Monitoring Application Services

Evaluating application services

You can monitor your applications for health issues and active alerts to mitigate potential impact on the application services. Evaluating application service data provides insights, based on its service type. If you identify an issue with your services you can edit your application service.

For more information about editing application configuration, see Use BIG-IQ to Manage Applications, or Use BIG-IQ to Manage AS3 templates.

For more information about minimum requirements for statistics visibility, see Configuring Statistics Collection.

Traffic Management

Local traffic data provides analytics into the latency of the end-to-end transactions between the client and server. Transaction data is collected based on your configuration of the TCP or HTTP application services. Using transaction data, you can identify:

• Trends in traffic throughput, including general latency

• Issues affecting the application’s servers

• Issues affecting virtual servers

• Client-reported latency

Devices

Device data provides analytics into the resource usage and traffic to your BIG-IP environment. Using this data, you can identify:

• Device resource usage and status (CPU, memory, etc.)
• Traffic throughput over time

Security

Web application security data and alerts provide indications of the application service’s protection and the malicious traffic detected by your protection profiles. Using HTTP traffic data detected by security policies you can identify:

• General trends in potential security threats

• False positives generated by a policy that is actively blocking traffic

• Attacks that reached your application servers when a policy is in monitoring (transparent) protection

  Note: Security data is not supported by legacy applications. Security data for legacy applications do not appear in the HTTP application screens.

DNS

DNS services report the query responses per second (RPS) and the outcomes of DNS traffic. Using data from traffic within your DNS domain you can identify:

• Trends in DNS traffic

• Results of DNS load balancing decisions

Monitor application performance using alerts

About application alerts

Alerts provide the status application services contained in an application can indicate current, or potential, performance issues that require mitigation. The following outline the types of events and alerts provided to your application services

Health and Status Events

Application health is a reflection of the status of one or more of its application services. Application health is displays the status of application service with the most critical health. Once you select an application, you can view which application service(s) is affected.

Application service health is displayed based on the most critical status detected. There are two factors used to indicate changes in health:

• The status of the virtual server, pool or pool member connected to the application service. The health status of a virtual server is reflected by its communication with the server pool to your managed application. For more information about these alerts, see Virtual server status events and Wide IP status events.

  Note: The health of all application objects are relayed to the host virtual server. For AS3 applications, pool member alerts still appear under virtual server health, but report details of affected pool members.

• A performance metric threshold is crossed and sustained over time. These are based on the metric conditions configured to your application service’s alert rules.

Traffic Performance Alerts

Performance alerts are triggered by threshold violations, reported by HTTP, TCP and DNS application services. Active alerts reflect an ongoing application service performance issue. You can edit these thresholds, based on your system monitoring requirements.

A critical, or warning, alert that is active, indicates there has been a sustained threshold violation for over five minutes. A subsequent alert is triggered once another threshold is crossed (either an increase or decrease in severity, or cleared). To ensure that conditions are improving, an alert for declining severity (critical to warning) or a cleared alert, is triggered only when the value is sustained for five minutes at ten percent below the threshold value. For example, if a threshold value is configured for greater than 60 percent, a declining severity must be sustained at 54 percent or less to trigger an alert.

Security Alerts

Security alerts are provided to applications and virtual servers with Web Application Security protection. These alerts vary based on the protection mode (blocking vs transparent). Security alerts differ from other alerts, as they are based on set thresholds, and they do not directly impact application health.

Identify application services with health issues

You can use the application health status settings to identify a specific application service that has surpassed a performance threshold.

1. Open the application summary screen (Applications > APPLICATIONS).

2. Locate the HEALTH area at the top left of the summary bar.

3. Click Critical and Moderate to filter the application list by applications with the selected health statuses.

   Note: In the applications list, the Active Alerts field indicates the current number of alerts for an application.

4. Click the application’s name.

   The application services are displayed.

5. Identify the application services with moderate or critical health, and click the name to view the summary dashboard for the selected application service.

You can use the ANALYTICS portion of the application service dashboard to evaluate charts that contain traffic data specific to the selected application service.

Identify application service performance issues

You can use the application service alerts to identify when a performance issue began, and its current status.

Note: You can view pool and pool member statuses by selecting alerts with Reported Object Type labeled as Virtual Server. This includes AS3 configured applications.

1. Open the application properties screen by selecting the application’s name from the Applications screen ( click Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application Name> > <Application Service>).

2. To view the application service’s most severe, active alerts, view the Active Alerts area at the far right of the summary bar.

3. Click See All to view the application’s Active Alert screen.

   This displays a log of all alerts that have crossed a defined threshold.

