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Manual Chapter : Setting Up Application Statistics Collection

Applies To:

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BIG-IP AAM

  • 15.1.10, 15.1.9, 15.1.8, 15.1.7, 15.1.6, 15.1.5, 15.1.4, 15.1.3, 15.1.2, 15.1.1, 15.1.0

BIG-IP APM

  • 17.1.0, 17.0.0, 16.1.5, 16.1.4, 16.1.3, 16.1.2, 16.1.1, 16.1.0, 16.0.1, 16.0.0, 15.1.10, 15.1.9, 15.1.8, 15.1.7, 15.1.6, 15.1.5, 15.1.4, 15.1.3, 15.1.2, 15.1.1, 15.1.0

BIG-IP Analytics

  • 17.1.0, 17.0.0, 16.1.5, 16.1.4, 16.1.3, 16.1.2, 16.1.1, 16.1.0, 16.0.1, 16.0.0, 15.1.10, 15.1.9, 15.1.8, 15.1.7, 15.1.6, 15.1.5, 15.1.4, 15.1.3, 15.1.2, 15.1.1, 15.1.0

BIG-IP Link Controller

  • 17.1.0, 17.0.0, 16.1.5, 16.1.4, 16.1.3, 16.1.2, 16.1.1, 16.1.0, 16.0.1, 16.0.0, 15.1.10, 15.1.9, 15.1.8, 15.1.7, 15.1.6, 15.1.5, 15.1.4, 15.1.3, 15.1.2, 15.1.1, 15.1.0

BIG-IP LTM

  • 17.1.0, 17.0.0, 16.1.5, 16.1.4, 16.1.3, 16.1.2, 16.1.1, 16.1.0, 16.0.1, 16.0.0, 15.1.10, 15.1.9, 15.1.8, 15.1.7, 15.1.6, 15.1.5, 15.1.4, 15.1.3, 15.1.2, 15.1.1, 15.1.0

BIG-IP PEM

  • 17.1.0, 17.0.0, 16.1.5, 16.1.4, 16.1.3, 16.1.2, 16.1.1, 16.1.0, 16.0.1, 16.0.0, 15.1.10, 15.1.9, 15.1.8, 15.1.7, 15.1.6, 15.1.5, 15.1.4, 15.1.3, 15.1.2, 15.1.1, 15.1.0

BIG-IP AFM

  • 17.1.0, 17.0.0, 16.1.5, 16.1.4, 16.1.3, 16.1.2, 16.1.1, 16.1.0, 16.0.1, 16.0.0, 15.1.10, 15.1.9, 15.1.8, 15.1.7, 15.1.6, 15.1.5, 15.1.4, 15.1.3, 15.1.2, 15.1.1, 15.1.0

BIG-IP DNS

  • 17.1.0, 17.0.0, 16.1.5, 16.1.4, 16.1.3, 16.1.2, 16.1.1, 16.1.0, 16.0.1, 16.0.0, 15.1.10, 15.1.9, 15.1.8, 15.1.7, 15.1.6, 15.1.5, 15.1.4, 15.1.3, 15.1.2, 15.1.1, 15.1.0

BIG-IP ASM

  • 17.1.0, 17.0.0, 16.1.5, 16.1.4, 16.1.3, 16.1.2, 16.1.1, 16.1.0, 16.0.1, 16.0.0, 15.1.10, 15.1.9, 15.1.8, 15.1.7, 15.1.6, 15.1.5, 15.1.4, 15.1.3, 15.1.2, 15.1.1, 15.1.0
Manual Chapter

Setting Up Application Statistics Collection

What is Analytics?

