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The IP groups feature lets you monitor departmental, intranet or application traffic exclusively. You can create IP groups based on IP addresses and/or a combination of port and protocol. You can even choose to monitor traffic from specific interfaces across different routers. It also allows you to group the IP’s based on address, network, or range, for monitoring and report generation purposes. For instance, if you wish to monitor Internet traffic used by a Project X through a LAN interface, you can make use of the IP Groups. After creating an IP group, you can view the top applications, top protocols, top hosts, and top conversations in this IP group alone.
This section helps you in understanding theIP Groups and walk you through the steps required to create and manage them.
To further understand how the IP grouping feature helps in understanding the exclusive bandwidth usage, consider the following two scenarios:
Consider a typical enterprise setup, where the main servers and databases are located at a central office and all branch offices are given appropriate access privileges to these servers.
Problem: You need to track bandwidth used by each branch office, while accessing an ERP/CRM application.
Solution: Create an IP group for each branch office, along with the port and protocol of the ERP/CRM application running in the central office.
The traffic reports for each IP group will then show details on bandwidth used by the branch office, while working with the ERP/CRM application. This information is very useful during traffic accounting and usage-based billing.
End Note: If the IP addresses in the branch offices are NATed (network address translated) by the web server, you can view overall bandwidth usage for the branch office, but not that of individual hosts within the IP group.
Consider a typical campus network with several departments. Here, IP addresses are usually not NATed by the web server.
Problem: You need to analyze bandwidth used by each department
Solution: Create
an IP group for each department (IP address or address ranges),
without specifying any port/protocol values.
The traffic reports for each IP group will then show bandwidth usage by
that department, along with the information on top talkers, and top
conversations within that department.
Once an IP group is created, is shows the traffic based on volume, speed, utilization and packets and also the hosts and applications involved with the traffic for that particular department, for which the IP group is created. The IP Group can now be associated with a Bill plan. The bill plans in the Traffic module can be created based on volume or speed and along with this, you can specify the base cost and additional charges for additional usage.
| Combination | IP Address | Port/Protocol | Interfaces |
| IP Address | View bandwidth details for a range of IP addresses. | View Web (80/TCP, 80/UDP) traffic details for a range of IP addresses. | View bandwidth details across multiple interfaces, for a range of IP addresses. |
| Port/Protocol | View Web (80/TCP, 80/UDP) traffic details for a range of IP addresses. | View Web (80/TCP, 80/UDP) traffic generated across the network | View Web (80/TCP, 80/UDP) traffic generated across multiple interfaces. |
| Interfaces | View bandwidth details across multiple interfaces, for a range of IP addresses. | View Web (80/TCP, 80/UDP) traffic generated across multiple interfaces. | Not Possible |
The IP Group Management link ['Admin--> Traffic'] lets you create, modify, and delete the IP groups. It also lists the set of IP groups that are currently active.
Navigate to either ‘Admin -> Traffic -> IP Group Management'.
Field Description IP Group Name Enter a unique name to identify this IP group IP Group Description Enter descriptive information for this IP group to help other operators understand why it was created. IP Group Based on Select whether you want to define this IP group based on IP address or port-protocol combination. If you want to define the IP group based on both IP address and port-protocol, select both options. Specify IP/IP Range/Network Select whether you want to define this IP group based on IP address or port-protocol combination. If you want to define the IP group based on both IP address and port-protocol, select both options. Filter based on Port/Protocol (This option is shown if you have selected the Port/Protocol option in step 3) Enter the port numbers or port range in the Port Number field. Select the protocol in the Protocol field. Use the Add Row and Remove Row buttons to specify additional port-protocol options. *See Note below. Select Interfaces If you need to filter this IP group further, based on different interfaces, click this link and select the different devices and interfaces whose traffic needs to be included in this IP group. IP Group Speed Enter the interface speed (in bits per second) for calculating percentage of traffic for this IP group.
Note: If you add a new combination of ports and protocol, a popup opens stating, "this combination of ports and protocol has not been mapped to any application". Add the combination as a new application in the same popup, and click Update to update the Application Mapping list with the new application.
Navigate to either ‘Admin -> Traffic -> IP Group Management'.
Select the IP group that you want to modify.
Click the Modify button and edit its settings, as required.
Once you are done, click the Save buttonto save and activate the new changes.
Navigate to either ‘Admin -> Traffic -> IP Group Management'.
Select the IP group that you want to delete.
| Note: Deleting an IP group removes the IP group from the list of IP groups managed. The users who are all assigned to this IP group will no longer be able to see this IP group listed on their Dashboard. |
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