What is a packet?
What is a unique visitor?
How quickly can I see Real-Time data?
Can RTx analyze Gbps packet data?
What is a Collector?
What is a Datamanager?
What is an MU?
What is a Mirror Port?
What are the installation requirements?
What are the Collector module CPU/memory requirements?
What are the Datamanager CPU/memory requirements?
What are the Datamanager hard disk space requirements?
Can RTx analyze SSL traffic?
RTx uses packet capturing to analyze the HTTP requests and responses that are exchanged between the server and client. This is accomplished by using the mirror port setting of a network switch to mirror data packets to the RTx system as shown below, which aggregates and stores the data for analysis.
IP packets are units of data, usually consisting of information such as source, destination address, packet type, etc. Typically, when a visitor accesses a web page on your site, your server will send the data that comprises the page contents as discrete smaller packets of data which when reconstitued by your browser renders the complete web page.
The term unique visitor can have more than one definition on the Web, however, it is usually a method of measuring and assigning the actions (e.g. pageviews) to the same person on a site(s) over a specific time range.
In RTx, unique users are identified as follows:
To find out more about methods of identifying unique visitors click here.
Data sent from the collector to the datamanager is viewable immediately in RTmetrics real-time reports. RTbandwidth data is updated and viewable every five minutes.
Can RTx analyze Gbps packet data?
RTx can accomodate gigabit networks through the use of MBox, our proprietary load balancing module. If BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) is used to determine optimal gateway routing, it can cause traffic to ingress over one ISP connection and egress over another connection. MBox can reorganize sessions that have been separated by BGP and forward/load balance complete sessions to Collectors. An alternative solution is to use Gigamon's GigaVUE, F5's BIG-IP product in lieu of MBox.
Mbox should be used when the amount of traffic can not be processed by a single collector module. It enables load balancing across more than one collector. For example, if network packet rate is 1Gbps, an MBOX can distribute load to four collector modules, each one capable of handling up to 250Mbps.
To find out more about what is a Collector, click here.
A Collector is the module of RTx that has the ability to collect data for analysis of network packets received from the mirror port on the switch. Data gathered at the collector is sent to the Datamanager module for storage. Collectors can be on the same machine as the Datamanager for an all-in-one configuration if traffic throughput is relatively light. Higher volumes of traffic or distributed networks may require multiple collectors.
The Datamanager is the module of RTx that stores the data sent from the Collector modules.
MU is short for Monitoring Unit. The number of MUs purchased is the basis for RTx licensing. In short, an MU is a logical unit in RTx where data for all elements that make up an MU are aggregated. Elements that can make up an MU include site domain names, IP Addresses, specific directories, specific query parameters, or any combination thereof.
Example 1: You have a 3 MU license and you have created an MU setting for 3 domains separately such that:
Then all MUs in your license are used and no further MU settings can be made unless an existing MU is deleted or license is modified by purchasing additional MUs.
Example 2: You have a 3 MU license and you have created a single MU setting that contains a combination of 3 domains and an IP address such that:
Then you have used 1 MU and have 2 MUs free for creating additional MU settings.
Example 3: You have a 3 MU license and you have created 3 MU settings such that:
Then you have used 2 MUs and have 1 MU free. Note that even though MU1 and MU2 both have domain1.com in them, they are treated as part of separate MU settings.
A special port that is built primarily on the switch. In order to duplicate the data packets passing through all the usual ports without being in direct line of network flow, the collector module is connected to the switch mirror port. The collector processes all the mirrored data and sends it to the Datamanager for storage.
What are the installation requirements?
Item |
Requirements |
|---|---|
| CPU | x86 architecture |
| OS | Red Hat Enterprise Linux |
| Other |
|
What are the Collector module CPU/memory requirements?
The table below lists examples of recommended hardware based on typical traffic levels.
CL = Collector module / DM = Datamanager
Peak Traffic or Total PV |
SSL Traffic |
Recommended CPU |
Recommended Memory Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 100Mbps or 20,000 PV/5 min | No SSL Traffic | 1 x Xeon3.0GHz or greater (HT or DualCore) |
1GB or greater |
| Less than 70Mbps (Session ID cacheable) | 2 x Xeon3.0GHz or greater (HT or DualCore) |
1GB or greater | |
| Less than 15Mbps (Session ID not cacheable) | 2 x Xeon3.0GHz or greater (HT or DualCore) |
1GB or greater | |
| Less than 500Mbps or 100,000 PV/5 min | No SSL Traffic | 1 x Xeon3.4GHz or greater (HT or DualCore) |
1GB or greater |
| Less than 70Mbps (Session ID cacheable) | 2 x Xeon3.4GHz or greater (HT or DualCore) |
1GB or greater | |
| Less than 15Mbps (Session ID not cacheable) | 2 x Xeon3.4GHz or greater (HT or DualCore) |
1GB or greater |
Server must be equipped with sufficient network interface modules. Collectors need an interface for communication purposes in addition to interfaces for data capture.
There must be a minimum of 1GB of disk space on the server for installation of RTx Collector module software.
What are the Datamanager CPU/memory requirements?
The table below lists examples of recommended hardware based on typical traffic levels. Keep in mind that the number of users accessing reports and the frequency of access may also impact CPU and memory requirements. Consult your sales representative for a more precise recommendation.
CL = Collector module / DM = Datamanager
Monthly PV Average |
Recommended CPU |
Recommended Memory Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 50 Million PV | 1 x Xeon3.0GHz or greater (HT or DualCore) |
2GB or greater |
| Less than 100 Million PV | 1 x Xeon3.0GHz or greater (HT or DualCore) |
4GB or greater |
| Less than 1 Billion PV | 2 x Xeon3.2GHz or greater (HT or DualCore) |
24GB or greater |
Server must be equipped with a network interface for communication with Collector and User Interface modules.
There must be a minimum of 1GB of disk space on the server for installation of RTx Datamanager module software.
What are the Datamanager hard disk space requirements?
The table below provides a basis of reference for estimating disk space requirements for the Datamanager. This is a general reference only. Individual requirements may vary based on the the number of items being analyzed, range of analysis and other factors.
It's highly recommended to consult your sales representative to get a more precise recommendation for disk storage space based on your own actual needs.
Item |
Basis of Calculation |
|---|---|
| Datamanager disk space for historical data | 10,000 PV = 2MB Example: 10 million PV per month and three years accumulated data yields (10,000,000 PV × 36 months) × (2MB/10,000PV)= 72GB |
| Total Datamanager disk space | OS and RTx Datamanager software (16GB) + Calculated disk space for historical data. |
You can analyze encrypted data by using the RTx SSL module. The SSL module requires registering the server private key for the site being analyzed in the RTx server.
The SSL scheme must meet the following criteria for proper decoding.
Type |
Method |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Protocol | SSLv3 / TLS1 | SSLv2 is not supported |
| Key Exchange Scheme | RSA | DH is not compatible |
| Encryption | RC4 / 3DES / AES | |
| Hashing Scheme | MD5 / SHA |
Note: SSLv3/RSA/RC4/MD5 combination is given top priority in IE.
Note: Export 40-bit encryption algorithm is not supported.