Analytics, or Application Visibility and Reporting (AVR), is a module on the BIG-IP system that you can use to visually analyze the performance of web applications, TCP traffic, DNS traffic, FastL4, security metrics and overall system statistics. The statistics are displayed in graphical charts where you can drill down into a specific time range or system aspect to better understand network performance on certain devices, IP addresses, memory and CPU utilization, and so on. You can further focus the statistics in the charts by selecting dimension entities such as applications or virtual servers.
For HTTP traffic, Analytics provides detailed metric values such as transactions per second, server and client latency, request and response throughput, and sessions. You can view these metrics for specific system dimensions such as: applications, virtual servers, pool members, transaction outcomes,URLs, specific countries, and additional detailed statistics about application traffic running through the BIG-IP system.
Transaction counters for response codes, user agents, HTTP methods, countries, and IP addresses provide statistical analysis of HTTP traffic that is going through the system. You can capture HTTP traffic for examination, and have the system send alerts so you can troubleshoot problems and immediately react to sudden changes.
For TCP and FastL4 traffic, reports show details about RTT (round trip time), goodput, connections, and packets. For TCP, you can also view statistics for delay analysis. Within these system dimensions, you can display information by the requests side, applications, virtual servers, remote host IP addresses, subnet addresses, next hops, countries, cities, continents, or user provided keys (from the TCP::analytics iRule). You can use the reports to gather information about TCP flows to better understand what is happening on your network. For example, you could view the charts by applications, then examine RTT averages, packet loss, and connection length to investigate user complaints about a slowdown.
You specify the type of traffic to monitor using different Analytics profiles. To view web application statistics, you use an
HTTP Analytics profile
, and to view TCP or FastL4 statistics, you use a
TCP Analytics profile
. Viewing system statistics does not require an Analytics profile.
Using remote logging capabilities with Analytics, your company can consolidate statistics gathered from multiple BIG-IP appliances onto syslog servers or SIEM devices, such as Splunk or BIG-IQ Centralized Management. A report scheduler allows you to periodically send email to users with specific types of reports that you design.

About HTTP Analytics profiles

An
HTTP Analytics profile
 (
Local Traffic
Profiles
Analytics
HTTP Analytics
) is a set of definitions that determines the circumstances under which the system gathers, logs, notifies, and graphically displays information regarding traffic to an application. Each monitored application is associated with an HTTP Analytics profile. You associate the HTTP Analytics profile with one or more virtual servers used by the application. Each virtual server can have one HTTP and/or one TCP Analytics profile associated with it.
In the HTTP Analytics profile, you can customize:
  • Which statistics to collect, and their collection value thresholds
  • Location of data collection (locally, remotely, or both)
  • Traffic capturing specifications
  • Notifications
The BIG-IP system includes a default HTTP Analytics profile called
analytics
. It serves as the parent of all other HTTP Analytics profiles that you create on the system. You can modify the default profile, or create custom HTTP Analytics profiles for each application if you want to track different data for each one. Certain settings, such as SMTP Configuration, Transaction Sampling, and the Subnets list, can only be set in the default HTTP Analytics profile.
Statistics
Analytics
 displays the HTTP Overview, which shows data for the HTTP activity over a selected period of time.
Charts shown on the HTTP Overview screen include the application data saved for all HTTP Analytics profiles associated with iApps application services and virtual servers on the system. You can filter the HTTP information to reflect data for dimension entities, such as a specific application or URL.

Overview: Collecting application statistics

This implementation describes how to set up the BIG-IP system to collect application performance statistics. The system can collect application statistics locally, remotely, or both. You use these statistics for troubleshooting and improving application performance.
You can collect application statistics for one or more virtual servers or for an iApps application service. If virtual servers are already configured, you can specify them when setting up statistics collection. If you want to collect statistics for an iApps application service, you should first set up statistics collection, creating an HTTP Analytics profile, and then create the application service.
The system can send alerts regarding the statistics when thresholds are exceeded, and when they cross back into the normal range. You can customize the threshold values for transactions per second, latency, page load time, and throughput.

