Peer Prospecting

Peer Prospecting Overview


Note


This feature is for Crosswork Traffic Analysis only.

The Peer Prospecting tool shows you on which peer ASNs large amounts of traffic are being transmitted and received. It helps you select a current peer and quickly see other peers to which you could move traffic. For example, if a service provider charges more money for its traffic throughput, you might want to move traffic away from its peers to another peer that is less expensive. Peer Prospecting can help you identify other peers to which you can move your traffic.


Note


You must have an Advanced license to use this feature. Contact sales@crosswork.cisco.com for more information.


Find Recommended Peers

You can view a list of ASNs that you are not currently peered with, but to which you are sending a significant amount of traffic. This can help you understand to which ASNs you should be peered with but are not.


Note


You must have an Advanced license to use this feature. Contact sales@crosswork.cisco.com for more information.


Procedure


Step 1

In the main window, click Traffic Analysis > Tools > Peer Prospecting.

By default, the Non-Peers option is selected which indicates that the table contains all ASNs that are not currently peers.

Step 2

In the Filter By field, select one of the following options:

  • Device Group—Click Device Group, then select a device group from the drop-down list to view the prospective peers contained in that device group only.

  • Device—Click Device, then select a device from the drop-down list to view the prospective peers of that device type only.

Step 3

Select one of the following Traffic Aggregation values to display:

  • Both—Aggregates RX, TX, and total data for all traffic for the specific ASN.

  • Transit—Aggregates RX, TX, and total data when the ASN is not the source or destination of the traffic but rather an intermediary peer somewhere along the path. Looking at transit data can help you determine, for example, if peering with a specific ASN can shorten your traffic path.

  • To/From—Aggregates Rx, Tx, and total data for source and destination ASNs.

Step 4

To view data for a specific time period, select a time from the Timeframe drop-down list.

The table contains a list of ASNs which can be prospective peers. By default, the table is organized by descending total traffic data.

Step 5

Click Ignore to hide an ASN from the list of prospective peers. See Ignore Recommended Peers for more information.

Step 6

Click on the ASN in the Prospect column to view details about that ASN.


Optimize Peers

You can view the ASNs to which you are peered and determine if there are other peers to which you can move traffic in order to optimize your network.


Note


You must have an Advanced license to use this feature. Contact sales@crosswork.cisco.com for more information.


Procedure


Step 1

In the main window, click Traffic Analysis > Tools > Peer Prospecting.

Step 2

Click Optimize Peer, then enter the Peer ASN for which you want to optimize.

Step 3

In the Filter By field, select one of the following options:

  • Device Group—Click Device Group, then select a device group from the drop-down list to view the prospective peers contained in that device group only.

  • Device—Click Device, then select a device from the drop-down list to view the prospective peers of that device type only.

Step 4

Select one of the following Traffic Aggregation values to display:

  • Both—Aggregates RX, TX, and total data for all traffic for the specific ASN.

  • Transit—Aggregates RX, TX, and total data when the ASN is not the source or destination of the traffic but rather an intermediary peer somewhere along the path. Looking at transit data can help you determine, for example, if peering with a specific ASN can shorten your traffic path.

  • To/From—Aggregates RX, TX, and total data for source and destination ASNs.

Step 5

To view data for a specific time period, select a time from the Timeframe drop-down list.

The table contains a list of ASNs which can be prospective peers. By default, the table is organized by descending total traffic data.

Step 6

Click Ignore to hide an ASN from the list of prospective peers.

Step 7

Click on the ASN in the Prospect column to view details about that ASN.


Ignore Recommended Peers

You can ignore any peers that are recommended so they do not show up under the list of Recommendations on the Peer Prospecting page. This is helpful if you know that you cannot or should not peer with an ASN that is listed as a prospective peer.


Note


You must have an Advanced license to use this feature. Contact sales@crosswork.cisco.com for more information.


Procedure


Step 1

In the main window, click Traffic Analysis > Tools > Peer Prospecting.

By default, the Recommendations option is selected which indicates that the table contains all recommended ASNs that are not currently peers.

Step 2

In the table, click IGNORE under the Action column for any ASN you want to ignore.

The ASN is removed from the table.

Step 3

Click Ignored at the top of the page to view the list of prospective ASNs that you selected to ignore.

Step 4

To unignore an ASN, click INCLUDE under the Action column for any ASN that you want to move to the list of recommended prospective ASNs.

The ASN is removed from the Ignored table and appears on the Recommendations table.