4. Click the row for the most recent health alert, and view the alert details on the lower part of the screen.

   • The Description field displays the affected performance indicator.
   • The Value field displays the value when the alert was triggered
   • The Log Level filed indicate the alert’s severity. Note: In addition to the high-level fields, you can also view details about the objects associated with the alert notification in the Dimensions column on the right side of the panel. In this area, you can see details like the host BIG-IP device, or affected pool members.

5. Return to the single application screen by clicking the back arrow next to Active Alerts screen title.

From the application service’s screen, you can use the alert information to analyze and isolate if the issue is related to one or more pool members.

Virtual server status events

Virtual Server events and indicate the status of the virtual server and its pool. You can see these events and alerts in the charts of the application properties screen ( Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application Name> > <Application HTTP Service>) and in the Local Traffic dashboards ( Monitoring > DASHBOARDS > Local Traffic). You can also view alerts in the Active Alerts and Alert History screens (Applications > ALERT MANAGEMENT).

Wide IP status events

Wide IP events and indicate the status of your DNS pools of virtual servers, and the overall health of your DNS application services. You can see these events and alerts in the charts of the application properties screen ( Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application Name> > <DNS Application Service>) and in the DNS dashboards ( Monitoring > DASHBOARDS > DNS > GSLB). You can also view alerts in the Active Alerts and Alert History screens (Applications > ALERT MANAGEMENT).

HTTP Application service alerts

HTTP application service alerts notify regarding changes in metrics that can affect the overall performance of traffic or security management for your managed application. When one or more of these thresholds are crossed, the health of your HTTP application service will change. You can view alerts from the single application service’s screen (Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application Name> > <HTTP application service>), or the alerts screens (Applications > ALERT MANAGEMENT > Active Alerts or Alert History).

The following chart outlines the metric conditions for monitoring HTTP application services.

*Indicates that this data was collected from TCP traffic information, and indicates network latency and transmission times. Mitigation may require changes to your TCP profile.

**The Additional Data column refers to the ANALYTICS portion of the single application service’s screen. The charts sited are located when either APPLICATION SERVICE or Traffic Management services are selected, unless stated otherwise (see image for reference).

TCP application service alerts

TCP application service alerts notify you when there are changes in metrics that can affect the overall performance of traffic over the network. There are no default alert thresholds for TCP application services, so you must configure your threshold values to receive alerts. If configured, you can view alerts from the application service’s screen (Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application Name> > <TCP application service>), or the general alerts screens (Applications > ALERT MANAGEMENT > Active Alerts or Alert History).

**The Additional Data column refers to the ANALYTICS portion of the single application service’s screen. The charts sited are located when either APPLICATION SERVICE or Traffic Management services are selected, unless stated otherwise (see image for reference).

Web Application Security Alerts

Security alerts in the TRENDS AND IMPACTS area of the L7 Security dashboard (Monitoring > DASHBOARDS > L7 Security) notify you of the number of objects reporting Web Application Security policy (Web Exploits) or DoS profile (L7 DDoS Attacks) events over the past day (trend charts report the past week). These alerts indicate that a protected object (application or virtual server) recently experienced an increased rate in performance issues. To view data the corresponds with these traffic events go to Monitoring > DASHBOARDS > DDoS > HTTP Analysis To view the status of your deployed applications, go to Applications > APPLICATIONS.

Note: Security alerts are not available to legacy applications.

DNS application service alerts

DNS application service alerts notify you when there are changes in metrics that can affect the overall performance of traffic over the network. When one or more of these thresholds are crossed, the health of your DNS application service will change. You can view alerts from the application service screen (Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application Name> > <DNS application service>), or the general alerts screens (Applications > ALERT MANAGEMENT > Active Alerts or Alert History).

Modify application performance monitoring alerts

Managing application service alerts

The health of your application service is determined by the status of your virtual servers and/or metric thresholds that monitor your application service’s traffic processing capabilities. Metric thresholds are assigned to your application service based on the alert rules configured to your application template. There are a default set of alert rules per application service. You can modify these default rules or add a new alert rule set for a single application service.

Tip: You can view and edit a single application service’s health rules by clicking the health icon located at the far left of the single application service’s summary bar.

Add a new health rule set for an application service

When you configure an application service to the BIG-IQ, the application and its services are monitored by a default health alert rule set. You can create a new health alert rule set to customize the alert notifications for a specific application service.

1. Go to the Alert Management screen Applications > ALERT MANAGEMENT > Alert Rules.

2. At the top left of the screen, click the Add button.

   The New Alert Rule screen opens.

3. Type aName and an optional Description.

4. Select the Rule Type (Device Health or Device Access-health).

5. In the Metric Conditions area, enable and disable metrics as needed by selecting or clearing the box to the right of the Metric column.

   Note: BIG-IP devices earlier than version 13.1.0.5 do not collect data that supports metric alerts. Applications that are managed by earlier versions of a BIG-IP device do not receive metric alerts.