Customizing the default HTTP Analytics profile

The Application Visibility and Reporting (AVR) module includes a default HTTP Analytics profile called
analytics
. You can edit the settings in the default profile so it uses the values you want.
Certain information can be specified only in the default HTTP Analytics profile: the SMTP configuration (a link to an SMTP server), transaction sampling (whether enabled or not), and subnets (assigning names to be used in the reports). To edit these values, you need to open and edit the default profile.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Profiles
    Analytics
    HTTP Analytics
    .
    To have the
    Analytics
     listed, you need to provision Application Visibility and Reporting (AVR) first.
    The
    Profiles: Analytics
     screen opens.
  2. Click the profile called
    analytics
    .
    The configuration screen for the default HTTP Analytics profile opens.
  3. For the
    Statistics Logging Type
     setting, verify that
    Internal
     is selected. If it is not, select it.
    Selecting
    Internal
     causes the system to store statistics locally, and you can view the charts on the system by starting at the Main tab, and clicking
    Statistics
    Analytics
    .
  4. To specify certain traffic for the system to capture and log, select one, or both, logging types in the
    Traffic Capturing Logging Type
     setting.
    If a logging type is selected, you can configure the traffic capturing criteria in the
    Capture Filter
     area at the bottom of the screen. For more information about the dimension and metric options for traffic capturing, see
    Capturing traffic for troubleshooting
    .
    Internal
    Specifies that the system captures a portion of the application traffic which you can then view on the
    System
    Logs
    Captured Transactions
     screen.
    External
    Specifies that the system captures a portion of the application traffic and sends it to a remote server. If you select this option, the
    Remote Publisher
     option is displayed, where you select a log publisher.
  5. To send email alerts, specify an
    SMTP Configuration
    .
    You can change the SMTP configuration only in the default profile. It is used globally for the system. If no configuration is available, click
    Create
     to create one.
  6. For the
    Notification Type
     setting, select how you want the system to send alerts and notifications.
    Syslog
    Select
    Syslog
     if you want the system to send notification and alert messages to the local log system. You can view the messages on the
    System
    Logs
    Local Traffic
    screen.
    SNMP
    Select
    SNMP
     if you want the system to send notification and alert messages as SNMP traps. You can create the trap by clicking
    Configuration can be found here
     (
    System
    SNMP
    Traps
    Destination
    ). Enabling SNMP automatically sets up Syslog notifications, too.
    E-mail
    Select
    E-mail
     if you want the system to send notification and alert messages to email addresses. Type each email address in the
    Notification E-Mails
     field, and click
    Add
     to create the list. This option requires that the default analytics profile includes an SMTP configuration.
    When you select a notification type, the screen displays the Alerts and Notifications Configuration area, where you can indicate the criteria for alerts and notifications.
  7. If you want the system to perform traffic sampling, make sure that for
    Transaction Sampling
     area, the
    Sample
     check box is selected.
    You can change this setting only in the default profile.
    Sampling improves system performance. F5 recommends that you enable sampling if you generally use more than 50 percent of the system CPU resources, or if you have at least 100 transactions in 5 minutes for each entity.
  8. If you want the system to collect and display statistics, according to the expressions written in an iRule, select the
    Enable
     check box from
    Publish iRule Statistics
    .
    When you select this option, iRule statistics are visible per analytics profile. In addition, these iRule events are displayed in near real time (delay of 10 seconds), while statistics in the Configuration utility have a delay of at least 5 minutes. You can view iRule statistics per Analytics profile on the command line by typing
    ISTATS dump
    .
    For the system to collect iRule statistics, you must also write an iRule describing which statistics the system should collect.
  9. In the Associated Virtual Servers area, specify the virtual servers for which to capture application statistics:
    1. For the
      Virtual Servers
       setting, click
      Add
      .
    2. From the Select Virtual Server popup that opens, select the virtual servers to include and then click
      Done
      .
    Only virtual servers previously configured with an HTTP profile display in the list (because the data being collected applies to HTTP traffic). Also, you can assign only one HTTP Analytics profile to a virtual server; therefore, the list displays only virtual servers that have not been assigned an Analytics profile.
    Special considerations apply if using Analytics on a BIG-IP system with both Application Security Manager and Access Policy Manager, where security settings (in Portal Access webtop or an iRule) redirect traffic from one virtual server to another. In this case, you need to attach the HTTP Analytics profile to the second virtual server to ensure that the charts show accurate statistics.
  10. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collected Metrics
    , select additional statistics you want the system to collect from the requests:
    Option
    Description
    Max TPS and Throughput
    Collects and logs statistics regarding the maximum number of transactions occurring per second (TPS) and the amount of traffic moving through the system.
    Maximum request and response throughput is collected and recorded separately. Each value is then displayed separately when you drill down into details of Transaction Outcomes (
    Statistics
    Analytics
    Overview
    ).
    HTTP Timing (RTT, TTFB, Duration)
    Collects and logs statistics regarding the HTTP request and response times, including round-trip time, time to first byte and overall transaction duration time.
    Page Load Time
    Collects and logs statistics regarding the time it takes an application user to get a complete response from the application, including network latency and completed page processing.
    End-user response times and latencies can vary significantly based on geographic location and connection types.
