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Copyright © 2018. VT iDirect, Inc., 13861 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 300, Herndon, VA 20171, USA.
All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Information contained herein
is subject to change without notice. The specifications and information regarding the products in this document are
subject to change without notice. All statements, information and recommendations in this document are believed
to be accurate, but are presented without warranty of any kind, express, or implied. Users must take full
responsibility for their application of any products. Trademarks, brand names and products mentioned in this
document are the property of their respective owners. All such references are used strictly in an editorial fashion
with no intent to convey any affiliation with the name or the product's rightful owner.
VT iDirect® is a global leader in IP-based satellite communications providing technology and solutions that enable
our partners worldwide to optimize their networks, differentiate their services and profitably expand their
businesses. Our product portfolio, branded under the name iDirect®, sets standards in performance and efficiency
to deliver voice, video and data connectivity anywhere in the world. VT iDirect® is the world’s largest TDMA
enterprise VSAT manufacturer and is the leader in key industries including mobility, military/government and
cellular backhaul.
iDirect Government™, created in 2007, is a wholly owned subsidiary of iDirect and was formed to better serve the
U.S. government and defense communities.
The following table shows all revisions for this document. To determine if this is the latest
revision, check the TAC Web. Refer to Getting Help on page xii for TAC access information.
About . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Document Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Document Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiii
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Purpose
The iMonitor User Guide provides detailed instructions for monitoring iDirect networks using
the iMonitor client application of the iDirect Network Management System (NMS). For details
on configuring iDirect networks, see the iBuilder User Guide.
Audience
The iMonitor User Guide is intended for network operators, network architects, and other
personnel who operate or monitor iDirect networks. It is not intended for end users or field
installers.
Contents
This document contains the following major sections:
This document contains the following major sections:
• The iVantage Network Management System
• Overview of the NMS for iMonitor
• Monitoring Conditions and Events
• Monitoring Performance and Status
• Traffic Statistics and Traffic Graphs
• Reporting on Networks
• Accessing the NMS Statistics Archive
• Alarms and Warnings
• SNMP Proxy Agent
Document Conventions
This section illustrates and describes the conventions used throughout this document.
Getting Help
The iDirect Technical Assistance Center (iDirect TAC) and the iDirect Government Technical
Assistance Center (iDirectGov TAC) are available to provide assistance 24 hours a day, 365
days a year. Software user guides, installation procedures, FAQs, and other documents that
support iDirect and iDirectGov products are available on the respective TAC Web site:
• Access the iDirect TAC Web site at http://tac.idirect.net
• Access the iDirectGov TAC Web site at http://tac.idirectgov.com
The iDirect TAC may be contacted by telephone or email:
• Telephone: (703) 648-8151
• E-mail: tac@idirect.net
Document Set
The following iDirect documents are available at http://tac.idirect.net and contain
information relevant to installing and using iDirect satellite network software and equipment.
• iDX Release Notes
• iDX Software Installation Guide or Network Upgrade Procedure Guide
• iDX iMonitor User Guide
• iDX Technical Reference Guide
• iDX Installation and Commissioning Guide for Remote Satellite Routers
• iDX Features and Chassis Licensing Guide
• iDX Software Installation Checklist/Software Upgrade Survey
• iDX Link Budget Analysis Guide
• Terminal WUI User Guide
• Hub Line Card Specifications Guide
• iDirect Hardware Matrix
• iDirect Software Features Matrix
• NMS Redundancy and Failover
• Satellite Router Installation and Commissioning Guide
• SatManage Integration and Configuration Guide
• Software Installation Guide for New Hubs
• TRANSEC User Guide
• Virtual Server Configuration Guide
• Technical Note on Setting Up Defense and Universal Line Cards
iMonitor is a component of the iDirect iVantage Network Management System (NMS). The
iVantage NMS is a complete suite of tools for configuring, monitoring, and controlling iDirect
satellite networks.
NOTE: Beginning with iDX Release 3.1, the Geographic Map is no longer
supported. For questions, please contact the iDirect TAC.
The iDirect Network Management System (the iVantage NMS) is a suite of applications and
servers that provide configuration, control and monitoring of all components of iDirect
networks. The NMS client/server system consists of three series of components:
• NMS applications with Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for configuring and monitoring
iDirect networks
• Databases that store configuration and statistical data
• Middleware that manages access to the databases on behalf of users
For a description of all iVantage NMS components see The iVantage Network Management
System on page 1.
1.1 Introduction
This chapter provides important information needed to understand how iMonitor works and
how to use it effectively. This chapter discusses how to prepare for installation; how to use
the tools available in iMonitor; how to create, customize, and print reports; and how to
determine the configuration status of network elements.
iMonitor provides visibility to real-time status and operational characteristics of network
elements.
• Status refers to the real-time state of network elements (such as OK, Warning, Alarm).
iMonitor generates warnings and alarms for the various network elements when faults or
anomalous conditions occur. Warnings and alarms are collectively called conditions.
• Operational characteristics are captured in a variety of network statistical data, such as
IP traffic statistics, satellite link quality, and hardware component operating values.
Various graphical displays can be viewed based on these operational characteristics.
Status and statistical data are stored in the historical archive to provide analysis of anomalous
conditions and performance trends.
iBuilder
The iBuilder client provides all configuration and control functions to network operators.
Configuration consists of creating network elements (such as networks, line cards, and
remotes) and specifying their operational parameters (such as QoS profiles or IP addresses).
Control consists of applying the specified configurations to the actual network elements;
retrieving active configurations; resetting elements; and upgrading element software and
firmware. Refer to the iBuilder User Guide for more information.
iMonitor
The iMonitor client provides complete visibility to the real-time status and operational data of
network elements. Status refers to the real-time state of network elements, such as OK,
warning, or alarm. Operational data are captured in a variety of network statistical data
tables and displays, revealing, for example, IP traffic statistics, satellite link quality, and
hardware component operating values.
In addition to real-time visibility, iMonitor provides state information and statistics from the
historical archive in order to analyze anomalous conditions and performance trends. This
guide has a complete list of real-time and historical data available through iMonitor.
iSite
The iSite client is used primarily for commissioning new sites and monitoring remotes from
the local LAN side. It contains functions to help installers calculate antenna
azimuth/elevation; perform antenna pointing; and perform cross-polarization and 1 dB
compression tests. It also provides configuration and real-time state/statistical information
for one or more remote units. Instead of interacting with the NMS middleware, iSite connects
directly to each remote to perform all of its operations. iSite does not provide access to
historical information. See the Installation and Commissioning Guide for Remote Satellite
Routers for more on commissioning remotes using iSite.
NOTE: End-users do not need iSite in order to receive or transmit IP data over the
iDirect system.
Configuration Server
The configuration server manages access to the configuration database, which contains all the
element definitions for iDirect networks and their operational parameters. Additionally, the
configuration server provides most network control functions (configuration apply, firmware
download, resetting, etc.). The other servers also use the configuration server to determine
what the network components are.
Event Server
The event server generates warnings and alarms and sends them to iMonitor for display.
Warnings and alarms are collectively known as “conditions.” The event server also collects
and archives all system events and provides them to iMonitor for display.
Latency Server
The latency server measures round-trip time, or latency, for every active remote in the
networks. These measurements are stored in the archive and provided to iMonitor for display.
SBC Server
The SBC server (sbcsvr) process interrogates the Cisco IOS software on X7-ER remotes to make
Ethernet interface link statistics available at iMonitor.
Consolidation Script
The consolidation process periodically consolidates records in the statistics archive to
preserve disk space on the server machine. Default consolidation parameters are already
entered into the configuration database. These settings can be tuned to particular storage
requirements as required.
NOTE: The iDirect clients may not operate correctly below screen resolution 1280
X 1024.
Figure 1-1. Windows 7 Start Menu Entries for NMS GUI Clients
The iDirect clients may not operate correctly in the 32-bit version of Windows 7. If an iDirect
client experiences problems, configure it to run in Windows XP Service Pack 3 compatibility
mode as follows:
1. Right click the .exe file and select Properties.
2. Click the Compatibility tab.
3. Select Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows XP (Service Pack 3).
4. Click OK.
NOTE: The use of default passwords opens iDirect network to attacks and exposes
a risk to customers.iDirect NMS security enhancements check for the use of
default password credentials after their initial use.
NOTE: Selecting the Hide ELSEWHERE Instances check box causes iMonitor to
display remotes that are not in a real-time Elsewhere state. Remote instances in
the Elsewhere state are hidden. This allows operators to focus on specific remote
instances and reduces memory usage.
The Hide ELSEWHERE Instances check box is also available at the Preferences
screen (Edit Preferences). See Figure 1-6.
1. To launch iMonitor, double-click the desktop shortcut or select it from the Windows Start
menu.
2. Enter the User Name and Password in the Login Information dialog box.
3. Click the Server drop-down menu and select the IP address of the primary NMS Server
machine. If the IP address is not in the list, enter it in the Server box.
4. Click OK to log on to the NMS server.
If a default password is entered, a dialog pop-up box opens to warn the user to change
the default password. See Figure 1-3.
At this point, the user has the option to click the Change Now button or the OK button.
a. Click Change Now to open the Change Password dialog box to change the password.
See Figure 1-4.
NOTE: The Detected Default Password dialog box opens each time the default
password is used unless the default password security check is turned off. See the
Ea
section Turning Off/On Security Enhancements in the iBuilder User Guide.
NOTE: A user can also change the default password at a later time. Refer to the
section, Changing Passwords in the iBuilder User Guide.
NOTE: To log on, the iBuilder and NMS server versions must match. (For example,
version 3.0.0 of iBuilder can connect only to version 3.0.0 of the NMS server.)
NOTE: The Preferences screen at the Edit menu provides an option to set an
auto logoff for a period of from five seconds to 600 seconds (ten minutes) after
losing connection with the NMS server.
The iMonitor application automatically connects to the NMS server processes that are
required to perform the NMS functions. If this connection is lost for any reason, iMonitor
automatically reconnects to the servers when they become available.
When Automatically accept changes is disabled (i.e., when the check box in Figure 1-6 is
cleared), then the Accept Changes button works as it did in previous releases. When an
iBuilder user changes the configuration, the Accept Changes button on the iMonitor toolbar
changes color from gray to red.
To view the changes before accepting them, select ViewConfiguration Changes (see
Configuration Changes Pane on page 29). To accept the changes and update the iMonitor
display, click Accept Changes.
• Historical requests retrieve data from the historical archive based on the start and end
times specified. These requests are active only until the data is completely delivered to
iMonitor.
• Get Past requests represent a hybrid of real-time and historical requests. iMonitor
retrieves the most recent data from the archive, and then continues to display real-time
data until the request is cancelled.
3. To remove the saved time range, click the push pin again.
2. Click the File button to enter a file name and select a folder for the saved data.
Right-Clicking
Right-click an element to display a menu of operations that can be performed on that
element.
2. Click and hold the double-ridge lines at the top of the pane and drag the pane to a new
position. Depending on its new position, the pane may change shape. The shape of the
new position will be outlined in iMonitor.
3. Release the mouse button to re-dock or detach the pane.
Figure 1-11. Expand Tree Selection Figure 1-12. Expanded Tree with Child
Elements
Sorting Columns
In any pane with columns, or list controls, sort the entries by the values in any column by
clicking the column heading.
2. In the Sort Preferences dialog box, click the Sort items in drop-down list and select
either Ascending or Descending.
4. When sorting by Name, select or clear the Names are case sensitive check box.
6. Click OK.
NOTE: iMonitor remembers the selected sort preference after logging out and
logging on again.
A plus sign (+) next to an element in the Tree indicates that additional elements exist at the
next level, or branch, of the Tree. Click the plus sign (+) to expand the element to view the
next level of the Tree.
A minus sign (-) next to an element indicates that the element has been expanded and
children are visible at the next level, or branch, in the Tree. Click the minus sign (-) to hide
the next level of the Tree.
In Figure 1-17, the UAT-RF Network has been expanded as far as possible. The UAT-RF Network
cannot include children in another network; therefore, its only children are the TxRx and Rx
line cards, and the IG_1_UAT-RF Inroute Group. The Inroute Group is a parent element that
can be expanded by clicking its plus sign (+) to reveal its children elements at the next level
of the Tree.
Title Bar
The Title bar identifies the name of the application (in this case, iMonitor), the iDirect
software version, and the IP address of the server to which iMonitor is connected.
Menu Bar
The Menu bar at the top of the display provides access to a number of operations described in
the sections below.
Toolbar
The main Toolbar (Figure 1-20) contains context-sensitive buttons for performing a variety of
operations on the currently-selected element without using its context menu. The toolbar
functions are described in Table 1-1.
View Conditions.
Acknowledge a condition.
Accept changes made to the system by another user and update the iMonitor
display with the latest database information.
Audio Notification
Audio Notification turns on an audible alert whenever a new alarm or condition is raised.
When enabled, audio notifications only sound for newly-raised conditions by default. When a
condition is acknowledged, the audio notification stops, even if the condition has not yet
cleared.
To configure audio notification:
1. Select ResultsAudio Notification from the main menu.
2. Select any or all of the conditions under which to raise audio notifications (Figure 1-21).
4. To set up how often audio notifications repeat, or to specify that the notification should
play only when a new condition occurs:
a. Select ResultsAudio NotificationProperties from the main menu.
b. Select one of the two choices in the Audio Notification Properties dialog box
(Figure 1-23).
Acknowledging Conditions
If audio notification is enabled, acknowledging conditions prevents continuous audio
notification, even if the condition that raised the audio notification has not cleared. When
conditions are acknowledged in iMonitor:
• Audio notification stops until a new condition is raised.
• All outstanding conditions are acknowledged. Individual conditions cannot be
acknowledged.
To acknowledge conditions:
1. Click the Toggle Conditions icon on the main toolbar or select ViewConditions from
the main menu to open the Conditions pane.
2. On the Conditions pane, select the Condition Log tab.
3. Click the Acknowledgement icon on the main toolbar. On the Condition Log tab, a check
is displayed for all acknowledged conditions as shown in Figure 1-24.
View Menu
Select the View menu on the main menu toolbar to display or hide toolbars, panes, status
items, and workplace windows as shown in Figure 1-25. Alternatively, right-click in the main
iMonitor pane to see the same options.
Searching iMonitor
Use the Find toolbar to search the NMS for matching elements and display the results in either
the Network Tree View or the Results Window. This becomes increasingly useful as networks
grows larger.
To search using the Find toolbar:
1. Select ViewFind Toolbar to display the Find toolbar.
2. Enter a string in the first box or click the drop-down arrow to select from earlier search
strings.
3. Select an element type in the second drop-down list.
4. Select a search type in the third drop-down list.
5. Select the screen area to search in the last drop-down list.
6. Click the Binoculars icon to begin the search.
Figure Figure 1-26 shows the options within each search box.
Alternatively, search by clicking the Find (Binocular) button on the main toolbar.
To search using the Find button:
1. Click the Find button on the main toolbar to open the Find dialog box (Figure 1-27).
Workspace Toolbar
The Workspace Toolbar provides a convenient way to organize multiple displays into a series
of “virtual workspaces.” The four workspaces on the toolbar provide four times the window
space without adding another monitor.