6. Use the Actions area to enable alert notifications by SNMP and Email.

7. Use the Devices area at the bottom of the screen to view the available devices for the new alert rule set, and move a device from the Available list to the Selected list.

   You can filter the device lists by selecting from the Filter list.

8. Click Save at the bottom of the screen, or click Save & Close to save and return to the Alert Rules screen.

The health and metric rules trigger new alerts according to the saved modifications. This clears active alerts for the associated application, which triggers the Alert Rule Changes alert.

Modify the default application alerts

You can monitor your applications service’s status based on the status of its connected objects and traffic performance metrics. The rules for triggering an alert from your application service can be adjusted based on your monitoring needs. For more information about the performance metrics per application service, see

1. Go to the Alert Management screen Applications > ALERT MANAGEMENT > Alert Rules.

2. Click the alert rule name.

   This opens the alert rule’s properties screen.

3. View the Metric Conditions area at the center of the screen, which displays the current metrics and thresholds for the default application alerts rule.

   By default, all the metrics are enabled.

   Note: BIG-IP devices earlier than version 13.1.0.5 do not collect data that supports metric alerts. Applications that are managed by earlier versions of a BIG-IP device do not receive metric alerts.

4. To disable, or enable metrics, click the check box to the right of the metric column.

5. To adjust the Warning and Critical threshold values for enabled metrics, specify a different value for the metric in the appropriate fields.

6. In the Events area, you can enable or disable status alerts for application objects.

7. Use the Actions area to enable alert notifications by SNMP and Email.

8. Click Save at the bottom of the screen, or click Save & Close to save and return to the Alert Rules screen.

The metric rules trigger new alerts according to the saved modifications. This clears active alerts associated with this rule set, and triggers an Alert Rule Changes alert.

Monitoring HTTP application service data

Monitoring HTTP traffic data

HTTP network traffic provides insights into the health, status and request-types to your applications. When monitoring HTTP traffic over time you can evaluate local, such as latency and end-to-end times, and Web Application Security data, such as volume of illegal transactions. In addition, you can use this data to profile the users who request to access your application.

If you have Web Application security provisioned to the BIG-IP device managing your application, select Security from the F5 Services list in the center of the screen. The remaining information in the charts and dimensions, pertains to traffic management services.

Tip: To evaluate data for all your HTTP applications, go to Monitoring > DASHBOARDS > Local Traffic > HTTP. For Web Application Security, go to Monitoring > DASHBOARDS > Web Application Security.

Detecting application performance issues that require mitigation

An HTTP application service’s performance issues might be caused by changes in a pool member’s status. Issues with a pool member can lead to increases in application response time, server-side round trip time (RTT), incomplete transactions, and server errors. An application that sustains these increases can result in a critical or moderate health status. You can use application alerts to isolate managed objects, such as pool members, or virtual servers that reported issues. You can use your findings to adjust your application’s managed objects (LTM pool members) in order to improve performance.

You identify an application with changes in pool member status by using the application health status screen (Applications > APPLICATONS). Once an application and application service (either HTTP or TCP) is identified, you can further evaluate which pool member(s) is affecting performance.

Identify pool members causing traffic performance issues

You can isolate pool members that are causing performance issues to mitigate the performance impact by evaluating your HTTP application services.

Tip: You can apply this procedure to identify server status for TCP traffic as well. However, you will have fewer options to view pool data, or change configuration directly from the application service dashboard.

1. Open the application properties screen by selecting the application’s name from the Applications screen ( click Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application Name> > <Application Service>).

2. Near the middle of the screen in the SERVERS area, click the numbered icon below to display pool member information in the ANALYTICS area.

   

3. To view pool member traffic data, select from menu to the left of the screen in the ANALYTICS area (Server Latency, Application Response Time, or Server Side RTT).

4. In the time settings above the chart, ensure that the Events button is set to ON.

5. You can click the Category buttons below the chart such that only the System button is active.

   Note: The buttons below the chart have a gray background when disabled, and a blue background, when enabled.

   This action filters out all other alert and event categories displayed in the charts.

6. Click an event icon in the chart to display the events and alerts that correspond with the traffic data.

   This displays the event table below the chart, which includes details about the events and alerts that occurred at that time.

   Tip: You can further filter so that only pool member and virtual server events appear, use the Search events field, and type “server-readiness”.

7. Isolate the affected pool member address from the Title column in the event table, or click the event row to view event details in the Description area.

8. You can analyze additional data for the isolated pool member by expanding the Dimension pane to the right of the chart and selecting the pool member address from the Pool Members Address list.

Mitigating a traffic performance issue

To manage LTM objects to mitigate a performance issue that you isolated using analytics, you use essentially the same screens that you used to find the problem. But instead of using the ANALYTICS option in the details area, you use the CONFIGURATION option.

