Network traffic widgets

The Widget Type drop-down list box on the Add a New Widget page lists the types of network traffic widgets that you can create.

Not all Visualization, Data, Time and Appearance options apply to all widget types. However, the Data, Time and Appearance tabs are standardized to the extent practical. For any specific widget, the fields that do not apply or that have a fixed value are inactive (grayed out).

Data tab

All network traffic widgets except the Overall Traffic widget and Response Composition widget offer a choice between displaying the top 10 busiest items (applications, hosts, etc.) or only the ones that you specify. If you choose the option to specify which items you want to display, the Data tab of the "Add a new widget" popup provides text fields for you to specify what you want to see.

If the widget provides for specifying hosts, you can use IPv4 or IPv6 host addresses. For network devices and interfaces, use IPv4 addresses.

In some cases text fields have a drop-down list box for you to make a choice from. In other cases there is a magnifying glass icon at the end of a text box. Click this icon to open a lookup tool. Select the item of interest in the search results list and click OK to enter it into the text box on the widget tab.

Time tab

The Time tab specifies the time frame of the information reported in the widget when it is placed on the dashboard.

The Time Frame control offers two methods to specify time. The "Starting <a unit of time> ago" selections end within a few minutes of the current time. The "Previous" selections end on the most recently ended full time unit. For example, if the current time is 10:17 AM Wednesday and you specify the previous hour, then the time frame of the widget will start at 9:00 AM and end at 10:00 AM today. If you specify the previous week, the time frame will start at 12:00 AM Monday of last week and end at 12:00 AM Monday of this week.

The Time Frame "Starting" and "Previous" selections work the same way as on traffic reports.  more

The Data Resolution setting determines how long a period of data collection is represented by each point on a graph. The resolution selections for network traffic widgets are a subset of those available for traffic reports.  more

The Refresh interval specifies how frequently the data in the widget is refreshed. The default settings yield good results while conserving system resources. They can be adjusted for investigating specific problems in greater detail.

If global time settings are enabled at the dashboard level, the time settings here will be inactive (dimmed) and an option to turn off the global time settings override will appear. 

The "Compare to" box enables you to compare information for the time specified in the “Time Frame” field to information reported for the same time frame a day earlier, a week earlier, or four weeks earlier. The earlier time frame matches the specified time frame to the minute. If data is not available for the entire earlier time frame, no comparison is displayed.

Appearance tab

On this tab, specify the title that is to appear on the widget. The tab also controls other display features including measurement units, the size of the widget, number of rows to display on a table, etc. The controls available on the Appearance tab depend on the type of widget and the visualization selection.

Widget types

Network traffic widget types are:

  • Application Server - For widgets displaying the top application servers: If two different applications are being served by the same machine, and if both applications are among the top users of the network, then both applications are listed using the format server1-app1 and server1-app2.

  • Applications

  • Applications with Ports

  • Ports

  • Protocols

  • Host Group Pairs

  • Host Group Pairs with Ports

  • Host Groups - Host groups of a specified host group type, such as ByLocation

  • Host Pairs

  • Host Pair Applications with Ports

  • Host Pairs with Ports

  • Hosts

  • Peer Host Groups

  • Peer Hosts

  • Network Devices - Devices that are sending flow data to NetProfiler, including Sensor, NetShark, SteelHead and AppResponse appliances, NetFlow-enabled switches and routers, sFlow sources, and compatible Packeteer PacketShapers.

  • Network Interfaces - Interfaces on network devices that are sending flow data to NetProfiler.

  • Network Interfaces (Preferred)

  • Network Segments

  • BGP AS

  • BGP AS Pairs

  • BGP AS and Host Groups

  • Peers of BGP AS

  • DSCPs

  • DSCPs with Applications and Ports

  • DSCPs with Interfaces

  • Overall traffic

  • Response composition

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