shows a protocol that is added to the tables at runtime. The fourth, any.ip.tcp.22, contains statistics for the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol.

WANJet appliance data

By selecting the WANJet Data setting on the WANJet Syslog and SNMP screen, you instruct the WANJet appliance to place optimized WAN data byte counts into the standard protocols, and insert new instances to contain the unoptimized data byte counts from the LAN.

For example, the protocolDirTable object in this configuration might have the following entries:

F5 Networks-created pairing (LAN/unoptimized)

any.IPuncompressed

any.IPuncompressed.udp

any.IPuncompressed.tcp

any.IPuncompressed.tcp.22

Standard RMON2 protocols (WAN/optimized)

any.ip

any.ip.udp

any.ip.tcp

any.ip.tcp.2