Getting Information on iNodes and Services

Learn how to use the Secure Edge Portal to get information on iNodes and services running on an iNode, including:

• Obtain metrics on resource usage and performance of an iNode, the services running on it, and the containers within each service
• Use data saving mode to control data usage when an iNode’s uplink connection has a data limit
• View iNode network and serial interfaces

Obtaining iNode, Service, and Container Metrics

In the sections that follow, find out how to get iNode, services, and container metrics through Secure Edge Portal.

Obtaining an iNode-Level Metrics Summary

To get an iNode-level metrics summary, from iNodes > All iNodes, select the iNode name to display the iNode details page. The metrics display is only for iNodes with status ALIVE.

The Metrics Overview pane is a summary of the iNode’s CPU, memory, and filesystem usage, as well as network and serial interface traffic.

Obtaining Detailed Metrics

To get detailed metrics, click on the Metrics Overview pane to display the detailed Metrics Dashboard page. The Metrics Dashboard shows the metrics panels for the iNode, services, and containers, as well as historical data.

The Metrics Dashboard includes these subsections:

• An iNode Overview panel, which shows iNode-level CPU, memory, and filesystem usage, as well as interface traffic.
• Container Overview and Service Overview panels. The Container Overview shows container-level CPU, memory, and filesystem usage and the Service Overview shows service-level interface traffic transmitted and received.
• Use the drop-down menus to filter for the services and containers you want to examine.
  
• Service Status and Container Status charts show services and containers on the iNode by status.
  
• Historical charts showing resource usage for the iNode and containers, as well as interface traffic for the iNode and services, display on the lower panels on the page.The historical charts also show events that occurred during the runtime operation of the iNode, iNode network, services, and containers. When you select an event on the chart, it highlights the corresponding event in the event timeline on the right. This lets you correlate events to resource usage and network/serial interface traffic.

Use the top left drop-down to select the scope of the metrics you’re viewing. You can select the services and containers to view. By default, we select the first five containers listed in the drop-down. If you need to see different containers, select those you’d like to see from the drop-down. You can't select more than five at once.

Use the second top drop-down to specify the duration for the collected metrics. In addition to Last 5 Hours, you can use Custom Range to pick From and To dates within a 48-hour span.

You can customize the Metrics Dashboard page by selecting Manage Metrics Dashboard > Edit to add or remove widgets. If you want to reset the widgets to the default view, select Manage Metrics Dashboard > Reset options.

Using Data Saving Mode

If an iNode’s uplink connection has a data limit and you want to control data usage, you can use Data Saving Mode.

To set or change the data usage, select the name of the iNode from the iNode details page to display Edit iNode.

1. In the Advanced Settings section, turn on Data Saving Mode. By default, system and container resource utilization metrics are sent by the iNode to the Secure Edge Portal every minute. To control data usage, you can change how frequently data is sent from the iNode.
2. The options for limited bandwidth usage include:
   • Send every 5 minutes. Metrics are sent from the iNode to the Secure Edge Portal every five minutes.
   • Don’t send. Metrics aren’t sent to the Secure Edge Portal.
     

Using Container Timezone on Edge iNodes

You can use the Container Timezone feature to set the timezone for edge service containers. Once the container timezone is set for an iNode, all the logs and other timestamp-related information for edge services/containers running on that iNode are set to that timezone.

To set or change the container timezone, do the following steps:

1. Select the name of the iNode from the iNode details page to display Manage iNode. Then select Edit iNode on the drop-down menu.
2. On the Edit iNode page, in the Advanced Settings section, select the desired container timezone from the drop-down menu. The default is UTC timezone.

Viewing iNode Interfaces

To get information about iNode interfaces, follow these steps:

1. From iNodes > All iNodes, select the iNode name to display the iNode details page.
2. Select Interfaces to display the list of network and serial interfaces available on the iNode. For each interface, you’ll find the type, hardware address, and link status.
3. Select an interface to display information specific to that interface, including:
   • Network interfaces:
     • IP address if assigned
     • MTU size
   • Ethernet interfaces:
     • Link speed if available
   • Wi-Fi interfaces:
     • SSID if connected
   • Cellular interfaces:
     • Last connected time
     • Operator
     • APN if available
     • Band
     • Signal quality
     • IMSI
     • ICCID
   • Serial interfaces:
     • Flags if available
     • IRQ
     • UART
     • Port

Viewing Serial Number and Manufacturing Information

The iNode Serial Numbers page lists all unassigned serial numbers (serial numbers for devices that are not associated with an iNode) along with the vendor details, product details, manufacturing version, and serial number issuer and expiry details.
From the left menu of the Secure Edge Portal, select iNodes > Serial Numbers.

Select an item in the list to see detailed networking information.

Viewing MAC Address Information for Networks and Services

MAC address information is available for the iNode physical interfaces, TAN networks, and services. You can view these MAC addresses in multiple places.

View a Consolidated List of MAC Addresses

On each iNode’ detail page, there is a MAC table tab. Select this tab to view a consolidated list of each MAC address associated with that iNode.
The table lists MAC addresses for the physical interfaces on the iNode, the MAC address for the iNode’s interface to each TAN network created, and the MAC address associated with each service that is currently running on the iNode.

To export the table data as a CSV file, select Export All.

View MAC Addresses for iNode Physical Interfaces

You can the view the MAC addresses for the iNode’s physical interfaces under the Interfaces tab on the iNode details page. The MAC address is listed in the Hardware Address column.

View a TAN Network's MAC Addresses

Each TAN network has a virtual interface created for it on the iNode. To view the MAC addresses for the iNode interface to each TAN network, select the Networks tab on the iNode detail page.

Expanding the TAN’s details will reveal the MAC address for the virtual interface on that network.

Viewing Services MAC Address

Each service created on the iNode has a unique MAC address. To view the MAC addresses for your services, select the Services tab on the iNode details page. A service may have multiple MAC addresses if the Service is assigned to multiple networks.

MAC Address Allowlisting Best Practices

We present MAC address information in the Secure Edge Portal to aid with network management and allowlisting. Should your network require a MAC address allowlist for devices to connect, here are some best practices for common allowlist scenarios.

Uplink connection allowlisting:

• If the network supporting the uplink connection (Northbound) of the iNode requires allowlisting, use the MAC address(es) for the interface(s) assigned to the “WAN” function under the Interfaces tab.
  
  Note

  If WAN HA is enabled, be sure to add the the MAC addresses for both WAN interfaces to the allowlist. 

TAN network and services allowlisting:

• If the TAN networks (southbound) require allowlisting, you will need to add the TAN MAC address for each TAN network to the allowlist. If you have services running on the iNode, the MAC address for each service also needs to be allowlisted for the network the service is associated with.
• Use the MAC addresses listed under the Networks tab for allowlisting the iNode onto the TAN network.
• Use the MAC addresses listed under the Services tab for allowlisting the service onto the TAN network.