Interpreting TM Usage Statistics

Discussions about Internet service providers (ISPs), the Meetinghouse Firewall, wired and wireless networking, usage, management, and support of Meetinghouse Internet
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dnslynn
Member
Posts: 52
Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2010 8:56 pm
Location: Klamath Falls, OR, USA

Interpreting TM Usage Statistics

#1

Post by dnslynn »

Does anyone know the details behind how TM works? Is the online status on the Firewalls page actually checked every time you connect to TM? What would it mean if the Firewalls page showed an "online" status, but the usage statistics page :
  • says "There is no usage data for this firewall"?
  • or the Current usage line indicates a current usage time that is several hours out of sync with the current time?
I had both of these situations show up (on different firewalls) this morning (plus no change after using the "refresh" button that popped up). Other firewall's usage statistics pages indicated current usage times that were within a few minutes of the current time. Also, all of my firewalls show a "ping lds.org failed" in the Contacted lds.org line, while I can successfully ping lds.org (from my home) so I assume the problem is not on the lds.org side. How often is the ping test run from the firewall?

D.W. Lynn
spencerto
Church Employee
Church Employee
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:08 am

Re: Interpreting TM Usage Statistics

#2

Post by spencerto »

The usage statics comes from a monitoring system that the firewalls are supposed to report into every 10 minutes. If the firewall hasn't reported in for a while, the data will be stale. If the current usage time is several hours out of sync, that is because the firewall hasn't reported in recently. That timestamp shows the last time the firewall "phoned home".

If it says "there is no usage data for this firewall" that means that the firewall has not yet been enrolled in the "phone home" monitoring system. This could be because the firewall was not reachable for some reason when the "phone home" enrollment was initiated. We are continually attempting to reach all the firewalls and enroll them in "phone home".

The ping.lds.org failed is a known problem and we are working to resolve that. The Usage Statistics data is very new and is subject to change as we work to improve the data and the reporting. We felt confident that we could publish this data in a "beta-like" nature because of the technical ability of our audience and encourage your feedback during this pilot phase.

We hope you will find this information of value as your work to support your buildings.

thanks,
Tony
jdlessley
Community Moderators
Posts: 9858
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:30 am
Location: USA, TX

Re: Interpreting TM Usage Statistics

#3

Post by jdlessley »

spencerto wrote:We felt confident that we could publish this data in a "beta-like" nature because of the technical ability of our audience and encourage your feedback during this pilot phase.
Letting the STSs know this data is currently published in a "beta-like" nature is important communication that has not occurred. Nobody knew it was a pilot or that feedback was expected. What do you think the probability is that STSs will know this even after you have posted in this thread? It is quite low if the data showing the number of views this thread has now and may expect to have over the next thirty days. Compare that to the number of stakes and you get a good picture of how many STSs do not know what is going on.

How feedback should occur is not known is evidenced by earlier posts in this thread. Assuming the STSs know what method should be employed to provide feedback is going to result in a significant loss of feedback opportunities. Unless it is made known through communication sources outside the forum there is going to be a very small number of STSs providing feedback.

This lack of communication and assuming the target audience will pick up on it somehow should be re-evaluated and appropriate communication measures taken to ensure the entire target audience knows what is going on. Sending an e-mail to all STSs with this information would be appropriate.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
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