Resolving this issue requires the following:

• Create a replacement for the object triggering the issue.
• Delete or remove the object from service.

In these tasks, we provide an example of a problem pool member. But you can use the same strategy for other Traffic Management object types in your application.

Create a replacement pool member

When you isolate a pool member that is affecting traffic performance, you can create a replacement for the member that is triggering the performance issues.

1. Select the application that needs attention from the all applications screen (Applications > APPLICATIONS > Application Name).

2. Find the pool member that needs attention: At the right, center of the screen, click the number in the Servers circle.

   This displays the pool member information in the CONFIGURATION area.

3. Create a new pool member.

   1. At the left click CONFIGURATION.

   2. Under Servers, click Create (a Create Servers popup screen opens).

   3. Type the IP Address and Port for the new pool member.

   4. Click Create. (This creates the pool member and closes the popup screen.)

The next thing you probably want to do is take this pool member out of service so that your application traffic can return to normal.

Solve a performance problem stemming from pool member issues

Before you start, you probably want to create a replacement pool member to handle the traffic of the problem member.

When you isolate a pool member that is affecting traffic performance, you have a couple of ways to remedy the issue. Depending on what kind of issues the pool member is experiencing, you might want to delete it immediately, disable it, or force it offline.

1. Select the application that needs attention from the all applications screen (Applications > APPLICATIONS > Application Name).

2. Find the pool member that needs attention: At the right, center of the screen, click the number in the Servers circle.

   This displays the pool member information in the CONFIGURATION area.

3. Select the pool member that needs attention:

   1. Click CONFIGURATION.

   2. Select the check box for the pool member.

4. Determine what you want to do with this pool member based on the nature of the performance issue, and take the most appropriate action.

The next thing you probably want to do is repeat the troubleshooting steps you used to isolate this pool member as the problem source and confirm that the issue is resolved.

HTTP server traffic charts

This table lists and defines the charts found under the ANALYTICS tab in the application service dashboard (Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application Name> > <Application HTTP Service>). Select the option marked in the image to view charts at the bottom of the screen. These charts display the trends of the application pool members. Each chart displays an aspect of pool member performance, as function of the selected time period.

HTTP client traffic charts

This table lists and defines the charts found under the ANALYTICS tab in the application service dashboard (Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application Name> > <Application HTTP Service>). Select the option marked in the image to view charts at the bottom of the screen. These charts display the trends of application traffic processed by the BIG-IP system. Each chart displays an aspect of application traffic as a function of the selected time period.

HTTP Dimensions and Metrics

The dimensions and metrics listed are gathered to monitor traffic data pertaining to the HTTP layer. The information provided is found in the dimensions pane tables with the screens that display HTTP data. It is important note that all metric data is displayed as a unit over the time period selected for the screen.

HTTP Dimensions

The following defines the dimensions found in the dimensions pane that report HTTP traffic analytics.

BIG-IP Host Names

The name of each BIG-IP system that processed the monitored transactions.

Applications

The name of each application reporting HTTP traffic data.

Application Services

The name of each HTTP application service reporting transaction data.

Virtual Servers

The name of each virtual server that processes monitored transactions.

Pool Member Addresses

The IP addresses of the servers assigned to a pool configured to a managed BIG-IP.

Transaction Outcomes

The outcome assigned to each HTTP request as they are processed by the BIG-IP system.

URLs

The URL that initiated the HTTP request that was processed by the BIG-IP system.

Client IPs

The client IP address that initiated the HTTP request that was processed by the BIG-IP system.

Subnets

The subnet of the client IP address that initiated the HTTP request that was processed by the BIG-IP system.

Countries

The country listed in the HTTP request that was processed by the BIG-IP system.

Response Codes

The result code listed HTTP response received by the BIG-IP system.

Response Code Families

The class of the HTTP response result received by the BIG-IP system.

Methods

The HTTP method included in the HTTP request received by the BIG-IP system.

Browsers

The type of browser included in the HTTP request that was received by the BIG-IP system.

OSs

The operating system included in the HTTP request received by the BIG-IP system.

User Agents

The browser and operating system information included in the HTTP request received by the BIG-IP system.

HTTP Metric

HTTP metrics reflect the quantity, volume and speed of the HTTP traffic processed by your managed BIG-IP systems. Metric sets categorize the metric data according to an aspect of the traffic’s progress throughout the transaction process. The table below defines the metric set and the kind of metric data collected.

Web Application Security Charts

The charts that reflect Web Application Security data allow you to analyze current trends in traffic to applications with Web Application Security. The parameters found in the charts described display the detected layer 7 security threats, out of all HTTP traffic. The configuration of application service the in view is indicated in the Properties icon, as indicated in the image of an AS3 application service.