To launch the Workspace toolbar, select ViewWorkspace from the iMonitor main menu.
Four small windows appear on the right-side of the iMonitor main tool bar. Each of these
windows represents a virtual workspace.
Click a workspace window to move from the current workspace to another workspace.
Displays launched in the previous workspace are hidden and a new, blank workspace appears.
A workspace becomes active when a display is launched in that workspace. Active workspaces
are represented by yellow windows in the toolbar. Only displays launched in the selected
workspace are shown on the screen.
Figure 1-28 shows the Workspace toolbar in action. In this example, the second workspace
contains one or more displays and the other workspaces are empty. Click the fifth workspace
to view all displays in all workspaces.
NOTE: Only Real-Time and Get Past requests are saved in workspace files. See
Time Frames in iMonitor Requests on page 11.
The following workspace operations can be performed from the main menu:
• Select FileSave Workspace or FileSave Workspace As to save the contents of a
workspace.
• Select FileOpen Workspace to reload a previously-saved workspace. The saved
requests are automatically resubmitted to the appropriate servers.
• Select FileClose Workspace to close a workspace.
Operational Toolbar
The Operational Toolbar (Figure 1-29) contains context-sensitive buttons for performing
operations on the currently-selected element without using its context menu. These functions
are described in Table 1-2.
Request a Mesh Traffic Graph. (Not supported in iDX Release 3.3 and later)
Request conditions
Status Bar
The Status bar is located at the bottom of the iMonitor window. It displays the iMonitor user
name and the server connection status. In Figure 1-30, the connection status is Ready and the
iMonitor user name is admin.
Conditions Pane
Select ViewConditions to open the Conditions pane. See Chapter 2, Monitoring Conditions
and Events for complete information on the tabs in this pane.
Legend Pane
The Legend pane displays the Configuration State icons and their meanings. They are
organized by type of element as shown in Figure 1-32. To view all Legend icons and meanings,
select ViewLegend.
Figure 1-34. Real-Time Status of Remote with Idle and Dormant States Enabled
2. Select or clear individual columns for display from the menu one at a time or select More
to view the Select Columns dialog box (Figure 1-36).
3. In the Select Columns dialog box, click the check boxes to select or clear the
corresponding columns for display. (Alternatively, select and clear a check box by first
selecting the column name in the list, and then clicking the Show or Hide button.) Only
selected columns are displayed in the pane.
4. Click Show All or Hide All to select or clear all check boxes.
NOTE: In some cases, the Select Columns dialog box also contains a “Show
Default” button (Figure 1-37). Click that button to select only the default
columns.
Figure 1-37. Select Columns Dialog Box with Show Default Button
iMonitor displays both conditions and events. Conditions (alarms and warnings) indicate a
problem or potential problem in an iDirect network. Events provide real-time information
about the operation of the network but do not indicate a network problem. Table 2-1
identifies the types of notifications (conditions or events) iMonitor provides for each element
in the Tree.
Type of Incident
Elements
Information Provided
Teleport Conditions
Protocol Processor Events/Conditions/Blade Info
Blades Events/Conditions/Blade Info
Network Events/Conditions
Line Card Events/Conditions
Inroute Group Events/Conditions
Remotes Events/Conditions
Chassis Conditions
2.1 Conditions
Conditions in iMonitor are made up of Alarms and Warnings. Alarms indicate an interruption in
service. Warnings indicate conditions that could result in an interruption of service if not
handled in a timely fashion.
The Conditions pane has tabs showing conditions using the following criteria:
• Active Conditions shows all outstanding conditions that have not been cleared. Any
current alarms or warnings are displayed on this tab.
• Observation View shows all conditions for specific elements under observation. (See
Placing an Element Under Observation on page 42.)
• Disabled Conditions shows all conditions that have been disabled. To disable an active
condition, right-click the condition and select Disable Condition.
• Condition Log shows the 500 most recent condition changes. Conditions on the Condition
Log tab are sorted by the time that the condition change occurred by default.
To clear the contents of the Condition Log tab:
1. With the Condition Log tab selected, right-click anywhere in the Conditions Pane.
2. Select Clear List from the menu.
Table 2-5 lists the iMonitor warnings that can be raised by the NMS Database Replication
scripts that run on the Primary NMS Server (MySQL Master).
Table 2-5. Warnings Raised by NMS Database Replication Scripts on MySQL Master
Table 2-6 lists the iMonitor warnings that can be raised by the NMS Database Replication
scripts that run on a Backup NMS Server (MySQL Slave).
Table 2-6. Warnings Raised by NMS Database Replication Scripts on MySQL Slave
2. Select ViewConditions from the main menu or click the Toggle Conditions icon
(eyeglasses) on the main toolbar.
3. Click the Observation View tab to view only the conditions for elements under
observation.
5. To view the control panel (Figure 2-7) for a remote under observation, right-click a
remote condition and select Remote Control Panel or double-click the remote condition.
See Control Panel on page 131 for details.
NOTE: A Text Filter in the Get Past time range dialog box (Figure 2-10) only
applies to the Event Description field of the event message.
a. For Historical data, click Time Range to open the Select Time Range dialog box
(Figure 2-9 for Conditions and Figure 2-10 for Events). Alternatively, click the ellipses
(...) next to the Start Time and End Time to set the time range using the graphical
clock.
Figure 2-10. Events Time Range Dialog Box with Text Filter
b. For Get Past, select a past time interval from the Get Past drop-down list.
4. Select the elements for which to view conditions or events. The options in the Select
Items dialog box differ depending on the level of the element selected in the tree.
5. Click OK to view the conditions or events. For conditions, follow the directions beginning
in Step 6. For events, see Step 10 on page 49.
6. When retrieving conditions, the Conditions pane opens showing the conditions logged
over the specified time period in a multicolumn format (Figure 2-12).
NOTE: On the Conditions tab, a remote may have an arrow next to it. Click the
arrow to expand the view to show all conditions for that remote.
7. To view conditions in a graphical format, click the Time Line tab (Figure 2-13).
8. Right-click in the Time Line display to view the results in Seconds, Minutes, or Hours.
9. Select Detail from the menu (Figure 2-14) to display the following information:
• Name of Network Element
• Type and Serial Number of a Remote or Line Card
• Current Date
• Number of hours it has been up
• Number of hours it has been down
• Percentage of time it has been up (Up %)
• Percentage of time it has been down (Down %)
Figure 2-15 shows the Conditions Time Line Tab expanded to view details.
10. When retrieving data on events, the Events pane appears (Figure 2-16). Data in the
Events pane is displayed in a multicolumn format only.
Arrow
Figure 2-16 shows an example of the conditions display, including elements with multiple
conditions.
The example in Figure 2-16 shows a remote reset resulting in the following conditions:
1. The first entry shows the remote state at the start of the specified time range: the
remote is OK, and the last condition that cleared was DOWNSTREAM_SNR.
2. The next entry shows that the protocol processor lost contact with the remote after the
reset was sent from iBuilder.
3. The next entry shows two conditions: the LOST_CONTACT warning is still active, and has
been joined by the layer 3 alarm LAT_TIMEOUT.
4. Finally, the Protocol Processor declares the remote OUT_OF_NETWORK, and this condition
is added to the list, giving us a total of three simultaneous conditions.
5. The next line shows that two of the three conditions cleared: The remote is back in the
network and the Protocol Processor has re-gained contact with it. The layer 3 alarm at
this point is still active.
6. The next line shows that the last condition, LAT_TIMEOUT, cleared.
7. The last two lines show a separate condition that was raised and cleared in a 15-second
time span.
When multiple conditions are shown, the icon in the left column does not represent the
current state of the remote. Rather, it shows the type of condition that occurred at that time.
For example, in number 5 above, the state of this remote is still ALARM, since the layer 3
alarm is still active. However, this particular entry represents the clearing of two conditions
indicated by the green icon.
2.4 Snapshots
There are two types of snapshots: Conditions Snapshots and Data Snapshots.
The following snapshots can be selected from the appropriate elements in the iMonitor Tree:
• Teleport: Teleport Condition Snapshot
• Network: Network Condition Snapshot, Network Data Snapshot, Line Card Data Snapshot
• Inroute group: Network Condition Snapshot, Network Data Snapshot, Line Card Data
Snapshot
• Remote: Device Condition Snapshot
Depending on the selection, the Condition Snapshot includes the following elements:
• Teleport Condition Snapshot includes all protocol processors, protocol processor
blades, chassis, inroute groups, and remotes under the teleport.
• Network Condition Snapshot at the network level includes all line cards, inroute
groups and remotes in the network.
• Network Condition Snapshot at the inroute group level includes all line cards and
remotes in the inroute group.
• Device Condition Snapshot from a remote includes only the remote.
3. Right-click a network element in the Condition Snapshot pane for a menu of operations
on that element. Figure 2-19 shows an example of the remote menu.
4. In the lower half of the submenu shown in Figure 2-19 are several options for changing the
Condition Snapshot view:
• Compact Icons
• Arrange Icons
• List
• Details
• Details in Group
• Real-time Status Only
• Activated
5. Figure 2-20 shows the results of selecting Details for the Teleport Condition Snapshot.
6. Hover the mouse pointer over an element in the snapshot to view information about that
element. Figure 2-21 shows the mouse pointer hovering over a line card.
2. With the mouse pointer located over the highlighted elements, right-click and select a
report. For this example, the Remote Availability report was selected.
Notice that the resulting Select Remotes (Figure 2-23) dialog box shows only the remotes
highlighted in Figure 2-22. When this same report is selected from the Tree, even with
these remotes highlighted, the resulting dialog box lists all of the remotes—not just the
highlighted remotes. Therefore, it is important that the mouse pointer is actually over
the highlighted elements when opening the menu.
3. Make any further selections in the dialog box.
4. Click OK to display the report.
NOTE: iDx Release 4.1.0 adds the capability for users to view status and real-time
data for Mesh remotes (i.e., Mesh Status, Mesh Rx (bps), and Mesh Tx (bps)).
Figure 2-25. Select Items and Stats Dialog Box - Network Data Snapshot
The Select Items and Stats dialog box has two panes. The pane on the left lists either
Remotes or Line Cards. (Figure 2-25 shows remotes for the Network Data Snapshot and
Figure 2-26 shows line cards for the Linecard Data Snapshot ) The pane on the right lists
all the data available for these remotes or line cards.
Figure 2-26. Select Items and Stats Dialog Box - Linecard Data Snapshot
3. In the pane on the left, select the remotes or line cards to view.
By default all elements are displayed in the left-hand pane. To select only Activated
elements, click Active. To clear all selections, click Clear.
4. In the pane on the right:
a. Expand the tree.
b. Select all parameters to view for the selected elements.
5. Click OK to view the Data Snapshot. Only the selected elements and parameters are
displayed.
NOTE: Parameters with defined limits, such as upstream C/N0, are displayed in
yellow if the values fall outside those limits. Remotes that are out-of-network are
displayed in red.
6. Right-click anywhere that data appears in the Data Snapshot to view the following
options:
This chapter describes how to view and interpret performance information for iDirect network
elements.
Click the Blade Info Pane tabs and expand the contents to display the following information
about the blades:
• The Process tab shows the various software processes running on each blade and the
remotes under each process.
• The Remotes tab lists the remotes per network being managed by the blades.
• The CPU Usage tab shows the percentages of CPU usage by category and the CPU idle
time.
• The GKD tab shows the current Master Global Key Distributor (GKD) and any higher-
priority GKDs for each blade. The Master GKD is the GKD currently supplying the TRANSEC
Network Acquisition Keys to the blade for distribution to the TRANSEC remotes.
NOTE: The GKD tab is only displayed for blades on TRANSEC Protocol Processors.
2. Click any of the tabs to view different types of information. Figure 3-2 shows examples of
all four Blade Info tabs.
Notice on the GKD tab (bottom image) that the blade has lost communication with the
configured Master GKD (with priority 30) and has connected to the GKD with priority 20. If
the higher-priority GKD comes back on line, the blade will reconnect to that GKD. For
more information, see the appendix “Managing TRANSEC Keys” in the iBuilder User Guide.
3. Right-click the blade in any of the first three tabs and select CPU Usage to view real-time
CPU usage in graphical and multicolumn formats. See CPU Usage on Protocol Processor
Blades on page 70 for details.
NOTE: Changing the transmit power is not effective if the remote has already
acquired the network. When in the network, the remote transmit power is
automatically controlled by the UCP process at the hub.
Once a remote joins the network, the Transmit Power displayed in the Remote Power
section updates periodically. For TDMA remotes, the Transmit Power displayed is relative
to the reference carrier parameters configured for the remote in iBuilder. This allows
direct comparison between the Configured Initial Power and the Transmit Power.
When a remote is in the network, use the Remote Power section to determine the
correct setting for the remote’s initial transmit power during commissioning or to verify
that it is set correctly during network operation. During clear sky operation, the margin
between the Configured Initial Power and the Transmit Power should agree with the
network design.
In Figure 3-3, the TDMA Initial Power configured in iBuilder is -20 dBm relative to the
reference carrier parameters. The last power relative to reference carrier reported by
the remote is -21.78 dBm. If the remote drops out of the network, it will transmit all
acquisition bursts at -20 dBm relative to the reference carrier regardless of the definition
of the carrier on which the acquisition slot is assigned.
• Use the Terminal Sessions section to launch a terminal window on the remote or on the
protocol processor blade controlling the remote. The remote must be in the network and
the client PC must have IP connectivity to the remote to perform this function.
• Use the Reset Remote section to reset the remote using a MAC-level message from the
Protocol Processor. The remote does not need to be in the network but must be locked to
the downstream carrier to perform this function.
• Use the Cross Polarization section to instruct the remote to transmit an unmodulated
(CW) carrier or modulated (PN) carrier on a specific frequency.
• Use the Protocol Processor section to view statistics, reset statistics, view parameters,
“bounce” the link layer, or perform an ACQ Bounce. Bouncing the link layer causes it to go
through the initialization handshake sequence. ACQ Bounce causes the remote to
reacquire the network. ACQ bounce is discussed in ACQ Bounce from the Inroute
Distribution Pane on page 85.
NOTE: The New Tx Power cannot exceed the Maximum Power defined for the
remote in iBuilder.
c. Click Set.
3. To connect directly to the remote or protocol processor blade, click Remote or Blade in
the Terminal Sessions area of the Probe dialog box.
4. To reset the remote, click the Reset button in the Reset Remote area of the Probe dialog
box.
NOTE: In iDX Release 4.1.x, iMonitor Probe does not support a modulated (PN)
carrier test symrate higher than 7.5 M.
f. To change to a different frequency, click the Stop button before entering the new
frequency and restarting the carrier.
g. When finished, reset the remote to return the remote to normal operation. Use either
the Reset button on the probe or reset the remote from iBuilder.
NOTE: The remote automatically stops transmitting a carrier started from this
screen five minutes after the carrier was started or the power was last adjusted.
To change this timeout, configure the remote custom key described in Modifying
the Timeout Duration for a CW or PN Carrier on page 68.
6. To view statistics, reset statistics or perform “bounce” functions, select a layer in the
Protocol Layer drop-down list.
7. Select the appropriate button to the right to View the desired data, Reset the statistics,
or perform the Bounce function. To save the statistics to a file, click the Save To File
button.
