Viewing Network Traffic through IX Telemetry
IX Flow Telemetry is a generic industry term used for technology that allows measurement of network traffic between peers by user. The IX Telemetry feature in Megaport ONE allows you to see the peering rates of any IX connections your company has deployed.
You can use IX Telemetry to view and analyze your network traffic flow statistics, check whether or not a peer is using a lot of network traffic, and to diagnose and troubleshoot any configuration or networking issues.
What IX Telemetry tells you
IX Telemetry includes the following statistics and information:
- Bits and packets per second
- 12, 24 hours, and 7 days of data
- Ingoing and outgoing traffic
- Total number of peers
- Top five peers by traffic
- Single peer traffic, if traffic is public
Megaport offers a public API that you can use to access the services available through IX Telemetry. You can use the Get IX Telemetry API to return telemetry details for a specified IX. For more information, see Megaport API.
Viewing IX Telemetry
The network traffic information is available through IX Telemetry only after you have deployed one or more IXs. You can view IX Telemetry traffic metrics in graphical format. When first opening the IX Telemetry graph, the first 10 peers are selected and shown on the graph by default.
To view IX Telemetry
- In the Megaport ONE Portal, choose Tools > IX Telemetry.
- Select an IX from the drop-down list.
Only IXs with a Live status are shown in the drop-down list. -
From the Telemetry Type drop-down list, select a metric to view network traffic details.
You can view a graph for one metric at a time.Telemetry Type Description Volume In (Mbps) Number of inbound megabits per second. Volume Out (Mbps) Number of outbound megabits per second. Packets In Incoming packet rate to the peer, measured in packets per second (pps). Packets Out Outbound packet rate from the peer, measured in packets per second (pps). -
From the Date Range drop-down list, select a time range for which to view network traffic details.
You can view details for time intervals relevant to the IX. For example, if the IX has only been deployed for an hour, you will only see 1 hour as the time interval selection. Where available, the default time range is the last 24 hours.
The following details are shown for the selected IX, in a graph and table below the graph.
- Peers – The IX telemetry graph shows the name of the network peers, and associated network traffic flow statistics.
- Name – The name of the peer.
- Service Name – The service name associated with the peer.
- IP Address – The IPv4 and IPv6 network addresses of the peer.
Tip
You can also view IX Telemetry for a specific IX by selecting the Gear icon (
) > IX Telemetry for the IX from the Services page. For details, see Viewing Network Services.
To search for a peer
- In the Search box at the top right of the table, enter the name or service name of the peer for which to search.
The search results are refined immediately as you type.
To sort the table by column
- Click the up/down triangles next to a column heading.
The table columns reload, if necessary. - Click the heading again to reverse the order.
A small up or down triangle reflects the current bidirectional sort order.
Note
Only 10 peers are displayed in the table. However, there might be more than 10 peers exchanging traffic at the IX. Therefore, in this case when sorting the table by column, only the first 10 peers shown on the screen are sorted.
To show and hide peers on the IX telemetry graph
- To show an individual peer, select the check box next to the peer name in the table.
The selected peer is shown on the graph. - To hide the peer from the graph, clear the check box.
The selected peer is removed from the graph. - To show and hide all peers on the graph which are visible in the table, select and clear the check box next to the Name column heading.
Tip
You can also show and hide peers on the graph by clicking the peer name above the graph.
Using the IX Telemetry graph
Once you have the required peers displayed on the IX telemetry graph, you can investigate the peering rates and network traffic flow statistics. For closer inspection, you can:
- Temporarily select and deselect the peers that are displayed on the graph by clicking on the peer name above the graph
- Change the selected date range to view traffic over different time periods
- Change the telemetry type to view traffic volume and packet statistics.
IX Telemetry analysis and troubleshooting
Close monitoring of Internet Exchange (IX) traffic is important to successful ongoing operations. The traffic flow statistics from the IX are useful because they allow you to see how much traffic you are exchanging with other peers through the peering relationships.
Some of the reasons that you might want to review IX Telemetry network flow statistics include:
- Viewing IX Telemetry flow graphs to troubleshoot any network issues
- If there are network issues, determining which peers are using a high proportion of traffic
- There might be a commercial reason to understand which peers are using a lot of traffic (remedy for a peer using too much traffic is possibly to purchase a direct line)
- Ensuring that only allowed traffic types are present
- Ensuring that all traffic sources are accounted for and that there are no unauthorized connections
- Ensuring that packet size policies are controlled.
Note
IX Telemetry conforms to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements. All network traffic data is pre-aggregated, so no individual user sessions can be identified.