# Monitoring Port Utilization

Port utilization statistics provide insight into the traffic volume and quality that goes through your ports. Use this information to monitor your ports usage, provision new higher capacity ports and migrate your connections to ensure sufficient bandwidth available for your services.

To view a port's utilization statistics:

1. Sign in to the [Customer Portal](https://portal.equinix.com/). From the global navigation menu, click **Fabric**.

2. From the *Ports* menu, select **Port Inventory**.

3. Locate and click the desired port to view its details.

## Metrics[​](#metrics "Direct link to Metrics")

The *Metrics* tab shows bandwidth, dropped packet, and packet error data for the port.

The *Usage* graph shows inbound and outbound bandwidth.

![Screenshot of a Port\'s Usage Graph](https://docs.equinix.com/assets/images/monitoring-usage-graph-37617466922e757f48648e41bd3140b1.png)

The *Packet Drop* graph shows the inbound and outbound packets dropped on the port.

![Screenshot of a Port\'s Packet Drop Graph](https://docs.equinix.com/assets/images/monitoring-packet-dropped-graph-d1f43a023c02583e2d5cccdcd07bc293.png)

The *Packet Error* graph shows the inbound and outbound packet errors for the port.

![Screenshot of a Port\'s Packet Error Graph](https://docs.equinix.com/assets/images/monitoring-packet-error-graph-935a2405468083234e30c54310616af2.png)

From the *Time Period* drop-down list, select a predefined setting or choose Custom Date Range to define your own time interval.

Use the sliders at the bottom and to the right of a graph to change the scale. Hover over a the graph to see data for a specific timestamp.

### Metric Alert Rules[​](#metric-alert-rules "Direct link to Metric Alert Rules")

For instructions on configuring port bandwidth threshold alerts, refer to [Managing Metric Alert Rules](https://docs.equinix.com/observability/streaming-data/api-managing-metric-alert-rules.md).

## Events[​](#events "Direct link to Events")

The *Events* tab shows port lifecycle events for any status change to your asset, including provisioning, deprovisioning, and failures.

![Screenshot of the Port Events Table](https://docs.equinix.com/assets/images/monitoring-events-table-847f6d2351892aa139411db290b94002.png)

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Filter the table by event type, user name. From the *Time Period* drop-down list, select a predefined setting or choose *Custom Date Range* to define your own time interval. Events are not refreshed automatically. Click refresh to update the data in the table.

## Port Monitoring in the API[​](#port-monitoring-in-the-api "Direct link to Port Monitoring in the API")

The Equinix API offers the ability to create and customize a stream that collects usage data for your ports. Once you have created a stream you can view the data from the Equinix API or create a subscription to have the data sent to your data collection platform.

To configure port monitoring from the API:

* [Create a stream](https://docs.equinix.com/observability/streaming-data/api-managing-streams.md).
* [Add your connection or connections to the stream](https://docs.equinix.com/observability/streaming-data/api-managing-assets.md).

To get your data, either:

* [Create a subscription](https://docs.equinix.com/observability/streaming-data/create-subscription.md) and send the data to a data collector.