Frame Relay Monitoring

Configuring DLCI RMON/RMON2 Parameters

You can specify the amount of resources the probe reserves for tracking RMON and RMON2 statistics for each DLCI interface upon boot-up. You do so by specifying values for selected RMON and RMON2 parameters. The values you specify for these parameters apply to each DLCI interface the probe creates.

For example, if you set the maximum number of DLCI network layer hosts to 4000, the probe allocates enough resources (primarily, memory) to track network-layer statistics for 4000 hosts on each DLCI interface. This means that if you automatically discover 50 DLCIs, the probe reserves enough agent resources to track statistics for 200,000 hosts. For this reason, you may want to adjust these DLCI maximums based on your monitoring needs and available probe resources.

Table 7-1 describes the DLCI RMON1 parameters you can configure.

Table 7-1: RMON1 DLCI Parameters

Select this	To configure this	Default
[5] Change dlci_sh_buckets	Maximum number of buckets the probe uses to store short-term history statistics	10
[6] Change dlci_lh_buckets	Maximum number of buckets the probe uses to store long-term history statistics	10
[7] Change dlci_sh_interval	Interval at which the probe gathers and stores short-term history statistics	180
[8] Change dlci_lh_interval	Interval at which the probe gathers and stores long-term history statistics	1800

Table 7-2 describes the DLCI RMON2 parameters you can configure.

Table 7-2: RMON2 DLCI Parameters

Select this	To configure this	Default
[5] Change dlci_nl hosts	Maximum number of hosts the probe tracks network-layer statistics for	4000
[6] Change dlci_al_hosts	Maximum number of hosts the probe tracks application-layer statistics for	8000
[7] Change dlci_nl_matrix	Maximum number of conversations the probe stores network-layer statistics on	6000
[8] Change dlci_al_matrix	Maximum number of conversations the probe stores application-layer statistics on	12000

Setting RMON/RMON2 Parameters for PVCs

Use the following procedure to configure RMON/RMON2 statistics for DLCIs:

Step 1 Access the Agent Configuration Utility.

Step 2 Select [8] Select Interface.

Step 3 Select the WAN interface you want to configure.

Step 4 Select [31] Go to Next Page.

Step 5 Do one of the following:

To configure RMON DLCI parameters, select [20] Change RMON Parameters

To configure RMON2 DLCI parameters, select [21] Change RMON2 Parameters

Step 6 Do one of the following:

If you selected [20] Change RMON Parameters, select the RMON parameter you want to configure as explained in Table 7-1.

If you selected [21] Change RMON2 Parameters, select the RMON2 parameter you want to configure as explained in Table 7-2.

Step 7 From the main menu, select [12] Reset Agent for the new settings to take effect.

DLCI Monitoring

SwitchProbe WAN probes provide powerful support for DLCI monitoring over a frame relay segment. You can configure the agent to monitor all DLCI packets traveling over a frame relay link, or selected DLCI numbers. A SwitchProbe detects DLCIs on your network segment based on two factors:

DLCI number

Committed information rate (CIR) in bps.

For each DLCI detected, the SwitchProbe creates a virtual interface consisting of both data terminal equipment (DTE) and data communications equipment (DCE) traffic. You can then monitor these virtual interfaces as individual agents using TrafficDirector.

For example, when you configure a SwitchProbe to monitor only packets with DLCI numbers of 474 and 976 and launch the TrafficDirector Frame Relay Monitor for that SwitchProbe, you see three agents in the graphical display:

The physical agent you launched Frame Relay Monitor against
A virtual agent created for number 474 DLCIs
A virtual agent created for number 976 DLCIs

You can then launch additional TrafficDirector tools for each agent such as:

Protocol Monitor to view protocol statistics
DLCI List for host information
ALL Talkers or Top N Talkers for conversations
Segment Zoom to view individual DTE and DCE statistics

You can also choose to toggle DLCI mode off in the SwitchProbe to monitor packets in terms of source and destination MAC addresses. This is especially useful in monitoring bridged frame relay segments to see the originating LAN of each DLCI packet.

