Online traffic statistics

liveGate (and "liveGate for Intranets") has a built-in, special-purpose web server that provides online traffic statistics (here's an example). By default, this server is enabled automatically - using port 10008 - and you can view the statistics with a web browser, using the URL:

http://<your-server-name>:10008/

Replace <your-server-name> with the name (or IP address) of the machine on which you're running liveGate (or "liveGate for Intranets").

It is also possible to disable this web server, change its port, or add access control. See the configuration instructions below for details.

Interpreting the statistics

"Multicast I/O"

This section counts multicast data that is sent or received by the server, due to tunneling.

"Incoming" traffic is multicast data that is received by the server (and then relayed over one or more tunnels). "Outgoing" traffic is data that the server sends as multicast (after having been received over a tunnel).

"Tunnel I/O"

This section counts all traffic that is sent or received over tunnels.

"Incoming" traffic is data that arrives over a tunnel (i.e., from a remote client). (This data will then be multicast by the server, and possibly relayed back over other tunnels, if their endpoints have joined the corresponding multicast group/port.) "Outgoing" traffic is data that the server sends out across one or more tunnels. (This data will have previously been received by the server - either as multicast traffic, or across some other tunnel.)

"Network overhead"

This number is the traffic overhead of using tunneling instead of native multicast routing. It is computed as 
 total tunnel I/O (bytes)
---------------------------
total multicast I/O (bytes)
Note that this number will always be greater than 100%, because each multicast packet (sent or received) corresponds to the traversal of this data across at least one tunnel. (The 12 or 16-byte UMTP trailer on each tunneled packet also adds a small amount of overhead.)

There are two possible ways to interpret this number. If the topology of your network is such that all packets to or from the server traverse the same network segment (i.e., your server has a single network connection), then the number represents true overhead. (For example, a figure of 119% means that network traffic is 2.19 times higher than it would be if native multicast routing were used instead.)

If, on the other hand, your server has more than one network interface, with multicast traffic and tunnel traffic using different interfaces (e.g., your server is running on the same node as a router or a firewall), then you should subtract 100% to obtain the true overhead. (For example, a figure of 119% means that network traffic is 1.19 times higher than it would be if native multicast routing were used instead.)

"Per-tunnel I/O"

This section counts the traffic (sent and/or received) over each active tunnel. (A tunnel is considered "active" if at least one packet has traversed it.)

The tunnels are listed in decreasing order of "total bytes". The contribution of each tunnel (as a percentage of all tunnel I/O) is also shown.

"Per-group I/O"

This section - like the "Multicast I/O" section above - counts multicast data that is sent or received by the server, due to tunneling. In this case the statistics are broken down by multicast group and port. (Only those groups/ports that are currently being relayed are listed.)

The groups are listed in decreasing order of "total bytes".

Configuring the statistics web server

By default, the statistics web server is running on port 10008. However, this server can be turned off by adding the following command to your "liveGateInit" file: 
liveGate_disableStatsServer

You can change the server's port, and/or add access control, by adding the following command to your "liveGateInit" file: 

liveGate_configureStatsServer <port> <client>1 ... <client>n
The <client>s are optional. If present, they are the IP source addresses of those client machines that are permitted to access the server. (If no <client>s are specified, then any client machine is permitted to access the server. This is the default behavior.)

Return to the main liveGate page