Illegal Transactions Rate (TPS)

The average number of illegal transactions per second that were identified by the Web Application Security profile. These transactions were detected based on the violation rating and your Web Application Security policy’s action settings. Increases in illegal traffic over time can indicate an increase in attacks to your applications, or it can indicate an overly-strict protection policy. The current protection mode is indicated by Blocked or transparent transactions. You can use the Violation Rating dimension to filter violations above a certain threat level. This will allow you to identify specific violations types that were detected.

Tip: A single illegal transaction can include multiple violations. Therefore, comparing the number of illegal transactions vs the number of violations may not accurately reflect your system’s status. It is recommended to primarily evaluate the number of illegal transactions.

Transactions Rate by Violation Rating (TPS)

The average number of transactions per second by the detected threat level assigned by your Web Application Security policy. The threat level of the traffic is shown in ascending order; from Legal to Malicious.

Top 6 Violations (Violations/s)

The six types of violations most commonly detected (per second). Violation information can be useful in adjusting your Web Application Security policy for optimized protection against the most common attacks.

Web Application Security Dimensions and Metrics

The metrics and dimensions listed are provide data regarding the transaction volume and traffic violations detected by your Web Application Security policy. The information provided is found in the dimensions pane tables with the screens that display Web Application Security data. You use this information to filter the on-screen data by specific dimension objects. For example, if you would like to view data that pertains to specific virtual servers, you can select specific virtual servers to filter only their data results. It is important note that all metric data is displayed as a unit over the time period selected for the screen.

Web Application Security Dimensions

The following defines the dimensions that provide traffic analytics for objects protected by a Web Application Security profile.

Note: Some dimensions may not have listed objects, as information may not be available. For example, if your policy is in Transparent mode, or there are no reported attacks, there will be no data listed under the Actions dimension.

BIG-IP Host Names

The name of each BIG-IP system that processed the monitored transactions.

BIG-IP Blade Numbers

The individual blades (by number) for all monitored BIG-IP devices.

Applications

The name of each application reporting HTTP traffic data.

Application Services

The name of each HTTP application service reporting transaction data.

Virtual Servers

The name of each virtual server that processes monitored transactions.

ASM Policy Names

The names of the Web Application Security (ASM) policies that protect the virtual servers currently processing application traffic.

Actions

The enforcement applied to a detected attack signature. These actions include:

Learn

Alarm

Block

Violation Ratings

The rating assigned to traffic by the Web Application Security policy. The assigned ratings include:

Legal, normal traffic that does not contain any threat indicators.

Legal (Staging), traffic that is tentatively detected as legal during the policy builder process. The relevant settings in the security policy are in staging.

Likely F.P., traffic may present a security threat, but is likely a false positive.

Illegal, traffic that contains known violations, or abnormalities, that pose a threat to the application’s performance.

Malicious, traffic that contains known threat actors.

Network Protocols

The network protocol (HTTP, HTTPS) in the transaction.

Client IPs

The client IP address that initiated the HTTP request that was processed by the BIG-IP system.

Attack Types

The general category of application-layer attack, as identified by the Web Application Security policy.

Violations

The types of traffic violations, as detected by your Web Application Security policy.

Virus Names

The names of known viruses detected.

Client Device IDs

The unique identifier of the client’s device, derived from a JavaScript injection from BIG-IP to the client device.

IP Reputation

The IP categories configured for IP Intelligence. This dimension is relevant to users who have configured an ASM policy with IP Intelligence.

Countries

The country listed in the HTTP request that was processed by the BIG-IP system.

User Name

The client login name, based on information submitted from a login page. This information is available when Web Application Service is paired with Access service.

Session ID

The unique identifier of an HTTP session between the client and the application. This information is stored along with other client data, such as device ID.

URLs

The URL that initiated the HTTP request that was processed by the BIG-IP system.

Response Code Families

The class of the HTTP response result received by the BIG-IP system.

Methods

The HTTP method included in the HTTP request received by the BIG-IP system.

Web Application Security Metrics

HTTP metrics reflect the quantity, volume and speed of the HTTP traffic processed by your managed BIG-IP systems. Metric sets categorize the metric data according to an aspect of the traffic’s progress throughout the transaction process. The table below defines the metric set and the kind of metric data collected.

Enhanced analytics for HTTP traffic and security services

Collect additional data to troubleshoot an application’s performance

You can use the Analytics area of the Application screen to collect additional data about application traffic data. This prompts the system to collect additional metrics about your application’s performance, which enhances your troubleshooting capabilities.

Tip: You can enable Enhanced Analytics on multiple applications at once to the enhanced data objects in the HTTP dashboard (click Monitoring > DASHBOARDS > Local Traffic > HTTP).

1. Open the application properties screen by selecting the application’s name from the Applications screen ( click Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application Name> > <Application Service>).

