X Mcast
Introduction Copied
The Geneos X Mcast plugin monitors multicast traffic and displays statistics such as the data rate and packet rate, for a list of user-defined multicast groups.
This plugin differs from the X Multicast plugin in that it can monitor for multicast data without necessarily subscribe for it, and also does not need to read and discard data so is slightly more efficient.
The Netprobe host must be able to “listen” for the required multicast traffic (i.e. it should be on the same network segment as a host already subscribing to the required multicast data).
Views Copied
View Copied
The X Mcast plugin produces a single view, with one row per configured multicast session.
Headline Legend
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| totalDataRecvRate | Data receive rate for all monitored sessions. |
| totalPktRecvRate | Packet receive rate for all monitored sessions. |
Table Legend
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| name | The session name, as configured by the user. |
| port | The session port, as configured by the user. |
| dataRecvRate | Data received in Kb/s, averaged over the sample interval. |
| pktRecvRate | Packets received per second, averaged over the sample interval. |
| tmSinceLastPkt | Number of seconds since the last packet was received. |
| srcHost | The IP address of the host which sent the last packet. |
Plugin Configuration Copied
The X Mcast plugin listens to all multicast data received by a host, matching the destination host and ports with those configured by the user.
Plugin configuration is placed in the x-mcast configuration section.
var-recvInterfaces Copied
Specifies a comma-separated list of network interface names on which to monitor multicast data.
On UNIX machines, interface names can be found using the command “ifconfig -a”. Example names are “eth0” or “ce0”.
On Windows machines, interface names can be listed by running Netprobe using the “-ifconfig” command-line option. A Windows interface name will look similar to the following:
\Device\NPF_{BDFE3EAC-0275-440A-923C-C9C4CE3B37F2}
Mandatory: Yes
sessions Copied
Specifies the list of (at least one) multicast sessions that this plugin will monitor.
Mandatory: Yes
sessions > session > var-name Copied
The name of the multicast session - this is the name which will be displayed in the view (as the row name). Session names should be unique within each plugin instance.
Mandatory: Yes
sessions > session > connection Copied
Specifies the multicast address and port for the session - multicast packets received for this connection will be added to the monitoring statistics for this session.
Mandatory: Yes
Permissions Copied
The plugin needs to open network devices, so you should run the Netprobe using root or administrator permission on Unix and Windows, respectively.
On Linux kernel versions 2.6.24 and higher, an alternative to running the Netprobe as root is by setting the CAP_NET_RAW and CAP_NET_ADMIN Linux capabilities on the Netprobe binary using the following command:
setcap cap_net_raw,cap_net_admin+eip <netprobe binary>
When running the Netprobe with set capabilities, the lib64/startup folder in the Netprobe directory should be in the ld.so trusted paths. Otherwise, the runtime libraries will not load properly. For guidance, see Run Netprobe under elevated privileges in Linux.
Third Party Libraries Copied
Windows: The Npcap packet capture library needs to be installed on the host. If Npcap is not installed using WinPcap API-compatible mode, then the Npcap installation directory must be added in the PATH environment variable or the DLL_PATH registry variable.
Unix: The shared library libpcap.so needs to be in the netprobe/lib64 directory. It is recommended to use libpcap.so version 1.0.0 or later.
Note: As the Netprobe needs to be run as root, the LD_LIBRARY_PATH is ignored for security reasons.