Network Monitoring forms a core part of the project activity. In order to provide a service specification for the implementation of a National Videoconferencing service, it is vital that the effect on the network of multiple videoconferences of varying sizes and  characteristics can be modelled. This involves widespread monitoring of the network activity during conferences and at other times, and this takes place in a number of ways:-

1 - UK Mbone monitoring - using real time monitoring tools such as mtrace, mrinfo, mstat and RTPQual to produce statistics on network performance and to indicate congestion points on the network. Also using MRTG to generate graphs of longterm network performance and indicate overall network usage at core router points. 

2 - LAN monitoring - also using MRTG to indicate local network traffic levels and local router performance.
 

3 - Jitter, Latency and Bandwidth monitoring - Using tools created or modified by Geoff Fayers at Imperial College, some experiments are underway to measure the jitter, latency and bandwidth between project sites under different conference situations and at different times of the day. The ultimate aim of the tests is to attempt to proedict the sort of network conditions which might be expected for participants at specific sites or under different conferencing scenarios at certain times of the day.

Results
 

Results of the MRTG monitoring of core areas of the network are available from here.

Mtraces/other miscellaneous data collected so far.

Results of the Jitter, Latency and Bandwidth experiments