Please ensure that RouterStats is able to connect to the router with the URL, Login and Password and that the basic http "Get Page" facility is working before enabling the Telnet interface.
As telnet is designed for more advanced users, most of the available options, although similar to those on the http interface, are only available through menu items selected from the individual graphs' popup menus. However, the telnet capture schedules share their settings with the http graphs (Always, Between Hours and Daily One-off times). Similarly, the Overlay Options and the Capture Folder are the same as those used for the http graphs.
In the main configuration window, select the Netgear Telnet Tab and check the Enable Telnet (Netgear DG834(G, GT)) checkbox.
Opening a Telnet connection creates a slightly increased security risk because the router is now accessible by Telnet from anywhere on the LAN. RouterStats can automatically close the Telnet session after a set period of inactivity by checking the Automatically disable router debug.. checkbox. Note that this setting will have no effect if RouterStats is configured to plot the telnet statistics continuously because there will always be activity.
Please note that the radio buttons on the Router Login & Logout Tab apply to HTTP access to the router. The radio buttons on this Netgear Settings Tab relate to telnet access.
To give extra flexibility, setting the router version on the Router Login & Logout Tab does not automatically set the correct radio button here. The coloured dot at the top left corner of this panel will be red if the radio button selected on the Router Login & Logout Tab does not correspond with the radio button selected here.
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Check the checkbox if you have installed the unofficial 'DGTeam' firmware. (See also) |
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Downstream (Rx) error counts can be monitored during the current 15 minute period, during the current 24 hour period or since the router was last rebooted by selecting the appropriate radio button. |
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As there are a lot of telnet graphs, it's more convenient to activate each graph with a checkbox or
popup menu item actually on each
graph's page as required. As it can become confusing to establish which graphs are active, a button is
provided here to de-activate them all (Plotting). Similarly, individual graphs are selected for scheduled image capture with individual popup menu items. To de-select them all at once, press the Capture button. Likewise, with the logging. . |
To have RouterStats remember the max and min values of each of the telnet graphs when it closes down, check the Remember y-axis limits on close checkbox. If this checkbox is not checked, the telnet graphs will start with their default minimum and maximum values (0 and 10).
The data in each pane of the 'Summary' window will update as unobtrusively as possible. If you prfer more visual reassurance, the panes can be cleared of data before being updated by checking Clear 'Summary' window before refreshing.
When telnet is running (ie the main Run button is pressed), RouterStats starts a simple 'Watchdog' timer.
If the telnet Summary page fails to refresh after twice the sampling time, the indicator above the Refresh
button will turn red. If Watchdog should sound audible alarm is checked, the Audible Alarm will sound.
Select the Summary Tab and click the Connect button to display a summary of the router's statistics. If the main Run button has already been pressed, the Connect button will be disabled and the summary will already be displayed.
The display will be slightly different depending on which router version you have selected. The image below shows the display with a DG834G (version 1, 2 or 3).
We can use RouterStats to graphically plot any, or all, of the CRC, FEC or HEC values. These figures represent corrected and uncorrected errors encountered by the router.
In addition RouterStats uses the Telnet statistics to determine whether ADSL Max has Interleaving On or Off and displays the result at the lower right corner of the summary page. If the router has only just been re-booted, it may take a few minutes for RouterStats to figure it out.
The DG834(G) version 4 and the DG834GT shows directly whether interleaving is on so the result should be shown immediately.
As an example in choosing which data to monitor, in the image above, the router is showing Downstream and Upstream Fast path CRC errors so Interleaving must be Off (Fast path errors mean Interleaving is Off) so these are the values we would wish to monitor.
Select the Rx Fast Path Tab. This reveals three Tabbed graphs, labelled CRC, FEC,
and HEC. Select the CRC Tab and check the checkbox - shown circled in red in the
image above - to activate the graph. To begin plotting, press the normal green
Run button on the Toolbar.
After an initial delay - set by the normal interval timer - the vertical axis of the graph will scale itself automatically to keep the actual value somewhere near the center of the chart. By holding down the left mouse button, the chart may be dragged horizontally.
If Lock graphs together when dragging is checked, dragging any graph horizontally will drag all graphs in unison. Alternatively, holding the Ctrl key while dragging will do the same.
If you select or de-select a graph once RouterStats has started plotting, it's recommended that you close
RouterStats completely and re-open it. This is especially recommended if all the graphs are configured to be
dragged together.
