Optimize Low Traffic Ports Based on Historical Traffic Patterns
This topic describes how to reduce device-level energy consumption by disabling ports that consistently carry low or negligible traffic during specific time windows, based on historical usage patterns.
Network traffic often exhibits predictable patterns over time. Some ports consistently carry low or negligible traffic during specific off-peak windows, even though they remain operational. This can be because certain components stay powered on regardless of traffic load. These idle ports continue to consume energy.
The Low Traffic Port Optimization recommendation identifies such ports by analyzing several days of historical per-port traffic telemetry. When the system detects a stable pattern of repeated low utilization during defined time windows, it marks the ports as a safe candidate for temporary shutdown during those windows.
Disabling these ports helps reduce the device’s baseline energy consumption without affecting workload performance.
By aligning each port’s operational state with its actual traffic demand, this recommendation helps make the device’s power usage more proportional to the network’s utilization patterns, improve energy efficiency, and lower operational cost.
A port is included in the Low Traffic Port Optimization recommendation when:
- It consistently operates below the configured low-traffic utilization threshold during
the same hours across multiple consecutive days.Note:
The low-traffic utilization threshold used for this analysis can be configured at the organization and site levels. See, Configure Port Threshold for the Organization and Configure Port Threshold for a Site.
- The port is not part of a critical role (uplink, fabric link, control-plane link).
- Disabling the port during the low-traffic window is operationally safe.
- Sufficient historical telemetry exists to establish a predictable pattern.
The Low Traffic Port Optimization recommendation provides actionable guidance, such as the list of eligible ports, the observed low-traffic windows, and the relevant configlet-based actions required to safely disable ports and reduce idle power consumption.
The recommendation service executes once per day. Each execution uses historical per-port traffic telemetry and the configuration data available at the time of execution. The Recommendation tab displays the most recently generated results for the device.
Changes to port states, traffic patterns, or threshold configurations that occur outside the current execution window are reflected in recommendations after the next execution cycle.
Use the Per-Port Peak / Off-Peak Traffic Patterns heatmap on the Device-Level Energy dashboard to view traffic patterns for all ports.
The Recommendation tab will appear empty, if no safe or meaningful recommendations or power saving actions were identified based on the latest device telemetry.
To view underutilized ports and review the recommended actions:
-
Navigate to the Recommendation tab and expand the Low Traffic
Port Optimization recommendation card to view all ports that are identified as
candidates for temporary shutdown, and for each port review optimization guidance, and
risks and benefits associated with the suggested action.
Figure 1 shows a sample Low-Traffic Port Optimization recommendation card.Figure 1: Recommendation Card
The recommendation card includes the following fields:
Table 1: Field Description Field Description Recommendation Type A short, high-level description of the recommendation.
Indicates the type of recommendation and the number of ports identified for applying the suggestion. For example, Low Traffic Port Optimization (40 Ports).
Device Port Port identified as carrying low or negligible traffic.
Use the drop-down selector to select a port and view its specific recommendation.
Summary A brief explanation of the observed traffic patterns and the recommended optimization action. For example, in Figure 1, port
et-0/0/0is identified to consistently carry low traffic from Wednesday to Wednesday between hour 12 and hour 14 and it is suggested to disable or deactivate the port during this window to reduce unnecessary power consumption.Actions Provides step-by-step guidance and relevant configlet-based actions required to disable the port without impacting the network traffic. Note:You must use the configlets in Apstra Data Center Director to apply configuration changes to the device. For more information on configlets, see Configlets in the Apstra Data Center Director User Guide.
Benefits Displays quantified advantages, such as estimated power and cost savings and reduced GHG emissions. Risks Highlight caveats such as potential dependencies, safety checks, and guardrails to consider before applying the suggested changes. Timestamp Shows when the recommendation was generated and how long it is valid.
Note: Recommendations are refreshed daily based on the latest device telemetry,