2. Select a blade or blades to monitor. Line Cards and Remotes cannot be selected.
3. Click OK to view the Blade CPU Usage pane. The Chart View tab is selected by default
(Figure 3-13).
4. Click the List View tab to view the data in multicolumn format.
5. CPU Usage information is also available in multicolumn format on the CPU Usage tab. See
Monitoring Protocol Processor Blades on page 61.
3.4.1 Timeplan
The Timeplan display shows the total capacity of an inroute group versus the allocated
bandwidth over time. The display can be used to verify that the upstream capacity is
allocated efficiently in all conditions. If this is not the case, it may be possible to improve the
upstream efficiency by optimizing the definitions of one or more of the Inroute Group
Compositions (IGCs).
This Timeplan display can be launched from the Network and Inroute Group levels of the
iMonitor tree. The display shows the following statistics over time for an inroute group:
• The capacity of the inroute group in traffic slots per TDMA frame
• The average number of allocated traffic slots per TDMA frame
• The average number of free traffic slots per TDMA frame
• The Inroute Group Composition (IGC) assigned to the inroute group at the time of each
statistics sample
To view the Timeplan display:
1. Right-click a network or inroute group in the iMonitor tree and select ATDMA StatsTime
Plan to open the Select Inroute Groups dialog box (Figure 3-15).
The Timeline tab has two graphs representing the TDMA Timeplan:
• The top graph shows the total TDMA traffic slots (Capacity) and the portion of that
capacity that was allocated (Total Slots) in average traffic slots per frame over time.
Notice in Figure 3-16 that the Capacity changes (top graph) as different IGCs are
selected for the inroute group (bottom graph).
• The bottom graph shows a time line of IGC usage. The IGC in use at any time is
represented by the position of the line on the y axis. This graph does not show
capacity.
6. If multiple inroute groups were selected in the Select Inroute Group dialog box, click an
inroute group in the list on the left to switch the display to that inroute group.
7. Click Hour, Min or Sec to change the time scale on the x axis.
8. Use the right-click menu to change the display. For example:
• Select ChangeScale to modify the position and scales of the x axis or y axis.
• Select Legend to display or hide the legend.
The List Data tab shows the following statistics for each statistics record:
• The date and time of the sample
• The Capacity of the inroute group in slots per frame
• The average number of Allocated Slots per frame for the sample
• The average number of Free Slots per frame for the sample
• The number of the IGC in use for the inroute group at the time of the sample
The graph shows the percentage of time each IGC was in use for the time range of the
statistics. For real-time data, the graph updates automatically as new statistics records
are received.
6. If multiple inroute groups were selected in the Select Inroute Groups dialog box, select
from the inroute group list on the left to switch the display to a different inroute group.
7. Right click anywhere in the main window and select Type to change the type of graph
(Figure 3-19).
8. Click the Timeline tab to view the time periods during which each IGC was in use
(Figure 3-20). This graph is similar to the graph Timeplan IGC graph shown in Figure 3-16.
9. Click Hour, Min or Sec to change the time scale on the x axis.
10. Use the right-click menu to change the display. For example:
• Select ChangeScale to modify the position and scales of the x axis or y axis.
• Select ChangeBack Color to modify the background color.
• Select ChangeText to modify the text color or wording of the title of axis label.
11. Click the List Data tab to view the IGC Usage statistics in a multicolumn list (Figure 3-21).
The List Data tab shows the following statistics for each statistics record:
• The date and time of the sample
• The IGC In Use for the inroute group at the time of the sample
• The “Figure of Merit” for each IGC at the time of the statistics sample.
An IGC selection algorithm executes periodically at the hub to determine the best IGC for an
inroute group under current network conditions. Each time the IGC selection algorithm
executes, it computes a Figure of Merit for each IGC. These Figures of Merit are relative
numbers used to compare the IGCs. An IGC with a higher Figure of Merit is better suited for
the current network conditions than an IGC with a lower Figure of Merit. Each time the
selection algorithm executes, the IGC with the highest Figure of Merit is selected as the next
IGC. The frequency with which the algorithm executes is configured in iBuilder.
NOTE: If a fixed IGC is selected in iBuilder for the inroute group, the IGC
selection algorithm is not executed. Therefore, the Figures of Merit on the List
Data tab are all set to zero.
For more information, see the chapter “Adaptive TDMA” in the Technical Reference Guide and
the section “Inroute Groups” in the iBuilder User Guide.
The bottom two graphs in Figure 3-22 show the distribution of C/N0 measurements of TDMA
bursts received at the hub in relation to the target thresholds of two upstream carriers. When
viewed for a carrier, the graph shows both the distribution of C/N0 measurements and the
target threshold of the carrier. The carrier name is displayed in the title of each graph.
The top graph in Figure 3-22 shows the scattering of the C/N0 measurements for all carriers in
an inroute group. Since the target thresholds can be different for each carrier, the graph is
normalized to show variations from nominal for all carriers rather than the actual
measurements. Zero on the y axis represents nominal for all carriers.
By default, the graph plots the 25th and 75th percentiles of the C/N0 measurements in each
sample. These values can be modified using the MAX MIN button. Ideally, the line
representing the target threshold should be centered between the lines representing the
scattering of the C/N0 measurements. A distribution that is not centered around the target
C/N0 may indicate a problem with the system configuration.
Typically, a variation of approximately ±2 dB from the target threshold is considered normal
for the default percentiles. A centered graph with wide variation in C/N0 measurements may
indicate a problem with individual remotes. Problem remotes can be isolated by observing the
Upstream C/N0 and Thresholds of specific remotes as described in Upstream C/N0 and
Thresholds on page 80.
To view the C/N0 Distribution display:
1. Right-click a network or inroute group in the iMonitor tree and select ATDMA StatsC/N0
Distribution to open the Select Inroute Groups dialog box (Figure 3-15 on page 72).
2. Select the Inroute Groups to view.
3. Enter a Time Range for historical data.
NOTE: Historical is automatically selected in the Select Inroute Group dialog box
and cannot be changed. Only historical data is available for the C/N0 Distribution
display.
• Click the IGCs button to display a graph tracking the IGC selection for the inroute
group over time. Use this graph to correlate the C/N0 distributions shown on other
graphs to the IGC in use at any given time.
• Click the Thr (Threshold) button to display a graph of the target thresholds for all
carriers in the inroute group over time.
8. Click the List data tab for a multicolumn list of the statistics used to build the graphs
(Figure 3-23).
The List Data tab shows the following statistics for each statistics record:
• The date and time of the sample
• The Current IGC for the inroute group at the time of the sample
• For each carrier in the inroute group:
• The target threshold at the time of the sample
• The C/N0 of the configured upper limit (Max Threshold %)
• The C/N0 of the configured lower limit (Min Threshold %)
NOTE: If the number of samples in the statistics record is less than 50, N/A is
displayed in the carrier column and nothing is displayed on the graph for that data
point.
The Upstream C/N0 and Thresholds display can be used to observe the effects of uplink power
control on the transmissions of individual remotes; to investigate performance issues such as
those caused by a poorly pointed antenna; or to help identify carrier interference.
To view the Upstream C/N0 and Thresholds display:
1. Right-click an inroute group or a remote in the iMonitor tree and select ATDMA Stats
Upstream C/N0 and Thresholds to open the Select Remotes dialog box (Figure 3-24).
2. Choose the remotes to view by selecting or clearing the check boxes. To help with the
selection:
• The All button selects all remotes.
• The Clear button clears all selections.
• The Active button selects all active remotes.
• The Find Next button finds the next remote in the list that matches the Search
string.
3. To view historical data, select Historical and enter a Time Range.
4. To view past data that continues to update in real time, select a Get Past time interval.
5. Click OK to view the Timeline tab (Figure 3-25).
NOTE: Hover the mouse pointer over a carrier button to view the carrier name
(Figure 3-25).
9. Click the List data tab for a multicolumn list of the statistics used to build the graphs
(Figure 3-23).
The List Data tab shows the following statistics for each statistics record for the selected
remote:
• The date and time of the sample
• The Nominal Carrier of the remote
• The C/N0 of the remote in dBHz
• The IGC in use
• The target threshold of each carrier in the inroute group in dBHz
NOTE: The Inroute Distribution pane is specific to individual inroute groups. When
multiple inroute groups are selected, iMonitor launches a separate pane for each
inroute group.
3.6 Latency
The NMS measures the round-trip time from the hub to each remote and back every 20
seconds. Real-time latency results are available in iMonitor. Latency responses exceeding 800
milliseconds are available from the historical archive and are saved for one week by default.
Latency can be selected in the iMonitor tree for Networks, Inroute Groups and Remotes.
The NMS measures latency by sending an empty ICMP echo request and measuring the elapsed
time until it receives the ICMP echo response from the remote. If the round trip time is
greater than two seconds, iMonitor raises a Warning for the remote. The receipt of the ICMP
echo response is also used to generate the layer 3 latency alarm. The NMS generates a latency
alarm if it misses three consecutive ICMP echo responses. A latency alarm indicates a
potential IP problem.
To view latency measurements for one or more remotes:
1. Right-click a network, inroute group, or remote in the iMonitor Tree and select Latency to
open the Select Items dialog box.
3. For historical data, select Historical and click Time Range to open the Select Time
Range dialog box (Figure 3-31). Then enter a Start Time and End Time, or use the slider
to set the Start Time.
Figure 3-31. Select Time Range Dialog Box and Clock Display
NOTE: Alternatively, click the ellipses next to the Start and End times to set the
time using the graphical clock display.
4. To retrieve past data and continue to receive real-time statistics, select a time interval in
the Get Past drop-down list (Figure 3-30).
5. Click OK to view the Latency pane.
NOTE: Historical latency reports show only data for latency timeouts. They do not
show measurements that are below the threshold.
NOTE: Latency is measured from the NMS server. The latency results do not
measure latency from the remotes to arbitrary IP addresses on the public
Internet.
NOTE: Table A-4 on page 199 lists all line card statistics archived by the NMS.
NOTE: When the line card statistics are displayed from the Network level of the
tree, all line cards in the network are shown in the Line Cards area of the Select
Line Cards dialog box. When displayed for a specific line card, only that line card
is shown in the dialog box.
2. In the Line Cards area of the dialog box, select the line cards for which to view statistics.
3. To retrieve historical statistics from the archive, select Historical and enter a Time
Range.
NOTE: Click the ellipses next to the Start Time and End Time to set the time using
the graphical clock display.
4. To retrieve past data and then continue to receive real-time statistics, select a time
interval in the Get Past drop-down list.
Figure 3-34. iMonitor Hub Line Card Statistics Pane: Initial View
Figure 3-34 shows the initial view of the Hub Line Card pane launched from the network
level of the tree. Four line cards were selected in the Select Line Card dialog box.
6. In the tree at the left, click a hub line card or an upstream or downstream channel to
view the graph or statistics for that line card or channel.
NOTE: For a multichannel line card in SCPC return mode, the upstream channel in
the tree shows the name of the upstream SCPC carrier and the name of the
remote that is transmitting that carrier.
7. Click the buttons on the left to select data for the graph. (See page 92 for a description of
the buttons.)
8. Click the second tab to view the data as a multicolumn list.
Figure 3-35 on page 91 shows both the HLC Graph tab and the statistics from the second tab
for the eM1D1 line card selected in the tree. In the HLC Graph tab shown in the figure, the
Temp button is selected, resulting in a graphical display of the variation in line card
temperature over time. Selecting a different button (or multiple buttons) would result in a
different graph. Selecting a different line card or an individual upstream or downstream
channel on the left changes which buttons can be selected for the graph. The data displayed
on the second tab changes accordingly.
Figure 3-35. Hub Line Card Statistics: Graphical Display and Multicolumn List
The graphs and buttons available on the HLC Graph tab as well as the related information
displayed on the second tab depend on the line card or channel selected in the tree at the
left of the graph. For example, select a multichannel receive-only line card in SCPC return
mode to examine general line card statistics such as the line card temperature or number of
errors on the GIGE Ethernet port. Select a receive channel on that line card to examine
channel-specific statistics such as the number of bytes received on the SCPC channel and the
number of times TDM lock was lost.
Change the graphical display on the HLC Graph tab by toggling the buttons to the left of the
graph (Figure 3-34). The buttons work as follows:
• The Hour, Min and Sec buttons change the scale of the x axis to hours, minutes or
seconds.
• The All, Single and None buttons control which statistics are displayed on the graph:
• Select All to automatically select all the statistics appropriate to the selected line
card or channel for display on the graph. After selecting All, click selected buttons to
turn them off one by one.
• Select Single to turn the buttons representing individual statistics into toggle buttons.
For example, if the Single and Temp buttons are both selected, then only the
temperature is be displayed on the graph. Selecting the TxAtt button while the Single
button is selected changes the graph from temperature to transmit attempts. If the
Single button is not selected, both statistics are graphed.
• Select None to clear the graph.
• The remaining buttons represent the various statistics that can be displayed on the graph.
Select a single statistic button or multiple statistics button. Buttons that are not
appropriate for the selected line card or channel cannot be selected.
NOTE: Hover the mouse pointer over any button for a textual description of the
button’s function.
Figure 3-36 shows the right-click menu for the Hub Line Card statistics graphs. Use the right-
click menu to change the display. For example:
• Select ChangeScale to modify the scales of the x axis or y axis.
• Select Legend to display or hide the legend.
• Change the background (Back Color) or Text color.
• Select Mouse Tracking. Then click and drag along the plot line to view the value of each
data point.
Figure 3-37 shows the ChangeScale selections.
NOTE: The Left, Right and Bottom selections toggle off and on the scale displays
on the left, right and bottom of the selected graph.
In the second tab, right-click anywhere in the column headings to display a menu of fields for
display. Checked fields appear as columns in the display. Figure 3-38 shows the available
fields for an individual SCPC return channel on an XLC-M line card (on the left) and for the
XLC-M line card itself (on the right).
Figure 3-38. Hub Line Card Statistics for an SCPC Return Channel and for an XLC-M Line
Card
• TDMA upstream performance statistics are collected for remotes that transmit on a TDMA
inroute.
• SCPC upstream performance statistics are collected for remotes that transmit an SCPC
upstream carrier.
Upstream performance statistics are available from the following levels of the iMonitor Tree
view:
• Network (by selecting Grouped Remotes)
• Inroute Group (by selecting Grouped Remotes)
• Remote
Upstream performance statistics displayed in iMonitor for remotes transmitting on a TDMA
inroute include:
• The number of acquisition bursts received from the remote
• The number of missing acquisition bursts
• The number of traffic bursts received from the remote
• The number of traffic CRC errors in bursts received from the remote
• The number of missing traffic bursts
• The number of keepalive bursts received from the remote
Upstream performance statistics displayed in iMonitor for remotes transmitting an SCPC
return channel include:
• The number of IP packets received from the remote
• The number of HDLC errors in packets received from the remote
• The number of keepalive packets received from the remote
NOTE: Remote Return Channel Statistics on page 201 describes all upstream
performance statistics archived by the NMS.
NOTE: Select Upstream Performance Graph for Grouped Remotes to show every
remote in a network or inroute group in the Remotes area of the Select Remotes
dialog box. Select Upstream Performance Graph for an individual remote to show
only the selected remote in the dialog box.
