Class Mapping Test

Classifying network traffic allows you to organize traffic (that is, packets) into traffic classes or categories on the basis of whether the traffic matches specific criteria. Classifying network traffic is the foundation for enabling other QoS features such as traffic shaping and traffic policing on your network. High-priority network traffic or traffic matching specific criteria can be singled out for special handling, and thus, help to achieve peak application performance.

The goal of network traffic classification is to group traffic based on user-defined criteria so that the resulting groups of network traffic can then be subjected to specific QoS treatments. The QoS treatments might include faster forwarding by intermediate routers and switches or reduced probability of the traffic being dropped due to lack of buffering resources.

The network traffic can be classified using the following steps:

Creating a Class Map for Classifying Network Traffic
Creating a Policy Map for Applying a QoS Feature to Network Traffic
Attaching the Policy Map to an Interface

If a class map is not created successfully, then the network traffic classification may not be defined as expected and the traffic cannot be matched to a specific class. Similarly, if the class map handles too much of traffic, then the performance of the application may degrade drastically. To avoid performance degradation, it is necessary to monitor the traffic on each class map so that the class map that is handling excessive traffic can be figured out. The Class Mapping Test helps administrators to monitor the network traffic specified for each class map.

This test auto-discovers the class maps on the target Cisco Router and for each class map, monitors the amount of data transmitted/ received. This test also helps administrators figure out the packets transmitted through each class map and identify data drops instantly.

This test is disabled by default. To enable the test, go to the enable / disable tests page using the menu sequence : Agents -> Tests -> Enable/Disable, pick the desired Component type, set Performance as the Test type, choose the test from the disabled tests list, and click on the < button to move the test to the ENABLED TESTS list. Finally, click the Update button.

Target of the test : A Cisco device

Agent deploying the test : An external agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every source host.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test period	How often should the test be executed
Host	The host for which the test is to be configured.
SNMPPort	The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; the default is 161.
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.
SNMPCommunity	The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the firewall. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.
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 the Username parameter.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
DD Frequency	Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD frequency.
Detailed Diagnosis	To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option. The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled: The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Received data	Indicates the amount of data received on this class map.	MB	Compare the value of these measures against the class maps to figure out the class map that is busy processing data.
Transmitted data	Indicates the amount of data transmitted through this class map.	MB
Bit rate prior to apply policy	Indicates the bit rate captured prior to applying the QoS policy on this class map during the last measurement period.	Kbps
Bit rate post policy apply	Indicates the bit rate captured after applying the QoS policy on this class map during the last measurement period.	Kbps
Total packets	Indicates the total number of packets transmitted from this class map.	Packets
Dropped packets	Indicates the number of packets dropped during transmission from this class map.	Packets	Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.
Dropped data	Indicates the amount of data dropped during transmission from this class map.	MB	A low value is desired for this measure.
Drop rate	Indicates the rate at which data was dropped during transmission from this class map during the last measurement period.	Kbps	A high value indicates that there is too much of data loss during transmission.