    User Sessions
    Collects and logs statistics regarding the number of unique user sessions. For
    Timeout
    , select the allowed minutes of user inactivity before the system considers the session to be over.
    For
    Cookie Secure Attribute
    , specify whether to secure session cookies:
    • Always
      , the secure attribute is always added to the session cookie.
    • Never
      , the secure attribute is never added to the session cookie.
    • Only SSL
      , the secure attribute is added to the session cookie only when the virtual server has a client SSL profile (the default value).
    By default, the system collects many metrics, including TPS, throughput, server latency, response time, network latency. You can select the metrics here, in addition to the ones already collected, once the Analytics profile is attached to one or more virtual servers.
  11. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collected Entities
    , select additional entities to collect statistics for each request.
    By default, the system collects many entity statistics, including virtual servers, pool members, browser names, operating system, and so on. You can select the ones here in addition to the ones already collected once the Analytics profile is attached to one or more virtual servers.
    When you select
    URLs
    ,
    Countries
    ,
    Client IP Addresses
     or
    Client Subnets
     you have additional options configure specific statistics filtering options.
    Option
    Description
    URLs
    Saves the URLs that were requested.
    Countries
    Saves the name of the country where the request came from, and is based on the client IP address criteria.
    Client IP Addresses
    Saves the IP address where the request originated. The address saved also depends on whether the request has an XFF (X-forwarded-for) header and whether the HTTP profile accepts XFF headers.
    Client Subnets
    Saves statistics for predefined client subnets. Client subnets can be added in the Subnets area of the default HTTP Analytics profile.
    Response Codes
    Saves HTTP response codes that the server returned in response to requests.
    User Agents
    Saves information about browsers making the request.
    Methods
    Saves HTTP methods in requests.
    OS and Browsers
    Saves information about the operating system and browser making the request.
  12. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collect URLs
    , you can configure whether the system collects traffic from all or from specific URLs.
    1. Select
      All
       to collect traffic from all URLs.
      By default, the system collects traffic from all URLs, when you select
      URLs
       from the
      Collected Entities
       list.
    2. Select
      Only
       to collect traffic from specific URLs.
    3. Specify the URLs for which to capture traffic and click
      Add
      . You can add up to 10 URLs to the list.
      If you select
      Only
       and leave the list empty, the system collects traffic data from all URLs.
  13. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collect Countries
    , you can configure whether the system collects traffic from all or from specific countries.
    1. Select
      All
       to collect traffic from all countries.
      By default, the system collects traffic from all countries, when you select
      Countries
       from the
      Collected Entities
       list.
    2. Select
      Only
       to collect traffic from specific countries.
    3. Specify the countries for which to capture traffic. Select from the Available Countries list and use the arrow keys to move each country to the Selected Countries list. You can add up to 10 countries to the Selected list.
      If you select
      Only
       and leave the list empty, the system collects traffic data from all countries.
  14. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collect Client IP Addresses
    , you can configure whether the system collects traffic from all or from specific client IPs.
    1. Select
      All
       to collect traffic from all client IP addresses.
      By default, the system collects traffic from all client IPs, when you select
      Client IP Addresses
       from the
      Collected Entities
       list.
    2. Select
      Only
       to collect traffic from specific client IP addresses.
    3. Specify the client IP addresses for which to capture traffic and click
      Add
      . You can add up to client IP addresses to the list.
      If you select
      Only
       and leave the list empty, the system collects traffic data from all client IP addresses.
  15. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collect Client Subnets
    , you can configure whether the system collects traffic from all or from specific client subnet IPs.
    1. Select
      All
       to collect traffic from all subnets.
      By default, the system collects traffic from all subnets, when you select
      Client Subnets
       from the
      Collected Entities
       list.
    2. Select
      Only
       to collect traffic from specific subnets.
    3. Specify the subnet IPs for which to capture traffic and click
      Add
      . You can add up to 10 subnet IPs to the list.
      You can filter the listed subnets by one type of IP protocol. Adding both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols results in an error.
      If you select
      Only
       and leave the list empty, the system collects traffic data from all subnets.
  16. If you are collecting statistics for Client Subnets, you can configure in the
    Subnets
     area the name the subnets so the reports show a name (such as a department name) instead of an IP address.
    1. In the
      Subnets
       area, type a name in the
      Name
       field, and in the
      IP/Mask
       field, type the IP address of the subnet.
    2. Click
      Add
      .
    The subnets are added to the list of Active Subnets. If displaying relevant data, the names of the subnets appear in the Analytics statistics.
  17. Click
    Update
     to save your changes.
Statistics are collected for traffic going to the virtual servers specified in this profile.
You can create new HTTP Analytics profiles if you need to. New Analytics profiles inherit their values from the default Analytics profile. You can modify the values in the new profiles (except the ones that are set only in the default profile such as SMTP configuration). For example, you might want to send reports about two different applications to different managers. So you could have different emails listed in the notification type settings in two Analytics profiles.