A SwitchProbe learns what DLCIs are on your frame relay segment in two ways:

Automatic DLCI discovery, where you configure the agent to detect all DLCIs with Local Management Interface (LMI) support.
Manual DLCI discovery, where you specify specific DLCIs to monitor. You can use this feature to configure the agent to monitor DLCIs on segments where LMI is not supported.

Automatic DLCI Discovery

You can configure the SwitchProbe to automatically detect DLCIs on frame relay segments with the following LMI support:

U.S. Sprint Annex D
Digital Northern Standard

You do so by enabling pvc_discovery found under Configure Agent Options.

Note If the committed information rate (CIR) is not specified, as in the case of U.S. Sprint Annex D LMIs, the CIR defaults to the speed of the WAN interface.

Enabling DLCI Discovery

Use the following procedure to configure your SwitchProbe to automatically detect DLCIs.

Step 1 Access the Agent Configuration Utility.

Step 2 Select 31 Go to Next Page.

Step 3 Select 22 Configure Agent Options.

The Agent Options Menu is displayed.

Selection#: 22

*****SwitchProbe 4.1*****

[1] Toggle mib_checks on

[2] Toggle mib_defaults on

[3] Toggle default_groups on

[4] Toggle router_discovery on

[5] Toggle router_enable off

[6] Toggle modem_log off

[7] Toggle slip_ip off

[8] Toggle packet_capture on

[9] Toggle traffic_generator off

[10] Toggle enable_pvc_discovery off

[11] Go Back to Main Menu

Selection#:

Step 4 Select 10 Toggle enable_pvc_discovery to toggle DLCI automatic discovery feature on.

Step 5 Select 11 Go Back to Main Menu.

Step 6 Select 12 Reset Agent for the change to take effect.

Specifying DLCIs to Monitor

You can manually configure the SwitchProbe to discover specific DLCIs by providing the number and CIR of each DLCI you want to monitor. In addition, you can also define a name for the virtual agent that the SwitchProbe creates for each DLCI number.

You might want to download this DLCI information into the SwitchProbe in order to:

Make the agent "aware" of DLCIs that the automatic discovery feature cannot detect.
To conserve agent resources. For example, if you enable automatic discovery and the SwitchProbe detects 30 DLCIs, it must then create 30 virtual interfaces. To conserve agent resources, you can do the following in the order shown:
- Disable automatic discovery.
- Reset the SwitchProbe to clear existing DLCI information.
- Download DLCI information for the Top N DLCI talkers. In turn, the SwitchProbe only needs to create N virtual interfaces (instead of 30), saving valuable agent resources.
If your network segment uses U.S. Sprint LMIs, automatic discovery assumes the speed of the network interface as the CIR. Instead, you can specify the actual speed of each DLCI you want to monitor and download it to the agent.

There are two ways to provide the SwitchProbe with this DLCI information:

Download the information using the dvftp utility provided with TrafficDirector.
Use command-line set to pass the information directly to DLCIINFO.

Downloading DLCI Information Using dvftp

The dvftp utility requires a DLCI information file that you must pass as a parameter. You can create this file with a basic text editor and save it under a name you define. The file consists of lines in the following format:

DLCI number 	DLCI name	CIR

For example:

474 	Boston	128000
1018	New_York	56000

Note The DLCI name and the CIR are optional fields. If these fields are not present in the file, the agent uses the DLCI number as the virtual agent name for TrafficDirector display purposes, and the speed of the WAN interface as the CIR.

Use the following command to download DLCI information into the agent:

dvftp agentname filename DLCIINFO

The following list defines the options in the above example:

agentname	The name defined for the agent when adding it to the client software. Note that the dvftp utility downloads the DLCI information to the interface number that you specified when adding the agent to TrafficDirector.
filename	The name of the DLCI information file containing the number, name, and CIR for each DLCI you want the SwitchProbe to recognize. If you do not specify a path, dvftp searches for the file in the NSHOME/usr directory.
DLCIINFO	Specifies the file type.

