# Traffic Load

### Overview

<figure><picture><source srcset="/files/yv8dlB0ezxqsYQCChVJw" media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)"><img src="/files/jiS4cMznIXIn1xx7oltW" alt="Traffic Load Chart"></picture><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Options

**Percent / Actual** toggle

**Percent:** Selected by default, show data received or sent as a percentage of the bandwidth, percentage is capped at 300%\
**Actual:** Show volume of data received or sent

[**Standard / MinMax** toggle](/details/details-page-options/standard-minmax-toggle.md)&#x20;

**Dormant watches** are not expected to pass traffic so a small amount in or out (more than 1000 Kbps by default) changes the side bar colour. Find out more about [alerting thresholds](https://support.highlight.net/help/admin/alerting_thresholds).

#### Saved settings

The settings below will be remembered when you next log in.

* Whether the panel is collapsed or expanded
* The status of any toggles

### Colour coding

When viewed for today only, each section on the Details page gives an indication if it is currently alerting and thus impacting the associated heat tile colour. Find out more about [colour coding](/details/details-page-options/colour-coding.md).&#x20;

### Traffic Load description

Download the traffic information to a CSV file, see the [Download option](#download-option) section

**Vertical axis:**  Changes from "%" when **Percentage** selected and "bps" when **Actual** selected - hover on the chart to see exact values. Note: scaling may adjust units depending on the volume

**80% default threshold:**  On the percentage chart only, the threshold is shown as a horizontal purple line on the chart with the actual threshold value on the far right.\
The default threshold is 80% and [Admin users can set a custom threshold](https://support.highlight.net/help/admin/alerting_thresholds#bearers). If configured, a load alert can be sent when the traffic load approaches the threshold.\
If the adjusted vertical axis means the threshold line is not visible then a purple arrow is shown indicating the threshold is above the visible chart area.

**Horizontal axis:**  Adjusts according to the selected time period to show "hours" in day view and "days" in week and month views; redraws if the time zone is changed at the top right of the Details page.  See [Zoom options](/details/details-page-options/zoom-options.md) for methods to zoom in on the data.&#x20;

<table><thead><tr><th width="134.5999755859375">Colour</th><th width="129.20001220703125">Percentages</th><th>Meaning</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Black Red</td><td>300%</td><td>Percentages are capped at 300%</td></tr><tr><td>Maroon</td><td>200%</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Red</td><td>101%</td><td>Greater than the bandwidth of the line</td></tr><tr><td>Pink</td><td>100%</td><td>The configured or discovered bandwidth of the line</td></tr><tr><td>Orange</td><td>80%</td><td>By default, Highlight alerts at 80%</td></tr><tr><td>Amber</td><td>60%</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Green Amber</td><td>20%</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Green</td><td>0%</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Highlight displays the load value for each data point in the time period:

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Day</td><td>Shows multiple data points per hour (one for each polling period, usually one to five minutes)</td></tr><tr><td>Week</td><td>Shows 24 data points per day (every hour), in <strong>MinMax</strong> view, Average for each hour is shown along with MinMax values</td></tr><tr><td>Month</td><td>Shows 6 data points per day (every 4 hours), in <strong>MinMax</strong> view, Average for each 4 hour period is shown along with MinMax values</td></tr></tbody></table>

Day view and Week/Month view with "Standard" selected. Hover on a point to see timestamp and Max for In and Out as actual values and percentages. Errors/Discards and CPU are included.

Week/Month view with "MinMax" selected. Hover on a point to see timestamp, then Avg, Min and Max for In and Out as actual values and percentages of the bandwidth. Errors/Discards and CPU are included.

{% hint style="info" %}
**From week/month view**  Clicking any data point jumps to the selected day view. All new chart types are synchronised and so jump to the same day together.
{% endhint %}

### Summary

The summary shows the total values, peak and 95th percentages for in and out during the selected time period

<figure><picture><source srcset="/files/mEkgLGh6t3PxDfIuYv5T" media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)"><img src="/files/xu67QwBPPcYHvKa0rRPG" alt="Traffic Load Summary"></picture><figcaption><p>Summary with percent selected</p></figcaption></figure>

The values shown change based on the selection of Percent or Actual in the side bar.\
**Percent** values are coloured on the same gradient as the chart, from green meaning light load, to orange and red as the value approaches 100% of the bandwidth and deeper reds above 100%.\
**Actual** values are blue to indicate neither good nor bad.

**Total:**  Shows the accumulated volume of traffic for the time period displayed, calculated by adding the volumes from the polled samples. This value is the same with Percent or Actual selected.

**Peak (Percent)**

The bits per second values reported are taken from the individual sample with the highest percentage of the configured/discovered line speed for the time period displayed. It will be seen as the highest point on the chart.\
Percentage can exceed 100% if bursting is permitted on the line or the line speed in Highlight is lower than the configured or discovered bandwidth.