Collecting application statistics locally

You need to provision the Application Visibility and Reporting (AVR) module before you can collect application statistics locally.
You can configure the BIG-IP system to collect specific application statistics locally.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Profiles
    Analytics
    HTTP Analytics
    .
    If
    Analytics
     is not listed, this indicates that Application Visibility and Reporting (AVR) is not provisioned, or you do not have rights to create profiles.
    The HTTP Analytics screen opens.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
    The New HTTP Analytics profile screen opens.
  3. In the
    Profile Name
     field, type a unique name for the Analytics profile.
  4. From the
    Parent Profile
     list, select the profile from which you want to inherit settings.
    The default profile is often used as the parent profile.
    The new profile inherits the values from the parent profile. If the parent is changed, the inherited values in the new profile also change.
  5. Select the
    Custom
     check box.
  6. For the
    Statistics Logging Type
     setting, verify that
    Internal
     is selected. If it is not, select it.
    Selecting
    Internal
     causes the system to store statistics locally, and you can view the charts on the system by starting at the Main tab, and clicking
    Statistics
    Analytics
    .
  7. You can use the default values for the rest of the General Configuration settings.
  8. In the Associated Virtual Servers area, specify the virtual servers for which to capture application statistics:
    1. For the
      Virtual Servers
       setting, click
      Add
      .
    2. From the Select Virtual Server popup that opens, select the virtual servers to include and then click
      Done
      .
    Only virtual servers previously configured with an HTTP profile display in the list (because the data being collected applies to HTTP traffic). Also, you can assign only one HTTP Analytics profile to a virtual server; therefore, the list displays only virtual servers that have not been assigned an Analytics profile.
    Special considerations apply if using Analytics on a BIG-IP system with both Application Security Manager and Access Policy Manager, where security settings (in Portal Access webtop or an iRule) redirect traffic from one virtual server to another. In this case, you need to attach the HTTP Analytics profile to the second virtual server to ensure that the charts show accurate statistics.
  9. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, select the
    Custom
     check box.
  10. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collected Metrics
    , select additional statistics you want the system to collect from the requests:
    Option
    Description
    Max TPS and Throughput
    Collects and logs statistics regarding the maximum number of transactions occurring per second (TPS) and the amount of traffic moving through the system.
    Maximum request and response throughput is collected and recorded separately. Each value is then displayed separately when you drill down into details of Transaction Outcomes (
    Statistics
    Analytics
    Overview
    ).
    HTTP Timing (RTT, TTFB, Duration)
    Collects and logs statistics regarding the HTTP request and response times, including round-trip time, time to first byte and overall transaction duration time.
    Page Load Time
    Collects and logs statistics regarding the time it takes an application user to get a complete response from the application, including network latency and completed page processing.
    End-user response times and latencies can vary significantly based on geographic location and connection types.
    User Sessions
    Collects and logs statistics regarding the number of unique user sessions. For
    Timeout
    , select the allowed minutes of user inactivity before the system considers the session to be over.
    For
    Cookie Secure Attribute
    , specify whether to secure session cookies:
    • Always
      , the secure attribute is always added to the session cookie.
    • Never
      , the secure attribute is never added to the session cookie.
    • Only SSL
      , the secure attribute is added to the session cookie only when the virtual server has a client SSL profile (the default value).
    By default, the system collects many metrics, including TPS, throughput, server latency, response time, network latency. You can select the metrics here, in addition to the ones already collected, once the Analytics profile is attached to one or more virtual servers.
  11. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collected Entities
