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Measure amount of network usage

 
 
hhs
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      05-27-2008
Hi

Is there any of Cisco feature that let me measure the amount of
network usage per user or per ip address.
For example: I have 10 computer on my LAN, what can i do if i want to
know, let say pc01 use how many Mb per period of time? Is it possible
to do it?

Thanks,
hhs
 
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Trendkill
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      05-27-2008
On May 27, 3:33*am, hhs <hamsovann...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
>
> Is there any of Cisco feature that let me measure the amount of
> network usage per user or per ip address.
> For example: I have 10 computer on my LAN, what can i do if i want to
> know, let say pc01 use how many Mb per period of time? Is it possible
> to do it?
>
> Thanks,
> hhs


Install software on each box and monitor it, or use snmp to poll the
switch interfaces and graph the results (mrtg will work as well).
Solarwinds engineer toolset can do this, as can many other free and
not-free software packages.
 
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hhs
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      05-27-2008
I have configure IP Accouting on Cisco Router.
!
interface FastEthernet0/0
ip address 172.16.0.1 255.255.255.0
ip accounting output-packets
!

And can view the output from the router, by using "sh ip accounting
output-packets" it show me SourceIP DestIP Packets Bytes. That's the
information i need, but i want to send all of this information to
syslog server. Is that possible? If snmp can poll thoes information,
how can i do it? Can you give any example?

Thanks,
hhs
 
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Andre Wisniewski
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      05-27-2008
hhs wrote:
> Hi
>
> Is there any of Cisco feature that let me measure the amount of
> network usage per user or per ip address.
> For example: I have 10 computer on my LAN, what can i do if i want to
> know, let say pc01 use how many Mb per period of time? Is it possible
> to do it?
>
> Thanks,
> hhs


Hi

netflow is adequate to this task. Let's have a look at
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/coll...d80173f71.html


With ip accounting it's much to difficult to investigate. You had to sum up all lines
for an specific ip and you can't see which traffic flows because no ports are shown
in accounting. Another problem is that you can't find out when traffic was generated
unless you do a clear ip accounting, let's say, every minute.

Andre
 
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Trendkill
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      05-27-2008
On May 27, 7:07 am, Andre Wisniewski <andre.wisniew...@gmx.de> wrote:
> hhs wrote:
> > Hi

>
> > Is there any of Cisco feature that let me measure the amount of
> > network usage per user or per ip address.
> > For example: I have 10 computer on my LAN, what can i do if i want to
> > know, let say pc01 use how many Mb per period of time? Is it possible
> > to do it?

>
> > Thanks,
> > hhs

>
> Hi
>
> netflow is adequate to this task. Let's have a look athttp://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/iosswrel/ps6537/ps6555/ps6...
>
> With ip accounting it's much to difficult to investigate. You had to sum up all lines
> for an specific ip and you can't see which traffic flows because no ports are shown
> in accounting. Another problem is that you can't find out when traffic was generated
> unless you do a clear ip accounting, let's say, every minute.
>
> Andre


Netflow is not bad, but it is usually hard to have a chart/graph of
traffic over time for a single IP. If you just want to manage the
heavy hitters and see how a particular link or path is being utilized
throughout the day (like most of us do), the netflow is second to
none, but if you just want an idea of who is doing what, netflow
probably isn't the best tool for that. I also definitely agree with
your comments about scalability of accounting and the lack of ability
to easily refine the reports. If you had a tool like Solarwinds (not
cheap, but should be other free options out there), it will use SNMP
strings to poll a device. Basically you would need to setup snmp on
the switch and/or router, but you must remember that measurement of
bandwidth would be done at layer 2 in this solution, not layer 3, By
setting up a SNMP string, you can then use a tool like solarwinds to
'poll' the router by using an interface IP and the correct read or
write string. When you connect to the router/switch, Solarwinds asks
you which interfaces you would like to poll or watch, and then what
kind of graph to create (1 min avg, 5 min avg, etc). This would allow
you to graph each switchport on the switch (you would need to resolve
what IPs/systems are on what ports the manual way with show arp |
include and show cam or show mac-address-table.

MRTG is free and runs on linux and works in very much the same way.
You just need to remember that no matter what, these are averages and
not actual down to the second traffic levels (unless you use the
bandwidth meter portion). Polling a router every second can cause
performance degradation, so using a 1 or 5 minute average usually gets
a ballpark of what you are looking for.

