Work out peak hour traffic instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.
Provisioning from a daily average understates requirements badly. Converting daily volume into a peak-hour rate uses the busy-hour share, then a burst factor accounts for the fact that even within the peak hour traffic is not smooth — 30-second bursts commonly run 1.5 to 2 times the hourly mean, and that is what fills interface queues.
Peak rate
peak hour GB = daily GB x busy-hour share; peak Mbps = peak GB x 8000 / 3600; provision = peak x burst factor
Ten to fifteen percent of daily volume for consumer traffic, and higher for business networks where activity is confined to office hours.
Because interfaces drop packets when instantaneous rate exceeds capacity, even if the five-minute average looks fine. Most monitoring averages away the bursts that cause the loss.