Inter.link Insights – Knowledgebase
Overview
Benefits
- Self-service access to network traffic analytics directly from the Inter.link portal
- ASN scoped traffic visibility without requiring customer side monitoring infrastructure
- Actionable data for capacity planning, peering optimization, and traffic engineering
- One-click access with no additional accounts, software, or setup
Core Features
Flow Explorer
Multi-dimensional traffic inspection from source to destination, with high performance Sankey visualizations. Operates at AS level, edge router level, and core router level for traffic analysis across the network backbone.
Border Planner
Capacity and utilization visualization for edge routers connected to peers, customers, caches, and transit providers. Displays utilization filtered to specific neighbor ASNs or routers using thermal graphs with customizable thresholds. Integrates with Flow Explorer to show complete traffic paths.
Looking Glass
AS path and prefix functionality without requiring hardware at router locations. Includes historical snapshots for forensic analysis.
Primary Use Case: Traffic Visibility and Analysis
The primary use case for Inter.link Insights is giving customers visibility into their traffic flows across the Inter.link network.
Customers can inspect how traffic associated with their ASN enters and exits the network, identify traffic patterns by application or source, and detect anomalies in their traffic profile. Key scenarios include:
- Traffic troubleshooting: Identify congestion, routing inefficiencies, or anomalies.
- Peering optimization: Understand traffic distribution across peers.
- Performance validation: Validate network performance and customer experience.
- Operational visibility: Monitor traffic patterns without external tooling.
- DDoS mitigation visibility: Observe traffic patterns before, during, and after mitigation events to validate that protection is working as expected.
- Routing change validation: Verify the impact of BGP or routing changes on traffic flows and distribution.
How Traffic Visibility Works
Customers view traffic data filtered to their own ASNs. The analytics view enforces the following constraints:
- Inbound traffic (traffic coming into the customer’s network via Inter.link): the customer sets the Next Hop ASN to one of their own ASNs. All other fields (Source ASN, Handover ASN, Destination ASN) can be any value.
- Outbound traffic (traffic leaving the customer’s network via Inter.link): the customer sets the Handover ASN to one of their own ASNs. All other fields can be any value.
- At least one of Handover ASN or Next Hop ASN must be one of the customer’s ASNs, but not both simultaneously.
Compatibility and Integrations with Inter.link Services
Inter.link Insights is integrated into the Inter.link portal ecosystem and designed to complement all Inter.link connectivity services. Customers can use Insights to observe and analyze the traffic associated with their active services. The more traffic a customer sends through the Inter.link network, the broader and more valuable the analytics view becomes.
Service Boundaries and Expectations
Inter.link Insights provides visibility into traffic as observed within the Inter.link network, scoped to the customer’s ASN. The analytics reflect traffic that traverses Inter.link infrastructure and do not cover traffic paths outside the Inter.link network.
Data granularity depends on flow sampling rates and it may reflect approximations rather than exact traffic volumes.
Insights is a read only analytics tool. No network configuration, routing changes, or service modifications can be made through Insights.
Availability and Limitations
Insights is available to Inter.link customers through the Inter.link portal with seamless, one-click access. The initial launch includes full access to all features at no cost during the launch period.
The analytics view is scoped to the customer’s ASN and shows only traffic observable within the Inter.link network. Insights does not provide real time data guarantees.
After the launch period, access tiers and feature availability may be adjusted.
Technical Dependancies and Requirements
- Customers must have an active Inter.link portal account.
- Customers must have at least one ASN with active Inter.link services. All ASNs associated with active services are automatically included in the analytics scope.
- Access to Insights requires a modern web browser. No customer side software installation or network equipment configuration is needed.
- Traffic visibility is limited to flows observable within the Inter.link network. Traffic that does not traverse Inter.link infrastructure is not visible in Insights.
- Data retention periods and historical data availability may vary.
Billing
Insights is available now with full access to all features at no cost during the launch period. After the launch period, pricing and feature availability will be adjusted.
How to Order through the portal
Insights can be accessed directly through the Inter.link portal. Below are the steps to get started.
Setting up an account in the portal is the very first step, and this is explained in the Using the Portal section of the Knowledgebase.
Step 1
Log in to the Inter.link portal with your existing account.
Step 2
Click on Insights to open your analytics view.
Step 3
Your data is ready, scoped to your ASN. Use Flow Explorer, Border Planner, or Looking Glass to explore your traffic.
Important: Insights is available only to existing customers with active services. If you do not currently have an active service or are not a customer, please contact our sales team to get started.