You can google any of these solutions for configuration examples and/
or software options.
 
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Andre Wisniewski
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      05-27-2008
Trendkill wrote:
> On May 27, 7:07 am, Andre Wisniewski <andre.wisniew...@gmx.de> wrote:
>> hhs wrote:
>>> Hi
>>> Is there any of Cisco feature that let me measure the amount of
>>> network usage per user or per ip address.
>>> For example: I have 10 computer on my LAN, what can i do if i want to
>>> know, let say pc01 use how many Mb per period of time? Is it possible
>>> to do it?
>>> Thanks,
>>> hhs

>> Hi
>>
>> netflow is adequate to this task. Let's have a look athttp://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/iosswrel/ps6537/ps6555/ps6...
>>
>> With ip accounting it's much to difficult to investigate. You had to sum up all lines
>> for an specific ip and you can't see which traffic flows because no ports are shown
>> in accounting. Another problem is that you can't find out when traffic was generated
>> unless you do a clear ip accounting, let's say, every minute.
>>
>> Andre

>
> Netflow is not bad, but it is usually hard to have a chart/graph of
> traffic over time for a single IP. If you just want to manage the
> heavy hitters and see how a particular link or path is being utilized
> throughout the day (like most of us do),


everytime i wanted to know which users is utilizating my links i also wanted to know
with what services.

> the netflow is second to
> none, but if you just want an idea of who is doing what, netflow
> probably isn't the best tool for that. I also definitely agree with
> your comments about scalability of accounting and the lack of ability
> to easily refine the reports.


.... and you'll come to the point where you need to.

> If you had a tool like Solarwinds (not
> cheap, but should be other free options out there), it will use SNMP
> strings to poll a device. Basically you would need to setup snmp on
> the switch and/or router, but you must remember that measurement of
> bandwidth would be done at layer 2 in this solution, not layer 3, By
> setting up a SNMP string, you can then use a tool like solarwinds to
> 'poll' the router by using an interface IP and the correct read or
> write string. When you connect to the router/switch, Solarwinds asks
> you which interfaces you would like to poll or watch, and then what
> kind of graph to create (1 min avg, 5 min avg, etc). This would allow
> you to graph each switchport on the switch (you would need to resolve


i do not like the idea to poll switchports especially on switches with many clients
connected to - as i use (up to 200 ports per switch). In most cases traffic is
increased to bad levels on wan links so i need to know what's going on in there.
The router's port is the common point.

> what IPs/systems are on what ports the manual way with show arp |
> include and show cam or show mac-address-table.
>
> MRTG is free and runs on linux and works in very much the same way.
> You just need to remember that no matter what, these are averages and
> not actual down to the second traffic levels (unless you use the
> bandwidth meter portion). Polling a router every second can cause
> performance degradation, so using a 1 or 5 minute average usually gets


for our company 1 minute averages aren't dispersed enough, btw. we are serving
exchange application. For most users these are good values, though.

> a ballpark of what you are looking for.
>
> You can google any of these solutions for configuration examples and/
> or software options.


netflow can provide you with more detailed information as you can get with mrtg and i
think sooner or later you'll need them.

To find out how much traffic one PC is generating, netflow is oversized, of course.

Andre
 
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Trendkill
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      05-27-2008
On May 27, 10:55 am, Andre Wisniewski <andre.wisniew...@gmx.de> wrote:
> Trendkill wrote:
> > On May 27, 7:07 am, Andre Wisniewski <andre.wisniew...@gmx.de> wrote:
> >> hhs wrote:
> >>> Hi
> >>> Is there any of Cisco feature that let me measure the amount of
> >>> network usage per user or per ip address.
> >>> For example: I have 10 computer on my LAN, what can i do if i want to
> >>> know, let say pc01 use how many Mb per period of time? Is it possible
> >>> to do it?
> >>> Thanks,
> >>> hhs
> >> Hi

>
> >> netflow is adequate to this task. Let's have a look athttp://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/iosswrel/ps6537/ps6555/ps6...

>
> >> With ip accounting it's much to difficult to investigate. You had to sum up all lines
> >> for an specific ip and you can't see which traffic flows because no ports are shown
> >> in accounting. Another problem is that you can't find out when traffic was generated
> >> unless you do a clear ip accounting, let's say, every minute.