    , select additional entities to collect statistics for each request.
    By default, the system collects many entity statistics, including virtual servers, pool members, browser names, operating system, and so on. You can select the ones here in addition to the ones already collected once the Analytics profile is attached to one or more virtual servers.
    When you select
    URLs
    ,
    Countries
    ,
    Client IP Addresses
     or
    Client Subnets
     you have additional options configure specific statistics filtering options.
    Option
    Description
    URLs
    Saves the URLs that were requested.
    Countries
    Saves the name of the country where the request came from, and is based on the client IP address criteria.
    Client IP Addresses
    Saves the IP address where the request originated. The address saved also depends on whether the request has an XFF (X-forwarded-for) header and whether the HTTP profile accepts XFF headers.
    Client Subnets
    Saves statistics for predefined client subnets. Client subnets can be added in the Subnets area of the default HTTP Analytics profile.
    Response Codes
    Saves HTTP response codes that the server returned in response to requests.
    User Agents
    Saves information about browsers making the request.
    Methods
    Saves HTTP methods in requests.
    OS and Browsers
    Saves information about the operating system and browser making the request.
  12. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collect URLs
    , you can configure whether the system collects traffic from all or from specific URLs.
    1. Select
      All
       to collect traffic from all URLs.
      By default, the system collects traffic from all URLs, when you select
      URLs
       from the
      Collected Entities
       list.
    2. Select
      Only
       to collect traffic from specific URLs.
    3. Specify the URLs for which to capture traffic and click
      Add
      . You can add up to 10 URLs to the list.
      If you select
      Only
       and leave the list empty, the system collects traffic data from all URLs.
  13. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collect Countries
    , you can configure whether the system collects traffic from all or from specific countries.
    1. Select
      All
       to collect traffic from all countries.
      By default, the system collects traffic from all countries, when you select
      Countries
       from the
      Collected Entities
       list.
    2. Select
      Only
       to collect traffic from specific countries.
    3. Specify the countries for which to capture traffic. Select from the Available Countries list and use the arrow keys to move each country to the Selected Countries list. You can add up to 10 countries to the Selected list.
      If you select
      Only
       and leave the list empty, the system collects traffic data from all countries.
  14. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collect Client IP Addresses
    , you can configure whether the system collects traffic from all or from specific client IPs.
    1. Select
      All
       to collect traffic from all client IP addresses.
      By default, the system collects traffic from all client IPs, when you select
      Client IP Addresses
       from the
      Collected Entities
       list.
    2. Select
      Only
       to collect traffic from specific client IP addresses.
    3. Specify the client IP addresses for which to capture traffic and click
      Add
      . You can add up to client IP addresses to the list.
      If you select
      Only
       and leave the list empty, the system collects traffic data from all client IP addresses.
  15. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collect Client Subnets
    , you can configure whether the system collects traffic from all or from specific client subnet IPs.
    1. Select
      All
       to collect traffic from all subnets.
      By default, the system collects traffic from all subnets, when you select
      Client Subnets
       from the
      Collected Entities
       list.
    2. Select
      Only
       to collect traffic from specific subnets.
    3. Specify the subnet IPs for which to capture traffic and click
      Add
      . You can add up to 10 subnet IPs to the list.
      You can filter the listed subnets by one type of IP protocol. Adding both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols results in an error.
      If you select
      Only
       and leave the list empty, the system collects traffic data from all subnets.
  16. Click
    Finished
    .
The BIG-IP system collects the statistics specified in the Analytics profile. You can view the statistics by clicking
Statistics
Analytics
.

