VQ108 RTP-Monitor

Long-term analysis of RTP-Sessions

User’s manual
All rights reserved. No part of this manual or program may be reproduced or processed, duplicated or disseminated
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ten approval. Please note that all terms and brand names used in the manual are generally subject to the trade mark
and patent protection of the respective companies.

Date: 11/2007
Version: 1.0.1.0
Table of Contents

1 General ........................................................................... 4
2 Features .......................................................................... 4
3 Software installation ....................................................... 4
4 System requirements ...................................................... 5
5 Notes .............................................................................. 5
6 Operation ........................................................................ 8
6.1 Selecting the number of RTP sessions and the number of stored
packets per session .................................................................................... 8
6.2 The user interface.............................................................................. 9
6.2.1 Customer data ..................................................................................9
6.2.2 Options .......................................................................................... 10
6.3 Starting the measurement ............................................................... 11
6.4 Data evaluation ............................................................................... 12
6.4.1 Report ........................................................................................... 14
1 General
VQ108 RTP-Monitor is a powerful software tool used for analysing network traf-
fic at an Ethernet network node. The program has been especially optimised for meas-
urements within VoIP systems. The software automatically detects RTP sessions and
collects statistics. Quality parameters such as packet loss and jitter are listed for each
RTP session. Furthermore, quality estimations are permanently made for each session
according to ITU-T G.107 (E-model). The result is output in form of the R-factor and
the MOS (Mean Opinion Score) value. Of each session an adjustable number of last
RTP packets is stored. This allows for analysing the individual packets. In addition,
audio contents of individual sessions can be output via the sound card.

VQ108 RTP-Monitor is particularly suited for long-term measurements. Since

only a limited number of packets can be stored for each RTP session, a large number
of RTP sessions can be considered per measurement.

2 Features
• Evaluation of network traffic at a network node
• Detection of RTP sessions
• Analysis and evaluation already possible during measuring
• Display of core parameters of each RTP session
• Display of quality parameters such as jitter and packet loss of each RTP session
• Quality estimation according to ITU-T G.107 (E-Model), display of R-Factor and
MOS value of each RTP session
• Storage of an adjustable number of RTP packets of each session
• Detailed display of parameters of the last RTP packets of each session
• Output of audio contents of each session over the sound card
• Audio contents of each session can be stored
• Reportingtool
• Alarm signal in case of packet loss and excessive jitter with session allocation
• Freely definable “red alarms” at x alarms within time y
• Output of R-factor and jitter as a function of time
• Output of open RTP sessions at any time of the recording, as well as output of
bit and packet rate as a function of time

3 Software installation
The installation starts automatically when the CD “VQ108 RTP-Monitor” is in-
serted. Otherwise the file “Setup RTPMonitor.exe” needs to be executed manually.
Please follow the instructions of the installation program. After the installation the
program can be started by clicking the link “VQ108 RTP-Monitor” on the desk-
top.

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4 System requirements
System requirements
• Minimum:
o PC with 1 GHz clock rate
o 512 MB RAM
o CD-ROM drive
o Windows XP
o 1 GB free disk space
o Powerful network adapter
o Min. screen resolution 1024x768

• Optimal:
o PC with 2 GHz or faster
o 1024 MB RAM or greater
o CD-ROM drive
o Windows XP
o 5 GB free disk space
o Powerful network adapter
o Min. screen resolution 1024x768

5 Notes
Under normal operation a network adapter filters out all packets not determined for
the computer. Therefore, only the remaining packets need to be processed by the
CPU. This mode, however, is not suited for measuring, since the whole network traffic
at a network node needs to be recorded. The network adapter is therefore switched to
the so-called “Promiscuous Mode”, in which all packets can be forwarded to the soft-
ware.
In heavily loaded networks the processes performed by the VQ108 RTP-Monitor
during the measurement are extremely time- and computation-intensive. Conse-
quently it may be the case that packets are not recorded correctly in spite of the buff-
ering function of the network adapter. This may result in distortion of record statistics
and incorrect detection of transport packets.
This should be considered when measuring. Please make sure that the CPU is not ad-
ditionally loaded by other processes running in parallel and that you use a high-quality
network adapter with maximum memory. Please take into account that only one net-
work node is measured. When measuring at a hub the same data is send to all ports.
The measuring network adapter can therefore be connected to any free port in order
to start measuring.

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 hub

host host host VQ108 RTP-Monitor

Figure 5-1: measuring configuration using a hub

When analysing a network in which the individual hosts are connected via a switch the
procedure is a bit more complex, as the individual ports only receive packets destined
for this particular network path. Each port of a switch can be considered as an inde-
pendent network node. In order to be able to measure at such a node it is required to
interconnect a hub or TAP. In this way the network traffic of this node can be meas-
ured. Another possibility is to measure at the monitor port of the switch, insofar as
the switch is equipped with such a port. High-quality switches often feature such a
monitor port. In most cases it is possible to show the traffic of one selected port on
the monitor port. In individual cases all switch ports can be supervised from the moni-
tor port.

hub/TAP
to network

switch

VQ108 RTP- hub/TAP

Monitor VQ108 RTP-Monitor
host

host VQ108 RTP-Monitor

Figure 5-2: measuring configuration using a switch

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The Software VQ108 RTP-Monitor uses the library WinPCap for recording the
network traffic. This library is subject to the following copyright:

WinPCap

Copyright (c) 1999 - 2004 NetGroup, Politecnico di Torino (Italy).

