Analysis priorities

Each device receives one of the following analysis levels.

Discovery Mode

The ExtraHop system identifies known device hardware and software, authenticated users, and assigned and associated IP addresses. The ExtraHop system also generates detections and charts that show protocol activity observed on the device. All devices receive a minimum of this analysis level, except for L2 parent devices.

Standard Analysis

The ExtraHop system includes at least one week of L2-L3 metric and peer relationship data that you can instantly explore through detections, charts, and activity maps. The ExtraHop system also identifies known device hardware and software, authenticated users, and assigned and associated IP addresses. Learn how to prioritize groups for Standard Analysis.

Advanced Analysis

The ExtraHop system includes at least one week of L2-L7 metrics from over 50 protocols and peer relationship data that you can instantly explore through detections, charts, and activity maps, as well as custom dashboards, reports, and alerts. The ExtraHop system also identifies known device hardware and software, authenticated users, and assigned and associated IP addresses. Learn how to prioritize groups for Advanced Analysis or add an individual device to a watchlist.

L2 Parent Analysis

L2 Parent Analysis is only applicable if L3 Discovery is enabled on the ExtraHop system. Except for gateways and routers, L2 parent devices automatically receive this analysis level, which collects L2-L3 protocol metrics and activity maps.

Flow Analysis

A flow sensor collects data from flow logs, instead of packets, for analysis by the ExtraHop system. Devices discovered on flow sensors automatically receive this analysis level. Analysis Priorities system settings are not available for flow sensors, and devices in Flow Analysis cannot be added to the watchlist.

See a table that compares these analysis levels.

The ExtraHop system can analyze hundreds of thousands of devices and automatically determine which analysis level each device receives, but you can control which devices are prioritized for Advanced and Standard Analysis.

Most devices can be added to a watchlist to ensure Advanced Analysis or you can add device groups to an ordered list to prioritize them for Advanced Analysis and Standard Analysis.

Here are some important considerations about prioritizing devices through the watchlist:

• Devices remain on the watchlist even when they are inactive, but metrics are not collected for inactive devices.
• The number of devices in the watchlist cannot exceed your Advanced Analysis capacity.
• Devices can only be added to the watchlist from a device properties page or the device list page. You cannot add devices to the watchlist from the Analysis Priorities page.
• If you want to add several devices to the watchlist, we recommend that you create a device group and then prioritize that group for Advanced Analysis.
• Devices receiving L2 Parent Analysis or Flow Analysis cannot be added to the watchlist.

Here are some important considerations about prioritizing devices groups:

• Order device groups from the highest to lowest priority in the list.
• Click-and-drag groups to change their order in the list.
• Make sure that each device in the group is active; groups that contain a large number of devices take up capacity and inactive devices do not generate metrics.

By default, the ExtraHop system automatically fills Advanced and Standard Analysis levels to maximum capacity. Here are some important considerations about capacity levels and the automatic fill option:

• Devices prioritized in the watchlist or through a prioritized group fill the higher analysis levels first, and then by the earliest-discovered devices.
• Devices are prioritized for Advanced Analysis if the device is associated with certain detections, if the device has accepted or initiated an external connection, or if the device is running common attack tools.
• Device properties such as the role, hardware and software, protocol activity, detection history, and high value can also determine analysis levels.
• The Automatically Fill option is enabled by default. If disabled, all devices that are not in prioritized groups or in the watchlist are removed and the ExtraHop system sets the priority for each device.
• Your ExtraHop platform and license determine maximum capacity levels.

See the Analysis Priorities FAQ to learn about analysis level capacities.