Network Node Manager i (NNMi) / Smart Plug In Performance for Traffic: How to calculate packet and flow rates when you don't have Traffic SPI's in built flow analysis tool.

  • Document ID:KM00416781
  • Creation Date:28-Apr-2013
  • Modified Date:08-Nov-2013
    • Micro Focus Products:
      network node manager ispi performance for traffic 9.10

Summary

This document describes a way to determine packet rates and flow rates in a setup where iSPI Performance for Traffic is going to be installed.

Question

When an iSPI Performance for Traffic Deployment is being planned, it would be useful to know what are the packet rates and flow rates on the deployment before going ahead with procuring the necessary hardware as described by the iSPI Performance for Traffic Support Matrix.
Until recently, the only methods available were:-
1. Wireshark Traces (which is cumbersome), and
2. Install the software itself, then calculate the packet and flow rates hitting the Traffic Leaf Server by using the "nnmtrafficflowanalysistool.ovpl" script (which is also fairly tedious considering that it requires a full scale installation of the software plus its multiple components).

Now, there is a simpler, third way to do this, and that is by using the stand-alone flow-analysis-tool java-executable file.

Answer

  1. Download and install the latest version of Java, either on any server which will be used for the tests, or on the server on which the Traffic SPI Leaf Component (Traffic SPI Leaf collector instances) will be setup.
  2. Download the nms-traffic-spi-reader stand-alone java-executable on to a local server. The name of the file that gets downloaded is "nms-spi-traffic-reader-09.30.000.000.jar". It can be changed to something simpler and shorter, like "flowtester.jar".
  3. Copy "flowtester.jar" to the Java bin directory of the test server.
  4. Execute the command "java -cp flowtester.jar com.hp.ov.nms.spi.traffic.reader.TrafficDataReceiver <option>", where "<option>" is one of the following:-
    help: prints the file's usage instructions.
    display: lists the network interfaces available on the host.
    collect: starts to check and collect flow data received. This option must be used in conjunction with the mandatory "<interface_address>" and "<port>" options, along with an optional "<duration>" option.


Example:-
To analyse packet and flow rates for 1 minute, on a server whose IP address is 192.168.1.2, accepting flow data on port 9996, the following command is used:-

C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin>java -cp flowtester.jar com.hp.ov.nms.spi.traffic.reader.TrafficDataReceiver collect 192.168.1.2 9996 1
User input : intf 192.168.1.2 port 9996 and duration 1 minute(s)

Checking for packets on 192.168.1.2:9996
No packets received in 60 seconds. Trying again...
No packets received in 60 seconds. Trying again...
No packets received in 60 seconds. Trying again...
Statistics for Netflow/IPFIX during the last 1 min(s) :
For SFlow packets please ignore record rate and avg recort rate
================================================================================
================================================

Total Packets received : 0
Total records received : 0
Average packet rate : 0 packets/sec
Average record rate : 0 records/sec
================================================================================
================================================
No records arriving. No recommendation possible
 
 
See also:-
KM1372507: How to calculate flow rates to determine the hardware requirements for Traffic SPI using the "nnmtrafficflowanalysistool.ovpl" script.
KM1462830: How to fine tune memory requirement for iSPI Performance for Traffic
9.20 NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic Support Matrix
9.11 NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic Support Matrix
9.10 NNM iSPI Performance for Traffic Support Matrix