**Peak (Actual)**

The bits per second value reported is from the individual sample with the highest throughput for the time period displayed. It will be seen as the highest point on the chart. The Highlight peak therefore is the sample with the largest volume, divided by the number of seconds between samples (typically 180 or 60).&#x20;

**Note:** This may vary from the peak reported on a network device which would use a different measurement interval.\
The peak bps figure may differ from the peak bps on the Percentage chart if the Highlight bandwidth has changed during the day. See [Troubleshooting traffic load](https://support.highlight.net/help/troubleshoot/traffic_load#symptom_4_percentage_v_actual_bps_charts) for more details.

**95th percentile:**  The highest recorded value during the time period ignoring the top 5%, read more about [the 95th percentile and why it's useful](/reporting/network-reports/output.md#id-95th-percentile-load)

**Last sample:**  Only shown for today, this is the last recorded value (the last good sample) for today with **?** shown if no data was received

### Errors/Discards and CPU utilisation

**Errors** are inbound line errors (such as CRC and frame errors). Line errors are not available for Class of Service watches.\
**Discards** are the outbound issue of packet loss.\
Both are measured as a percentage of overall packets received (Errors) or sent (Discards). Hover on the chart to see timestamp and precise values. Colours on the line are:

<table><thead><tr><th width="96.79998779296875">Colour</th><th width="102.4000244140625">Ignored</th><th width="105.5999755859375">Green</th><th width="106.4000244140625">Green Amber</th><th width="102.39996337890625">Amber</th><th width="100">Orange</th><th>Red</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Errors/Discards</td><td>Up to 0.10%</td><td>0.11 to 0.50%</td><td>0.51 to 1.00%</td><td>1.01 to 2.50%</td><td>2.51 to 5.00%</td><td>Greater than 5.00%</td></tr></tbody></table>

{% hint style="info" %}
**Custom defined** Alerting threshold: Bearers - Congestion & Errors
{% endhint %}

By default, line errors and discards greater than 1.00% will cause the heat tile to change colour and generate an alert if one has been set up. [Admin users can set a custom threshold](https://support.highlight.net/help/admin/alerting_thresholds#bearers).

From the Traffic Load title bar you can download to a CSV file the errors and discards data from each poll, see the [Download option](#download-option) section for more details.

***

**CPU utilisation** is shown as a grey line if unavailable or a thicker green line up to 50%. Hover on the chart to see timestamp and precise values. Above 50% it's shown in coloured blips:

<table><thead><tr><th width="89.60003662109375">Colour</th><th width="82.39996337890625">Grey line</th><th width="104.800048828125">Green line</th><th width="116">Green</th><th>Amber</th><th width="113.5999755859375">Orange</th><th>Red</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>CPU util</td><td>0%</td><td>Up to 50%</td><td>51% to 65%</td><td>66% to 80%</td><td>81% to 95%</td><td>96% to 100%</td></tr></tbody></table>

Highlight does not change the colour of heat tiles nor send alerts for CPU utilisation.\
Note: CPU utilisation may not be available, depending on the equipment manufacturer.

### Download option

From the Traffic Load title bar you can  download to a CSV file the traffic information which created the displayed charts.

The columns in the download are:

<table><thead><tr><th width="100.20001220703125">Column</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Time</td><td>the date and time of each sample (matching the time zone selected on the Details page)</td></tr><tr><td>In</td><td>the total bytes received since the previous sample</td></tr><tr><td>Out</td><td>the total bytes sent since the previous sample</td></tr><tr><td>Util In</td><td>the average speed of traffic calculated from the received bytes value during this time period, expressed as a percentage of the configured/discovered bandwidth In (see example below)</td></tr><tr><td>Util Out</td><td>the average speed of traffic calculated from the sent bytes value during this time period, expressed as a percentage of the configured/discovered bandwidth Out (see example below)</td></tr><tr><td>Error</td><td>the number of errors reported in this time period expressed as a percentage of the number of packets received</td></tr><tr><td>Discards</td><td>the number of discarded packets reported in this time period expressed as a percentage of the number of packets sent</td></tr></tbody></table>

{% hint style="info" %}
For SD-WAN tunnels, disregard the columns Util In, Util Out, Error and Discards as the data is not returned
{% endhint %}

#### Utilisation example

If 491595485 bytes are received over a 3 minute period on a 50M line, the Utilisation is calculated as:\
491595485 \* 8 = 3,932,763,880 bits\
/ 180            = 21,848,688 bits/sec\
/ 1,000,000 = 21.85Mbps\
/ 50M \*100 = 43.7% utilisation

#### Utilisation note

The timespan used for calculations of utilisation can vary by a few seconds from the specific poll interval. This may be caused by a number of factors including:

* SNMP retries
* slow device responses
* resource contention on the poller

This variation is taken into account when Highlight calculates the utilisation which is presented on screen and in the Utilisation columns. This can lead to differences in utilisation calculations if attempts are made to reverse the calculation assuming a specific poll interval.

### Zoom options

There are two methods to zoom in on charts: drag and click. Find out more about [zoom options.](/details/details-page-options/zoom-options.md)

### Background colours

Grey backgrounds indicate non-business hours and purple backgrounds indicate maintenance periods.  Find out more about [background colours](/details/details-page-options/background-colours.md).


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://help.highlight.net/details/details-pages/traffic-load.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.