QFP Statistics Test

Cisco QFP is a specialized, high-performance application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) developed by Cisco Systems for use in its network routers. The QFP provides hardware acceleration for a variety of networking functions, such as packet classification, traffic management, and security processing. QFP acts as the heart of the router and takes care of all key functions. That's the reason it is important to monitor QFP to ensure that it is working optimally, which will ensure that router is performing well.

This test monitors the QFP and collects statistics related to flow of data through the router. If these stats are in optimal range administrators can be sure that QFP operations are running smoothly.

Target of the test : A Cisco device

Agent deploying the test : An external agent

Outputs of the test : Outputs of the test : One set of results for each physical entity (QFP).

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.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Input priority packet	Indicates the QFP input channel priority packet rate during the interval. Interval is the time interval for which the utilization statistics being collected. The interval values can be 5 second, 1 minute, etc.	Packets/Sec	If the rate and total amount of data transferred is trending downwards over a range of measurements, it could be because of bottleneck building up. You may have to investigate to identify the root cause.
Input priority data	Indicates the QFP input channel priority bit rate during the interval.	Kbps
Input non-priority packet	Indicates the QFP input channel non-priority packet rate during the interval.	Packets/Sec	If the rate and total amount of data transferred is trending downwards over a range of measurements, it could be because of bottleneck building up. You may have to investigate to identify the root cause.
Input non-priority data	Indicates the QFP input channel non-priority bit rate during the interval.	Kbps
Input total packet	Indicates the QFP input channel total packet rate during the interval, which includes both priority and non-priority input packet rate.	Packets/Sec	If the rate and total amount of data transferred is trending downwards over a range of measurements, it could be because of bottleneck building up. You may have to investigate to identify the root cause.
Input total data	Indicates the QFP input channel total bit rate during the interval, which includes both priority and non-priority input bit rate.	Kbps
Output priority packet	Indicates the QFP output channel priority packet rate during the interval.	Packets/Sec	If the rate and total amount of data transferred is trending downwards over a range of measurements, it could be because of bottleneck building up. You may have to investigate to identify the root cause.
Output priority data	Indicates the QFP output channel priority bit rate during the interval.	Kbps
Output non-priority packet	Indicates the QFP output channel non-priority packet rate during the interval.	Packets/Sec	If the rate and total amount of data transferred is trending downwards over a range of measurements, it could be because of bottleneck building up. You may have to investigate to identify the root cause.
Output non-priority data	Indicates the QFP output channel non-priority bit rate during the interval.	Kbps
Output total packet	Indicates the QFP output channel total packet rate during the interval, which includes both priority and non-priority output packet rate.	Packets/Sec	If the rate and total amount of data transferred is trending downwards over a range of measurements, it could be because of bottleneck building up. You may have to investigate to identify the root cause.
Output total data	Indicates the QFP output channel total bit rate during the interval, which includes both priority and non-priority bit rate.	Kbps
Load average	Indicates the QFP processing load during the interval.	Percentage	If the average load is consistently high over a range of measurements, it could lead to slow operations.