Grouping Hosts by Teams Using Keyset Counter Groups
Scenario
The network team wants to monitor traffic generated by different teams in the organization.
The network already contains individual host keys, but looking at each host separately makes it difficult to understand traffic at a team or organizational level.
The team wants to group specific hosts together and monitor their aggregate traffic as a single category.
For example:
- Developers → selected developer hosts
- Testing → selected testing hosts
- Marketing → selected marketing hosts
A Keyset Counter Group can be used to create these custom groups by selecting keys from an existing parent Counter Group and assigning them meaningful group names.
In this scenario, the Hosts Counter Group is used as the parent, and selected host IP addresses are grouped into meaningful custom categories.
The following groups are used as examples:
- Group 1: Developers
- Group 2: Testing
- Group 3: Marketing
These group names are only examples. You can create keysets based on how you organize your own network.
What You Will Build
By the end of this walkthrough, you will have:
- A Team Traffic Keyset Counter Group based on Hosts.
- Three example keysets representing different teams: Developers, Testing, and Marketing.
- A dashboard showing the aggregate traffic generated by each group.
- A practical example of grouping individual network keys into meaningful organizational categories.
When This Is Useful
Keyset Counter Groups are useful when individual keys need to be grouped into meaningful categories that are relevant to your network.
For example, you can use Keyset Counter Groups to:
- Group hosts belonging to different departments.
- Group routers located in different cities or geographic areas.
- Group IP addresses belonging to a particular server farm.
- Group ports into application categories.
- Group network interfaces into operational categories.
- Create custom business or organizational groupings from existing keys.
Example: Grouping Routers by Location
Consider an organization that operates routers across multiple cities.
Instead of monitoring every router individually, the organization can create keysets based on location.
For example:
| Keyset | Routers |
|---|---|
| Chennai | Router 1, Router 2, Router 3 |
| Bangalore | Router 4, Router 5 |
| Mumbai | Router 6, Router 7, Router 8 |
In this case:
- Parent Group: Flowgens
- Keyset: City
- Keys: Routers belonging to that city
The resulting Keyset Counter Group can then be used to view and compare aggregate traffic for each location.
The same approach can be applied to other network dimensions by selecting the appropriate Parent Group and grouping its keys into meaningful categories.
1. Create a Team Traffic Keyset Counter Group
First, create a Keyset Counter Group using Hosts as the Parent Group.
Navigation
👉 Go to Profile0 from the main sidebar, then navigate to Custom Counters → Keysets
-
Click Create New.
-
Enter the Keyset Counter Group details:
Field Value Keyset Counter Group Name Team Traffic Description Team-based host traffic Parent Group Hosts Meter only keysets Checked -
Click Create.
The Team Traffic Keyset Counter Group is now created.
Next, add the individual host keys that belong to each team.
2. Create the Team Keysets
A Keyset Counter Group becomes useful when individual keys are assigned to meaningful groups.
For this scenario, we will create three example keysets:
| Example Group | Keyset Name | Host Keys |
|---|---|---|
| Group 1 | Developers | 13.204.14.198, 192.168.10.16 |
| Group 2 | Testing | 23.55.47.236, 192.168.10.12 |
| Group 3 | Marketing | 138.68.45.27, 192.168.10.88 |
Note: The group names and host keys used here are examples. Replace them with the groups and keys relevant to your own environment.
The IP addresses above are only examples used in this scenario. You can replace them with the host keys relevant to your own environment.
Navigation
👉 Go to Profile0 from the main sidebar, then navigate to Custom Counters → Keysets
- Locate the Team Traffic Keyset Counter Group.
- Click Add/Edit Keys.
You can now create individual keysets within the Team Traffic Counter Group.
3. Add Group 1: Developers
For this example, we will create the Developers keyset and assign the relevant host keys to it.
-
Enter the following under Keyset Key:
Developers -
Under Keys, enter:
13.204.14.198,192.168.10.16 -
Click Add.
The selected hosts are now grouped under the Developers keyset.
4. Add Group 2: Testing
For this example, we will create the Testing keyset and assign the relevant host keys to it.
-
Enter:
Testingunder Keyset Key.
-
Under Keys, enter:
23.55.47.236,192.168.10.12 -
Click Add.
The selected hosts are now grouped under the Testing keyset.
5. Add Group 3: Marketing
For this example, we will create the Marketing keyset and assign the relevant host keys to it.
-
Enter:
Marketingunder Keyset Key.
-
Under Keys, enter:
138.68.45.27,192.168.10.88 -
Click Add.
The selected hosts are now grouped under the Marketing keyset.
- Click Done Adding.
The Team Traffic Keyset Counter Group now contains three custom groups:
Developers | Testing | Marketing
Each group represents the aggregate traffic of the host keys assigned to it.
6. Restart the Probe
The new Keyset Counter Group needs to be enabled before it can be used.
Restart the Probe to apply the changes.
Wait for the probe to come back online before proceeding.
7. Create a Dashboard for Team Traffic
Now create a dashboard to visualize the aggregate traffic for each team.
Navigation
👉 Go to Dashboards from the main sidebar and click Show All
-
Click Create New.
-
Enter the dashboard details:
Field Value Name Keyset Countergroup Demo Description Add some modules to this dashboard Top Count 10 Counter Group Team Traffic Meter Upload Bytes -
Click Save Changes.
8. Add the Team Traffic Topper
Add a Current Toppers module to display the traffic generated by each team.
-
Click Add Module.
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Select Current Toppers.
-
Enter the module details:
Field Value Name Org Team Traffic Top Count 10 Counter Group Team Traffic Meter Upload Bytes -
Click Save.
The dashboard is now configured to display the aggregate upload traffic for each keyset.
9. View the Team Traffic
Once traffic data becomes available, the dashboard displays the keysets and their corresponding traffic.
In this example, the keysets are:
- Developers
- Testing
- Marketing
Each keyset represents the combined traffic of the host keys assigned to that group.
Note: These are example groups. In a real deployment, you can create keysets based on your own organizational structure, network segments, customers, server groups, or other requirements.
Instead of looking at individual host traffic:
Host 1 + Host 2 + Host 3
you can view the traffic as a meaningful organizational group:
Developers
This makes it easier to compare traffic across teams or other custom categories.
What This Demonstrates
This scenario demonstrates how Keyset Counter Groups can turn individual network keys into meaningful custom groups.
The workflow is:
Select a Parent Group → Create a Keyset Counter Group → Group Keys → Assign Meaningful Names → Restart the Probe → Visualize Aggregate Traffic
In this example, individual host IP addresses were grouped into:
Developers → Testing → Marketing
The resulting Team Traffic Counter Group provides an aggregated view of traffic for each team.
Key Takeaway
Keyset Counter Groups allow you to group selected keys from an existing Counter Group into custom categories and monitor their aggregate traffic.
The keys can represent different types of network entities depending on the Parent Group.
For example:
Hosts → Teams
Flowgens → Cities
IPs → Server Groups
Ports → Application Categories
The grouping is defined by you, allowing Keyset Counter Groups to represent the way your network is actually organized.
Example Flow
Hosts → Select Keys → Create Keysets → Group Related Hosts → Monitor Aggregate Traffic
For this scenario:
Hosts → Team Traffic → Developers / Testing / Marketing