A method, system and computer program product for detecting conditions of network
instability. An attribute indicative of network instability, e.g., processor and/or
co-processor utilization, packet arrival rates, packet peak rates, packet size
distribution, packet clustering tendencies, buffer usage patterns, occurrence of
peak utilization, out-of-buffer conditions, packet discard rates, may be monitored
for a network device, e.g., router. The monitored attribute may be associated with
a plurality of labels (variables) where a portion of those labels may be stored
in a cache. A hit ratio for the cache storing labels associated with the monitored
attribute may be tracked within a period of time based on the number of requested
items, i.e., labels, that are currently stored in the cache. A condition of network
instability may then be detected based on the hit ratio by determining if the absolute
value of the acceleration of the hit ratio exceeds a threshold.