2. In the Remotes area of the dialog box, select the remotes for which to view statistics.
3. If desired, select Historical and enter a Time Range to retrieve historical statistics from
the archive.
4. To retrieve past data and then continue to receive real-time statistics, select a time
interval in the Get Past drop-down list.
Figure 3-40. iMonitor Upstream Performance Statistics Pane: TDMA and SCPC Channels
6. In the tree on the left, click a remote’s upstream channel to view the graph or statistics
for that remote.
Figure 3-40 shows sample Upstream Performance Graphs for both a remote transmitting
an SCPC return channel (top) and for a remote transmitting on a TDMA upstream carrier
(bottom).
NOTE: If a remote changed between SCPC and TDMA upstream channels during
the reporting period, two upstream carriers will appear under the remote. Select
either channel to see the graph and statistics data for that carrier type.
7. Click the buttons on the left to select data for the graph. (See the description on
page 98.)
8. Click the second tab for a multicolumn list of the remote’s Upstream Performance
Statistics.
Figure 3-41 shows sample data for remotes transmitting both TDMA and SCPC upstream
carriers.
Change the graphical display on the US Perf. Graph tab by toggling the buttons to the left of
the graph (Figure 3-40 on page 97). The graphs (as well as the related information displayed
on the second tab) are different for TDMA and SCPC upstream carriers.
The buttons work as follows:
• The Hour, Min and Sec buttons change the scale of the x axis to hours, minutes or
seconds.
• The All, Single and None buttons help control which statistics are displayed on the graph.
(For details see page 92.)
• The remaining buttons represent the various statistics that can be displayed on the graph.
Select a single statistic button or multiple statistics button. Buttons that are not
appropriate for the return channel type are not selectable.
• For TDMA Upstream Performance Statistics there are two groups of buttons with identical
names. Use the top group to select acquisition statistics; use the bottom group to select
traffic statistics. (This is illustrated in Figure 3-42 on page 99. TDMA buttons are shown on
the left and SCPC buttons are shown on the right.) For example, use the top Bursts button
to select acquisition bursts; use the bottom Bursts button to select traffic bursts.
NOTE: As shown in Figure 3-42, hover the mouse pointer over any button for a
description of the button’s function.
Figure 3-43 shows the multicolumn list and graphical view of a remote’s TDMA upstream data.
Figure 3-43. Remote Upstream Performance Statistics: Graph and Multicolumn List
Figure 3-45. Remote Upstream Performance Statistics for TDMA and SCPC Return
Channels
7. Click the second tab to see the remote’s Upstream Performance Statistics in the form of a
table.
Figure 3-46. Remote Performance Statistics CRC Errors: Graph and Multicolumn List
Figure 3-46 shows a graph of TDMA traffic CRC errors for a remote and the data used to build
the graph.
In addition to the graph on the SATCOM tab, the Remote Status tab and UCP tab show real-
time or historical data in multicolumn lists. The data on the Remote Status tab is reported by
the remote. The data on the UCP tab is reported by the Protocol Processor during uplink
control processing. As with any multicolumn list, right-click in the display to copy multiple
rows from these tabs to paste into another application such as Excel.
NOTE: This information is also displayed on the remote Control Panel. See
Control Panel on page 131.
1. Right-click a remote and select SATCOM Graph or Remote Status/UCP Info to open the
Select Items dialog box. The remote is pre-selected in the Remotes area of the dialog
box.
2. To view historical data, select Historical and click Time Range to open the Select Time
Range dialog box. Then enter a Start Time and End Time, or use the slider to set the
Start Time. (See Figure 3-31 on page 87.)
3. To retrieve past data and then continue to receive real-time statistics, select a time
interval in the Get Past drop-down list.
4. Click OK.
The SATCOM pane contains three tabs (Figure 3-48). The Remote Status and UCP Info tabs
contain the raw data used to draw the SATCOM graph.
SATCOM Graph
Figure 3-48 shows an example of the graphs on the SATCOM tab.
NOTE: To adjust the color settings on the SATCOM graphs, right-click anywhere
inside the display and select Properties from the context menu.
The SATCOM tab is organized into three graphs. The displays show the following information:
• Graph 1: The downstream signal-to-noise ratio (C/N) as measured at the remote,
superimposed on the number of times the remote has lost lock on the downstream carrier
(TDM lost). The TDM lost value is cumulative since the remote was last powered-up, but
this graph shows only deltas from message to message.
• Graph 2: The upstream signal-to-noise ratio adjusted for the symbol rate (C/N0) as
measured at the hub, superimposed on the remote’s transmit power.
• Graph 3: The symbol timing offset and frequency offset adjustments applied to the
remote by the Protocol Processor uplink control process.
Each graph contains heading text that shows the last values received (either real-time or from
the archive depending on the type of request). Close any of the displays by clicking on the X
in the upper-right corner of the graph.
NOTE: The maximum time range for this pane is one hour. This limit includes both
historical and real-time information.
NOTE: Some of the content of the remote status message is based on the mode of
operation. Therefore the columns displayed by iMonitor may vary depending on
the remote mode. For example, an X7 remote with a second receiver enabled
shows additional Rx2-related status; an X7 remote in a Mesh network shows
additional Mesh-related information.
NOTE: Remote Status on page 203 describes all upstream performance statistics
archived by the NMS.
As shown in Figure 3-52, there are four separate UCP graphs, one for each statistic:
• Upstream C/N0
• Power Adjustment
• Timing Offset
• Frequency Offset
6. Click the corresponding button on the left to display or hide each graph.
7. Right-click inside the graph to view a menu of display options. General options for the
right-click menu are described on page 93.
8. Each line on a graph represents the corresponding statistic for one of the remotes
selected in the Name column in Figure 3-52. Select Legend from the right-click menu to
determine which remote is represented by each line color.
9. To view the raw statistics for a remote, highlight the remote in the Name column and
then click the second tab with the remote’s name. These statistics are identical to those
on the UCP Info tab of the SATCOM graph discussed in the previous section.
NOTE: To change the list of remotes without relaunching the display, click the
Filter button (Figure 3-52) to open the Select Remotes dialog box.
NOTE: Right-click a remote and select Downstream QoS Stats or Upstream QoS
Stats from the menu to view all QoS statistics for a single remote.
2. In the Group Tree pane of the Select Group dialog box, select an element in the tree
over which to aggregate the Group QoS statistics. Sub-elements are automatically
selected.
NOTE: Check Select Single Node to select an individual element in the Group Tree
pane. This is illustrated in Figure 3-57.
3. Select Real time and enter a Start Time, or enter a Start Time and End Time. Duration
will adjust automatically.
NOTE: Alternatively, use the slider to adjust Duration. Start Time and End Time
will adjust automatically.
The Group Stats display has three tabs: the GQoS Distribution tab, the Plot tab and the List
tab. The GQoS Distribution tab is automatically selected when the display opens. Each of
these tabs is described in the following sections.
Figure 3-59. Group QoS Distribution: Group QoS View vs. Remote View
The display opens to the Group QoS View by default. In the Group QoS View, the Group QoS
tree is ordered as in iBuilder, with the Bandwidth Groups at the top and the Virtual Remotes
at the bottom (Figure 3-59 on the left). In this view, Virtual Remotes at the bottom of the
screen are directly beneath their applications. Since the bandwidth for a physical remote is
distributed across all of its applications, the bandwidth for one remote is not grouped on the
display in the Group QoS View.
Clearing the GQoS View Mode selection in the right-click menu changes to the Remote View
(Figure 3-59 on the right). This view adds the physical remotes at the top of the display and
groups the subnodes by remote. Placing all the information for a physical remote in a single
column groups the remote’s Virtual Remotes at the bottom of the display. The Remote View
makes it easy to see the amounts of bandwidth requested and used by individual remotes and
how that bandwidth is distributed across each remote’s applications.
Figure 3-60. Group QoS Distribution: Viewing QoS Statistics for a Node
Click a node in the tree on the left or hover the mouse pointer over a node in the main display
to show the QoS statistics for that node at the bottom of the display. Figure 3-60 illustrates
these functions.
For each node, the display shows:
• The Name of the QoS node (including its full path in the Group QoS hierarchy)
• Requested Bandwidth
• Allocated Bandwidth
• Free Bandwidth
• Configured CIR
• Configured MIR
• Configured Cost
NOTE: When viewing the data for a physical remote in the Remote View, the
values displayed for Requested Bandwidth, Allocated Bandwidth, and Free
Bandwidth are the sums of each value for all of the remote’s Virtual Remotes.
In the Remote View, a QoS node is sometimes represented in multiple places in the main
display. Clicking that node in the tree or clicking a box in the main display highlights all of the
boxes for that QoS node. This is illustrated in Figure 3-61 for the Default Application.
Figure 3-61. Group QoS Distribution: Single Group QoS Node Divided Across Main Display
Base Measures
Right-click anywhere in the main display and select a Base Measure (Figure 3-62) to
determine the relative width of the nodes on the screen.
Figure 3-63. Group QoS Distribution Base Measure: Bandwidth Allocated vs. Static
Note: When a new Base Measure is selected, the name of the Group QoS Distribution
tab changes to reflect the selected measure. This is illustrated in Figure 3-64.
Figure 3-64. Group QoS Distribution: Tab Name Change for Base Measure
Figure 3-65. Group QoS Distribution: Display Controls and Filter Settings
• Toolbar shows or hides the toolbar buttons on the far left of the screen. (See Figure 3-58
on page 113.)
NOTE: The colored toolbar button toggles off and on the Group QoS
Distribution tab.
Figure 3-66 shows the ten remotes that have received the most bandwidth in combination
with the Static Base Measure.
Remotes can also be removed from and added to the Group QoS Distribution display by
clicking the Filter Remotes button to open the Select Remotes dialog box (Figure 3-67).
Figure 3-67. Group QoS Distribution: Filtering Remotes with the Filter Remotes Button
In the Select Remotes dialog box, move remotes between the Selected Remotes and
Available Remotes sections of the Select Remotes dialog box by selecting the remotes and
clicking the arrow buttons. Remotes in the Available Remotes section of the dialog box are
not shown in the Group QoS Distribution display.
NOTE: The date and time at the left of the slider bar updates as the slider moves.
2. Release the mouse button to view the statistics record that includes the selected time.
Figure 3-68. Group QoS Distribution: Selecting a Statistics Record with the Slider
Figure 3-68 shows the results of moving the slider to a specific time in the historical time
range with a Virtual Remote selected in the main display. When the slider is released, the
display is updated to show the record that includes the slider time.
Replay the statistics over the historical time range by clicking the buttons on the left of the
slider bar. The display automatically steps through the statistics records in the selected
direction.
Figure 3-70. Group QoS Distribution: Averaging Over the Historical Time Range
The Group QoS Distribution display is adjusted to represent the statistics averaged over
the historical time range.
2. Select any node to view the average statistics for that node.
NOTE: The slider is not visible when viewing statistics averaged over the time
range.
2. To narrow the Zoom Box in the Zoom Window, right-click inside the Zoom Box and drag
the mouse pointer down. Resizing the Zoom Box zooms in on the portion of the Group QoS
distribution display included in the box.
3. To move the Zoom Box horizontally in the Zoom Window, click anywhere inside the Zoom
Box and drag the mouse pointer right or left.
Figure 3-73. Group QoS Distribution: Moving the Zoom Box Horizontally
4. To widen the Zoom Box in the Zoom Window, right-click inside the Zoom Box and drag the
mouse pointer up.
5. To change the Zoom Box from a vertical slice of the display to a square box, right-click
anywhere in the Group QoS Distribution clear Zoom Horiz.
6. To increase the size of the square Zoom Box, right-click inside the Zoom Box and drag the
mouse pointer up.
7. To decrease the size of the square Zoom Box, right-click inside the Zoom Box and drag the
mouse pointer down.
8. To move the square Zoom Box in the Zoom Window, click anywhere inside the Zoom Box
and drag the mouse pointer in any direction.
9. After the Zoom Box is positioned in the Zoom Window, close the Zoom Window by right-
clicking in the main display and clearing the Zoom Box option in the menu. The display
shows only the area contained in the Zoom Box.
10. Hover the mouse pointer over any node in the display to view the Group QoS statistics for
that node.
11. Re-open the Zoom Box to resize the Zoom Box or to move the Zoom Box to a new location.
12. At any time, double-click anywhere in the main display or in the Zoom Window to return
to the full view.
The Plot tab presents a graphical representation of the data on the List tab. By default,
three graphs appear: BW Requested, BW Allocated and BW Free.
NOTE: The graphs will not appear until a QoS node is selected in the tree view on
the left.
14. Select elements at different levels of the tree in the left-hand pane to control the
aggregation of the statistics displayed in the Plot and List tabs of the right-hand pane.
Figure 3-77 shows the total statistics aggregated over the selected Remote Service Group.
15. Right-click anywhere in the plot area and highlight Select Graph to view or hide any of
the three graphs. Toggling any of the top three buttons on the left side of the display
performs the same function.
Use the context menu or the toggle buttons to change other aspects of the display. For
example:
• Click Hour, Min or Sec to change the scale of the x axis to hours, minutes or seconds.
• Select ChangeScale to modify the scales of the x axis or y axis
NOTE: The Tight button automatically adjusts the scale of the y axis to span
exactly the statistical data being reported.
NOTE: The Left, Right and Bottom selections toggle off and on the scale displays
on the left, right and bottom of the selected graph.
17. Select elements at different levels of the tree in the left-hand pane to control the
aggregation of the statistics displayed in the table in the right-hand pane. Figure 3-80
shows the total statistics aggregated over the selected Bandwidth Group.
The following statistics are displayed in the List tab in the right-hand pane of the Group Stats
display:
• BW Req shows the total bandwidth requested by the selected subgroup
• BW Alloc shows the total bandwidth allocated by the selected subgroup
• Free BW Alloc shows the amount of bandwidth allocated to the subgroup in excess of the
requested bandwidth.
NOTE: The BW Req column only displays correct data when congestion is not
present.
NOTE: Downstream GQoS Statistics are always upscaled to the network maximum
MODCOD configured on the network downstream carrier. For example, when a
remote's operational MODCOD matches the network's maximum MODCOD, the
GQOS statistics shown in the Group QoS List tab will match the values shown in
Figure 4-4: SAT Traffic: SAT Traffic Tab.
However, when a remote's operational MODCOD does not match the network's
maximum MODCOD, the GQOS statistics shown in the Group QoS List tab still
reflect the values of the network maximum MODCOD.
bandwidth. Therefore, to maximize channel efficiency, a remote does not send any Upstream
TDMA or SCPC Service Level statistics to the NMS unless a remote-side custom key is defined.
To enable a remote to send upstream service level statistics to the NMS, use iBuilder to
configure the following custom keys in the Remote-Side area of the Remote Custom tab and
apply the changes:
[NMS]
sl_stats_report_enabled = 1
[TIMEPLAN]
large_message_supported = 1
To view Service Level statistics in iMonitor:
1. Right-click a network, remote, inroute group, or SCPC multichannel line card in the
iMonitor tree and select Downstream QoS Stats or Upstream QoS Stats as desired.
