Getting Started

This document describes the main features a user may wish to know to become acquainted with this package. As guide serves the table which is displayed when this package is used for the first time. More details can be found in the online user documentation. When the URL of this package has been opened in the browser a short period has to be waited until the data are loaded into the browser. When the page has been loaded two frames are displayed:

In the next sections both frames are discussed.

1.  Top frame

This frame contains a.o. the items and controls which are described below. To guide the reader also their GUI representations are displayed here. The top control frame is described with more detail in the user guide.

Applet after the data are loaded
A Java Applet is used to load the Web data into the browser. This makes it possible to offer the user various views of the data. When the loading of the data was successful the Applet shows a green signal as shown here. Note that before the data are loaded the signal is red and during the loading it is blinking yellow.
  Static
  Repeat
These radio buttons are intended in what way the net performance data are obtained and displayed. The following modes can be selected:
Static
Load the net performance data once after a user action or at startup. This is the default mode.
Repeat
Load and display the net performance data periodically. This mode is useful for demonstrations.
This button can be used to load the table where an overview of all net performance data is given at the time displayed in the time field. This is the table shown at the first opening of the package.
A press at this button loads the table where the throughput results are displayed. This table shows the results of the measurements one of the hosts as function of the time. From the table header another host can be selected to view the results from. See also the description of the throughput table in the body frame.
This button can be used to select the load values from all hosts as a function of the time. The "load" entity is a typical Unix quantity to measure system load. It can be expressed as the # fully active processes at a host. See also the description in the body frame.
With this button the table can be selected which displays the round trip test results one of the hosts as a function of the time. See also the description of the ping table in the body frame.
After pressing this button the currently displayed table is also shown with a 2D data plot in a new window. When the Overview table is shown, the previously shown table is plotted. The features of the plot window are described in the user guide.
This selector can be used to select the table scroll size which is used by the scroll controls. The table can be scrolled by a line, half its size, or the full size.
These buttons can be used to scroll the table, using the size defined in the scroll selector. Please note that the most right text input field is read only: it is only used to show most recent time which is displayed in the current table (top data row for the ping and throughput tables). There are the following control buttons:
|<<
Reload the net performance data and redisplay the, in this way just obtained, most recent data.
<<
Scroll the table with the selected scroll size to the more recent data.
>>
Scroll the table with the selected scroll size to the older data.
Use this selector to set a time step and / or date step which is used to display the table results.

2.  Body frame

In this frame the net performance results are presented in table form to the user. The following tables are available:

2.1. Overview table
This table displays the last measured net performance results.
2.2. Throughput table
This table displays the throughput data a host as function of the time.
2.3. Ping table
This table displays the round trip data a host as function of the time.
2.4 Load table
This table displays the load data from all hosts as function of the time.

The most important features from these tables are discussed in the next sub sections.

2.1.  Overview table

This table gives an overview of the last measured results from the This table is always displayed when the Web files of this package are opened for the first time. Some features of this table are discussed below, in the order from top to bottom. A more detailed description is given in the user guide.

Hyperlinks

At the top of the table there are a.o. the following hyperlinks available:

Authorise here
After clicking this link an alert window will be displayed in which you are requested to allow the storage of the current table settings into your cookies file. When the storage of cookies is allowed, the last selected table type will be displayed after a reopening of the package Web pages.
Please note that the cookies information is only used locally at the browser for the ease of the user: no stored information will be send back to the Web server.
The cookies are stored for the maximum period of a month. As long as there are cookies from this package found in your cookies file, the authorisation link will not be displayed anymore.
observations
A link to a document where some observations about the package are given, including some remarks about the network load.

Ping type

Below the hyperlinks the ping type can be selected with the sentence "Select ping value: ...". The meaning of the hyperlinks is straightforward with the remark that the "all" type stands for listings of the ping data in the format: min/avg/max.

After the ping type links the overview tables with the last measured tables are displayed. The caption of these tables contains the date and time of the measurements. They contain a.o. the following features:

Download

At the bottom of this table there are the following hyperlinks which can be used to view the displayed data offline at the local host:

2.2.  Throughput table

This table gives an overview of the throughput measurements the host listed in the table caption. The throughput values are listed as function of the time and date. The most recent data are displayed at the top of the table.

The controls in the top frame can be used to handle this table, or to select another table. Some features of the throughput table are discussed below, in the order from the top to the bottom. A more detailed description is given in the user guide.

2.3.  Ping table

This table gives and overview of the round trip measurements the host listed in the table caption as function of the date and time. The functionality is about the same as from the throughput table. A detailed description has been given in the user guide.

The only exception with the throughput table is that the ping type can be selected with a link at the top of the table. The following types are available:

min
Display the minimum ping values.
avg
Display the average ping values.
max
Display the maximum ping values.
all
Display all ping values in the format: min/avg/max.
lost
Display the percentages packages lost.

Load table

This table gives for all hosts the load values as function from the date and time. A detailed description has been given in the user guide. See also the throughput table description in this document.

The only remaining hyperlinks in the load table are the hyperlinks in the "Time" column which are here also referring to the overview table, where all results are presented for the corresponding date and time.