2. Click the Enhanced Analytics button to Enhanced Analytics Settings popup screen.

   Note: By default, all HTTP metrics (check boxes) are enabled (selected). Selecting only one, or a focused number of metrics, improves the quality of the data collected.

3. Ensure that the Collect HTTP metrics for <Application Name> check box is selected.

4. Leave selected only the check boxes you want, to view specific data within the chart dimensions of the Analytics area.

5. To view details about your application’s security, select Collect Security metrics for all devices hosting <Application Name>.

6. Click Start.

   The detail screen for this application displays a banner across the top of the screen, Enhanced Analytics On, with a Stop button. If you return to the Applications screen, the health icon in the applications list is highlighted to indicate which application is running Enhanced Analytics.

7. To disable Enhanced Analytics, click the Stop button in the Enhanced Analytics On banner.

   Tip: You can also click Enhanced Analytics, and click Stop in the Enhanced Analytics Settings popup window.

   Important: Once you have completed troubleshooting, disable Enhanced Analytics to reduce disk usage allocated for statistics data collection.

When Enhanced Analytics mode is off, dimension statistics persist in the dimension object list, when viewing a time period from when Enhanced Analytics was enabled.

HTTP: Enhanced Analytics metric settings

This table lists and describes HTTP options in the Enhanced Analytics Settings popup screen displays additional metric data for the corresponding dimensions, when enabled. The added data is displayed in the HTTP traffic charts. When disabled, these dimensions display aggregated data. When disabled, the dimensions in the table below display data as N/A.

Identifying additional application security and traffic parameters

When you are troubleshooting the security status of an application, additional data can help you isolate details that characterize potential, or ongoing, vulnerabilities. On the Application screen, the Enhanced Analytics option provides you with the ability to collect more information about the Web Application Security policy for your application’s BIG-IP host device. When this feature is enabled, the enhanced data displays additional dimension objects and data for the security dimensions found in the Analytics area.

In addition to displaying enhanced traffic data, you can select additional HTTP traffic data to view details about the application’s traffic during the time of an attack (for example, Client IPs, Geolocations, or URLs).

The Enhanced Analytics option does not impact your BIG-IQ system performance. By default,you can enable up to 20 applications simultaneously in Enhanced Analytics mode.

Note: System administrators can adjust the maximum number of applications by modifying the maxNumberOfApps parameter value in the /var/config/rest/config/restjavad.properties.json file.

Security: Enhanced Analytics metric settings

This table lists and describes the security dimensions that can display additional metric data, when Collect Security metrics for all devices hosting <Application Name> is selected in the Enhanced Analytics Settings popup screen. When Enhanced Analytics is enabled, the added data is displayed in the Web Application Security charts. When disabled, these dimensions display aggregated data in the dimension object list.

Monitoring TCP application service data

Monitoring TCP statistics

Network performance of client-to-application communication relies on the efficiency of latency times and packet volume sent over the TCP protocol. When examining TCP data over time, consider these metrics to evaluate the user experience with the application server.

The image displays the dashboard of an AS3 TCP application service. Using this dashboard, you monitor and mitigate issues with your TCP application service.

Note: TCP analytics is available to all application service types (Legacy and SC) with a TCP analytics profile.

Tip: To evaluate the data for all your TCP applications, go to Monitoring > DASHBOARDS > Local Traffic > TCP.

Identify TCP application service issues

You can analyze the data of a TCP application service to establish traffic status, or to troubleshoot performance issues.

1. Go to Applications > APPLICATIONS.

   A list of all configured applications are displayed.

2. Select the application name that has the TCP application service you would like to monitor.

3. Select the name of the TCP application service.

   The TCP application service dashboard is displayed.

4. Use the icons located at the center of the screen to evaluate traffic data in the charts at the bottom of the screen.

To make quick edits to your application service’s configuration, select the CONFIGURATION tab at the center of the screen.

Evaluate client-side information from TCP data

You can evaluate data about your client-side connections using TCP analytics. When viewing TCP connection data, you can analyze detected client IP addresses, or traffic volume data from the client-side. There are two ways to view data: evaluate a specific application service; or evaluate TCP traffic to all your applications. Use the process that best suits your system’s needs.

Tip: For more information about the charts, dimensions and metrics referenced in this task, see TCP charts and TCP dimensions and metrics.

1. To view an application service’s client-side data:

   1. Go to Applications > APPLICATIONS

   2. Select the application name that hosts your TCP application service.

   3. Select the name of the TCP application service.

      The application service’s dashboard is displayed. Ensure the ANALYTICS tab at the center of the screen is selected

   4. Click the icon All Types under CLIENT.

      

   5. Using the menu to the left of the chart, select Client Side Connections.

      The chart displays the client-side connection status over the selected time period.