2. In the Select dialog box, expand a Virtual Remote to see the Service Levels.
3. Select a Service Level or right-click the Virtual Remote to select all Service Levels as
illustrated in Figure 3-81).
5. Select a Service Level in the tree to view statistics for that Service Level.
6. Click the four top buttons on the left to toggle on and off the four graphs. There is one
graph per Service Level statistic:
• Tx kbps / sec shows the traffic in Kbps for the Service Level.
• Tx packets / sec shows the packets per second for the Service Level.
• Rejected Packets shows the number of unreliable packets rejected for transmission
due to a full Service Level queue when Drop Oldest First is not selected for the
Service Level configuration in iBuilder.
• Dropped Packets shows the number of unreliable packets dropped from the queue and
not transmitted when Drop Oldest First is selected for the Service Level configuration
in iBuilder.
7. Click the List tab for a multicolumn list of the statistics for the selected Service Level.
1. Right-click in the display area of the List tab and select Export to Excel or Export to CSV
from the menu.
2. In the Save As dialog box, browse to the folder in which to save the statistics.
• The SATCOM tab shows the SATCOM graph for this remote. (See Figure 3-48 on page 104.)
• The SAT Traffic tab shows upstream and downstream satellite traffic graphs for this
remote. (See SAT Traffic Graph on page 171.)
• The IP Traffic tab shows upstream and downstream IP traffic graph and IP statistics for
this remote. (See IP Traffic Graph on page 176.
• The Probe tab opens the remote Probe for this remote. (See Using the Remote Probe on
page 63.)
• The Remote Status tab shows up to one week of real-time or historical Remote Status
information for this remote. (See page 105.)
NOTE: For iDX Release 3.3.3.1, an X7 remote with a second receiver enabled
shows additional Rx2-related status.
• The UCP Info tab shows up to one week of real-time or historical UCP information for this
remote. (See Remote Status and UCP Information on page 105.)
• The Latency tab opens a latency pane for this remote. (See Latency on page 86.)
• The QoS tab shows the current QoS profile settings for this remote.
Figure 3-84 and Figure 3-85 show examples of two remote Control Panel tabs.
NOTE: For iDX Release 4.1, Mesh Status has been added to the General tab.
NOTE: A maximum of four Control Panels can be displayed at the same time.
iMonitor provides different types of downstream carrier performance graphs and statistics by
right-clicking the network elements in the iMonitor tree listed in Table 3-7.
3. Select the remotes to monitor in the Remotes area of the dialog box.
4. Select the Historical check box to select a Time Range for viewing. Otherwise, select a
time interval from the Get Past drop-down menu, or click OK to begin viewing data in
real-time. (Real-time is selected by default from the Get Past drop-down menu.)
NOTE: For historical data, click the ellipses next to Start Time and End Time to
set the Time Range using the graphical clock display.
5. Click OK to launch the ACM Gain display. The ACM Gain tab is selected by default.
The ACM Gain tab graph (Figure 3-88) shows the ACM Gain over time for the selected
remote(s) or for the entire DVB-S2 outbound carrier (if the display was launched from the
Line Card level of the iMonitor tree).
6. When launched from the Network or Inroute Group, click on any available remote in the
left pane to display the ACM Gain for that remote. Switch to a new remote at any time by
selecting it.
Figure 3-89. Selecting Remotes in the Left Pane of the ACM Gain Display
7. To change the list of remotes without relaunching the display, click the Filter button to
open the Select Remotes dialog box.
a. Use the arrow buttons to move remotes between the Available Remotes pane and the
Selected Remotes pane to modify the list.
b. Click OK to return to the main ACM Gain display.
The table on the List Data tab shows the following information for each time period:
• Low MC shows the minimum MODCOD of the DVB-S2 carrier as configured in iBuilder.
• CCM kSym shows the number of kilosymbols that would have been required to transmit
the data if it had all been transmitted using Low MC as the MODCOD.
• Actual kSym shows the number of kilosymbols that were actually required to transmit the
data using ACM.
• ACM Gain shows the percent gain in efficiency achieved by comparing the CCM bandwidth
that would have been required with the actual bandwidth used.
• The remaining columns show the number of kilobytes transmitted at each MODCOD.
2. Select the remotes, type of data, and time range in the dialog box. (See page 134.)
4. If the display was launched from the Network, click on any available remote in the Name
column to display the MODCOD Distribution for that remote. Switch to a new remote at
any time by selecting it.
NOTE: The buttons on the left only apply to the Timeline tab.
NOTE: Click the Filter button to change the list of available remotes in the left
pane.
5. To see the MODCOD Distribution over time, click the Timeline tab.
The Timeline tab graphs the traffic of the selected remote per MODCOD over time. When
viewing the Timeline tab:
a. If the display was launched from the Network, click on any available remote in the
Name column to display the traffic for that remote. Switch to a new remote at any
time by selecting it.
b. Click the Hour, Min or Sec button to change the granularity of the x axis to hours,
minutes or seconds.
c. Select the None or All button to de-select or select all MODCODs.
d. Select Single to turn the MODCOD buttons into toggle buttons. When Single is
selected, only one MODCOD button can be selected at a time.
e. Click the MODCOD buttons to select which MODCODs appear on the graph. There is a
separate line on the graph for each selected MODCOD that is being transmitted. No
line will appear if there is no traffic being transmitted on that MODCOD.
NOTE: Right-click anywhere in the graph and select Legend to view a color-coded
legend of the traffic per MODCOD.
6. To see the MODCOD Distribution data in a multicolumn list, click the List Data tab.
The table on the List Data tab shows the Total kilobytes transmitted during the time period as
well as the number of kilobytes transmitted at each MODCOD. For specific remotes, this
includes all data sent to that remote. If the display was launched from the Tx line card, then
the table includes all data transmitted on the DVB-S2 downstream carrier.
2. Select the remotes, type of data, and time range in the dialog box. (See page 134.)
3. Click OK to view the Message Structure tab of the MODCOD Utilization display. The
display contains one row for each remote.
4. Select a remote in the Structure column. For Historical data (Figure 3-97), the time
range of the selected remote’s data is displayed at the top of the display.
The Message Structure tab contains the following columns:
• The Structure column contains the remote names. Select a remote in the Structure
column to display the data for that specific remote on the MODCOD tab or the
Detailed Data tab. (See page 143 and page 144 for descriptions of those tabs.)
• The Sparkline column provides a graphical indication of which MODCODs the remote
received during the reporting period. There is one vertical line per statistical record.
Each line represents the MODCOD index of the MODCOD reported in the corresponding
record. The MODCOD index range is 0 (QPSK 1/4) to 21 (16APSK 8/9). (See Table 3-8
on page 145.) The height of each line is proportional to the index of the MODCOD
reported in the corresponding record.
To configure the settings that affect how the Sparkline data is displayed, right-click a
Sparkline and select options from the context menu. For details, see Customizing the
Display with the Sparkline Context Menu on page 145.
• The Nominal column shows the Nominal MODCOD configured for the remote at the
time of the latest statistics record of the statistics sample. (The fields of the statistics
record are described on page 144.)
• The Current column shows the MODCOD received by the remote in the latest
statistics record of the statistics sample.
• The Utilize column shows the overall Bandwidth Utilization factor as calculated from
all records in the statistics sample. (See page 141 for an explanation of the Bandwidth
Utilization factor.)
5. Click the MODCOD tab for a graphical representation of the percentages of data received
at each MODCOD for the remote selected on the Message Structure tab.
Figure 3-99 shows a remote that has received two MODCODs during the time represented
by the statistics. The remote received its outbound data on MODCOD 8PSK-3/5 for 91.95%
of the time and on MODCOD 8PSK-2/3 for 8.05% of the time.
6. To change to a different type of graph (such as a pie chart), right-click anywhere in the
display and select Type. Select a format from the list of options.
7. To view a legend showing the color coding of the different MODCODs, right-click anywhere
in the display and select Legend. (See Figure 3-100.)
8. To see the MODCOD Utilization data in a multicolumn list, click the Detailed Data tab.
This tab displays all the statistics records currently being analyzed for the specific remote
selected on the Message Structure tab. Each record includes:
• The Date and time of the statistics record
• The configured Nominal MODCOD of the remote at the time of the record
• The Current MODCOD of the remote at the time of the record
• The Bandwidth Utilization factor (BW Utilization) calculated for that specific record.
(See page 141 for an explanation of the Bandwidth Utilization factor.)
NOTE: The MODCOD Index Numbers (which start at 0) are not identical to the
MODCOD numbers used in the DVB-S2 standard as documented in the iDirect
Technical Reference Guide (which start at 1).
1. Select Mouse Tracking and then click and drag along the Sparkline to view the MODCOD
Index of each data point. In Figure 3-103, Mouse Tracking has been enabled and the
mouse is over a line representing a data point with MODCOD index of 12 (8PSK 2/3). See
Table 3-8 on page 145 for the MODCOD index associated with each MODCOD.
2. Select Out of Bound to open a dialog box (Figure 3-104) that differentiates between
MODCODs inside or outside a configured range.
In the dialog box, set a minimum MODCOD index (Min. Boundary) and a Maximum
MODCOD index (Max. Boundary). Then click OK.
Individual spark lines that represent MODCOD indexes that fall within these boundaries
are displayed in one color in the Sparkline column. Individual spark lines that are outside
the boundaries are displayed as a different color.
3. Select Size to open a dialog box (Figure 3-105) to configure the Width and Height of the
Sparklines.
Figure 3-105. MODCOD Utilization: Setting Size of Sparkline Column and Rows
Enter a Width to set the width of the Sparkline column in pixels. You cannot adjust the
column on the GUI to be smaller than this setting. Enter a Height to adjust the height of
the rows (in pixels) on the Message Column tab.
4. Select Apply Filter to open dialog box (Figure 3-106) to set the maximum number of lines
in a Sparkline.
Figure 3-106. MODCOD Utilization: Setting the Maximum Spark Lines for a Remote
In Max. Samples, enter the maximum number of lines to display in the Sparkline column
for the selected remote. For example, if 100 is entered for Max. Samples, only the latest
100 records are represented in the Sparkline column for that remote.
Perform these steps to monitor the SNR values being reported by remotes to the protocol
processor:
1. Right-click a DVB-S2 network or remote in the iMonitor tree and select DVB-S2 StatsSNR
Graph to open the Select Remotes dialog box.
2. Select the remotes, type of data, and time range in the dialog box. (See page 134.)
3. Click OK to view the SNR Plot tab of the SNR Monitoring Display.
4. Right-click anywhere in the graph to change the display. See page 148 for more details.
5. To see the SNR data in a multicolumn list, click the List Data tab.
In the table:
• The MODCOD column displays the best MODCOD at which the remote can currently
receive data
• The Bitmap column is intended for use by iDirect engineers and support personnel. It
displays the bitmap sent from the protocol processor to the line card representing all
MODCODs at which the remote can currently receive data.
• The SNR column displays the SNR values reported by the remote
The Structure column in Figure 3-110 shows the following types of statistical data that
can be viewed on this screen:
• UDP Rx High/Low indicates the number high and low priority UDP packets received by
the line card from the protocol processor. These packets contain the data for
transmission on the outbound carrier. Each UDP packet is subdivided into ACM
packets. Each ACM packet contains data that can be sent on a specific maximum
MODCOD.
• ACM Packets Rx High/Low indicates the number of high and low priority ACM packets
received by the line card from the protocol processor that can be transmitted at a
given MODCOD.
• ACM Packets Tx High/Low indicates the number of high and low priority ACM packets
received by the line card from the protocol processor for a specific MODCOD that have
been transmitted.
NOTE: In some cases, the line card may not send the data to the remote at the
remote’s maximum MODCOD. To achieve the most efficient frame packing and to
minimize latency, an outbound frame may contain data for multiple remotes with
different maximum MODCODs. ACM Packets Tx High/Low indicates the number of
packets received from the protocol processor per MODCOD that have been
transmitted. It does not indicate whether or not the packets were actually
transmitted at the requested MODCOD.
3. The Hub Debug Statistics display has two tabs. The row selected in the Message Structure
tab determines which statistics are displayed in the other tab. In Figure 3-112, the row
containing ACM Packets Rx Low is selected. This causes the corresponding data to be
displayed on the second tab. Notice in Figure 3-112 that the name of the second tab has
changed to match the selected structure.
Figure 3-112. Hub Debug Statistics: Selecting Structure for Second Tab
4. Click the tab on the right to view the statistics in real time. All ACM statistics are
displayed by MODCOD.
5. To reset the counters in the display to zeroes, click the Reset View button (Figure 3-114)
at the top right of the screen.
Clicking Reset View clears all values and sparklines and begins accumulating data starting
with the next set of statistics received from the line card.
2. Select the remotes, type of data, and time range in the dialog box.
3. Click OK to view the MODCOD Distribution display.
4. If the display was launched from the Network, click on any available remote in the Name
column to display the MODCOD Distribution for that remote. Switch to a new remote at
any time by selecting it.
NOTE: The buttons on the left only apply to the Timeline tab.
NOTE: Click the Filter button to change the list of available remotes in the left
pane.
5. To see the MODCOD Distribution over time, click the Timeline tab.
The Timeline tab graphs the traffic of the selected remote per MODCOD over time. When
viewing the Timeline tab:
NOTE: Right-click anywhere in the graph and select Legend to view a color-coded
legend of the traffic per MODCOD.
• If the display was launched from the Network, click on any available remote in the
Name column to display the traffic for that remote. Switch to a new remote at any
time by selecting it.
• Click the Hour, Min or Sec button to change the granularity of the x axis to hours,
minutes or seconds.
• Click the None or All button to de-select or select all MODCODs.
• Click the Bits, Bytes, or Symbols buttons to see data displayed in one of those forms.
• Click None to deselect all MODCODs.
• Click All to select all MODCODs.
• Click RT for real-time data.
• Click FF to include or eliminate fill frames.
• Click Sel to select PLS (Physical Layer Signaling code).
• Click MC-T (MODCOD over time) to display the MODCOD distribution over time. It
discards the amount of data transferred on a MODCOD and only display the line if
there was any data on a particular MODCOD that is > than zero.This is an easier way
to look at the distribution over time. See Figure 3-118.
6. To see the MODCOD Distribution data in a multicolumn list, click the List Data tab.
The table on the List Data tab shows the Total kilobytes transmitted during the time period as
well as the number of kilobytes transmitted at each MODCOD. For specific remotes, this
includes all data sent to that remote. If the display was launched from the Tx line card, then
the table includes all data transmitted on the DVB-S2X downstream carrier.
2. Select the remotes, type of data, and time range in the dialog box.
3. Click OK to view the SNR Plot tab of the SNR Monitoring Display.
4. Right-click anywhere in the graph to change the display. See page 148 for more details.
5. To see the SNR data in a multicolumn list, click the List Data tab.
In the table:
• The MODCOD column displays the best MODCOD at which the remote can currently
receive data
• The Available PLS Codes column is intended for use by iDirect engineers and support
personnel. It displays a list of all MODCODs at which the remote can currently receive
data.
• The SNR column displays the SNR values reported by the remote
NOTE: All data is set to zero when the DVB-S2 Hub Debug View is first opened or
when it is reset.
2. Select the Message Structure tab or the S2X Tunnel Traffic tab.
• The Min column shows the minimum values received since opening the screen or
resetting the display.
