When you create a chart, either by double-clicking a chart starter or selecting a measurement in the Results table, by default you see only a chart of the entire series of calls that ran during the VoIP Quality assessment. That chart is displayed on the Series Summary tab, as shown below:
To see a chart of a selected set of calls, select a time from the Call Time list at the top of the Analysis Console window. Or double-click a data point on the chart to open the Graph Data Details dialog box. Then click the View Call Details button. A red, vertical Call Time indicator appears on the original chart of the call series.
In addition, the Call Details tab is displayed. Click the Call Details tab to see detailed information about the calls that ran on the network at the time you selected.
NOTE:
Call details are available only if you collected timing records during the assessment. With new assessments, timing records are collected by default. For more information, see Section 7.8.4, Setting Assessment Run Options.
Assessments with large numbers of simulated calls will take longer to process, and Analysis Console may slow down. Charting of metrics may take two or more minutes, depending on the amount of data being processed.
Right-click the chart and select Show aggregation to display the following fields beneath the chart (and above the legend):
Aggregate—Allows you to combine data points into larger time segments. For example, if you select 12 hours, the chart shows one data point for each 12-hour period of the assessment. The value shown is the averaged—aggregated—values that went into that 12-hour bucket.
Fit data to window—When checked, all the data is made to fit in one chart window. When cleared, some data points are shown within the first window, while others require scrolling to be seen. When cleared, the number of data points shown at once is controlled by the Point Density chart property. Change the point density by right-clicking the chart and choosing Properties. Move the Point Density slider to the left to show fewer points per window, to the right to show more.
For more information about working with charts, see the following topics.
By default, a legend is displayed beneath a chart in Analysis Console.
The following table describes the legend components and indicates how, or whether, they can be customized:
|
Component |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Last Value |
The last value recorded in the assessment database for this metric. |
|
Scale |
A scaling factor. When applied to a data stream, this factor multiplies all the values (for example, by 10, 100, .1, etc.) to bring them into the same range as a selected measurement (Lost Data %, for example). Change the scaling factor by right-clicking the chart and selecting Data Streams on the Properties menu. Then enter a value in the Scale field. |
|
Interval |
The approximate number of seconds or minutes between data points in the data stream. Due to variations in the length of timing records, this is an approximation of the interval between most of the data points. |
|
Points |
The number of data points charted for this metric. |
If you do not want to see the chart legend, right-click the chart and select Show legend. This option is a toggle. Repeat the step to reveal the legend.
The building blocks of an assessment database are called data points. Data points represent single units of numeric data—the individual measurement—collected during a VoIP Quality assessment.
A series of these data points, collected while a VoIP Quality assessment runs and summarized in the Analysis Console Results pane, is called a data stream. Data streams represent averaged results, usually from multiple simulated VoIP calls. Once they are selected for charting, they are plotted over time.
NOTE:For a couple of measurements—maximum jitter and maximum consecutive datagrams lost—the results are not averaged. Instead, the maximum value is used.
To place a data stream in a chart, select a table cell that contains data. Right-click and select Add Selected Measurement to Chart. Although there is no true limit to the number of data streams that can be added to a single chart, the practical limit is about 20 because above that number, the colors representing individual data streams become more or less indistinguishable.
The actual measurement that a single data point represents was collected by the endpoints and sent over the network to the Vivinet Assessor Console, which stored it in the assessment database. Endpoints collect and send data using timing records. A single timing record does not necessarily become a single data point in Analysis Console, however. Assessment results may be collected either from a single set of simulated calls (a quick quality check) or from a series of simulated calls sent over the course of a scheduled assessment. And the endpoints send data in two directions, so their timing records are averaged.
Data points may represent a set of timing records whose results have been averaged. Or you can also choose to collect more granular data. On the Run Options tab, select Collect call details (timing records) when running a series of calls. By default, this selection is enabled for all new assessments.
The Run Options tab also gives you the option to control the size of timing records. Changing the default setting is recommended only for advanced users. By default, a new timing record is generated every five seconds. For more information, see Section 7.8.4, Setting Assessment Run Options.
If you double-click a selected data stream in a chart, the Graph Data Details dialog box is displayed. When accessed from the Series Summary tab, the Graph Data Details dialog box includes a button labeled View Call Details. Click the button to switch to the Call Details tab and see detailed data about a selected call instead of viewing averaged results for the series.
For more information, see Section 9.2, Understanding the Results Table.
Change the appearance of a chart or add information such as screentips to a chart by changing the Chart Properties. The options on the General, Colors, and Data Streams tabs of the Chart Properties dialog box let you change chart attributes such as frame rate, graphical style and color scheme, threshold values and colors, and dates and times for which data is displayed.
To change the properties of a chart:
Right-click a chart and select Properties.
