AA XML volume statistics and accounting

AA is configured to collect and report on the following statistics when at least one AA ISA is active. The default AA statistics interval is 15 minutes.

Statistics to be exported from the node are aggregated into accounting records, which must be enabled to be sent. By default, no records are sent until enabled. Each record template type is enabled individually to control volume of statistics to the wanted level of interest. Only non-zero records are written to the accounting files for all AA subscriber based statistics to reduce the volume of data.

The operator can further select a subset of the fields to be included in per-AA subscriber records and whether to send records if no traffic was present for a specific protocol or application, for example, sending only changed records.

Each record generated contains the record fields as described in Table: AA statistics fields generated per record (accounting file). The header row represents the record type.

Table: AA statistics fields generated per record (accounting file)
Record fields Description Group/partition app group Group/partition application Group/partition protocol AA subscriber custom AA subscriber special study per app AA subscriber special study protocol XML name

Application Group

Name

X

data name

Application

Name

X

X

data name

Protocol

Name

X

X

data name

Aggregation Type ID

ID (can be protocol, application, charging group or application group record)

X

agg-type-name

# Active Subscribers

# of subscribers who had a flow of this category during this interval

X

X

X

nsub

# allowed flows from-sub

# of new flows that were identified and allowed

X

X

X

X

X

X

sfa

# allowed flows to-sub

As above in opposite direction

X

X

X

X

X

X

nfa

# denied flows from-sub

the # of new flows that were identified and denied

X

X

X

X

X

X

sfd

# denied flows to-sub

As above in opposite direction

X

X

X

X

X

X

nfd

# Active flows from-sub

# of flows that were either: closed, opened and closed, opened, or continued during this interval

X

X

X

X

X

X

saf

# active flows to-sub

As above, in opposite direction

X

X

X

X

X

X

naf

Total packets from-sub

X

X

X

X

X

X

spa

Total packets to-sub

X

X

X

X

X

X

npa

Total bytes from-sub

X

X

X

X

X

X

sba

Total bytes to-sub

X

X

X

X

X

X

nba

Total discard packets from-sub

X

X

X

X

X

X

spd

Total short flows

Number of flows with duration <= 30 seconds that completed up to the end of this interval

X

X

X

X

X

X

sdf

Total medium flows

Number of flows with duration <= 180 seconds that completed up to the end of this interval

X

X

X

X

X

X

mdf

Total long flows

Number of flows with duration > 180 seconds that completed up to the end of this interval

X

X

X

X

X

X

ldf

Total discard packets to-sub

X

X

X

X

X

X

npd

Total discard bytes from-sub

X

X

X

X

X

X

sbd

Total discard bytes to-sub

X

X

X

X

X

X

nbd

Total flows completed

# of to- and from-subscriber flows that have been completed up to the reported interval.

X

X

X

X

X

X

tfc

Total flow duration

Duration, in seconds, of all flows that have been completed up to the reported interval.

X

X

X

X

X

X

tfd

From AA Sub:

Maximum throughput byte count

Maximum of all total byte counts recorded for throughput intervals within this accounting interval for traffic originated by AA subscriber for an application/app-group. AA ISA discarded traffic is not included.

X

sbm

From AA Sub:

Packet count corresponding to the max. throughput byte count interval.

Packet count for the throughput interval with the maximum byte count value for traffic originated by AA subscriber for the application/app-group. AA ISA discarded traffic is not included.

X

spm

To AA Sub:

Max throughput time slot index

UTC time that corresponds to the end of the 5-minute throughput interval where the max throughput byte count was detected.

X

smt

From AA Sub:

Forwarding-class

Observed forwarding-class bits.

X

X

X

X

X

X

sfc

To AA Sub:

Forwarding-class

Observed forwarding-class bits.

X

X

X

X

X

X

nfc

To AA Sub:

Maximum throughput byte count

Maximum of all total byte counts recorded for throughput intervals within this accounting interval for traffic originated from Network toward AA subscriber for an application/app-group. AA ISA discarded traffic is not included.

X

nbm

To AA Sub:

Packet count corresponding to the max. Throughput byte count interval.

Packet count for the throughput interval with the maximum byte count value for traffic originated from network toward AA subscriber for an application / app-group. AA ISA discarded traffic is not included.

X

npm

From AA Sub:

Max throughput time slot index

UTC time that corresponds to the end of the 5-minute throughput interval where the max throughput byte count was detected.

X

nmt

From AA Sub: Forwarding-class

Observed forwarding-class bits.

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

From AA Sub:

Maximum throughput byte count

Maximum of all total byte counts recorded for throughput intervals within this accounting interval for all traffic originated by AA subscriber. AA ISA discarded traffic is not included.

X

sbm

From AA Sub:

Packet count corresponding to the max. Throughput byte count interval.

Packet count for the throughput interval with the maximum byte count value for traffic originated by AA subscriber. AA ISA discarded traffic is not included.

X

spm

From AA Sub:

Max throughput time slot index

UTC time that corresponds to the end of the 5-minute throughput interval where the max throughput byte count was detected.

X

smt

To AA Sub:

Maximum throughput byte count

Maximum of all total byte counts recorded for throughput intervals within this accounting interval for traffic originated from network toward AA subscriber. AA ISA discarded traffic is not included.

X

nbm

To AA Sub:

Packet count corresponding to the max. Throughput Byte Count interval.

Packet count for the throughput interval with the maximum byte count value for traffic originated from network toward AA subscriber. AA ISA discarded traffic is not included.

X

npm

To AA Sub:

Max throughput time slot index

UTC time that corresponds to the end of the 5-minute throughput interval where the max throughput byte count was detected.

X

nmt

Forwarding Class

X

fc

App-Profile

AA subscriber application profile name

X

app-profile

App-Service-Options

List of the app-service-options characteristics and values per AA subscriber

X

app-service-option

The records are generated per ISA group and partition, with an ISA group identified by the group ID (XML field name ‟aaGroup”), partition identified by the partition ID (XML field name ‟aaPart name” and per AA subscriber (if applicable) with the AA subscriber identified by the ESM, DSM, or transit subscriber name, SAP ID (XML field name ‟subscriber name”, ‟sap name” or ‟spoke SDP ID” respectively).

The date, time, and system ID for the records are visible as part of the existing accounting log capability, therefore it does not need to be contained inside the AA records themselves.

The Forwarding Class is included in AA XML records as generally a VPN interconnection SLA is a combination of Bandwidth connection at the site level and Forwarding Class to transport the traffic over the MPLS network, by mapping the end-customer DSCP or 802.1P traffic value into a FC.

AA accounting stats of the application/application-group volume usage per forwarding class shows the exact volume of each application at the per FC level and better ties the AA reports to the VPN services and SLA.

This can also identify key applications using a non-optimal FC over a VPN/Site and allow the option for AA to remark these into a higher traffic class, with reporting per FC to show resulting use.

Parent topic: Statistics and accounting