• The Max column shows the maximum values received since opening the screen or
resetting the display.
Figure 3-124. S2X Tunnel Traffic Tab with DVB-S2X Transmit Line Card Data
Selecting any item in the Structure column under BB Frame Distribution causes all those
items to appear in the S2X Tunnel Traffic tab.
Figure 3-125. S2X Tunnel Traffic Tab with BB Frame Distribution Data
To reset the counters in the display to zeroes, click the Reset View button at the top right of
the screen.
Clicking Reset View clears all values and sparklines and begins accumulating data starting
with the next set of statistics received from the line card.
NOTE: The X7-ER Embedded Services Router (ESR) within the X7-ER Satellite
Router must be configured with SNMP so that iOS stats can report correctly. Refer
to section 4.8.2.2 Collecting SNMP Statistics in the X7-ER Satellite Router
Installation, Support, and Maintenance Guide for information about configuring
SNMP.
NOTE: iMonitor does not present any iOS Stats or SBC Alarms for X7-ER remotes
when the Enable BGP check box is checked in iBuilder at the Remote L2oS tab.
2. In the Remotes area of the dialog box, select the remotes for which to view statistics.
3. If desired, select Historical and enter a Time Range to retrieve historical statistics from
the archive.
4. To retrieve past data and then continue to receive real-time statistics, select a time
interval in the Get Past drop-down list.
iMonitor displays the following information from the four Gigabit Ethernet interfaces:
• Date/Time - The day and hour that the message arrived at the NMS server
• Network - Identifies the remote’s network
• DID - Unique derived ID that identifies the remote
• IF Speed 1 through 4 - The interface's current bandwidth in bits per second, i.e., link
speed (10, 100, or 1000 Mbps)
• Admin 1 through 4 - Desired state of the interface (up or down)
• Oper.1 through 4 - Current operational state of the interface (up or down)
• Duplex 1 through 4 - Full or half duplex operation
• License - IOS license status
Figure 3-131. Viewing IP Routing and HDLC Information from the Remote Command Line
This chapter discusses the IP and Satellite Traffic graphs. It also describes the statistics on
which the various graphs are based.
NOTE: In previous iDX releases, the IP traffic graph and IP statistics only showed
NMS management traffic for Layer 2 networks. With iDX Release 4.1.0, the IP
traffic graph and IP statistics also show Layer 2 data traffic.
The IP Statistics display shows the traffic on the upstream side of protocol processor while
satellite statistics display shows the traffic on the tunnel side of the protocol processor. This
is illustrated in Figure 4-1.
To Internet
Upstream Lan Segment
To Protocol
To line cards, satellite, remotes
Internet Processor
NOTE: Due to the different collection points for IP and satellite statistics, the IP
Statistics display may show more upstream traffic than is actually possible; i.e.,
greater than the channel rate or configured rate limit. This is normal and not a
cause for concern.
To Internet
Remote 1
Upstream Router
Upstream Lan Segment
Protocol
Processor
Remote 3
NOTE: For historical or get past data, the granularity of the statistics depends on
the start time selected. Less granularity is available for older statistics due to
archive consolidation. See Optimization of the Statistics Archive on page 191.
6. Click OK to view the SAT Traffic tab of the SAT Traffic display.
The SAT Traffic display has three tabs: SAT Traffic (Figure 4-4), SAT Downstream
(Figure 4-5), and SAT Upstream. The SAT Upstream tab has the same format as the SAT
Downstream tab, but displays upstream rather than downstream statistics.
NOTE: The SAT Bandwidth Usage display shows the total Kbps traffic in both
directions for selected remotes. See Satellite Bandwidth Usage on page 181.
7. Change the graphical display on the SAT Traffic tab by toggling the buttons to the left of
the graphs (Figure 4-4). The buttons work as follows:
• The U and D buttons toggle on and off the Upstream and Downstream graphs. Click
these buttons to display one or both graphs.
• The Hour, Min and Sec buttons change the scale of the x axis to hours, minutes or
seconds.
• The Bits and Bytes buttons toggle the scale of the y axis to kilobits per second or
kilobytes per second.
• The All and None buttons select all traffic types for the graphs or clear the display.
• The Symbol button applies only to the Downstream graph for DVB-S2 ACM networks.
If the Symbol button is selected, the y axis shows the satellite traffic in kilosymbols
per second. Select Bits (Kbps) or Bytes (KBps) to view how the actual satellite
bandwidth consumed on an ACM carrier varies at any given data rate depending on
which MODCODs are being transmitted at the time. Click the Symbol button to view
the total satellite traffic independent of the MODCODs being transmitted.
• The Totals button adds a line to the graphs showing the total traffic for all the
selected traffic types.
• The last five buttons determine which traffic types are shown on the graphs. Select
any combination of traffic types: Reliable, Unreliable, Overhead, Multicast and
Broadcast.
8. To choose among various display options on the graph, right-click inside the window to
view the menu below.
• Select Scroll Lock to lock the upstream and downstream scroll bars together for historical
statistics.
• Select Direction to view upstream traffic, downstream traffic, or both.
• Select Units to switch between kilobits per second and kilobytes per second.
• Select Interval to switch among the following:
• Seconds (3 minutes total)
• Minutes (1 hour total, averaged over 1 minute)
• Hours (12 hours total, averaged over 10 minutes)
• Select Activity to choose which IP types to display, or to show the total IP traffic as a
single graph line.
• Select Rate Limits to show configured upstream and downstream rate limits. (Satellite
Traffic statistics only.)
• Select Copy to copy the current graph display to the client computer clipboard.
• Select Properties to modify the default color settings.
3. In the Remotes area of the dialog box, select the remotes to view in the graph.
4. To view historical data, select Historical and enter a Time Range.
5. To view past data that continues to update in real time, select a Get Past time interval.
6. Click OK to open the IP Traffic Graph (Figure 4-9).
7. Click the Upstream Data or Downstream Data tabs to view the statistics used to create
the graphs.
NOTE: IP Statistics Tables on page 197 describes all IP statistics archived by the
NMS.
8. Change the graphical display on the IP Graph tab by toggling the buttons on the left. (See
Figure 4-9.) The functions of the various buttons are documented on page 174.
9. Right-click anywhere in the graph to select from the context menu (Figure 4-11). Use this
menu to change the data displayed; change the scale of the graphs; view a legend for the
graphs; or change the look and feel of the display. See page 181 for a description of the
menu options.
10. When viewing Grouped RemotesIP Traffic Graph, all selected remotes are shown at
the left of the display (Figure 4-12). Select or clear the check boxes to show or hide the
traffic of individual remotes. The top image in Figure 4-12 shows the traffic graph for two
remotes. The bottom image shows the same graph for a single remote.
NOTE: When viewing multiple remotes on the same graph, select Legend from the
right-click menu to determine which remote is represented by each line color.
11. When viewing Grouped RemotesIP Traffic Graph, click the Filter button (Figure 4-12)
to open the Select Remotes dialog box (Figure 4-13).
12. Use the Select Remotes dialog box to change the list of remotes on the left side of the
display (Figure 4-12). Click the arrow buttons to move remotes between the Selected
Remotes area and the Available Remotes area. Only Selected Remotes are shown on the
main display.
13. When viewing Grouped RemotesIP Traffic Graph, click the Sort Remotes By button to
open the Sort Remotes By dialog box (Figure 4-14). Use this dialog box to sort the
remotes on the graph by the volume of traffic to or from the remote.
In the Sort Remotes By dialog box, sort the order that the remotes appear in the Name
column by traffic volume as follows:
a. Select the Direction (Upstream or Downstream).
b. Select a Traffic type, or select Totals to sort by total traffic.
c. Select All Buffered Data to sort the remotes based on the traffic volume in all the
statistics in the time interval; or select Last Data Point to sort the remotes based on
the amount of traffic in the last statistics record received for each remote.
14. To choose among various display options on the IP Traffic Graph, right-click inside the
window to view the menu below.
The menu options are described below. Some of these options perform the same functions as
the buttons on the left side of the display. (See Figure 4-9.)
• Select Select Graph to view the Upstream and/or Downstream graph.
• Select Change to change characteristics of the graph such as text color; the scale of the x
axis and y axis; the data refresh rate; and the units for the y axis.
• Select Legend to display a color-coded legend of the graph contents.
• Select Traffic to show some or all of the following traffic types on the graph: TCP, UDP,
ICMP, IGMP, HTTP, Other. Also select this option to graph the total traffic.
• Select Copy Whole Plot to send the current graph to the client computer clipboard.
• Select Copy Visible Area to send only the portion of the graph currently visible in
iMonitor to the client computer clipboard.
• Select Max Points to limit the number of statistics records used to plot the graph.
• Select Refresh Rate to change the data refresh rate for the graph.
• Select Manual Refresh to refresh the display immediately.
2. Click SAT Bandwidth Usage to open the Select Remotes dialog box,
3. Select the remotes to view. Then click OK. to open the SAT Bandwidth Usage results
display (Figure 4-17).
4. Click any column heading to sort the data on that field in ascending order or descending
order.
iMonitor can create reports from historical data kept in the statistics archive. These reports
are described in this chapter.
Reports can be generated from the following elements in the iMonitor tree:
• Networks
• Inroute groups
• Remotes
• Line cards
The following reports are available from multiple levels of the iMonitor tree:
• SAT Long Term Bandwidth Usage
• IP Long Term Bandwidth Usage
• Remote Availability
• Line Card Availability
8. In Time Range, select the time period for the report by selecting a Start Time and an
End Time. Enter time values using the text boxes or click the buttons to the right of the
Start Time and End Time to use the clock tool.
NOTE: By default, six months of data are stored in the statistics archive. To save
IP statistics for longer than six months, contact iDirect’s Technical Assistance
Center (TAC).
9. Move the Interval slider to specify the time interval represented by each message
returned from the server. This adjusts the granularity of the results depending on the
type of report.
10. The minimum interval available depends on the Start Time of the report. As the
statistics age, the NMS server automatically consolidates records to save disk space.
Shorter intervals may not be available if the Start Time is far in the past. By default,
iMonitor chooses the shortest possible interval for the selected Start Time. For more
information on how the NMS server consolidates usage records see Accessing the NMS
Statistics Archive on page 191.
11. In the Sort By drop-down list, specify an initial sort order for the report. After the report
is generated, it can be re-sorted by clicking the appropriate column heading.
12. Click OK to run the report. After the server has retrieved the data, iMonitor, displays the
report.
5.1.2 Results
Long Term Bandwidth Usage reports are organized into two tabs: Totals and Average. The
Totals tab shows total kilobytes allocated over the interval represented by each message
returned to iMonitor from the server. There is a total value for each interval at the end of
each row, and a grand total at the bottom of each column. The Average tab shows the same
data in kilobits per second.
Figure 5-19 shows an example of the Totals tab of the Sat Long Term Bandwidth Report. The
report in Figure 5-19 is not broken down by IP protocol. When individual IP protocols are
selected on the parameters dialog box (Figure 5-18), the report shows each protocol in its
own column.
Figure 5-19. SAT Long Term Bandwidth Usage Report: Totals Tab
To view the average data rates in kilobits per second for the same statistics, click the Average
tab.
Figure 5-20 shows an example of the Totals tab of the IP Long-Term Bandwidth Report. Like
the report in Figure 5-19, this report is not broken down by IP protocol.
To view the average data rates in kilobits per second for the same statistics, click the Average
tab.
Figure 5-21. SAT Long Term Bandwidth Usage Report: Average Tab
The values in these two columns (Figure 5-21) provide estimates of the bandwidth margins on
the upstream and downstream carriers. These values are estimates only; the actual channel
capacities may be slightly higher or lower depending on a number of factors. However, the
values are accurate enough to determine when to consider adding additional bandwidth to a
particular channel.
NOTE: The Downstream Percent of Max and Upstream Percent of Max columns are
only shown when no IP protocols are selected for the report.
The downstream estimate is reduced by 2.5% to account for overhead. Downstream overhead
includes HDLC framing, timeplans, UCP commands, etc. The theoretical maximum for a
downstream with a 2 Mbps information rate is 2 * .975 = 1.95 Mbps. For the upstream, the
following calculation is used to determine the theoretical maximum in bits per second:
(bytes per slot)*(8 bits per byte)*(slots per
frame)*(1000/frame_len)
In the formula, bytes per slot does not include iDirect internal overhead. Also, this
calculation removes unique word and guard band overhead. In a typical network configuration
with small FEC blocks, a 658 Kbps information rate, a 125 ms frame, and 109 traffic slots, the
theoretical maximum would be:
(70 bytes per slot)*8*(109 slots)*(1000/125)= 488320 bps = 488.320
Kbps
The upstream theoretical maximum is an estimate only. Like the downstream estimate, the
actual maximum varies depending on a number of factors, such as the number of remotes in
the network, the minimum data rate for each remote, and IP packet sizes.
Note that a larger report interval may result in the calculation of a relatively lower
percentage of maximum capacity. This is due to the fact that the data rates are averaged over
the entire the interval, so spikes in activity tend to be hidden in the averages for longer
intervals.
A sample report is shown in Figure 5-23. In the report, Up means the time the remote was
able to pass traffic. Down means the time the remote was unable to pass traffic due to a
Layer 2 and/or Layer 3 Alarm.
Many iDirect customers have requested specific reports on various aspects of network
behavior, ranging from IP traffic activity to system uptime to satellite link behavior. iMonitor
allows users to retrieve historical data and populate a number of tabular and graphical
displays. iMonitor also provides long-term bandwidth usage statistics for network usage
profiling.
iDirect also provides support for read-only direct archive access. This appendix explains how
to access the statistics archive and defines specific tables in the archive database.
NOTE: To access the statistics archive using ODBC, it may be necessary to modify
the reporting software to handle gaps in the data.
• Latency measurements below a default threshold of 800 milliseconds are not logged to
the archive; only measurement times above this value are logged.
• Consecutive latency time-outs are written to a single entry in the database along with a
count. For example, 10 consecutive latency time-outs are written as a single database
record with a count of -10.
• Consecutive Sweep messages are written to a single entry in the database along with a
count. For example, 10 consecutive Sweeps are written as a single database record with a
count of 10.
All of these settings can be overridden or modified if necessary. Please contact iDirect’s
Technical Assistance Center for help changing the default archive behavior.
In the archive database, remote unique ids in all tables are stored in the column named
unique_id. In the configuration database, this same ID is stored in a table named NetModem
in the column NetModemId. The remote name is in the column named NetModemName.
A sample SQL query that retrieves the remote name from a known remote ID is:
select NetModemName from nms.NetModem where NetModemId = 15;
The configuration database name is nms. That name must be in the query to tell the MySQL
server which database to look in.
In the archive database, network IDs in all tables are stored in the column named
network_id. In the configuration database, this same ID is stored in a table named Network
in the column named NetworkId. The network name is in the column named NetworkName.
A sample SQL query that retrieves a remote’s network name from a known network ID is:
select NetworkName from nms.Network where NetworkId = 1;
A.3.4 Timestamps
All raw data received from network elements is time stamped at the NMS prior to being
written to the database. All timestamp fields in the archive database are Linux time_t values,
which represent the number of seconds since January 1, 1970.