Plotting User-defined Values
In addition to the HTTP user-defined graphs, RouterStats can also plot two user-defined telnet graphs as follows:
With the Telnet Summary window displaying data, press the main Stop button to temporarily pause the sample timer and highlight the text alongside the value you wish to plot. Then, right-click the window and click the menu item: [User-defined 1] or [User-defined 2]. In the picture above, [User-defined 1] has already been defined as the 'Upstream Noise Margin, so, to plot, for example, the 'Downstream Max Rate', highlight the text, right-click and click on [User-defined 2].
Ensure the checkbox at the bottom left hand corner of the appropriate User-defined graph is checked and press the main Run button to restart the sample timer.
To change the definition of a graph, simply follow the above procedure and click on [User-def 1] or User-def 2] to over-write the previous definition. The graph's vertical axis will automatically reset to its initial range (0 - 10) and the maximum value will automatically adjust when the Run button is pressed.
Popup menu
A blue i alongside an item indicates that it is for
information only. Other items are clickable or checkable items.
Right-click a graph to show its popup menu. Options are the same as for the main graphs. Note that the telnet Scheduled Capture can only be selected here - there are no checkbox options in the Graphs Configuration window. However, the telnet graphs share the same Schedule settings as the main graphs.
The graphs can be dragged by holding down the left mouse button and dragging the graph.
If the Ctrl Key is held down, all graphs will be
dragged in unison. A checkbox on the graphs configuration tab eliminates the need to hold the Ctrl
Key - useful if you always want to drag the graphs together.
After dragging horizontally, the graphs will restore automatically to the current time when the next sample is plotted so it may be more convenient to temporarily stop the sample timer with the Stop button if you want to keep the graphs dragged backwards for more than a few seconds.
The graphs cannot be dragged left or right until at least one page of the graph has been plotted but may be dragged vertically.
The graphs can be dragged vertically in two ways:
If the Shift Key is held down while the graph is dragged, the graph can be scrolled vertically.
A checkbox on the graphs configuration tab ("Allow graphs to be dragged vertically") eliminates the need to hold the Shift key - useful if you always want to be able to
drag the graphs vertically.
If the Alt key is held down, the graph will scroll vertically but the minimum value on the graph's
vertical axis (usually zero) will be "pinned" and only the graph's maximum value will change - in effect, stretching
or compressing the vertical axis.
If the Telnet Rx Noise Graph has the Sync plot overlayed, both left and right axes will scroll. If the Ctrl key is held down at the same time as the Shift or Alt key, only the left axis will scroll.
To align the horizontal grid lines with the numbers on the right-hand scale, click anywhere on the graph's right-hand scale. To align the horizontal grid lines with the numbers on the left-hand scale, click anywhere on the graph's left-hand scale.
Y-axis auto-adjust
The vertical axis of all telnet graphs will normally adjust automatically. Sometimes, certain values can be very erratic
and it's more desirable for the vertical axis to NOT adjust automatically. Each graph has a popup menu item to disable the
auto-adjusting.
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The default action for is for the vertical axis of all graphs to adjust automatically. However, RouterStats will
occasionally pick up a spurious value which can cause the vertical axis to adjust to an unnecessarily large value. In this
situation, a menu item on the graph's right-click context menu allows to automatic adjustmet to be switched off. If the value being plotted goes above the range of the graph's scale, a green triangle will be shown. Drag the graph vertically with the mouse to bring it back into scale or (temporarily) check the "Adjust vertical axis automatically" checkbox on the graph's context menu..
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Icons
 | This icon indicates the graph has been selected for capture but the time is outside the scheduled capture time. |
 | This icon indicates the graph has been selected for capture and the time is within the scheduled capture time (or the Always radio button is selected). |
 | This icon indicates the graph has been selected for capture and a time has been set for a daily 'one off ' capture. |
Monitoring Options
RouterStats will plot the error count over 15 minutes intervals, 24 hour intervals or since the router was last rebooted.
The actual period is determined on the Telnet Configuration page.
RouterStats attempts to keep the graph's vertical axis at a sensible value but the graphs can be dragged vertically to view any points which may be plotted above the current view of the graph.
The monitoring options in the different router versions are slightly different. In the Netgear DG834(G) version 4, the errors during a monitoring period are calculated by the router itself. The picture below shows the Rx CRC/ES/LOF Tab displaying the CRC errors during each 15 minute period. Hover the mouse over the graph to read the current number of errors and the time elapsed of the current 15 minute period.