Collecting application statistics remotely

You need to provision the Application Visibility and Reporting (AVR) module before you can collect application statistics remotely. To specify where the BIG-IP system sends log messages remotely, you must have set up logging and created a publisher.
You can configure the BIG-IP system to collect application statistics and store them remotely on Syslog servers or SIEM devices, such as Splunk.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Profiles
    Analytics
    HTTP Analytics
    .
    If
    Analytics
     is not listed, this indicates that Application Visibility and Reporting (AVR) is not provisioned, or you do not have rights to create profiles.
    The HTTP Analytics screen opens.
  2. Click
    Create
    .
    The New HTTP Analytics profile screen opens.
  3. In the
    Profile Name
     field, type a unique name for the Analytics profile.
  4. Select the
    Custom
     check box.
  5. For the
    Statistics Logging Type
     setting, select the
    External
     check box.
    The
    Remote Publisher
     setting displays, below the
    Traffic Capturing Logging Type
     setting.
  6. If you want the system to capture traffic, for the
    Traffic Capturing Logging Type
     setting, specify whether to store the traffic locally or on a remote server.
    Internal
    Specifies that the system captures a portion of traffic and stores it locally. You can view the captured data on the
    System
    Logs
    Captured Transactions
     screen.
    External
    Specifies that the system captures a portion of traffic and stores it on a remote server.
    When you select Traffic Capturing Logging Type, the screen displays the Capture Filter area, where you can indicate exactly what information to sample and log.
  7. From the
    Remote Publisher
     list, select the publisher that includes the destination to which you want to send log messages.
    Refer to
    External Monitoring of BIG-IP Systems: Implementations
     for details.
  8. If you want the system to send email notifications, review the
    SMTP Configuration
     field to ensure that a configuration is specified and not the value
    None
    .
    You can configure SMTP only in the default Analytics profile. If it is not configured, you can save the profile and edit the default profile where you can select an existing SMTP configuration or create a new one. (If you click the
    analytics
     link without saving the new profile you are working on, you will lose the unsaved changes.)
  9. For the
    Notification Type
     setting, select how you want the system to send alerts and notifications.
    Syslog
    Select
    Syslog
     if you want the system to send notification and alert messages to the local log system. You can view the messages on the
    System
    Logs
    Local Traffic
    screen.
    SNMP
    Select
    SNMP
     if you want the system to send notification and alert messages as SNMP traps. You can create the trap by clicking
    Configuration can be found here
     (
    System
    SNMP
    Traps
    Destination
    ). Enabling SNMP automatically sets up Syslog notifications, too.
    E-mail
    Select
    E-mail
     if you want the system to send notification and alert messages to email addresses. Type each email address in the
    Notification E-Mails
     field, and click
    Add
     to create the list. This option requires that the default analytics profile includes an SMTP configuration.
    When you select a notification type, the screen displays the Alerts and Notifications Configuration area, where you can indicate the criteria for alerts and notifications.
  10. In the Associated Virtual Servers area, specify the virtual servers for which to capture application statistics:
    1. For the
      Virtual Servers
       setting, click
      Add
      .
    2. From the Select Virtual Server popup that opens, select the virtual servers to include and then click
      Done
      .
    Only virtual servers previously configured with an HTTP profile display in the list (because the data being collected applies to HTTP traffic). Also, you can assign only one HTTP Analytics profile to a virtual server; therefore, the list displays only virtual servers that have not been assigned an Analytics profile.
    Special considerations apply if using Analytics on a BIG-IP system with both Application Security Manager and Access Policy Manager, where security settings (in Portal Access webtop or an iRule) redirect traffic from one virtual server to another. In this case, you need to attach the HTTP Analytics profile to the second virtual server to ensure that the charts show accurate statistics.
  11. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collected Metrics
    , select additional statistics you want the system to collect from the requests:
    Option
    Description
    Max TPS and Throughput
    Collects and logs statistics regarding the maximum number of transactions occurring per second (TPS) and the amount of traffic moving through the system.
    Maximum request and response throughput is collected and recorded separately. Each value is then displayed separately when you drill down into details of Transaction Outcomes (
    Statistics
    Analytics
    Overview
    ).
    HTTP Timing (RTT, TTFB, Duration)
    Collects and logs statistics regarding the HTTP request and response times, including round-trip time, time to first byte and overall transaction duration time.
    Page Load Time
    Collects and logs statistics regarding the time it takes an application user to get a complete response from the application, including network latency and completed page processing.
    End-user response times and latencies can vary significantly based on geographic location and connection types.
    User Sessions
    Collects and logs statistics regarding the number of unique user sessions. For
    Timeout
    , select the allowed minutes of user inactivity before the system considers the session to be over.
    For
    Cookie Secure Attribute
    , specify whether to secure session cookies:
    • Always
      , the secure attribute is always added to the session cookie.
    • Never
      , the secure attribute is never added to the session cookie.
    • Only SSL
      , the secure attribute is added to the session cookie only when the virtual server has a client SSL profile (the default value).
    By default, the system collects many metrics, including TPS, throughput, server latency, response time, network latency. You can select the metrics here, in addition to the ones already collected, once the Analytics profile is attached to one or more virtual servers.
  12. In the Statistics Gathering Configuration area, for
    Collected Entities
    , select additional entities to collect statistics for each request.
    By default, the system collects many entity statistics, including virtual servers, pool members, browser names, operating system, and so on. You can select the ones here in addition to the ones already collected once the Analytics profile is attached to one or more virtual servers.
    When you select
    URLs
    ,
    Countries
    ,
    Client IP Addresses
     or
    Client Subnets
     you have additional options configure specific statistics filtering options.
    Option
    Description
    URLs
    Saves the URLs that were requested.
    Countries
    Saves the name of the country where the request came from, and is based on the client IP address criteria.
    Client IP Addresses
    Saves the IP address where the request originated. The address saved also depends on whether the request has an XFF (X-forwarded-for) header and whether the HTTP profile accepts XFF headers.
    Client Subnets
    Saves statistics for predefined client subnets. Client subnets can be added in the Subnets area of the default HTTP Analytics profile.
    Response Codes
    Saves HTTP response codes that the server returned in response to requests.
    User Agents
    Saves information about browsers making the request.
    Methods
    Saves HTTP methods in requests.
    OS and Browsers
    Saves information about the operating system and browser making the request.
  13. If one of the
    Traffic Capturing Logging Type
     check boxes is selected, in the Capture Filter area, adjust the settings to specify criteria to determine what application traffic to capture.
    You can use the captured information for troubleshooting purposes.
  14. Click
    Finished
    .
The BIG-IP system collects statistics regarding application traffic described by the Analytics profile and stores the statistics on a separate remote management system, where you can view the information.