NOTE: For efficiency, archive data is divided into multiple tables for each data
type. Names of tables that contain data are derived from the base table names
shown in Table A-1. When referring to “tables” in this section, the base table
name is used.
Table A-1.Archive Database Tables
Data
Base Table Name Contains
Saved For
event_msg events sent from protocol processors, hub line cards, and remotes 1 week
group_qos_hour_stats group-level qos stats consolidated to one record per hour 6 months
group_qos_minute_stats group-level qos stats consolidated to one record per minute 30 days
hub_dvbs2_stats DVB-S2 statistics per line card 30 days
hub_pls_hour_stats hub PLS stats consolidated to one record per hour _
hub_pls_minute_stats hub PLS stats consolidated to one record per minute _
hub_pls_stats hub PLS (Physical Layer Signaling) stats _
hub_s2x_hour_stats hub S2X stats consolidated to one record per hour _
hub_s2x_minute_stats hub S2X stats consolidated to one record per minute _
hub_s2x_stats hub S2X stats _
ig_state_change_log Inroute group change states _
inroute_composit_stats Inroute Group Composition (IGC) stats per inroute group 6 months
inroute_slot_usage_stats inroute slot usage stats per inroute group 1 week
ip_hour_stats IP minute stats consolidated to one record per hour 6 months
ip_minute_stats raw IP stats consolidated to one record per minute 30 days
lat_stats latency measurement 1 week
1
mesh_hour_stats mesh minute stats consolidated to one record per hour 6 months
mesh_minute_stats1 raw mesh stats consolidated to one record per minute 30 days
nms_group_qos_stats group-level GQoS statistics 30 days
nms_hub_stats hub line card statistics 1 week
nms_inroutes channel-specific hub line card stats for multichannel line cards 1 week
nms_remote_status remote information 1 week
nms_sl_qos_stats service level GQoS statistics 30 days
nms_ucp_info uplink control adjustments 1 week
ota_hour_stats ota minute stats consolidated to one record per hour 6 months
ota_minute_stats raw ota stats consolidated to one record per minute 30 days
otacast_hour_stats otacast minute stats consolidated to one record per hour 6 months
otacast_minute_stats raw otacast stats consolidated to one record per minute 30 days
Data
Base Table Name Contains
Saved For
pp_dvbs2_stats DVB-S2 statistics per protocol processor blade 30 days
pp_state_change_log protocol processor state changes 30 days
raw_ip_stats IP stats sent from the protocol processor 24 hours
raw_mesh_stats1 mesh stats sent from the remote 24 hours
raw_ota_stats over-the-air stats sent from the protocol processor 24 hours
raw_otacast_stats over-the-air multicast stats sent from the protocol processor 24 hours
raw_scpc_rmtrx_stats SCPC return channel stats per remote 24 hours
raw_tdma_rmtrx_stats TDMA return channel stats per remote 24 hours
remote_dvbs2_stats DVB-S2 statistics per remote 30 days
remote_power_stats remote power stats 1 week
rev_activity revserver log per network upgrade Unlimited
rev_state revserver log per remote per network upgrade Unlimited
rmt_pls_hour_stats remote PLS stats consolidated to one record per hour _
rmt_pls_minute_stats remote PLS stats consolidated to one record per minute _
rmt_pls_stats remote PLS stats _
rmt_s2x_hour_stats remote S2X stats consolidated to one record per hour _
rmt_s2x_minute_stats remote S2X stats consolidated to one record per minute _
rmt_s2x_stats remote S2X stats _
sbc_router_stats sbcsvr log per X7-ER remote 1 week
scpc_rmtrx_hour_stats SCPC return channel stats consolidated to one record per hour 30 days
scpc_rmtrx_minute_stats SCPC return channel stats consolidated to one record per minute 6 months
sl_qos_hour_stats service-level qos stats consolidated to one record per hour 6 months
sl_qos_minute_stats service-level qos stats consolidated to one record per minute 30 days
slot_usage_hour_stats inroute slot usage stats consolidated to one record per hour 6 months
slot_usage_minute_stats inroute slot usage stats consolidated to one record per minute 30 days
state_change_log hub line card and remote state changes (conditions raised and 30 days
lowered)
tdma_rmtrx_hour_stats TDMA return channel stats consolidated to one record per hour 30 days
tdma_rmtrx_minute_stats TDMA return channel stats consolidated to one record per minute 6 months
1These tables remain in the archive database but are unused in iDX 4.1.x; for relevant Mesh statistics for
iDX 4.1.x, see Table A-8 for nms_remote_status.
NOTE: Tables for these Mesh statistics remain in the archive database but are
unused in iDX 4.1.x; for relevant Mesh statistics for iDX 4.1.x, see Table A-8 on
page 203.
minute and hour IP statistics. The ip_minute_stats table and ip_hour_stats table contain the
same fields as the raw_ip_stats table.
IP statistics for all active remotes are calculated on the protocol processor and sent to the
NMS every five seconds. After sending a statistics message, the protocol processor zeros its
counts, so that the database records contain only the statistics for the time intervals between
records. The protocol processor continues to send messages to the NMS even if a remote is
out-of-network; the counts for these records contain all zeros.
NOTE: Previously, the IP statistics tables only included NMS management traffic in
Layer 2 networks. With iDX Release 4.1.0, the IP statistics tables include Layer 2
data traffic as well.
NOTE: For convenience, HTTP traffic is separated from TCP traffic, but the TCP
counts include HTTP as well. For a total count of traffic, do not include the HTTP
values.
Table A-2. IP Statistics Record Format
all active remotes every 20 seconds and measures the round trip time. Queries for individual
remotes are offset in time to prevent a burst of messages every five seconds. For remotes
that are out-of-network, the round trip time is -1 or -100. Table A-3 shows the contents of the
lat_stats table.
NOTE: By default, latency statistics are not stored if the measured latency is less
than 800 msec.
If remotes are not active in the network, i.e. they are deactivated or incomplete in iBuilder,
the latency server will not attempt to measure their latency and no data will be written to
this table in the database for them.
Transmit (tx) values are always zero for receive-only line cards, and receive (rx) values are
always 0 for transmit-only line cards. While traffic CRCs almost always indicate an anomaly
condition, acquisition CRC values above zero are normal when remotes are coming into the
network. By default iMonitor does not raise a warning condition on acquisition CRCs until they
exceed 200 in a 20 second period.
In addition to the nms_hub_stats message, multichannel line cards also send one statistics
record for each active TDMA or SCPC upstream channel. These channel-specific statistics are
written to the nms_inroutes table. Each nms_inroutes record associated with a nms_hub_stats
record contains the same timestamp as the nms_hub_stats record. In addition, the hlc_did
field in each nms_inroutes record equals the modem_sn field of the associated nms_hub_stats
record. (The modem_sn field of the nms_hub_stats record contains the line card’s DID.
Although its Data Type is small int, MySQL reserves four bytes for this field.)
NOTE: Channel-specific fields in the nms_hub_stats table (such as lock status and
lock loss) are not valid for line cards in multichannel TDMA or SCPC mode.
Instead, this per-channel information is written to the nms_inroutes table
(Table A-5) for each active return channel.
• The raw_tdma_rmtrx_stats table (Table A-6) contains TDMA upstream statistics per
remote.
• The raw_scpc_rmtrx_stats table (Table A-7) contains SCPC upstream statistics per
remote.
In addition, the TDMA and SCPC return channel statistics are consolidated into minute and
hour return channel statistics. The tdma_rmtrx_minute_stats table and
tdma_rmtrx_hour_stats table contain the same fields as the raw_tdma_rmtrx_stats table
(Table A-6). The scpc_rmtrx_minute_stats table and scpc_rmtrx_hour_stats table contain the
same fields as the raw_scpc_rmtrx_stats table (Table A-7).
Table A-6. raw_tdma_rmtrx_stats Record Format
All conditions and changes of state are recorded in the archive database. For hub line cards
and remote units, these conditions are recorded in the archive table state_change_log. The
format of this table is shown in Table A-11.
Table A-11. state_change_log Record Format
Interpreting the entries in the state_change_log table requires some understanding of how
the NMS manages conditions and overall element state. It is possible for multiple conditions to
be active for a single hub or remote at any given time. Consider the following scenario:
1. A remote is in steady state with no active conditions. The overall state of the unit is OK.
2. A rain storm in the remote’s location causes the SNR of the downstream signal to drop
below the defined low limit. This is condition 1, a warning. The overall state of the unit
changes to WARNING.
3. The storm continues and the protocol processor loses contact with the remote. This is
condition 2, a warning. The overall state of the unit remains at WARNING.
4. The protocol processor is unable to re-gain contact with the remote and declares the
remote out-of-network. This is condition 3, an alarm. The overall state of the unit
changes to ALARM.
5. The NMS latency server stops receiving ICMP echo responses from the remote. This is
condition 4, an alarm. The overall state of the unit remains at ALARM.
There are now four simultaneously active conditions, and the overall state of the remote is
ALARM. Each time a new condition is raised for a remote, it is written to the database with
the current time of the NMS server machine in the timestamp field. The occurred_at field is
also given the same timestamp. All pre-existing conditions for that same element are re-
written with the same timestamp in the timestamp field. However, their occurred_at fields
remain unchanged, thus indicating the time those conditions were first raised. Using the
timestamp field as a key, it is possible to determine all active conditions for a remote at any
given time.
When conditions clear, they are rewritten to the state_change_log table with the severity
field set to EVT_CLEARED. When all conditions have cleared the overall state of the unit
returns to OK.
The only conditions with alarm severity are those that cause a service interruption. To
generate a remote up/down report for a given time period, parse the entries in this table and
ignoring all warning conditions.
Entries in this table can be processed in essentially the same way as hub line card and remote
state changes. See Hub and Remote State Changes on page 206 for more details.
As shown in Table A-1, there are three separate base table types for mesh statistics, each one
containing records that cover a particular period of time. The raw mesh statistics are
consolidated into minute and hour mesh statistics. The mesh_minute_stats table and
mesh_hour_stats table contain the same fields as the raw_mesh_stats table.Mesh statistics
for all active remotes are calculated by the remote and sent to the NMS every 20 seconds.
After sending a statistics message, the remote zeros its counts, so that every database record
contains the delta in activity from the previous record. The remote continues to send
messages to the NMS even if a remote is out-of-network; the counts for these records contain
all zeros.
Table A-16. Mesh Statistics Record Format
A.5.1 Background
Prior to iDS Release 6.1, each archive data type was represented by a single MySQL database
table. Using the raw_ip_stats table as an example, all IP statistics for all remotes were
written directly to this table as they arrived at the NMS. Historical queries for IP statistics
were performed on this table as well. In large networks, the table could grow to well over one
gigabyte. This large size, combined with a large amount of read and write operations, caused
a significant performance load on the NMS server’s CPU and degraded response time in the
iMonitor and iBuilder GUIs.
To alleviate this situation, the NMS now uses a multiple-table storage scheme in which each
type of archived data is divided among multiple tables by time and groups of remotes.
Dividing tables in this manner is known as data striping. The following sections discuss this
implementation change in detail.
Time Table 1
Time Table 2
D
at
a
S Time Table 3
tri
p
ed
in Time Table 4
6-
ho
ur Time Table 5
se
gm
en
ts
Database
Archive Operation Server Incoming Stats
Table
Database
Tables
Database
Tables
Archive
Database
Tables
Table
Database
Operation Selection Incoming Stats Server Incoming Stats
Tables
Algorithm
Database
Tables
Database
Tables
In all releases beginning with iDS Release 6.1, instead of writing all data to one table as it
arrives at the NMS, the server first passes the data through a table selection algorithm. This
process determines the correct database table for the data that has just arrived. A similar
selection process also occurs when historical data is queried from iMonitor.
The selection rules are based on the following criteria:
• The type of data – IP statistics, events, condition changes, etc. As before, each type of
data has its own table structure
• The remote’s unique database ID
• The current timestamp
time_table_number
second_dimension_table_number
time_interval
base_table_name
second_dimension_name
Type of The number The number of The time The actual tables names, The second
statistics of time tables per segment derived from the base table dimension data
data periods kept time period interval in name. (These match the type ID
for this kept for the each table, table names in prior
statistics second in minutes releases)
type dimension
data type ID
0 6 1 360 chassis_state_change_log chassis_id
1 6 1 360 event_msg unique_id
2 6 1 360 lat_stats unique_id
3 6 1 360 nms_hub_stats unique_id
4 6 1 360 nms_remote_status unique_id
5 6 1 360 nms_ucp_info unique_id
6 6 1 360 pp_state_change_log blade_id
7 6 1 360 raw_ip_stats unique_id
8 6 1 360 raw_ota_stats unique_id
9 6 1 360 raw_otacast_stats network_id
10 6 1 360 state_change_log unique_id
11 6 1 360 ip_minute_stats unique_id
12 6 1 360 ip_hour_stats unique_id
13 6 1 360 ota_minute_stats unique_id
14 6 1 360 ota_hour_stats unique_id
15 6 1 360 otacast_minute_stats unique_id
16 6 1 360 otacast_hour_stats network_id
17 6 1 360 raw_mesh_stats1 unique_id
Database Values:
ttn = TABLE_INFO.time_table_number
tis = (TABLE_INFO.time_interval * 60) // convert to seconds
sdtn = TABLE_INFO.second_dimension_table_number
btn = TABLE_INFO.base_table_name
Variables:
t = <timestamp> (Linux time_t)
id = unique_id of element (e.g. remote)
NOTE: In a distributed NMS system, read TABLE_INFO from the master MySQL
server. This is typically the NMS server running the Configuration Server process.
procedure copies the calculator to the /home/idirect/ directory on the NMS server before
transferring it to the PC.
To copy the archive database partitioning calculator to a PC or laptop:
1. Log on to the root account of the NMS server.
2. From the root account, copy the partitioning calculator to a directory on the NMS server
that allows remote access. In this example, the calculator is copied to the /home/idirect/
directory.
cp /home/nms/utils/db_maint/table_info-calculator.htm /home/idirect/
3. Create a folder on the PC or laptop in which to store the calculator.
4. Start Cygwin on the PC or laptop.
5. In the Cygwin window, use the cd command to change to the new folder. The command
syntax is show here using the directory db_calculator at the top level of the C: drive.
cd /c/db_calculator
6. In the Cygwin terminal window, type:
SCP idirect@<IP Address>:/home/idirect/table_info-calculator.htm ./
where <IP Address> is the IP address of the NMS server.
7. Enter the password when prompted. The calculator will be transferred to the PC.
8. Enter the following command to reformat the local copy of the calculator for the Windows
environment.
unix2dos table_info-calculator.htm
9. Close the Cygwin terminal window.
3. When running Windows XP with Service Pack 2, right-click the security message at the top
of the calculator window and select Allow Blocked Content. Then click Yes in the
warning dialog box.
4. Use the calculator to determine the optimal settings for the archive database partitions.
These parameters are described below.
Figure A-6 shows the calculated results for the nms_remote_status table in a network with
750 remotes with a logging rate of four times per minute. The parameters are entered in the
top portion of the screen. Click the Calculate Table_Info data button to run the calculator.
The results appear in the lower (yellow) portion of the screen.
The following parameters can be entered in the calculator.
