Network-Wide MPLS VPN Traffic Monitoring and Analysis

VPN Traffic Explorer provides unprecedented visibility, monitoring and analysis of MPLS VPN traffic on a per customer and network-wide basis. By mapping customer traffic flows across their individual VPN topology, VPN Traffic Explorer uniquely delivers traffic visibility throughout the provider’s network - from the PE router where customer traffic enters the network, through the routers and links in the MPLS core that forward that traffic, to the PE router connected to the customer’s destination site.

Traffic on every link in the network can be monitored and analyzed, either in aggregate across all customers or by individual customer. Service providers can view individual customer VPN topologies, visualize the complete end-to-end path between any two sites, and analyze a customer’s site-to-site service by prefix reachability, traffic utilization and CoS breakdown on all links connecting those sites. Engineers can utilize powerful traffic analysis tools to speed troubleshooting, including:

• Rewindable network-wide history: The entire network’s traffic and routing history can be rewound to the most relevant starting point—the time when the problem actually occurred, so that engineers can troubleshoot the problem as if it were occurring in real-time
• Time-range comparison reports: Once the problem occurrence is localized in the network history, engineers can easily compare current traffic statistics with a previous timeframe to identify anomalies
• Flexible, any-to-any drill down traffic reports: Engineers can recursively run drill-down reports on traffic volumes from different perspectives, leading to faster root-cause isolation. Drill down reports display traffic volumes by:
  • Links
  • VPN customers
  • Class of Service
  • P routers
  • Ingress or Egress PE routers
  • Flows

With a complete, detailed view of each customer’s VPN and the network-wide routing and traffic infrastructure supporting all customer VPNs, providers can ensure service delivery, increase customer satisfaction and avoid payouts due to service-level agreement violations.

The VPN Links Traffic report shows aggregate MPLS VPN traffic on all links in the network. Engineers can select a link and drill down to view the link’s traffic broken out by other criteria such as Customer, CoS, or detailed flows.