In the Netgear DG834(G) versions 1, 2, 3 & 5, the monitoring periods are not available from within the router so RouterStats creates the monitoring periods and calculates the downstream errors for each successive period. Hovering the mouse over the graph shows the current number of errors during the current period but does not show the currently elapsed time.
Bytes Transferred (WAN)
Image is for a DG834G v4
Your router version, determines where you will find the WAN (ppp0) Rx and Tx Bytes Transferred graphs.
These tabs are only available when the Extended Stats checkbox is checked on the 'Summary' tab.
The left hand scale shows the total bytes transferred (MiB) since the last router reboot. Because this value can be rather large, it's sometimes more useful to plot the number of MiBytes transferred since a set time. The righthand scale shows this. The "baseline" can be set any time by clicking Reset To Current Value Now on the popup menu or can be set daily at a specified time. The "baseline" is set as the number of bytes transferred at that moment and the righthand scale shows the number of MiBytes transferred since then.
Note that the values are MiB and GiB to correspond with the values provided by the router. The 'i' simply means that the scaling factor is 1024 rather than 1000.
Bits/Tone & SNR/Tone Graphs
This tab displays the number of bits assigned to each of the ADSL frequency tones (bins). Click on one of the graph's blue bars or red SNR trace to show the tone, frequency and number of bits in detail.
The red trace can show either the SNR / Tone or the SNR Margin /Tone by selecting the appropriate Radio Button.
The SNR Margin is calculated from:
SNR Margin = SNR - (3 x Bits)where 'Bits' is the number of Bits currently assigned to the tone being calculated.
When RouterStats detects ADSL2+ (or the ADSL2+ radio button is selected), the
graph can be set to plot just the bottom tones (0 - 255), just the top tones (256 - 512) or all of the tones (0 - 516) by
pressing the ADSL2+ button. Each press of the button cycles through the three plotting options.
The black curve shows the attenuation (in dB) for each tone. It uses the left-hand scale x 10. (Currently for the DG834(G) v4 and GT only).
In the case of the DG834(G)v1,2 and 3, I'm not too sure how the SNR/Tone values are derived from the figures presented by the router. Although I think the values plotted on the graph are correct, I cannot guarantee them. I would welcome any feedback on this.
The scrolling is slightly different on this graph. Hold the left mouse button down to drag the graph vertically, as with other
graphs. But holding the Shift Key down while dragging will "pin" the left and right axes at zero. This allows the axes
to be expanded - useful, in particular, to view a small number of bitswaps.
 | Check the Show SNR graph points to make the SNR graphs plotting points visible. This makes it easier to land the mouse pointer on the SNR curve. |
Click anywhere near the left axis of the graph to align the horizontal grid lines
with the numbers on the left axis. Click anywhere near the right axis to align the horizontal grid lines with the
numbers on the right axis.
Bits/Tone Popup menu
Right-click on the graph for its popup menu:
Save As, Copy to clipboard, Refresh and Make available to webserver (Webserver image filename is the left vertical axis title with spaces replaced with an underscore - ie 'Bits.jpg' or 'Bits_&_Attenuation_(x10).jpg') ..
This graph can also be included in the normal scheduled capture by checking the Capture(...) menu item.
In addition, if the Bitswap -> Capture Before and After a Bitswapcheckboxes are checked, images will be captured immediately before and immediately following a bitswap. These images can be included in any captured image resizing ( Configure | Graphs | Extras Tab) by checking the Include captured images in resizing menu item.
The 'After' captured images will show, in light green, which tones have had bits swapped:
Tthe Bitswaps/Tone graph shows which tones have had the most bits swapped. The Bitswaps/Time graph shows when the bitswaps occur.
If plotting this graph at all causes a problem, it can be turned off completely by unchecking the checkbox shown circled in green, above.
Terminal Window
By selecting the Terminal Tab, you can open a very basic terminal
window. If RouterStats isn't already connected to the router with Telnet, press the Connect
button.
Note that this terminal window shares its connection with the telnet graph-plotting process so you may want to press the main Stop button while you are using the terminal window to prevent the normal sample timer process overwriting the window,
There are a few known 'issues' with this terminal window: You must ensure that the cursor is on the same line as the# prompt before you type commands. ANSI colour codes are not interpreted or displayed correctly..
 | Checking the Extended stats checkbox will display the Bytes Transferred totals from the PPP0 interface. I've made it a 'switchable' option (with the checkbox) because retrieving the extra stats uses more CPU time and may cause data to be lost from the summary page on some systems. |