Percentage of Packet Loss using net_connect probe

Products

• DX Unified Infrastructure Management (Nimsoft / UIM)

Issue/Introduction

Is possible to monitor packet loss as a percentage with the net_connect probe?

Environment

Component : UIM NET CONNECT

Resolution

Please reference the net_connect probe documentation for Configuring a Host Profile found here:
https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/ca-enterprise-software/it-operations-management/ca-unified-infrastructure-management-probes/GA/alphabetical-probe-articles/net-connect-network-connectivity-monitoring/net-connect-im-configuration.html#concept.dita_9fd0ca9009d9dc8932317db671a34908f5309971_ConfigureHostProfiles

Note specifically steps 4, 5, and 10.  You'll need to ensure that Enable Packet Loss Monitoring is checked (step 4).  Step 5 describes the number of packets, the delay between packets, and a note to be sure that the check interval is long enough to send all packets with the delay.  Lastly, step 10 describes the alarm threshold condition. 

Please note that the probe does not calculate the percentage of packets lost; it only counts the number of lost packets.  So if you lose 1 or more packets out of 20, that would be >=5% packet loss.  The decision you need to make then is what delay you should use which will determine how large of an interval you can use.

The check interval needs to be long enough so that all packets can be sent and responses can be received.  So if the delay between packets is 5000 ms and 20 packets are sent, the test will take 100000ms to complete.  This value should not exceed the check interval or the remaining packets will not be sent.  Therefore, the following could be used.

Check Interval:5min
Packets to Send:20
Delay between Packets (in ms):5000
Max lost packets:1

Please note that if only Packet Loss QoS (Jitter and Latency are not enabled), the probe will use the Timeout(sec) values in the connectivity tab instead of the 'Delay between Packets' field.  This is described in step 5 of the documentation.