   6. To view the client IPs requesting access to your application, expand the dimension Remote Host IP Address, located in the dimension pane to the right of the chart.

      You can select a specific IP to filter data displayed in the charts and other dimensions.

   7. To view general traffic data, from the client-side, select any of the charts located in the menu to the left.

2. To view client-side data for all TCP application services:

   1. Go to Monitoring > DASHBOARDS > Local Traffic > TCP.

   2. From the dimensions pane, to the right of the charts, expand Requests Side and select Client-Side.

      This action will filter all charts and dimensions on the screen to only display client-side request data.

   3. To view the client IPs requesting access to your applications, expand the dimension Remote Host IP Address.

      The list displays all client IP addresses detected in traffic over the selected time period. You can select one or more IP addresses to further filter the chart and remaining dimension data.

TCP Charts

The charts that reflect TCP data allow you to analyze current traffic data, and troubleshoot any issues that may occur over time. The parameters found in the charts described can indicate the wait time over the course of the client-server communication channel. To view charts for a TCP application service, go to Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application_Name> > <TCP_Application_Service>.

Note: You can view TCP data for all your traffic (to all managed applications) by going to Monitoring > DASHBOARDS > Local Traffic > TCP.

Tip: The image shows which selections display the charts detailed below. These charts display a combination of both request and server side data. Click CLIENT or SERVERS to view that part of the transaction with the BIG-IP system. Click Environment to display the status of the BIG-IP device.

Round Trip Time (RTT)

A measure of time it takes to send a packet and receive an ACK message from the target host. Increased RTT over time indicates limited network bandwidth.

Goodput

The number of useful bytes, delivered by the network, to a destination over time. Low goodput in ratio to overall throughput indicates network issues, such as increased retransmits.

Delay States

A traffic condition in which the TCP protocol limits packet flow to avoid network congestion. During periods of congestion, the TCP protocol applies a mitigation algorithm to manage traffic flow according to the root cause of congestion. For more information about the traffic conditions that prompts a delay state, see TCP Dimensions and Metrics.

Connections

The average number of new and closed TCP connections. Monitoring your TCP connections can indicate the level of activity across your network.

Packets

The volume of transmitted data over the network, including payload, and other required data based on the packet format. The outcome of these packets over time can indicate a number of network issues including: congestion, server performance/capacity limits, or an attack.

TCP Dimensions and Metrics

The following list defines the metrics gathered to monitor TCP network connections and the dimension aspects from which data is observed. The information provided is found in the dimensions pane tables with the screens that display TCP data. You use this information to filter the on-screen data by specific dimension objects. For example, if you would like to view data that pertains to specific virtual servers. It is important note that all metric data is displayed as a unit over the time period selected for the screen.

TCP Dimensions

The following defines the dimensions found in the dimensions pane that report TCP traffic analytics.

BIG-IP Service Clusters

The name of the logical grouping of multiple BIG-IP devices that have the same configuration. This dimension only displays transaction details if you have configured a service cluster.

BIG-IP Host Names

The name of each BIG-IP system that processed the monitored transactions.

BIG-IP Blade Names

The number of the BIG-IP Blade in a cluster. For a standalone BIG-IP, the value is 0.

Applications

The name of each application service grouping that reports TCP traffic data.

Application Services

The name of each TCP application service reporting transaction data.

Virtual Servers

The name of each virtual server that processes the TCP transactions.

Request Sides*

The TCP connection either between the BIG-IP system and the client or the server (depending on the chart in view). The recorded metric is a measure of the communication protocol between the remote host and the BIG-IP virtual server.

Continent

The geographic domain, based on continent code, that initiated the TCP connection with the BIG-IP virtual server.

Subnets

The subnet of the client IP address that initiated the TCP request that was processed by the BIG-IP system.

Countries and Regions

Either the location of the country or region domain, based on the country code, that initiated the TCP connection with the BIG-IP virtual server.

City and Post Codes

The location, based on IP location lookup, that initiated the TCP connection with the BIG-IP virtual server.

Remote Host IP Addresses

The IP addresses of either the client or servers that have initiated a TCP connection with your BIG-IP system.

Subscriber Type

The defined subscriber type based on a Policy Enforcement Manager (PEM) profile. If you do not have PEM subscriber data configured to your BIG-IP system, this dimension will not display detailed data.

Subscriber Name

The defined subscriber name based on a Policy Enforcement Manager (PEM) profile. If you do not have PEM subscriber data configured to your BIG-IP system, this dimension will not display detailed data.

Radio Types

The defined radio type based on a Policy Enforcement Manager (PEM) profile. If you do not have PEM radio data configured to your BIG-IP system, this dimension will not display detailed data.