>
> >> Andre

>
> > Netflow is not bad, but it is usually hard to have a chart/graph of
> > traffic over time for a single IP. If you just want to manage the
> > heavy hitters and see how a particular link or path is being utilized
> > throughout the day (like most of us do),

>
> everytime i wanted to know which users is utilizating my links i also wanted to know
> with what services.
>
> > the netflow is second to
> > none, but if you just want an idea of who is doing what, netflow
> > probably isn't the best tool for that. I also definitely agree with
> > your comments about scalability of accounting and the lack of ability
> > to easily refine the reports.

>
> ... and you'll come to the point where you need to.
>
> > If you had a tool like Solarwinds (not
> > cheap, but should be other free options out there), it will use SNMP
> > strings to poll a device. Basically you would need to setup snmp on
> > the switch and/or router, but you must remember that measurement of
> > bandwidth would be done at layer 2 in this solution, not layer 3, By
> > setting up a SNMP string, you can then use a tool like solarwinds to
> > 'poll' the router by using an interface IP and the correct read or
> > write string. When you connect to the router/switch, Solarwinds asks
> > you which interfaces you would like to poll or watch, and then what
> > kind of graph to create (1 min avg, 5 min avg, etc). This would allow
> > you to graph each switchport on the switch (you would need to resolve

>
> i do not like the idea to poll switchports especially on switches with many clients
> connected to - as i use (up to 200 ports per switch). In most cases traffic is
> increased to bad levels on wan links so i need to know what's going on in there.
> The router's port is the common point.
>
> > what IPs/systems are on what ports the manual way with show arp |
> > include and show cam or show mac-address-table.

>
> > MRTG is free and runs on linux and works in very much the same way.
> > You just need to remember that no matter what, these are averages and
> > not actual down to the second traffic levels (unless you use the
> > bandwidth meter portion). Polling a router every second can cause
> > performance degradation, so using a 1 or 5 minute average usually gets

>
> for our company 1 minute averages aren't dispersed enough, btw. we are serving
> exchange application. For most users these are good values, though.
>
> > a ballpark of what you are looking for.

>
> > You can google any of these solutions for configuration examples and/
> > or software options.

>
> netflow can provide you with more detailed information as you can get with mrtg and i
> think sooner or later you'll need them.
>
> To find out how much traffic one PC is generating, netflow is oversized, of course.
>
> Andre


I agree with all of the above, however the OP said 10 machines, not
6500s with 200+ ports. For long-term monitoring, a solution of mrtg/
snmp for wan/internet link usage is great, with netflow to tell you
what is going on within that bandwidth usage. For short-term
troubleshooting of bandwidth bottlenecks, including LAN and WAN, a
rapid snmp poller is the best bet to avoid the problems associated
with timeframe averaging', but agree that you only use it when you
need it. Polling hundreds of 6500s with hundreds or ports each would
not be a good idea by any means. For a small time LAN with no WAN
links and perhaps an internet connection or two, simple snmp polling
could give you most of what you need and perhaps netflow on the WAN or
internet link. If you are really in a bind, simple ip route-cache
flow with show ip cache-flow can show you the heavy hitters and their
source/destination information.
 
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Andre Wisniewski
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      05-27-2008
Trendkill wrote:
> On May 27, 10:55 am, Andre Wisniewski <andre.wisniew...@gmx.de> wrote:
>> Trendkill wrote:
>>> On May 27, 7:07 am, Andre Wisniewski <andre.wisniew...@gmx.de> wrote:
>>>> hhs wrote:
>>>>> Hi
>>>>> Is there any of Cisco feature that let me measure the amount of
>>>>> network usage per user or per ip address.
>>>>> For example: I have 10 computer on my LAN, what can i do if i want to
>>>>> know, let say pc01 use how many Mb per period of time? Is it possible
>>>>> to do it?
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> hhs
>>>> Hi
>>>> netflow is adequate to this task. Let's have a look athttp://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/iosswrel/ps6537/ps6555/ps6...
>>>> With ip accounting it's much to difficult to investigate. You had to sum up all lines
>>>> for an specific ip and you can't see which traffic flows because no ports are shown
>>>> in accounting. Another problem is that you can't find out when traffic was generated
>>>> unless you do a clear ip accounting, let's say, every minute.
>>>> Andre
>>> Netflow is not bad, but it is usually hard to have a chart/graph of
>>> traffic over time for a single IP. If you just want to manage the
>>> heavy hitters and see how a particular link or path is being utilized
>>> throughout the day (like most of us do),

>> everytime i wanted to know which users is utilizating my links i also wanted to know
>> with what services.
>>
>>> the netflow is second to
>>> none, but if you just want an idea of who is doing what, netflow
>>> probably isn't the best tool for that. I also definitely agree with
>>> your comments about scalability of accounting and the lack of ability
>>> to easily refine the reports.

