In
computer networks, network traffic measurement is the process of measuring the amount and type of traffic on a particular network. This is especially important with regard to effective
bandwidth management.
Techniques
Network performance could be measured using either active or passive techniques. Active techniques (e.g.
Iperf) are more intrusive but are arguably more accurate. Passive techniques have less network overhead and hence can run in the background to be used to trigger network management actions.
Measurement studies
A range of studies have been performed from various points on the Internet. The
AMS-IX (Amsterdam Internet Exchange) is one of the world's largest Internet exchanges. It produces a constant supply of simple Internet statistics. There are also numerous academic studies that have produced a range of measurement studies on frame size distributions, TCP/UDP ratios and TCP/IP options.
Tools
Various software tools are available to measure network traffic. Some tools measure traffic by
sniffing and others use
SNMP
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is an Internet Standard protocol for collecting and organizing information about managed devices on IP networks and for modifying that information to change device behaviour. Devices that typically ...
,
WMI or other local agents to measure bandwidth use on individual machines and routers. However, the latter generally do not detect the type of traffic, nor do they work for machines which are not running the necessary
agent software, such as rogue machines on the network, or machines for which no compatible agent is available. In the latter case, inline appliances are preferred. These would generally 'sit' between the LAN and the LAN's exit point, generally the WAN or Internet router, and all packets leaving and entering the network would go through them. In most cases the appliance would operate as a bridge on the network so that it is undetectable by users.
Some tools used for SNMP monitoring are
Tivoli Netcool/Proviso by
IBM, CA Performance Management by
CA Technologies
CA Technologies, formerly known as CA, Inc. and Computer Associates International, Inc., is an American multinational corporation headquartered in New York City. It is primarily known for its business-to-business (B2B) software with a product p ...
.,
and
SolarWinds
SolarWinds Corporation is an American company that develops software for businesses to help manage their networks, systems, and information technology infrastructure. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas, with sales and product development of ...
Functions and features
Measurement tools generally have these functions and features:
* User interface (web, graphical, console)
* Real-time traffic graphs
* Network activity is often reported against pre-configured traffic matching rules to show:
** Local IP address
** Remote IP address
** Port number or protocol
** Logged in user name
* Bandwidth quotas
* Support for
traffic shaping
Traffic shaping is a bandwidth management technique used on computer networks which delays some or all datagrams to bring them into compliance with a desired ''traffic profile''. Traffic shaping is used to optimize or guarantee performance, imp ...
or
rate limiting (overlapping with the
network traffic control page)
* Support website blocking and
content filtering
An Internet filter is software that restricts or controls the content an Internet user is capable to access, especially when utilized to restrict material delivered over the Internet via the Web, Email, or other means. Content-control software dete ...
* Alarms to notify the administrator of excessive usage (by IP address or in total)
See also
*
IP Flow Information Export and
NetFlow
*
Measuring network throughput
*
Network management
*
Network monitoring
*
Network scheduler
*
Network simulation
*
Packet sniffer
*
Performance management
Performance management (PM) is the process of ensuring that a set of activities and outputs meets an organization's goals in an effective and efficient manner. Performance management can focus on the performance of a whole organization, a d ...
References
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Network management
Internet Protocol based network software