Media classification

Understanding the type of traffic in the network helps network administrators to manage bandwidth consumption for optimal network performance. The media classification mode monitors and displays the statistics of media traffic going through the NetScaler appliance.

With this mode enabled, a network administrators can collect stats showing the amount of data accessed, and the types of devices from which the media files have been accessed. The NetScaler appliance also supports byte-range requests in this mode.

Currently the NetScaler appliance can monitor and display statistics for the following media file types:

The appliance can display stats for the following devices:

The network administrators can check the following stats counters to know the amount of data accessed through the NetScaler appliance for various media traffic types.

The NetScaler appliance detects media file types by their signatures in the initial body bytes of the responses. For example, the initial body bytes for an mp4 file has the following signature in the response:

**....ftypmp42** ....isommp42....moov...lmvhd.....c.\!.c.\!..

The NetScaler appliance detects the client device type by the user agent string that the client device includes in the HTTP GET request. For example, a windows phone using a UC browser will have the following user agent string in the HTTP GET request:

User-Agent: **UCWEB**/2.0 (**Windows**; U; wds 8.10; en-US; HTC; 8X by HTC) U2/1.0.0

Enable media classification

By default, media classification is disabled on the NetScaler appliance. You have to enable the mode before using it.

To enable media classification by using the command line interface

At the command prompt, type:

enable ns mode Mediaclassification

To enable media classification by using the GUI

Enable media classification on NetScaler appliance

Navigate to System > Settings > Configure Modes and select Media Classification.

To view media traffic statistics on the NetScaler appliance

Navigate to Optimization and click Media Classification to view the media traffic statistics.

Verify media classification statistics

You can view the media traffic statistics in the dashboard utility or using the command line interface. The dashboard utility displays summary and detailed statistics in a tabular and graphic format.

Note For more information about statistics and charts, see the Dashboard help on your NetScaler appliance.

To View media classification statistics by using the command line interface

At the command prompt, type one of the following commands to display a summary of media classification statistics, display detailed statistics, or clear the display:

stat Mediaclassification

stat Mediaclassification -detail

stat Mediaclassification -clearstats

To view Media Classification statistics on the Dashboard

In the Dashboard utility, you can display the following types of media classification statistics:

1. Select Media Classification to display a summary of the media traffic statistics.
2. To display detailed media traffic statistics, click the Details.
3. To clear the media traffic statistics, click Clear.