Issue with Inaccurate Traffic Statistics in Packetbeat

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a project that requires the use of Elastic + Packetbeat for network traffic statistics. I have set up my environment with Elastic, Packetbeat, and Kibana all installed on a single virtual machine, which has been allocated 8 cores and 16GB of RAM.

However, I've noticed that the traffic statistics seem to be inaccurate during my testing phase. I have tried both TCP and UDP, but the traffic statistics displayed in Kibana don't seem to align with my expectations. For generating the network traffic, I'm using TRex. Interestingly, when I send only a single packet, the system can accurately calculate the size of that packet.

I've checked the logs for Packetbeat and haven't found any error or warning messages. I also examined libbeat.pipeline.events.dropped and verified that no packets have been dropped.

Below are the results from TRex:

 ==================
 interface sum
 ==================
 ---------------
port : 0
------------
 opackets                                 : 60000
 obytes                                   : 9120000
 ipackets                                 : 9
 ibytes                                   : 576
 Tx :      79.49 Kbps
port : 1
------------
 opackets                                 : 0
 obytes                                   : 0
 ipackets                                 : 60009
 ibytes                                   : 9120576
 Tx :       0.00  bps
 Cpu Utilization : 0.3  %  0.1 Gb/core
 Platform_factor : 1.0
 Total-Tx        :      79.49 Kbps
 Total-Rx        :      79.49 Kbps
 Total-PPS       :      65.37  pps
 Total-CPS       :      65.45  cps

 Expected-PPS    :     100.00  pps
 Expected-CPS    :     100.00  cps
 Expected-BPS    :     121.60 Kbps

 Active-flows    :        0  Clients :      511   Socket-util : 0.0000 %
 Open-flows      :    60000  Servers :      255   Socket :        0 Socket/Clients :  0.0
 drop-rate       :       0.00  bps
 ==================


 ==================
 interface sum
 ==================
------------------------
 per core stats core id : 1
------------------------
------------------------
 per core per if stats id : 1
------------------------
 port 0, queue id :0  - client
 ----------------------------
 port 1, queue id :0  - server
 ----------------------------
 ==================
 generators
 ==================


normal
-------------
 min_delta  : 10 usec
 cnt        : 0
 high_cnt   : 0
 max_d_time : 0 usec
 sliding_average    : 0 usec
 precent    : -nan %
 histogram
 -----------
 m_total_bytes                           :       8.70 Mbytes
 m_total_pkt                             :      60.00 Kpkt
 m_total_open_flows                      :      60.00 Kflows
 m_total_pkt                             : 60000
 m_total_open_flows                      : 60000
 m_total_close_flows                     : 60000
 m_total_bytes                           : 9120000
 ---------------
port : 0
------------
 opackets                                 : 60000
 obytes                                   : 9120000
 ipackets                                 : 9
 ibytes                                   : 576
 Tx :      79.49 Kbps
port : 1
------------
 opackets                                 : 0
 obytes                                   : 0
 ipackets                                 : 60009
 ibytes                                   : 9120576
 Tx :       0.00  bps
 Cpu Utilization : 0.3  %  0.1 Gb/core
 Platform_factor : 1.0
 Total-Tx        :      79.49 Kbps
 Total-Rx        :      79.49 Kbps
 Total-PPS       :      65.37  pps
 Total-CPS       :      65.45  cps

 Expected-PPS    :     100.00  pps
 Expected-CPS    :     100.00  cps
 Expected-BPS    :     121.60 Kbps

 Active-flows    :        0  Clients :      511   Socket-util : 0.0000 %
 Open-flows      :    60000  Servers :      255   Socket :        0 Socket/Clients :  0.0
 drop-rate       :       0.00  bps
 summary stats
 --------------
 Total-pkt-drop       : 0 pkts
 Total-tx-bytes       : 9120000 bytes
 Total-tx-sw-bytes    : 0 bytes
 Total-rx-bytes       : 9121152 byte

 Total-tx-pkt         : 60000 pkts
 Total-rx-pkt         : 60018 pkts
 Total-sw-tx-pkt      : 0 pkts
 Total-sw-err         : 0 pkts
 Total ARP sent       : 4 pkts
 Total ARP received   : 4 pkts

Here are the corresponding results in Kibana:

Here is my Packetbeat configuration file:

#################### Packetbeat Configuration Example #########################

# This file is an example configuration file highlighting only the most common
# options. The packetbeat.reference.yml file from the same directory contains all the
# supported options with more comments. You can use it as a reference.
#
# You can find the full configuration reference here:
# https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/packetbeat/index.html

# =============================== Network device ===============================

# Select the network interface to sniff the data. On Linux, you can use the
# "any" keyword to sniff on all connected interfaces. On all platforms, you
# can use "default_route", "default_route_ipv4" or "default_route_ipv6"
# to sniff on the device carrying the default route. If you wish to sniff
# on multiple network interfaces you may specify an array of distinct interfaces
# as a YAML array with each device's configuration specified individually.
# Each device may only appear once in the array of interfaces.
#
# packetbeat.interfaces:
# - device: en0
#   internal_networks:
#   - private
# - device: en1
#   internal_networks:
#   - private
#
packetbeat.interfaces.device: ens192