Getting application performance alerts

Before you can configure the system to send alerts concerning statistics, you need to have created an Analytics profile to collect application statistics locally (
Statistics Logging Type
 must have
Internal
 selected). To set up email alerts, the default
analytics
 profile must specify an SMTP configuration.
You can configure the BIG-IP system to send alerts concerning local application statistics based on threshold values that you set. The system sends notifications when threshold values are breached, and when they return to normal. Therefore, it is a good idea to get familiar with the typical statistics for the web application before attempting to set up alerts and notifications. When you understand the typical values, you can configure the system to alert you of limiting system situations, such as system overload.
End user response times and latencies can vary significantly based on geography and connection types, which makes it difficult to set an accurate alerting threshold for page load times.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    Local Traffic
    Profiles
    Analytics
    HTTP Analytics
    .
    To have the
    Analytics
     listed, you need to provision Application Visibility and Reporting (AVR) first.
    The
    Profiles: Analytics
     screen opens.
  2. Click the name of a previously created Analytics profile, or create a new one.
  3. Select the
    Custom
     check box.
  4. For the
    Statistics Logging Type
     setting, verify that
    Internal
     is selected. If it is not, select it.
    Selecting
    Internal
     causes the system to store statistics locally, and you can view the charts on the system by starting at the Main tab, and clicking
    Statistics
    Analytics
    .
  5. To send email alerts, specify an
    SMTP Configuration
     (this can only be done on the default
    analytics
     profile).
    If you created a new profile, configure SMTP later.
  6. For the
    Notification Type
     setting, select how you want the system to send alerts and notifications.
    Syslog
    Select
    Syslog
     if you want the system to send notification and alert messages to the local log system. You can view the messages on the
    System
    Logs
    Local Traffic
    screen.
    SNMP
    Select
    SNMP
     if you want the system to send notification and alert messages as SNMP traps. You can create the trap by clicking
    Configuration can be found here
     (
    System
    SNMP
    Traps
    Destination
    ). Enabling SNMP automatically sets up Syslog notifications, too.
    E-mail
    Select
    E-mail
     if you want the system to send notification and alert messages to email addresses. Type each email address in the
    Notification E-Mails
     field, and click
    Add
     to create the list. This option requires that the default analytics profile includes an SMTP configuration.
    When you select a notification type, the screen displays the Alerts and Notifications Configuration area, where you can indicate the criteria for alerts and notifications.
  7. In the Alerts and Notifications Configuration area, for the
    Add New Rule
     setting, define the rules that determine when the system sends alerts. Note that you cannot add overlapping rules, for example, two rules that request an alert when average TPS is greater than
    100
     and greater than
    50
     for
    200
     seconds.
    1. For
      Alert when
      , select the condition under which you want to send an alert.
    2. Select
      below
       or
      above
      , type an integer that represents the threshold value, and type the number of seconds (an integer,
      300
       or greater,) during which the rule has to apply.
    3. Select the granularity level to which the threshold applies: traffic sent to an
      Application
      , a
      Virtual Server
      , or a
      Pool Member
      .
    4. Click
      Add
      .
      The rule is added to the list of Active Rules.
    Continue to add as many rules as you want to specify conditions under which you want to be alerted.
  8. Click
    Update
    .
  9. If SNMP is not configured on the BIG-IP system and you want to send SNMP traps, configure it now:
    1. In the General Configuration area, for the
      Notification Type
       setting, next to
      SNMP
      , click the link.
      The SNMP Traps Destination screen opens.
    2. Click
      Create
      .
    3. Configure the version, community name, destination IP address, and port.
    4. Click
      Finished
      .
  10. If you need to configure SMTP (if sending alerts by email), click the default
    analytics
     profile on the Profiles: Analytics screen.
    1. For
      SMTP Configuration
      , select an existing configuration.
    2. If no SMTP configurations are listed, click the
      here
       link to create one. When you are done, you need to select the configuration you created in the default
      analytics
       profile.
Based on the rules you configured and the notification type, the system sends an alert when thresholds are breached and when they cross back from the threshold.

Creating an SMTP server configuration

You specify the SMTP server configuration so that you can send emails through an SMTP server.
  1. On the Main tab, click
    System
    Configuration
    Device
    SMTP
    .
  2. Click the
    Create
     button.
    The New SMTP Configuration screen opens.
  3. In the
    Name
     field, type a name for the SMTP server that you are creating.
  4. In the
    SMTP Server Host Name
     field, type the fully qualified domain name for the SMTP server host.
  5. In the
    SMTP Server Port Number
     field, type a port number.
  6. In the
    Local Host Name
     field, type the host name used in the SMTP headers in the form of a fully qualified domain name.
    This host name is not the same as the BIG-IP system's host name.
  7. In the
    From Address
     field, type the email address that you want displayed as the reply-to address for the email.
  8. From the
    Encrypted Connection
     list, select the encryption level required for the SMTP server.
  9. To require that the SMTP server validates users before allowing them to send email, select the
    Use Authentication
     check box, and type the user name and password required to validate the user.
  10. Click the
    Finish
     button.
You can now configure the system to use this SMTP server to send emails. For the SMTP mailer to work, you must make sure the SMTP server is on the DNS lookup server list, and configure the DNS server on the BIG-IP system.
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