All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are
permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list
of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this
list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or
other materials provided with the distribution.
3. Neither the name of the Politecnico di Torino nor the names of its contributors
may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software with-
out specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS

"AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIM-
ITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIM-
ITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON
ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

This product includes software developed by the University of California, Lawrence

Berkeley Laboratory and its contributors.

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6 Operation
6.1 Selecting the number of RTP sessions and the number of stored packets
per session

When starting the software the size of the virtual memory provided by the computer
system to the application is initially assessed.
On this basis, the user can select the number of last received RTP packets to be
stored for further evaluation (e.g. audio output, output of packet parameters) from
the dialogue box shown below.

Figure 6-1: start dialogue

When the number of packets to be stored is increased the number of considered RTP
sessions normally decreases. A maximum number of 15,000 sessions can be displayed
per measurement. The maximum number of stored RTP packets is 2,000. The relation
of these two values to each other determines the size of the virtual memory that can
be used by the software.

After the desired relation has been set via the upper slide control (lower slide control
is computed) the user interface starts on clicking the “OK” button.

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6.2 The user interface

The following screenshot shows the empty user interface before the measurement has
been started. The single functions are described in the appropriate chapters.

[1] Controls
for measuring

[2] List of the

recorded RTP
sessions

[3]
Alarm output

[4]
Audio output

[6] RTP- and

E-model dia-
gram

[5] Output of
last RTP
packets
Figure 6-2: user interface

6.2.1 Customer data

Here, customer data can be entered for each measurement. This data is taken into
account when a report is created. Customer data can be imported and exported and
can therefore be used for multiple measurements.

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 Figure 6-3: customer data

6.2.2 Options

Under “Options” the user can define the characteristics a jitter value has to have in
order to trigger an alarm. Furthermore the conditions can be set under which a “red
alarm” is triggered, i.e. the frequency of alarms within a certain time span before a
“red alarm” is triggered.

Figure 6-4: options

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6.3 Starting the measurement

Start

The “Start” button shown above needs to be activated in order to start a new meas-
urement. Subsequently the dialogue shown below appears.

Figure 6-5: adapter dialogue

The network adapter connected to the network node, at which the measurement
should be performed, needs to be selected from the list. If available, the MAC address
and the IP address of each adapter are displayed. Clicking the “OK” button starts the
measurement.

When a measurment is in progress the controls appear as shown below.

Pause Stop

By clicking the “Pause” button the measurement proceeds in the background but the
user interface freezes. Clicking the “Stop” button terminates the measurement.

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While measuring the statistics shown below are kept.

Figure 6-6: record statistics

The record statistics show the network adapter, the maximum number of RTP sessions
and the maximum number of stored packets per session, the start time of the meas-
urement and the current duration of the measurement. Furthermore, the total number
of packets received and lost is displayed in the upper right corner.

6.4 Data evaluation

The following screenshot shows an example of a completed measurement.

Figure 6-7: example of a measurement

• The session table chronologically lists all RTP sessions, occurring during the
measurement. For each session the source IP address and the destination IP
address, the session identifier (SSRC), the payload type (e.g. G.711), the num-
ber of packets and the packet rate, the number of bits and the bit rate, the
time of the first and the last RTP packet and the duration of the session are dis-

VQ108 RTP-Monitor - 12 -
 played. Furthermore the quality paramters of the sessions, i.e. the number of
packet losses, the mean, the maximum and the minimum jitter as well as the
R-factor (E-model) and the calculated MOS value are displayed. These parame-
ters are highlighted in green, as long as values are within the specified scope.
Otherwise the parameters are highlighted in red.

• The alarm table shows all deviations from optimum values, which have occurred
during a measurement. The time of the individual alarm, the respective session
and the type of alarm are displayed. The alarms are highlighted in red, if a pre-
set number of alarms has occured within a specified time span.

• From the session table the user can mark and select a particular session by
clicking on the respective cell. If the selected session is an audio session the
content of the last RTP packet can be decoded and output under “Audio”. The
WAVE file created can be saved or output over the sound card.

• The RTP table lists the last RTP packets of the session selected in the session
table. For each RTP packet the arrival time, the sequence number, the RTP
timestamp, the time difference from the previous packet, the interarrival jitter
as well as the payload is displayed. In case a sequency number is missing in
the chronology the following sequency number is highlighted in red. If a jitter
value exceeds the defined threshold value the respective jitter cell is also high-
lighted in red.

• The RTP diagram graphically shows the number of open RTP sessions at any
point of time of the measurement. Furthermore the packet and bit rate can be
displayed in the diagram as a function of time.

Figure 6-8: RTP diagram

• The E-model diagram graphically shows the chronological sequence of the ses-
sion quality of a selected RTP session (in voice communications). The R-factor
and the respective MOS value are displayed in intervals of five seconds. Addi-
tionally the developing of jitter is graphically displayed.

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 Figure 6-9: R-factor diagram

6.4.1 Report

By clicking the “Report” button a report can be created after the measurement has
been completed.

Figure 6-10: report button

After clicking the button a dialogue appears, prompting the user to enter the location
and the file name of the document. When the document has been saved another dia-
logue appears, asking whether the Reportingtool should open the saved docu-
ment. By clicking the “Yes” button the Reportingtool starts. The saved docu-
ment is then opened and a report can be created.

Figure 6-11: Reportingtool dialogue

By clicking the “No” button the document is saved and can be opened manually and
evaluated at a later date with the Reportingtool.

Changes and errors excepted

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