MDS Advanced Connections Statistics Test

The BlackBerry MDS Connection Service provides a secure connection between BlackBerry 10 devices and your organization's network when the device is not connected to your work Wi-Fi network or using a VPN connection.

By monitoring the MDS communication between the MDS-enabled devices and the BlackBerry UEM, you can determine the number of handheld device users to whom data will be pushed by the MDS, and thus infer the load imposed by such users on the BES. In the process, you can also monitor how MDS controls the flow of data packets to the BlackBerry device, and regulate the flow (if need be) based on your findings. This test enables you to achieve all of the above.

This test monitors the BlackBerry MDS (Mobile Data System) and reports the advanced statistics of the device such as the number of requests received for DFTP (Direct File Transfer Protocol) commands, number of requests handled, SRP connections that had failed/ were invalid/ were successful, and so on. Using this test, the administrator would understand the patterns of data flow and be on alert if there is a data loss or any other issue.

Target of the test : A BlackBerry UEM

Agent deploying the test : An external agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for Blackberry UEM.

Configurable parameters for the test

Parameter

Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The IP address of the target server that is being monitored.

SNMPPort

The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB;

Data Over TCP

By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.

Timeout

Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.

SNMPversion

By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPversion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.

Context

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVERSION. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the Username provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the Username in the Context text box. By default, this parameter is set to none.

Username

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges – in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter. 

Authpass

Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned Username. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPversion selected is v3.

Confirm Password

Confirm the AuthPass by retyping it here.

AuthType

This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. From the AuthType list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options:

  • MD5 - Message Digest Algorithm
  • SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm
  • SHA224 - Secure Hash Algorithm 224 bit
  • SHA256 - Secure Hash Algorithm 256 bit
  • SHA384 - Secure Hash Algorithm 384 bit
  • SHA512 - Secure Hash Algorithm 512 bit

EncryptFlag

This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, the this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option. 

Encrypttype

If the EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types:

  • DES - Data Encryption Standard
  • 3DES - Triple Data Encryption Standard
  • AES - Advanced Encryption Standard
  • AES128 - Advanced Encryption Standard 128 bit
  • AES192 - Advanced Encryption Standard 192 bit
  • AES256 - Advanced Encryption Standard 256 bit

Encryptpassword

Specify the encryption password here.

Confirm Password

Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here.

EngineID

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. Sometimes, the test may not report metrics when AES192 or AES256 is chosen as the Encryption type. To ensure that the test report metrics consistently, administrators need to set this flag to Yes. By default, this parameter is set to No.

Measurements made by the test

Measurement

Description

Measurement Unit

Interpretation

DFTP request received

Indicates the number of DFTP (Direct File Transfer Protocol) requests received.

Number

 

Request received for DFTP list command

Indicates the number of requests received for DFTP List command.

Number

 

Request received for DFTP stats command

Indicates the number of requests received for DFTP Stats command.

Number

 

Request received for DFTP get command

Indicates the number of requests received for DFTP Get command.

Number

 

Request received for DFTP put command

Indicates the number of requests received for DFTP Put command.

Number

 

Handled DFTP requests

Indicates the number of DFTP requests handled.

Number

 

Data packets in GME to IPPP receiving queue

Indicates the number of data packets in GME (Gamestop) to IPPP receiving queue.

Number

A higher value indicates a bottleneck in the IPPP receiving queue.

Data packets in GME to SRP sending queue

Indicates the number of data packets in GME to SRP (Server Routing Protocol) sending queue.

Number

A higher value indicates a bottleneck in the SRP queue.

Data packets in IPPP to GME sending queue

Indicates the number of data packets in IPPP to GME sending queue.

Number

A higher value indicates a bottleneck in the GME sending queue.

Data packets in SRP to GME receiving queue

Indicates the number of data packets in SRP to GME receiving queue.

Number

A higher value indicates a bottleneck in the GME receiving queue.

Outbound TCP socket connections failed to open

Indicates the number of outbound TCP socket connections that failed to open.

Number

The value of this measure should ideally be zero.

Outbound TCP socket connections successfully opened

Indicates the number of outbound TCP socket connections that were successfully opened in previous reporting interval.

Number

A higher value is desired for this measure.

Outbound TCP socket connections successfully closed

Indicates the number of outbound TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) socket connections that were successfully closed in previous reporting interval.

Number

A higher value is desired for this measure.

Data packets sent over outbound TCP socket connections

Indicates the number of data packets sent over outbound TCP socket connections to external servers.

Number

 

Data packets received over outbound TCP socket connections

Indicates the number of data packets received over outbound TCP socket connections from external servers.

Number

 

Failed SRP connections

Indicates the number of failed SRP connections to BlackBerry Dispatcher Service from BlackBerry MDS Connection Service.

Number

The value of this measure should ideally be zero.

Refused SRP connections

Indicates the number of SRP packets sent by BlackBerry MDS Connection Service that were refused.

Number

 

Invalid SRP connections

Indicates the number of invalid SRP packets that were received by BlackBerry MDS Connection Service.

Number

 

Successful SRP connections

Indicates the number of successful SRP connections to BlackBerry Dispatcher Service from BlackBerry MDS Connection Service.

Number

A higher value is desired for this measure.

Active IPPP connections

Indicates the number of active IPPP/TCP connections.

Number

 

Data received over TCP connections

Indicates the total number of bytes received over TCP connections (in KB) and it converted to MB during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Data transmitted over TCP connections

Indicates the total number of bytes sent over TCP connections (in KB) and it converted to MB during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Total socket connection errors

Indicates the number of socket connection errors.

Number