Bandwidth Gauges tool

The Bandwidth Gauges tool in ETS for the Desktop provides real-time traffic monitoring. It monitors the use and amount of data received or transmitted by any remote network device using SNMP to communicate and gather traffic statistics.

Gauges display transmitted and received traffic in bits per second, or transmitted and received percent utilization for each interface or port.

Open the Bandwidth Gauges tool

• To launch the tool from the Toolset Launch Pad, locate the Bandwidth Gauges tool and click Launch.

• You can add the tool to a tab in the Workspace Studio, and access it from there.

• To launch the tool from the Windows Start menu:

  1. Click Start > All > SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset.

  2. Right-click Bandwidth Gauges, click More, and click Run as administrator.

Create a gauge

Bandwidth Gauges are simple to set up. As long as you have enabled SNMP communication on your devices, and your devices support MIB-II, you can monitor bandwidth usage with the Bandwidth Gauges tool. The number of gauges is governed by the memory of the ETS for the Desktop computer. Real-time usage data is based on the number of octets transmitted or received through an interface over the last few seconds. Bandwidth gauge polls the remote interface about every 15 seconds by default and calculates average bits per second since the most recent poll. You can select any interface or sub-interface of a frame relay to monitor.

1. Click Gauges > New Gauge.

2. Specify the device IP address or host name.

3. Select to use a community string or SNMPv3 credentials.

   To test the credentials, click Test.

4. Click Next.

   Specify if you want to store the credentials in the shared credentials database when prompted.

5. Select discovered interfaces or ports, and then click Next.

6. Check that Adjust automatically-discovered speed is correct, or specify your own speed.

   Different speeds can be specified for transmitting and receiving. The tool uses the port speeds to calculate percent utilization of the interface and define the upper scale of the gauge.

7. Select 64-bit or 32-bit traffic counters.

8. Click Finish.

   The gauge measures a baseline, and then immediately starts monitoring usage.

Launch the shared credentials database

The shared credentials database quickly loads credentials between different tools in ETS for the Desktop.

1. Click Edit > Shared Credentials Database.

2. Click Add, and then enter the required information:

   1. Enter the community string.

   2. To add SNMPv3 credentials, click SNMP Version 3, and then specify the following information:

   Credential set	The name that represents the credentials you specify on the Add Credentials window. This name is displayed in the SNMP Version 3 list in Toolset tools that support the shared credentials database.
   Context	A named designation, similar to a group or domain name, to which the user name belongs. Context is mandatory if it has been defined for the object being managed.
   User name	The name of the user with access to the device.
   Authentication type	The authentication type you want to use when logging on to the device, for example, MD5.
   Authentication password or key	The password or key that corresponds to the selected authentication enter.
   Encryption type	The encryption used when communicating with the device, for example, AES (128 or 256 bit) encryption.
   Encryption password or key	The password or key that corresponds to the selected encryption enter.

3. Click a set of credentials, and then click Modify to change the stored information.

4. Click the credentials, and then click Devices to specify the host name or IP address of a device to associate with the selected credentials.

Save and load a set of gauges

When you have a set of gauges defined, you can save their configuration as a file that can be loaded at any time.

Save a set of gauges

1. Click File > Save Gauges.

2. Name the configuration file, and then click Save.

Reload a set of gauges

1. Click File > Load Gauges.

2. Browse to the configuration file, and then click Open.

Modify gauge settings and the publishing of gauges

1. Click File > Settings.

2. On the Layout tab, specify the following:

   When adding new Gauges, limit the number of columns to	Specify the maximum number of gauges to be displayed in each row. When a new gauge is added, a new row is created if the current row is already displaying the maximum number of gauges.
   Reposition Gauges	Use the up and down arrows to arrange the display order of the gauges.

3. On the Transparency tab, specify the following:

   Switch to transparent mode after a few seconds	When this option is enabled, moving the mouse cursor away from the Bandwidth Gauges window activates the transparent mode. When the gauges are transparent, mouse clicks are passed to the workspace (applications running behind the gauges) instead of to the gauges. To exit transparent mode, place the mouse cursor over the Bandwidth Gauges title bar.
   Transparent slider	Adjust the slider to change the transparency opacity. To make the gauges more prominent, increase the percentage, decrease it to make the gauges more transparent.
   Keep Bandwidth Gauges on top of other windows	Check this option to show Bandwidth Gauges on top of all windows even when working in another application. When Switch to transparent mode after a few seconds is enabled, the Bandwidth Gauges will always be on top of other windows.

4. On the Gauge Styles tab, choose a style. Changing the style in the Bandwidth Gauges Settings dialog changes the default style.

   Click Apply to All to change the current gauges to the selected style.

   Double-click a gauge to modify the settings for a single set of gauges.

5. On the Data Table tab, select Show a data table below Gauges to set the default data table for all gauges. When a new gauge is added, it contains a data table with the Selected Statistics shown here.

   Click Apply to All to add a data table to the gauges currently displayed

   Double-click a gauge to modify the settings for a single set of gauges.

6. On the Network tab, specify the following:

   Update Gauges every XX seconds	Adjust the polling frequency. Some devices, including Windows servers, only update the traffic statistics in their SNMP Agent every 15 or 20 seconds. If the device is polled more frequently than the remote SNMP Agent is updated, the gauges may show 0 bps, and then show the correct values a few seconds later. If you notice the gauges changing from 0 bps to a higher value, you may need to increase the poll interval. Double-click a gauge to adjust its poll interval.
   SNMP Timeout	Adjust the number of milliseconds before the request times out.
   SNMP Retries	Adjust the number of times a failed request is retried.

7. On the Auto-Publish tab, select Auto-Publish these Gauges to a Web to create an HTML file every few seconds. When this option is selected, specify:

   Publish to the following file	Specify the name of the file.
   Publish every XX seconds	Adjust the slider to change how often the HTML file is updated.

8. Click OK or Apply to All to apply changes.