Insights
This document is an informative description of the standard Inter.link Insights service. The applicable service order, Service Level Agreement (SLA), and Master Services Agreement (MSA) prevail in the event of any conflict.
Service overview
Section titled “Service overview”Inter.link Insights is a read-only traffic and routing analytics function in the Inter.link portal. It presents flow and routing data observed on the Inter.link network, scoped to the customer’s own Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs).
Insights is delivered from Inter.link infrastructure. It requires no customer-side collectors, probes, flow exporters, or router configuration, and no portal account other than the customer’s existing one.
Insights provides three tools:
| Tool | Function |
|---|---|
| Flow Explorer | Multi-dimensional inspection of traffic flows from source to destination |
| Border Planner | Capacity and utilization of the customer’s IP service connections |
| Looking Glass | AS path and prefix lookups, including historical snapshots |
Insights does not change the technical definition, configuration, or routing of any Inter.link service. It cannot be used to make configuration, routing, or service changes.
Data scope
Section titled “Data scope”ASN scope
Section titled “ASN scope”Every ASN with at least one active Inter.link service is included in the customer’s Insights scope automatically. No ASN registration step is required.
Insights shows only traffic that traverses Inter.link infrastructure. Traffic on paths outside the Inter.link network, including traffic exchanged directly between the customer and third parties, is not visible.
Flow attribution
Section titled “Flow attribution”A flow record is included in the customer’s scope when exactly one of the following fields is a customer ASN:
| Direction | Field that must match a customer ASN | Other fields |
|---|---|---|
| Inbound (toward the customer) | Next Hop ASN | Source ASN, Handover ASN, and Destination ASN may be any value |
| Outbound (from the customer) | Handover ASN | Source ASN, Next Hop ASN, and Destination ASN may be any value |
The Handover ASN and the Next Hop ASN cannot both be customer ASNs for the same flow record. Attribution uses only these two fields; Source ASN and Destination ASN do not determine whether a flow is in scope.
Data accuracy
Section titled “Data accuracy”Flow data is collected from Inter.link routers using sFlow. Reported volumes and rates are statistical estimates derived from sampled packets, and they may differ from interface counters or customer-side measurements.
Flow data typically becomes available in Insights about 5 minutes after the traffic is observed. Insights does not guarantee real-time data. Data retention and the available historical range may vary.
Flow Explorer
Section titled “Flow Explorer”Flow Explorer displays traffic flows as Sankey diagrams, showing how traffic associated with the customer’s ASNs enters and leaves the Inter.link network. Flows can be examined at the following levels:
| Level | Scope |
|---|---|
| AS | Traffic between autonomous systems |
| Edge router | Traffic per Inter.link edge router |
| Core router | Traffic per Inter.link core router |
Border Planner
Section titled “Border Planner”Border Planner shows the capacity and utilization of the customer’s Inter.link IP service connections. A connection is shown whether it is delivered as a single port or as a link aggregation group (LAG). Network-internal links and other customers’ connections are not visible.
Utilization is displayed as heat-map graphs with user-defined thresholds. Views can be filtered by ASN or by router. Border Planner links to Flow Explorer, so the end-to-end path of traffic on a selected connection can be inspected.
Looking Glass
Section titled “Looking Glass”The Insights Looking Glass performs AS path and prefix lookups against Inter.link routing data. It retains historical snapshots of routing state, so lookups can be made for past points in time as well as for the current state.
The public Inter.link looking glass at lg.as5405.net remains available separately.
Typical applications
Section titled “Typical applications”| Application | Relevant tools |
|---|---|
| Troubleshooting traffic paths and anomalies | Flow Explorer, Looking Glass |
| Peering and interconnection planning | Flow Explorer, Border Planner |
| Validating routing and traffic-engineering changes | Looking Glass, Flow Explorer |
| Observing traffic before, during, and after DDoS mitigation | Flow Explorer |
| Capacity planning for IP service connections | Border Planner |
Routing and traffic-engineering changes are made through the mechanisms described in the Inter.link Routing Policies and BGP Communities documentation; Insights is used only to observe their effect. DDoS mitigation is controlled through the DDoS Protection service.
Insights shows all traffic in scope regardless of mitigation state: both traffic diverted to the mitigation platform and clean traffic returned to the customer are included.
Prerequisites
Section titled “Prerequisites”| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Portal account | An active Inter.link portal account |
| Active service | At least one ASN with an active Inter.link service |
| Client | A current web browser |
| Customer equipment | No software installation or equipment configuration |
Insights is available only to customers with active Inter.link services.
Access
Section titled “Access”- Log in to the Inter.link portal.
- Select Insights.
- Open Flow Explorer, Border Planner, or Looking Glass. Data is already scoped to the customer’s ASNs.
No separate order is required.
Insights is available through the portal only. Insights data and functions are not currently available through the Inter.link Portal API.
Billing
Section titled “Billing”All Insights features are available free of charge during the launch period. The launch period has no defined end date. Pricing, access tiers, and feature availability may change after the launch period.
Limitations
Section titled “Limitations”- Only traffic traversing the Inter.link network is visible.
- Flow figures are sFlow sampling-based estimates, not exact counts.
- Flow data typically has a delay of about 5 minutes; no real-time data guarantee is provided.
- Insights is not available through the Inter.link Portal API.
- Data retention and historical availability may vary.
- Insights is read-only and cannot change configuration, routing, or services.
Responsibilities
Section titled “Responsibilities”| Activity | Inter.link | Customer |
|---|---|---|
| Data collection | Collects sFlow and routing data on the Inter.link network | No collection, export, or probe configuration required |
| ASN scoping | Includes every ASN with an active Inter.link service and filters data to those ASNs | Maintains active services for the ASNs to be analysed |
| Interpretation | Provides sampling-based flow estimates and routing snapshots | Accounts for sampling approximation and the absence of real-time guarantees when using the data |
| Configuration changes | Not performed through Insights | Makes routing, traffic-engineering, and mitigation changes through the applicable service mechanisms |