HP TopTools - Manual (Page 84)

toptools user guide
The five statistical attributes that are sampled by Traffic Monitor are:
Utilization % The traffic on the selected network or segment as a percentage of a segment's bandwidth (based on the
theoretical maximum for the type of connection) currently being utilized. Monitoring utilization gives a
measure of how much of the network capacity is being used on a particular segment. For example, if you
are examining a 10 Mbps or a 100 Mbps segment, utilization can tell you how much of the 10 Mbps or 100
Mbps segment's bandwidth (in percentage such as 20%, 35%, 50%, etc.) is being used by the devices on
the segment.
Frames / sec Represents the number of frames per second being transmitted over the network or segment. Each
protocol (such as Ethernet, IP, IPX, etc.) has a different frame or packet specification.
Broadcasts / sec The number of broadcast packets being transmitted over the network or segment per second. Broadcast
packets are addressed to, and must be processed by, all nodes on the network. This indicator gives an
estimation of the amount of bulk communications taking place over the network. In general, this type of
activity should be kept to a minimum as point-to-point messages use bandwidth much more efficiently.
Multicasts / sec Represents the number of multicast packets being transmitted per second over the network or segment.
Multicast packets are special forms of broadcast packets where copies of the packets are delivered to a
subset of all devices on the network. This indicator gives an estimation of the amount of bulk
communications that are taking place over the network. As with broadcast packets, this type of activity
should be kept to a minimum as unicast messages use bandwidth much more efficiently.
Errors / sec Represents the number of errors that have occurred for the network or segment. The number of errors can
help you determine whether the network is functioning properly.
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