Documentation forNetFlow Traffic Analyzer
Analyzing network traffic and bandwidth is a key capability of SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted (formerly Hybrid Cloud Observability) and is available in the Advanced edition. NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) is also available in a standalone module.

Types of services in NTA

NTA recognizes the Differentiated Services model of packet delivery prioritization. All flow-enabled devices can be configured to set a Type of Service byte, referred to as the Differentiated Service Code Point (DSCP), on all NetFlow packets that are sent. The DSCP prioritizes NetFlow packet delivery over the flow-enabled devices on your network by assigning each packet both a Differentiated Service class (1, 2, 3, or 4) and a packet-dropping precedence (low, medium, or high). NetFlow packets of the same class are grouped together.

Differentiated Services use the DSCP to communicate per-hop behaviors (PHBs), including Assured Forwarding (AF) and Expedited Forwarding (EF), to the node services that a given packet encounters. PHBs are configured on individual devices when NetFlow is initially enabled. If a given node is overloaded with NetFlow traffic, node services will keep or drop NetFlow packets in accordance with the configured PHB that matches the DSCP in each NetFlow packet. For more information about Differentiated Services, see the appropriate definition on the Internet Engineering Task Force website.

PHBs, corresponding to Types of Services on flow-enabled devices, can be configured with DSCPs in NTA, as shown in the following procedure.

Access the management page

  1. In the SolarWinds Platform Web Console, click Settings > All Settings.
  2. Under Product Specific Settings, click NTA Settings.
  3. Under Types of Services, click Configure labels for Types of Service.

This page allows you to configure labels for individual types of service. It provides a list of types of service available in NTA together with the appropriate DiffServCode Point values.

Types of service that are not defined in this list are displayed in NTA widgets as Unknown.

Edit the types of services

  1. Click Edit next to a type of service.
  2. Edit the name, and click Update on the same line.
    • Individual DiffServ Code Points cannot share multiple Type of Service Names, and individual Type of Service Names cannot share multiple DiffServ Code Points.
  3. Click Submit.