The concept behind the data seen here is described on the SLWiki page for LLMessageSystem Burst Metrics. The particular dataset in use here for the visualization is a synthetic network testbench consisting of a packet-generating process (trafficmaker), a proxy (proxy-ds), and a message processing worker (worker-ds). This data is not relevant to real-world Second Life usage, but helps me write this system and explain it to others.
Using the protovis data visualization framework.
To manipulate the visualization, drag the red bars to the left of each graph up or down. This "cuts" the range of data selected. To re-draw a range, click and drag in the white area now exposed that was under the red bar. Refresh the page to reset all ranges.
This software isn't perfect yet, so if something freaks out, you can just refresh the page to get back to where you started. Also, refresh if you resize the page.