• The Base Table Name (identical to the base_table_name in the TABLE_INFO table on
page 227) represents the table definition for the table set that contains all statistics of
this type. Before calculating the results, select the Base Table Name of interest from this
list.
• Time to Keep Data (hrs) represents the amount of time in hours to retain the data for
this Base Table Name before it is overwritten. You can modify this parameter based on
the requirement to keep records of this type on the NMS server and available disk space.
• Maximum Table Size (MB) is used to calculate the optimal number of tables that should
be created for this Base Table Name. This parameter is not stored in the database. It is a
limit used by the calculator to help compute the best results. In general, use the default
setting.
• Number of Records per Minute is the rate per minute at which records of this type are
being logged for each remote (or other device) in the table set. This is not a configurable
parameter and it varies dynamically with network load. If you have measured a value for
the network for which to optimize the table set, change this parameter to reflect that
value. Otherwise, use the default setting.
• Number of Second Dimension Elements represents approximately the total number of
devices (second dimension elements) associated with the Base Table Name in the
network. Note that if the number of remotes in the network changes significantly,
consider re-executing the calculator and reconfiguring the TABLE_INFO for tables that log
remote statistics. You can vary the number of second dimension elements used by the
calculator in increments of 250.
• Record Size (in bytes) is the size of the database record for this Base Table Name. In
general, use the default setting.
After entering all parameters, click the Calculate Table_Info data button to calculate the
following results:
• Time Table Number represents the optimal number of time segments recommended for
this Base Table Name based on the parameters entered. This result corresponds to the
time_table_number in the TABLE_INFO table shown in Table A-34 on page 227.
• Second Dimension Name represents the number of tables per time period recommended
for this Base Table Name based on the parameters entered. This result corresponds to
the second_dimension_name in the TABLE_INFO table.
• Time Interval (hrs) represents the length of time for each time segment recommended
for this Base Table Name based on the parameters entered. This result corresponds to
the time_interval in the TABLE_INFO table.
After calculating the optimal time_table_number, second_dimension_name and
time_interval for all tables to be optimized, log on to the root directory of the NMS server
and use MySQL to change the TABLE_INFO configuration in the NMS database to match the
optimal values.
Figure A-7 shows the table set that would be created for nms_remote_status if INFO_TABLE
were modified in accordance with the values calculated in figure Figure A-6 on page 232.
TABLE_INFO.second_dimension_table_number = 1
This allows us to ignore this dimension. (Anything modulo 1 equals 0, so there is no
second dimension component to the table index.)
Query start time (start) = 2006-11-20 10:00:00 = 1164016800
Query end time (end) = 2006-11-20 14:00:00 = 1164031200
Calculate all table indexes:
To get the range of table indexes, calculate the index of the query start and end times. Those
two indexes, and everything in between, must be included in the queries.
The first table index is derived from start:
Idx_0 = ((start – base) / tis % ttn
= ((1164016800 – 1072915201) / 21600) % 6
=5
The last table index derives from end:
Idx_N = ((end – base) / tis) % ttn
= ((1164031200 – 1072915201) / 21600) % 6
=0
Divide the query among all indexes:
In this case, the first half of our records is in state_change_log_5:
SELECT * FROM state_change_log_5 WHERE timestamp BETWEEN
20061120100000 AND 20061120140000;
and the remaining records are in state_change_log_0:
SELECT * FROM state_change_log_0 WHERE timestamp BETWEEN
20061120100000 AND 20061120140000;
Concatenating the two result sets returns the same answer arrived at in the 1st example.
Larger time range:
The procedure is exactly the same with a larger time ranges:
Query start time (start) = 2006-11-20 19:00:00 = 1164049200
Query end time (end) = 2006-11-21 07:00:00 = 1164092400
Idx_0 = ((1165059200 – 1072915201) / 21600) % 6
= 1
Idx_N = ((1164092400 – 1072915201) / 21600) % 6
= 3
The queries to run are:
SELECT * FROM state_change_log_1 WHERE timestamp BETWEEN
20061120100000 AND 20061120140000;
SELECT * FROM state_change_log_2 WHERE timestamp BETWEEN
20061120100000 AND 20061120140000;
SELECT * FROM state_change_log_3 WHERE timestamp BETWEEN
20061120100000 AND 20061120140000;
B.1 Alarms
Table B-1 lists alarms, their descriptions and recommended actions.
B.2 Warnings
Warnings signal a condition that could possibly result in a future interruption in service if not
handled in a timely fashion. Table B-2 lists a subset of warnings, their descriptions and
recommended actions. See Table 2-4 on page 37 for comprehensive lists of warnings for each
element.
NOTE: Warning limits can be configured using iBuilder. For details on setting
warning limits, see the iBuilder User Guide.
The iDirect NMS includes an SNMP proxy agent that provides real-time status, statistical
information, and basic configuration information to any interested SNMP client.
Figure C-1 illustrates how the SNMP Proxy Agent fits into the overall NMS architecture
Beginning with iDirect Release 7.0, the SNMP MIB supplies the statistical information in
Table C-2 for iDirect network elements.
Cumulative statistics are useful in determining a total value since a previous time. In order to
reset the start time for cumulative statistics (that is, to reset the counts to zero), a special
object type is included in the MIB. When referenced, this object will reset all the statistics
counters to zero.
The object is defined in the MIB as follows:
resetAllStatTables OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX Unsigned32
MAX-ACCESS read-write
STATUS current
DESCRIPTION " This field will reset all the statistical
tables under the idirectstats OID"
::= {idirectstats 7}
To reset the statistical data:
1. Log in to the NMS server machine as root.
2. Using the vi editor, edit the Net-SNMP daemon configuration file snmpd.conf:
cd /etc/snmp
vi snmpd.conf
3. Add the following line to the file:
rwcommunity private
NOTE: Add the above line only if snmpd.conf does not already contain it.
The complete list of traps is shown in Table C-3. You will receive each trap when the specified
anomaly arises, and again when the condition clears. The trap-level field in the MIB specifies
the severity.
Network
Trap Name Generate When... Severity
Elements
snmpProxyStart SNMP Proxy Agent starts up N/A SNMP Proxy Agent
snmpProxyStop SNMP Proxy Agent shuts down N/A SNMP Proxy Agent
upstreamSNR Upstream C/N0 goes outside specified limits Warning Remotes
downstreamSNR Downstream SNR goes outside specified limits Warning Remotes
tempLimit Onboard temperature goes outside specified Warning Remotes
limits
latency Latency measurement exceeds high limit Warning Remotes
symbolOffset Symbol offset goes outside specified limits Warning Remotes
ethernetUnplugged The local LAN port is non-functional Warning Remotes
ucpLostContact The protocol processor loses contact with a Warning Remotes
remote
lldown The protocol processor’s link layer interface Alarm Remotes
for a remote goes down
ucpOutOfNetwork The protocol processor declares a remote out Alarm Remotes
of network
latTimeout Latency measurements are failing Alarm Remotes
remoteOffline The remote has been commanded offline Offline Remotes
lackHubStats The NMS is no longer receiving hub statistics Alarm Hub Modems
acqHubModemCRC Acquisition CRC count exceeds high limit Warning Hub Modems
trafficHubModemCRC Traffic CRC count exceeds high limit Warning Hub Modems
ppStateTrap The NMS has stopped hearing from the Alarm Protocol Processor
protocol processor
powerAlarm1, 2, 3 The specified power supply has failed Warning Chassis
fanAlarm One of the fans has failed Warning Chassis
chassisDown The NMS cannot contact the chassis Alarm Chassis
scpcRxErrors A remote has received errors on the Warning Remotes
downstream
fllDacErrors A remote’s digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is Warning Remotes
operating outside the defined limits
rxOverflowFramesHubModem Receive Overflow Frames, data lost Warning Hub Line Card
downstreamPpsOverdrive Packets-per-second overdrive between PP and Warning Hub Line Card
line card
Network
Trap Name Generate When... Severity
Elements
backplaneLost10Mhz The line card lost the backplane 10 MHz clock Warning Hub Line Card
signal
calibratedTxPower Transmit power is above or below the Warning Remotes
calibrated limit
txFrequency Transmit frequency is above or below the Warning Remotes
calibrated limit
mobileLostGps Mobile remote lost the GPS signal Warning Remotes
lcFailure Line card has failed Alarm Hub Line Card
meshError1 Mesh mode has changed: Remote is not in Alarm Remotes
mesh mode
meshTdmLockLost1 TDM lock lost Alarm Hub Line Card
meshHubRxScpcSnr1 The Hub downstream Rx loopback C/N Warning Hub Line Card
exceeds the calibrated hub clear sky C/N
meshHubRxTdmaSnr1 The Hub TDMA C/N exceeds the calibrated hub Warning Hub Line Card
clear sky C/N
lineCardAGCOutOFRange AGC gain out of range Warning Hub Line Card
meshRmtRxScpcSnr1 The remote downstream Rx C/N exceeds the Warning Remotes
calibrated remote clear sky C/N
meshRmtRxTDMASnr1 The remote Rx TDMA loopback C/N exceeds Warning Remotes
the calibrated remote clear sky C/N
remoteAgcOutOfRange AGC gain out of range Warning Remotes
rcmAAlarm The Reference Clock Module control timer A is Warning Chassis
in error
rcmBAlarm The Reference Clock Module control timer B is Warning Chassis
in error
lostChassisConnection Lost connection to Chassis Manager Server Warning Chassis
microChassisOverTemp Chassis over temperature alarm Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microRCMANotPresent RCM A has not been installed in the Chassis Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microRCMAFault RCM A of the chassis has failed Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microRCMBNotPresent RCM B has not been installed in the chassis Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microRCMBFault RCM B of the chassis has failed Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microPwrAlarmABad Chassis power supply A has failed Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microPwrAlarmAOverTem Chassis power supply A exceeds temperature Warning Four-Slot Chassis
limit
microPwrAlarmBBad Chassis power supply B has failed Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microPwrAlarmBOverTemp Chassis power supply B exceeds temperature Warning Four-Slot Chassis
limit
Network
Trap Name Generate When... Severity
Elements
microFSMNotPresent FSM has not been installed on the chassis Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microFSMFault FSM has failed on the chassis Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microFSMFanFault FSM fan has failed on the chassis Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microIFMNotPresent IFM has not been installed on the chassis Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microIFMFault IFM has failed on the chassis Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microAlarmDisabled Audible alarms are disabled for the chassis Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microOPMAFaul OPM B has failed on the chassis Warning Four-Slot Chassis
microOPMBFault OOPM B fault alarm Warning Four-Slot Chassis
reset Reset has occurred Warning Remote/Line Card
unready Not ready for failover Warning Line Card
flash Flash Warning Warning Remote/Line Card
activationStatus Activation Status Alarm Remote
elsewhereError Remote is Elsewhere Elsewher Remote
e
backplaneLostSOF Backplane lost Start Of Frame Warning Chassis
rmtMAXTxPwr Remote exceeds Max Tx Power Warning Remote
bladeCPUHigh High CPU usage on Blade Warning PP Blade
rmtSleep Remote Sleep Alarm Alarm Remote
hubTenMHzAlarm Hub 10MHz Alarm Alarm Line Card
gigeFailed GIGE Port Failed Alarm Line Card
gigeHealth GIGE Port Health Warning Warning Line Card
rxOnly Remote in Rx Only mode Rx only Remote
crc8Errors CRC 8 errors high Warning Remote
crc32Errors CRC 32 errors high Warning Remote
ravenFailed Raven failed Alarm Remote/Line Card
bladeNoEncLic Blade has no encryption license Warning PP Blade
rmtAcqBurst Remote acquisition Burst Warning Warning Remote
rmtCAWillExpire Remote’s X.509 certificate will expire Warning Remote
rmtCAExpired Remote’ X.509 certificate has expired Warning Remote
rmtCAInvalid Remote’s X.509 certificate is invalid Warning Remote
rmttxTDMAAcqCrc Remote’s TDMA acquisition CRC errors high Warning Remote
rmttxTDMADataCrc Remote’s TDMA traffic CRC errors high Warning Remote
rmttxTDMAAcqMismatch Remote’s TDMA Acquisition mismatch high Warning Remote
Network
Trap Name Generate When... Severity
Elements
rmttxTDMADataMismatch Remote’s TDMA traffic mismatch high Warning Remote
rmttxTDMADataMissing Remote’s TDMA data missing high Warning Remote
rmttxSCPCLostLock SCPC return lost lock Alarm Remote
rmttxSCPCHdlcError SCPC return octet and CRC errors high Warning Remote
rmttxSCPCDataMismatch SCPC return data mismatch high Warning Remote
rmtStatusChange Remote real-time status changed Warning Remote
tristateIdle Remote has entered the Idle state Warning Remote
tristateDormant Remote has entered the Dormant state Warning Remote
powerAlarm1 Power supply 1 has failed Warning Chassis
powerAlarm2 Power supply 2 has failed Warning Chassis
powerAlarm3 Power supply 3 has failed (not used) Warning Chassis
1The Mesh feature in iDX 4.1.x does not support MIB Traps.
NOTE: In a few instances, the SNMP trap configuration has been moved into
/home/nms/snmpsvr/para_cfg.opt. If the instructions above are not accurate,
execute these commands instead:
cd /home/nms/snmpsvr/
vi para_cfg.opt
3. Add a line for each machine to receive SNMP Version 1 (v1) traps:
trapsink host[:port] community
where host is the name of the machine to which to send the traps. The community and
port strings are optional.
4. Add a line for each machine to receive SNMP Version 2 (v2) traps:
trap2sink host[:port] community
where host is the name of the machine to which to send the traps. The community and
port strings are optional.
#=
[DB_PARM]
db_user_name=nms
drvmgr_max=20
db_password=P@55w0rd!
db_database_name=nrd_archive
db_host_name=127.0.0.1
[TRAP_PARM]
community=public
db_user_name=nms
db_password=iDirect
trapsink=localhost
trap2sink=localhost
9. Save and quit.
10. Stop the snmpsvr and nms_monitor.
service idirect_nms stop snmpsvr nms_monitor
11. Restart the snmpd service.
service snmpd restart
12. Start the snmpsvr and nms_monitor.
service idirect_nms start snmpsvr nms_monitor
13. Change the directory.
# cd /etc/snmp
14. Use the vi editor to edit the SNMP Notification Receiver (snmptrapd) daemon file.
# vi snmptrapd.conf
15. Add the following:
authCommunity net [community]
forward default host1[:port]
forward default host2[:port]
.
.
.
The dots above represent more lines if more trap receivers are needed; [community] is
the expected community transmitted with the trap message; host1 and host2 are the
trap receiver's IP addresses (as an option, it is possible to change the default port with
:port, but this is not required). The resulting file may look like the following:
authCommunity net public
forward default 192.168.85.28
For more information on any of the commands in this list, log in to the NMS server machine
and type the following command:
# man <command name>
This displays the Linux manual entry or “man” page for the specified command that provides
usage details, output descriptions, etc. Note that some of these commands do not display
anything about iDirect networks, but instead display Linux system characteristics, such as disk
space and network status.
I N
iBuilder network condition snapshot 51
description 4 network data snapshot 57
installing 7 NMS
idle and dormant states client applications 4
viewing real-time status 29 iVantage NMS components 1
main components 3
multiple users accessing 10
servers used 5