>> ... and you'll come to the point where you need to.
>>
>>> If you had a tool like Solarwinds (not
>>> cheap, but should be other free options out there), it will use SNMP
>>> strings to poll a device. Basically you would need to setup snmp on
>>> the switch and/or router, but you must remember that measurement of
>>> bandwidth would be done at layer 2 in this solution, not layer 3, By
>>> setting up a SNMP string, you can then use a tool like solarwinds to
>>> 'poll' the router by using an interface IP and the correct read or
>>> write string. When you connect to the router/switch, Solarwinds asks
>>> you which interfaces you would like to poll or watch, and then what
>>> kind of graph to create (1 min avg, 5 min avg, etc). This would allow
>>> you to graph each switchport on the switch (you would need to resolve

>> i do not like the idea to poll switchports especially on switches with many clients
>> connected to - as i use (up to 200 ports per switch). In most cases traffic is
>> increased to bad levels on wan links so i need to know what's going on in there.
>> The router's port is the common point.
>>
>>> what IPs/systems are on what ports the manual way with show arp |
>>> include and show cam or show mac-address-table.
>>> MRTG is free and runs on linux and works in very much the same way.
>>> You just need to remember that no matter what, these are averages and
>>> not actual down to the second traffic levels (unless you use the
>>> bandwidth meter portion). Polling a router every second can cause
>>> performance degradation, so using a 1 or 5 minute average usually gets

>> for our company 1 minute averages aren't dispersed enough, btw. we are serving
>> exchange application. For most users these are good values, though.
>>
>>> a ballpark of what you are looking for.
>>> You can google any of these solutions for configuration examples and/
>>> or software options.

>> netflow can provide you with more detailed information as you can get with mrtg and i
>> think sooner or later you'll need them.
>>
>> To find out how much traffic one PC is generating, netflow is oversized, of course.
>>
>> Andre

>
> I agree with all of the above, however the OP said 10 machines, not
> 6500s with 200+ ports. For long-term monitoring, a solution of mrtg/
> snmp for wan/internet link usage is great, with netflow to tell you
> what is going on within that bandwidth usage. For short-term
> troubleshooting of bandwidth bottlenecks, including LAN and WAN, a
> rapid snmp poller is the best bet to avoid the problems associated
> with timeframe averaging', but agree that you only use it when you
> need it. Polling hundreds of 6500s with hundreds or ports each would
> not be a good idea by any means. For a small time LAN with no WAN
> links and perhaps an internet connection or two, simple snmp polling
> could give you most of what you need and perhaps netflow on the WAN or
> internet link. If you are really in a bind, simple ip route-cache
> flow with show ip cache-flow can show you the heavy hitters and their
> source/destination information.


I agree with you. We are meaning widely the same. I only want hhs to think about it.
 
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Trendkill
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      05-27-2008
On May 27, 12:51 pm, Andre Wisniewski <andre.wisniew...@gmx.de> wrote:
> Trendkill wrote:
> > On May 27, 10:55 am, Andre Wisniewski <andre.wisniew...@gmx.de> wrote:
> >> Trendkill wrote:
> >>> On May 27, 7:07 am, Andre Wisniewski <andre.wisniew...@gmx.de> wrote:
> >>>> hhs wrote:
> >>>>> Hi
> >>>>> Is there any of Cisco feature that let me measure the amount of
> >>>>> network usage per user or per ip address.
> >>>>> For example: I have 10 computer on my LAN, what can i do if i want to
> >>>>> know, let say pc01 use how many Mb per period of time? Is it possible
> >>>>> to do it?
> >>>>> Thanks,
> >>>>> hhs
> >>>> Hi
> >>>> netflow is adequate to this task. Let's have a look athttp://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/iosswrel/ps6537/ps6555/ps6...
> >>>> With ip accounting it's much to difficult to investigate. You had to sum up all lines
> >>>> for an specific ip and you can't see which traffic flows because no ports are shown
> >>>> in accounting. Another problem is that you can't find out when traffic was generated
> >>>> unless you do a clear ip accounting, let's say, every minute.
> >>>> Andre
> >>> Netflow is not bad, but it is usually hard to have a chart/graph of
> >>> traffic over time for a single IP. If you just want to manage the
> >>> heavy hitters and see how a particular link or path is being utilized
> >>> throughout the day (like most of us do),
> >> everytime i wanted to know which users is utilizating my links i also wanted to know
> >> with what services.