To determine properties for your chart that include the type of perspective from which to display it, the maximum value for the y axis, CPU usage, and data stream settings, click the General tab. Complete the fields as described in the following table:
|
Field |
Description |
|---|---|
|
View |
Perspective: Select to render the chart in perspective. The foremost data stream appears larger than the last one in the chart. Parallel: Select to render the chart in parallel mode. All data streams in the chart have the same size relative to value. |
|
Performance > Frame Rate: (CPU Usage) |
Determines the amount of CPU time devoted to interactive chart rendering (rotating, zooming, panning, scrolling). A low frame rate is less fluid, but uses less CPU time. A high frame rate offers the best visual performance, but uses 100% of the CPU. |
|
Vertical Maximum |
Auto: Select to automatically set the maximum value of the y axis of the grid to a value greater than the highest data point rendered. Manual: Select to manually set a maximum value for the y axis of the grid. |
|
Wireframe when rotating, zooming and panning |
Select to render the chart in wireframe when rotating, zooming or panning. This option conserves CPU resources. |
|
ScreenTips for data points |
Select to display a ScreenTip when you rest the cursor over a data point. |
|
Data stream settings |
Depth: Move the slider to adjust the depth of each data stream along the z axis. Point Density: Move the slider to adjust the density of data points along the x axis. |
To determine the color scheme for your chart, click the Colors tab. Complete the fields as described in the following table:
|
Field |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Scheme |
Choose a defined color scheme from the list. |
|
Save As |
Click to save the currently-defined color scheme under a unique name. |
|
Delete |
Click to delete the current color scheme. |
|
Colors |
Title: Select a color for the chart title as it appears in the Chart pane. Grid Lines: Select a color for the grid lines in the 3-D grid. Grid Panels: Select a color for the sides and bottom of the 3-D grid. Time Scale: Select a color for the numbers in the time line along the x axis. Left Scale: Select a color for the numbers along the left y axis of the 3-D grid.y Right Scale: Select a color for the numbers along the right y axis of the 3-D grid. Background: Select a background color for the Chart pane. Gradient: Select this option to create a gradient for the background of the Chart pane. Select a color for the bottom of the gradient. The color you selected for Background serves as the top color in the gradient. Data Gap: This option fills in missing points in a data stream rendered with the Area option (a chart style; see the Data Streams tab). If data is unavailable for some period during the assessment, the gap in points is filled in. Select a color for the area of missing points. Data Stream Colors: Click to open the Data Stream Colors dialog box. Use this dialog box to determine which color is applied to each data stream in a chart. |
|
Solid Grid |
Select this option to render the 3-D grid as a solid object. |
|
Show Left Values |
Select this option to display the values along the y axis on the left side of the 3-D grid. |
|
Show Right Values |
Select this option to display the values along the y axis on the right side of the 3D grid. |
To set style, scale, and threshold settings for the data streams in your chart, click the Data Streams tab. Complete the fields as described in the following table:
|
Field |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Stream |
Select a data stream from the chart to which you will make changes. Streams correspond to call groups that have data. |
|
Style |
Select the visual style of the data stream:
|
|
Scale |
Select a scale for the data stream. The data stream scales in the y axis relative to its original scale of 1.0. The grid is not affected. |
|
Thresholds > Add |
|
|
High Thresholds > Modify |
Select a defined threshold. Click Modify to open the Threshold dialog box. Edit any parameters. |
|
High Thresholds > Delete |
Select a defined threshold. Click Delete to delete the threshold. |
|
Other information |
The SQL query used to retrieve the data stream. |
The charts you create, edit, and save can be exported to the Windows Clipboard, to an XML file, or as HTML files in a report format.
Exporting a chart to the Clipboard is the easiest way to insert a chart into one of the Vivinet Assessor VoIP Readiness Assessment reports, which are in Microsoft Word format.
To export a chart to the Clipboard:
Right-click a chart and select Export > Image to Clipboard.
In Microsoft Word, click Paste on the Edit menu to paste the image into a Word document.
To export a chart as an image file in .png format:
Right-click a chart and select Export > Image to File.
Supply a filename and folder location.
To export a chart as an HTML file:
Right-click a chart and select Export > Report to HTML. The HTML Report wizard starts.
In the Report Type dialog box, choose to export both the chart and the data reflected in it, the chart alone as a .png (image) file, or the chart data only, formatted as a table in HTML. Use the Include the following data streams list to exclude any previously charted data streams from the exported report.
Click Next.
In the Report Title dialog box, check or change the Report title to be used for the exported report. You can also choose a Chart color scheme. The default setting has a white background. The color-scheme choices are the same as those you can select in the Chart Properties dialog box. For more information, see Section 9.4.3, Changing Chart Properties.
Click Finish. Provide a Save in location and a File name, and then click Save. To maintain its formatting and keep the text and image files together, the exported report is placed in a folder of the same name as the selected file name.