If you are running UNIX, you can run the dvftp utility directly from NSHOME/bin; if you are running TrafficDirector for Windows, you can issue the command from the TrafficDirector shell. If you do not include a path as part of filename, the path defaults to NSHOME/usr.

Note The dvftp utility downloads the DLCI information to the interface specified for the agent name defined in the NSHOME/usr/agent.lst file. To ensure that the utility downloads the DLCI information to the correct interface, make sure that the agent is added to TrafficDirector and that the WAN interface is specified as the interface number.

Step 1 Make sure that you have added the agent to TrafficDirector specifying the number of the WAN interface connected to the frame relay segment. This is important, because when you pass the agent name as a parameter to the dvftp utility, it downloads the information to the interface specified for that agent in the NSHOME/usr/agent.lst file.

Step 2 Create the DLCI information file containing the DLCI number, DLCI name, and the CIR for each DLCI you want the SwitchProbe to monitor.

Step 3 If the DLCI automatic discovery feature in the SwitchProbe is disabled (22 Configure Agent Options/10 Toggle enable_pvc_discovery is off), then go to Step 6. Otherwise, go to Step 4.

Step 4 If you have the DLCI automatic discovery feature enabled in the agent, do one of the following:

If you want to download DLCIs and add them to the list of DLCI numbers you are already monitoring, go to Step 6.
If you want to monitor only the DLCIs that you are downloading to the agent, go to Step 5.
If you want to download new information for DLCI numbers that the SwitchProbe has already detected, go to Step 5. You might do this to specify a name or a specific CIR for a particular DLCI you are already monitoring.

Note You cannot download a DLCI number that the SwitchProbe is already monitoring; it does not accept duplicate entries. You must first reset the SwitchProbe to clear the virtual interface created for the DLCI, then download the DLCI number with the new information.

Step 5 Access the Agent Configuration Utility and do the following in the order shown:

Toggle off the DLCI automatic discovery feature found under 22 Configure Agent Options/10 Toggle enable_pvc_discovery.
Select 12 Reset Agent to reboot the SwitchProbe. This removes any virtual DLCI interfaces in the agent.

Step 6 Enter the following on the command line to invoke the dvftp utility:

% dvftp agentname filename DLCIINFO

Setting DLCIINFO from the Command Line

As an alternative to using the dvftp utility for DLCI configuration, you can directly set the contents of DLCIINFO from the command line. Use the following procedure:

Step 1 Access the Agent Configuration Utility.

Step 2 Select 11 Enter Command-line mode.

Step 3 Enter the following command from the command line.

% set data DLCIINFO WAN interface "DLCInumber name CIR"

For example, the following command configures interface 3 to create a virtual agent for number 1018 DLCIs and to name that agent "Chicago."

% set data DLCIINFO 3 "1018 Chicago 128000"

Check the contents of DLCIINFO by using the get data command.

% get data DLCINFO

dlci_no dlci_name dlci_cir phys ifn

1018 Chicago 128000 3

Note DLCI information is cleared whenever you reset the agent.

Viewing MAC Addresses

By default, DLCI mode in the SwitchProbe is enabled, so you can view packets in terms of their DLCI numbers. But when monitoring a bridged frame relay segment, you might want to view packets in terms of MAC addresses. To do so, disable DLCI mode using the following procedure:

Step 1 Access the Agent Configuration Utility.

Step 2 Enter 8, then select the WAN interface.

Step 3 Select 24 Configure Interface Options.

Interface Option Menu:

Interface number : 3

[1] Toggle dlci-node on

[3] Toggle Manage mode off

[4] Toggle Monitor mode on

[5] Go Back to Main Menu

Selection#:

Step 4 Select 1 Toggle dlci_mode to set dlci_mode off.

Step 5 Select 12 Reset Agent for the new setting to take effect.

Table of Contents

Frame Relay Monitoring