Dumb question ...but would someone help me read this graph?

[bjjnut]

I've never claimed to be the sharpest spoon in the drawer, but I can't make heads or tails out this graph. It's an "In/Out bits" graph for a Cisco Nexus N9K. It's being collecting on the default Cacti 'Cisco Router' template. There are two colors (Green/Inbound & Purple/Outbound) on the bottom ledger, but the graph itself has so many colors it looks like Walt Disney got a hold of it. What am I doing wrong?

https://imgur.com/4SgbNzb

Compared to this graph (same In/Out Bits graph, same default router template, but this one's polling a Cisco Catalyst 3850) -- this one makes sense to me, but the N9K doesn't. Would one of you folks point me in the right direction on how to read this, or what I need to do to make it better?

https://imgur.com/eg8Aivp

[TheWitness]

You need to be using the 64bit counters.

[bjjnut]

Hi TW, thank you for taking time to respond. I created another "In/Out Bits (64-bit)" graph for the interface yesterday, but it looks just like the first one to me. If you look at the pic below, there are three different colors logged on the graph, but only two are listed on the ledger at the bottom of the graph;

https://imgur.com/918YN41

(#1) Lime Green = Inbound (Top listing on the graph color code ledger)

(#2) Purple = Outbound (Bottom listing on the graph color code ledger)

(#3) Hunter Green = ????????? (Shows up on the graph, but not on the ledger.)

What the heck is #3?

[cigamit]

The graph template is using opacity values that allow you to "see" when other area plots are behind it. RRDTool puts down the areas in layers. So in essence 1 layer is drawn over the top of the previous layer. If that 2nd layer has a higher value than the layer behind, you wouldn't be able to see the value of the one behind it without making that layer "see through" using opacity.

So there are 3 colors because the 2 main colors are for when that value is higher than the other. The third color is a blend of the 2.

[bjjnut]

Well good grief, cigamit. ...told you it was a dumb question. That makes perfect sense and thank you for answering the post. Take care and I hope you have a great week.