NFM-P statistics types

Overview

Table 1-1: Characteristics of statistics types

Characteristic	Statistics type
Characteristic	Performance	Accounting service network subscriber AA	Server performance	Flow AA Cflowd
Typical uses	NE monitoring NE troubleshooting	Billing SLA compliance Trend analysis	NFM-P system monitoring NFM-P system troubleshooting	Traffic monitoring Data analytics
Source	NE MIBs	All but AA: NE accounting files and NE MIBs AA: ISA-AA MIBs	Internal NFM-P system metrics	Traffic samples
On-demand collection	Yes	No	Yes	No
Scheduled collection	Yes Requires Statistics or Specific MIB policy	Yes Requires File and Accounting policies	Yes Requires Server Performance Statistics policy	Yes Requires NSP Flow Collector
Real-time graphing	Yes	Yes, if MIB-based	Yes	No
Historical graphing	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Available via the XML API	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Collection default	Off	Off	On	Off

Performance statistics

Performance statistics counters record NE data, for example, physical equipment status and routing throughput, for monitoring and troubleshooting. Use the Performance Statistics Search Tool to view device-specific lists of the MIB-based performance statistics that the NFM-P supports.

Performance statistics, except for AA network performance statistics, are collected from NE MIBs using SNMP. The collection can be scheduled, or performed on demand.

You can graphically display performance statistics in real time, or export the data using the XML API. Historical performance statistics can be viewed in tabular or graphical form in the NFM-P client GUI.

Accounting statistics

Accounting statistics counters typically record service or subscriber usage data for billing or to ensure SLA compliance. Use the Accounting Statistics Search Tool to view device-specific lists of the accounting statistics that the NFM-P supports.

Accounting policies define the schedules that NEs use for the regular collection of accounting statistics. File policies specify how NEs store the accounting statistics data. An NE can perform scheduled accounting statistics collection only when a file policy and an accounting policy are deployed to the NE.

The NFM-P uses FTP or SCP to collect accounting statistics files from NEs. See the device documentation for information about accounting file creation and storage on a device.

You can view historical and real-time accounting statistics in tabular or graphical form in the NFM-P client GUI.

The supported accounting statistics types are:

service accounting statistics—collected on each queue of each SAP that is associated with an accounting policy; provide queue throughput and drop information, and can be used for billing and SLA verification
network accounting statistics—collected on each SDP queue or network port associated with an accounting policy; measure FC queue usage, which is of use for monitoring link utilization, identifying traffic patterns and trends, capacity planning, and traffic engineering

Note:

SDP statistics collection is supported only on devices that are in chassis mode B, C, or D.
subscriber accounting statistics—collected on a subscriber profile for residential subscriber instances; used for billing and SLA verification
application assurance, or AA, accounting statistics—collected from applications, application groups, and protocols on ISA-AA MDAs; AA network performance statistics are also available for monitoring the AA processing load on an ISA-AA MDA

See the IPDR Reference for comprehensive information about AA accounting and AA network performance statistics.

You can customize the statistics record in a service, subscriber, or AA accounting policy by specifying the counters that are collected and the data thresholds for collection. See the NSP NFM-P Classic Management User Guide for information about creating custom accounting records.

Flow statistics

Flow statistics measure the activity associated with traffic flows. A traffic flow is essentially a series of packets that have the same source address, destination address, and payload type, for example, a specific VoIP or social-networking application.

AA Cflowd statistics

ISA-AA groups support Cflowd sampling and TCP performance data collection for AA applications and application groups. NEs use the IPFIX protocol to send the statistics data in XDR-encoded binary records to one or more NSP Flow Collectors. An NSP Flow Collector can forward the statistics data to an OSS or third-party system for analysis or reporting purposes, and store the data in an NSP auxiliary database for use by NSP Analytics.

See the NSP System Architecture Guide for information about NSP Flow Collector and auxiliary database communication, and the NSP Planning Guide for deployment and scaling guidelines.

The IPDR Reference has comprehensive information about AA Cflowd and AA network performance statistics types and the associated counters.

Server performance statistics

You can collect server performance statistics such as the following from main and auxiliary servers in an NFM-P system:

server statistics, which include memory usage and alarm counters
network activity statistics, which include SNMP trap counters, accounting and SNMP polled statistic record counters, statistics collection counters, application assurance statistics collection counters, and NE resynchronization counters

You can collect server performance statistics on demand, or schedule regular collection using a policy. Server performance statistics can also be collected and graphically displayed in real time, or exported using the XML API. Historical server performance statistics can be viewed in tabular or graphical form in the NFM-P client GUI.