# Specify the amount of time between polling for changes in the default
# route. This option is only used when one of the default route devices
# is specified.
packetbeat.interfaces.poll_default_route: 1m

# The network CIDR blocks that are considered "internal" networks for
# the purpose of network perimeter boundary classification. The valid
# values for internal_networks are the same as those that can be used
# with processor network conditions.
#
# For a list of available values see:
# https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/packetbeat/current/defining-processors.html#condition-network
packetbeat.interfaces.internal_networks:
  - private

# =================================== Flows ====================================

# Set `enabled: false` or comment out all options to disable flows reporting.
packetbeat.flows:
  # Set network flow timeout. Flow is killed if no packet is received before being
  # timed out.
  timeout: 30s

  # Configure reporting period. If set to -1s, only killed flows will be reported
  period: 10s

# =========================== Transaction protocols ============================

packetbeat.protocols:
- type: icmp
  # Enable ICMPv4 and ICMPv6 monitoring. The default is true.
  enabled: true

- type: amqp
  # Configure the ports where to listen for AMQP traffic. You can disable
  # the AMQP protocol by commenting out the list of ports.
  ports: [5672]

- type: cassandra
  # Configure the ports where to listen for Cassandra traffic. You can disable
  # the Cassandra protocol by commenting out the list of ports.
  ports: [9042]

- type: dhcpv4
  # Configure the DHCP for IPv4 ports.
  ports: [67, 68]

- type: dns
  # Configure the ports where to listen for DNS traffic. You can disable
  # the DNS protocol by commenting out the list of ports.
  ports: [53]

- type: http
  # Configure the ports where to listen for HTTP traffic. You can disable
  # the HTTP protocol by commenting out the list of ports.
  ports: [80, 8080, 8000, 5000, 8002]

- type: memcache
  # Configure the ports where to listen for memcache traffic. You can disable
  # the Memcache protocol by commenting out the list of ports.
  ports: [11211]

- type: mysql
  # Configure the ports where to listen for MySQL traffic. You can disable
  # the MySQL protocol by commenting out the list of ports.
  ports: [3306,3307]

- type: pgsql
  # Configure the ports where to listen for Pgsql traffic. You can disable
  # the Pgsql protocol by commenting out the list of ports.
  ports: [5432]

- type: redis
  # Configure the ports where to listen for Redis traffic. You can disable
  # the Redis protocol by commenting out the list of ports.
  ports: [6379]

- type: thrift
  # Configure the ports where to listen for Thrift-RPC traffic. You can disable
  # the Thrift-RPC protocol by commenting out the list of ports.
  ports: [9090]

- type: mongodb
  # Configure the ports where to listen for MongoDB traffic. You can disable
  # the MongoDB protocol by commenting out the list of ports.
  ports: [27017]

- type: nfs
  # Configure the ports where to listen for NFS traffic. You can disable
  # the NFS protocol by commenting out the list of ports.
  ports: [2049]

- type: tls
  # Configure the ports where to listen for TLS traffic. You can disable
  # the TLS protocol by commenting out the list of ports.
  ports:
    - 443   # HTTPS
    - 993   # IMAPS
    - 995   # POP3S
    - 5223  # XMPP over SSL
    - 8443
    - 8883  # Secure MQTT
    - 9243  # Elasticsearch

- type: sip
  # Configure the ports where to listen for SIP traffic. You can disable
  # the SIP protocol by commenting out the list of ports.
  ports: [5060]
  # You can monitor tcp SIP traffic by setting the transport_protocol option
  # to tcp, it defaults to udp.
  #transport_protocol: tcp

# ======================= Elasticsearch template setting =======================

setup.template.settings:
  index.number_of_shards: 1
  #index.codec: best_compression
  #_source.enabled: false

# ================================== General ===================================

# The name of the shipper that publishes the network data. It can be used to group
# all the transactions sent by a single shipper in the web interface.
#name:

# A list of tags to include in every event. In the default configuration file
# the forwarded tag causes Packetbeat to not add any host fields. If you are
# monitoring a network tap or mirror port then add the forwarded tag.
#tags: [forwarded]

# Optional fields that you can specify to add additional information to the
# output.
#fields:
#  env: staging

# ================================= Dashboards =================================
# These settings control loading the sample dashboards to the Kibana index. Loading
# the dashboards is disabled by default and can be enabled either by setting the
# options here or by using the `setup` command.
#setup.dashboards.enabled: false

# The URL from where to download the dashboards archive. By default this URL
# has a value which is computed based on the Beat name and version. For released
# versions, this URL points to the dashboard archive on the artifacts.elastic.co
# website.
#setup.dashboards.url:

# =================================== Kibana ===================================

# Starting with Beats version 6.0.0, the dashboards are loaded via the Kibana API.
# This requires a Kibana endpoint configuration.
setup.kibana:

  # Kibana Host
  # Scheme and port can be left out and will be set to the default (http and 5601)
  # In case you specify and additional path, the scheme is required: http://localhost:5601/path
  # IPv6 addresses should always be defined as: https://[2001:db8::1]:5601
  host: "localhost:5601"
    #username: "elastic"
    #password: "yesee@2412"
  # Kibana Space ID
  # ID of the Kibana Space into which the dashboards should be loaded. By default,
  # the Default Space will be used.
  #space.id:

# =============================== Elastic Cloud ================================

# These settings simplify using Packetbeat with the Elastic Cloud (https://cloud.elastic.co/).

# The cloud.id setting overwrites the `output.elasticsearch.hosts` and
# `setup.kibana.host` options.
# You can find the `cloud.id` in the Elastic Cloud web UI.
#cloud.id:

# The cloud.auth setting overwrites the `output.elasticsearch.username` and
# `output.elasticsearch.password` settings. The format is `<user>:<pass>`.
#cloud.auth:

# ================================== Outputs ===================================

# Configure what output to use when sending the data collected by the beat.

# ---------------------------- Elasticsearch Output ----------------------------
output.elasticsearch:
  # Array of hosts to connect to.
  hosts: ["localhost:9200"]
  pipeline: geoip-info
  # Protocol - either `http` (default) or `https`.
  protocol: "https"

  # Authentication credentials - either API key or username/password.
  #api_key: "id:api_key"
  username: "elastic"
  password: "123456789"
  ssl.verification_mode: "none"
# ------------------------------ Logstash Output -------------------------------
#output.logstash:
  # The Logstash hosts
  #hosts: ["localhost:5044"]

  # Optional SSL. By default is off.
  # List of root certificates for HTTPS server verifications
  #ssl.certificate_authorities: ["/etc/pki/root/ca.pem"]

  # Certificate for SSL client authentication
  #ssl.certificate: "/etc/pki/client/cert.pem"

  # Client Certificate Key
  #ssl.key: "/etc/pki/client/cert.key"

# ================================= Processors =================================

processors:
  - # Add forwarded to tags when processing data from a network tap or mirror.
    if.contains.tags: forwarded
    then:
      - drop_fields:
          fields: [host]
    else:
      - add_host_metadata: ~
  - add_cloud_metadata: ~
  - add_docker_metadata: ~
  - detect_mime_type:
      field: http.request.body.content
      target: http.request.mime_type
  - detect_mime_type:
      field: http.response.body.content
      target: http.response.mime_type

# ================================== Logging ===================================

# Sets log level. The default log level is info.
# Available log levels are: error, warning, info, debug
#logging.level: debug
logging.level: info
logging.to_files: true
logging.files:
  path: /var/log/packetbeat
  name: packetbeat.log
  keepfiles: 7
  permissions: 0644


# At debug level, you can selectively enable logging only for some components.
# To enable all selectors use ["*"]. Examples of other selectors are "beat",
# "publisher", "service".
#logging.selectors: ["*"]

# ============================= X-Pack Monitoring ==============================
# Packetbeat can export internal metrics to a central Elasticsearch monitoring
# cluster.  This requires xpack monitoring to be enabled in Elasticsearch.  The
# reporting is disabled by default.

# Set to true to enable the monitoring reporter.
#monitoring.enabled: false

# Sets the UUID of the Elasticsearch cluster under which monitoring data for this
# Packetbeat instance will appear in the Stack Monitoring UI. If output.elasticsearch
# is enabled, the UUID is derived from the Elasticsearch cluster referenced by output.elasticsearch.
#monitoring.cluster_uuid:

# Uncomment to send the metrics to Elasticsearch. Most settings from the
# Elasticsearch output are accepted here as well.
# Note that the settings should point to your Elasticsearch *monitoring* cluster.
# Any setting that is not set is automatically inherited from the Elasticsearch
# output configuration, so if you have the Elasticsearch output configured such
# that it is pointing to your Elasticsearch monitoring cluster, you can simply
# uncomment the following line.
#monitoring.elasticsearch:

# ============================== Instrumentation ===============================

# Instrumentation support for the packetbeat.
#instrumentation:
    # Set to true to enable instrumentation of packetbeat.
    #enabled: false

    # Environment in which packetbeat is running on (eg: staging, production, etc.)
    #environment: ""

    # APM Server hosts to report instrumentation results to.
    #hosts:
    #  - http://localhost:8200

    # API Key for the APM Server(s).
    # If api_key is set then secret_token will be ignored.
    #api_key:

    # Secret token for the APM Server(s).
    #secret_token:


# ================================= Migration ==================================

# This allows to enable 6.7 migration aliases
#migration.6_to_7.enabled: true


http:
  enabled: true
  host: localhost
  port: 5066


transaction_max_spans: 5000

From my observations, I expected to see traffic statistics around 8 or 9 MB in Kibana. However, the figures displayed in Kibana significantly exceed this expectation, and I'm quite certain there's no other traffic. If anyone could help identify areas that I might have missed or need to check, your assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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