Towers

The defined tower based on a Policy Enforcement Manager (PEM) profile. If you do not have PEM tower data configured to your BIG-IP system, this dimension will not display detailed data.

User Provided Keys

The defined user provided keys based on a Policy Enforcement Manager (PEM) profile. If you do not have PEM user provided keys configured to your BIG-IP system, this dimension will not display detailed data.

TCP Metrics

TCP metrics reflect the connection volume, connection duration, responses, and contents of the TCP connections to your managed BIG-IP systems. Metric sets categorize the metric data according to an aspect of the TCP connection. The table below defines the metric set and the kind of metric data collected.

Monitoring DNS application service data

Monitoring DNS application service data

DNS load balances global resources to control and distribute application traffic according to your policies. Monitoring DNS application service data allows you to evaluate how your DNS configuration manages traffic. You can use the charts to evaluate the DNS application service to your application’s GSLB domain.

To view DNS traffic data, go to Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application Name> > <DNS Application Service>. From the DNS application service’s dashboard, select the FQDN (domain name) option at the center of the screen. Ensure you are on the ANALYTICS tab, to view data. For more information about editing your DNS service properties or GSLB configuration, see Managing DNS and DNS GSLB objects using BIG-IQ.

DNS Application service charts

This table describes the menu options and charts found in the DNS application service dashboard (Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application Name> > <DNS Application Service>). Select the option marked in the image to view charts at the bottom of the screen. These charts display the trends of DNS traffic within your application’s domain.

DNS Dimensions and Metrics

The following list defines the metrics gathered to monitor DNS load balancing services and the dimension aspects from which data is observed. The information provided is found in the dimensions pane tables with the screens that display DNS GSLB data. You use this information to filter the on-screen data by specific dimension objects. For example, if you would like to view data that pertains to specific virtual servers. It is important note that all metric data is displayed as a unit over the time period selected for the screen.

DNS Dimensions

The following defines the dimensions found in the dimensions pane that report DNS service data.

BIG-IP Host Names

The name of each BIG-IP system that processed the monitored transactions.

Wide IP Names

The unique names assigned to your wide IPs.

Sync Groups

The names of configured BIG-IP DNS synchronization groups. These are a collection of multiple BIG-IP DNS systems (running the same version) that synchronize and communicate BIG-IP DNS configuration settings and metrics information.

DNS Metrics

TCP metrics reflect the connection volume, connection duration, responses, and contents of the TCP connections to your managed BIG-IP systems. Metric sets categorize the metric data according to an aspect of the TCP connection. The table below defines the metric set and the kind of metric data collected.

Monitoring application service host devices

Monitor application service host devices

You can monitor the BIG-IP devices that host your application services for performance and resource issues. Although device heath does not directly impact an application’s health status, a device’s ability to manage traffic may eventually impact application performance (e.g. when a DoS attack increases traffic processed by the BIG-IP device). When, By monitoring devices of applications with low health, you can evaluate whether these device issues will require mitigation or prevention measures.

1. Go to Applications > APPLICATIONS

2. Select the application name that hosts the application service with lowered health.

   Only TCP and HTTP application services provide device information. For DNS application services, you can use Wide IP alerts to evaluate device management of DNS traffic.

3. Select the name of the application service.

   The application service’s dashboard is displayed. Ensure the ANALYTICS tab at the center of the screen is selected

4. Click the icon under ENVIRONMENT, as shown in the image.

   

   The charts display average data for all devices that manage the application.

5. Using the menu to the left of the chart, select the type of data you would like to evaluate.

   To filter chart data, based on a specific BIG-IP blade, CPU core, or interface name, expand the dimensions pane to the right of the chart. You can then expand the dimension widget and select a specific object by which to filter data.

Application service device charts

This table describes the menu options and charts found in the application service dashboard (Applications > APPLICATIONS > <Application Name> > <Application Service>). Select the option marked in the image to view charts at the bottom of the screen. These charts display the trends of the host BIG-IP device, or service scaling group. Each chart displays an aspect of the devices as a function of the selected time period.

Device health metrics

The following list defines metrics sets and their corresponding metrics for the application statistics displayed in the dimensions pane table in the Device Health screen of the GUI. Each table row is read from left to right, where each metric set is defined as it would relate to each listed dimension, and each metric corresponds to its metric set.

Device traffic metrics

The following list defines metrics sets and their corresponding metrics for the application statistics displayed in the dimensions pane table in the Device Traffic screen of the GUI. Each table row is read from left to right, where each metric set is defined as it would relate to each listed dimension, and each metric corresponds to its metric set.

Device health alerts

The device health alert notifies you of changes in device resource and throughput metric thresholds for your BIG-IP devices. To view your device health thresholds, go to the Alert Rules screen and select the default device rules (Applications > ALERT MANAGEMENT > Alert Rules.