>
> >>> the netflow is second to
> >>> none, but if you just want an idea of who is doing what, netflow
> >>> probably isn't the best tool for that. I also definitely agree with
> >>> your comments about scalability of accounting and the lack of ability
> >>> to easily refine the reports.
> >> ... and you'll come to the point where you need to.

>
> >>> If you had a tool like Solarwinds (not
> >>> cheap, but should be other free options out there), it will use SNMP
> >>> strings to poll a device. Basically you would need to setup snmp on
> >>> the switch and/or router, but you must remember that measurement of
> >>> bandwidth would be done at layer 2 in this solution, not layer 3, By
> >>> setting up a SNMP string, you can then use a tool like solarwinds to
> >>> 'poll' the router by using an interface IP and the correct read or
> >>> write string. When you connect to the router/switch, Solarwinds asks
> >>> you which interfaces you would like to poll or watch, and then what
> >>> kind of graph to create (1 min avg, 5 min avg, etc). This would allow
> >>> you to graph each switchport on the switch (you would need to resolve
> >> i do not like the idea to poll switchports especially on switches with many clients
> >> connected to - as i use (up to 200 ports per switch). In most cases traffic is
> >> increased to bad levels on wan links so i need to know what's going on in there.
> >> The router's port is the common point.

>
> >>> what IPs/systems are on what ports the manual way with show arp |
> >>> include and show cam or show mac-address-table.
> >>> MRTG is free and runs on linux and works in very much the same way.
> >>> You just need to remember that no matter what, these are averages and
> >>> not actual down to the second traffic levels (unless you use the
> >>> bandwidth meter portion). Polling a router every second can cause
> >>> performance degradation, so using a 1 or 5 minute average usually gets
> >> for our company 1 minute averages aren't dispersed enough, btw. we are serving
> >> exchange application. For most users these are good values, though.

>
> >>> a ballpark of what you are looking for.
> >>> You can google any of these solutions for configuration examples and/
> >>> or software options.
> >> netflow can provide you with more detailed information as you can get with mrtg and i
> >> think sooner or later you'll need them.

>
> >> To find out how much traffic one PC is generating, netflow is oversized, of course.

>
> >> Andre

>
> > I agree with all of the above, however the OP said 10 machines, not
> > 6500s with 200+ ports. For long-term monitoring, a solution of mrtg/
> > snmp for wan/internet link usage is great, with netflow to tell you
> > what is going on within that bandwidth usage. For short-term
> > troubleshooting of bandwidth bottlenecks, including LAN and WAN, a
> > rapid snmp poller is the best bet to avoid the problems associated
> > with timeframe averaging', but agree that you only use it when you
> > need it. Polling hundreds of 6500s with hundreds or ports each would
> > not be a good idea by any means. For a small time LAN with no WAN
> > links and perhaps an internet connection or two, simple snmp polling
> > could give you most of what you need and perhaps netflow on the WAN or
> > internet link. If you are really in a bind, simple ip route-cache
> > flow with show ip cache-flow can show you the heavy hitters and their
> > source/destination information.

>
> I agree with you. We are meaning widely the same. I only want hhs to think about it.


Yeah I could tell we agreed, just didn't want to confuse the OP. Lots
of valid information in here when he/she is ready for the next step
either way, so thanks for the added comments.
 
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hhs
Guest
Posts: n/a
 
      05-28-2008
Thanks for your idea guys,

I guess Netflow is a good tools but it's not free and Cisco doesn't
provide a trial version also. And MRTG is free but i think it's only
show us a graph, can not tell us which user use the most, also can not
calculate the Mb use also.

The situation that i face is, our ISP provide the internet and measure
the usage with amount of Mb use (like 100Mb = $...). And we think we
did not use up to a ...MB amount, that's why we want to track that.

Thanks,
hhs

 
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