Boost Tab
Monitoring > Bandwidth > Boost > Summary
The Boost tab provides details about Boost configuration and usage for selected appliances.
You can change the time period for which to display Boost statistics. Click the 1hr, 4hr, 1d, or 7d button; or click Custom to specify a custom date and time period in the Range fields.
Field | Description |
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Appliance | Appliance name. |
Configured Boost (Kbps) | Boost bandwidth (in kilobits per second) configured on the appliance. |
% Time Insufficient Boost | Percentage of time that Boost bandwidth was deemed insufficient by the Boost engine. |
Minutes Insufficient Boost | Amount of time (in minutes) that Boost bandwidth was deemed insufficient by the Boost engine. |
Total Boost Bytes | Total Boost bandwidth used over the specified time period. |
Trends | Click the graph icon to display a chart that shows Configured Boost, Boost, and Minutes Insufficient Boost trends for the appliance. Data represents activity during the specified time period. |
When an application needs acceleration, the Boost engine increases throughput bandwidth to the licensed Boost amount. For example, if the licensed Boost limit is 300 Mbps, the engine can accelerate traffic to that amount per second. If the engine determines that it could accelerate traffic to higher speeds if more licensed bandwidth were available, it sends 300 megabits in the first second interval, 300 megabits in the next second interval, and marks that last interval as having insufficient Boost. Because Boost statistics are recorded on a per-minute basis, it marks the entire minute as having insufficient Boost.
Based on a licensed Boost limit of 300 Mbps:
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Transactional data that requires a transfer of, for example, just 75 MB (600 megabits) of data would result in the transfer of 300 megabits in the first second interval and 300 megabits in the next second interval with that last interval being marked as having insufficient Boost. Boost statistics would indicate one minute of insufficient Boost, even though only one second is actually marked as having insufficient Boost. In this case, you probably do not need to increase your Boost bandwidth license.
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Continuous transfers of data, such as occurs for backups and replications over a period of hours or days, require continuous boost. In this case, Boost statistics, such as Minutes Insufficient Boost, are more precise than in the previous transactional data example. For example, if the transfer of 1 terabyte of data is needed, a licensed Boost limit of 300 Mbps would be insufficient because the Boost engine could speed this up to whatever the link speed allows.
Total Boost bandwidth available to your network is controlled by your license. You can purchase additional Boost bandwidth if needed. If you have licensed Boost bandwidth available, you can assign Boost to appliances on the Licenses tab or on an appliance’s Deployment page. You can also configure Boost allocation by using Business Intent Overlays.
NOTE: Your network uses a single queue for Boost across all appliances. When that queue is completely utilized, appliances will have insufficient Boost for any additional demand.
The Boost license functions as a shaper. When the Boost license is exceeded, TCP traffic is queued and shaped to boost the bandwidth. Not having enough Boost has an adverse effect on TCP applications. It is highly recommended that you obtain an amount of Boost equal to your entire WAN bandwidth.
For UDP traffic, not having enough Boost causes the traffic to be sent un-boosted. Because boosted UDP traffic involves compression of data, the traffic is sent uncompressed.
You can identify applications that use the Boost engine, and then use Access Control Lists (ACLs) and rules to permit or deny those applications from Boost. To identify your top application-related flows, use the Flows tab (Monitoring > Bandwidth > Flows > Active & Recent Flows) to list flows by total bytes sent.
Change Boost Configuration
To change Boost configuration, select one or more appliances in the table, and then click Configure Boost. The Update Boost Bandwidth dialog box opens.
Increase or decrease Boost bandwidth by 20%, or set it to a specific value in Kbps. Click Save to apply changes, or click Cancel to not apply changes and close the dialog box.