Manual Chapter :
TCP Dimensions and
Metrics
Applies To:
Show Versions
BIG-IQ Centralized Management
- 8.3.0, 8.2.0, 8.1.0, 8.0.0
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.
Metric Set | Metric Set Description | Metric | Metric Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Delay States | The time (in ms) spent in each delay state
by all TCP connections. | 3WHS | Delay in outgoing data delivery due to 3-way handshake
that starts a TCP connection. This state is accrued only if round-trip-time of the
SYN or SYN-ACK could be estimated. |
RWND | Delay in outgoing data delivery due to limited
receive-window, and the remote host’s flow-control forces the BIG-IP system into an
idle state. | ||
RETX | Delay in outgoing data delivery due to retransmission.
TCP re-sends data and/or waiting for acknowledgment of those re-transmissions. This
may indicate lossy links in the data path, or overly aggressive congestion control
(for example, a profile with Slow Start disabled or improperly set Packet Loss
Ignore settings). Activating rate-pace in the TCP profile may also help. | ||
Wait for ACK | Delay in outgoing data delivery due to wait for ACK. The
BIG-IP system has sent all available data and is awaiting an ACK from the remote
host. If this state is prevalent, it could be a short connection, or
the upper layers or the server are forcing TCP to frequently pause to accept new
data | ||
Closing | Delay in ACK of the FIN request. The BIG-IP system has
received acknowledgment of all data, sent the FIN, and is awaiting acknowledgment of
the FIN. | ||
CWND | Delay in outgoing data delivery due to limited
congestion window. The TCP congestion window is holding available data. This is
usually a legitimate response to the bandwidth-delay product and congestion on the
packet path. In some cases, it might be a poor response to non-congestion packet
loss (fixable using the Packet Loss Ignore profile options) or inaccurate data in
the congestion metrics cache | ||
Nagle | Delay in outgoing data delivery due to Nagle's algorithm
holding sub-MSS size packets. If the Nagle state shows up frequently, disable
Nagle's algorithm in the TCP profile | ||
Send Buffer | Delay in outgoing data delivery due to a full send
buffer. Correctable by increasing the Send Buffer size in the TCP profile | ||
App | Delay in outgoing data delivery to application layer. The BIG-IP system has successfully delivered all available data. There is a
delay in either of the remote hosts, or in the layers above TCP on the BIG-IP
system | ||
Rate Pace | Delay in outgoing data delivery due to rate pacing. This
has no impact on throughput, and no action is required | ||
Packets Lost | Packets lost over the TCP connection
between BIG-IP and the remote hosts. | Avg/s | The average number of packets per second lost between
BIG-IP and the remote host. |
Total | The number of packets lost between BIG-IP and the remote
hosts. | ||
Packets Received | Packets received over the TCP connection
between BIG-IP and the remote hosts. | Avg/s | The average number of packets per second received by
BIG-IP from the remote host. |
Total | The number of packets received by BIG-IP from the remote
hosts. | ||
Packets Sent | The overall packets sent by BIG-IP to the
remote hosts. | Avg/s | The average number of packets per second sent by BIG-IP
to the remote hosts. |
Total | The number of packets sent by BIG-IP to the remote
host. | ||
Goodput Received | The number of application-level bytes, or
Goodput, received by BIG-IP from the remote hosts. | Avg/s | Average Goodput in bytes per second, received by BIG-IP
from the remote hosts |
Total | Total Goodput in bytes, received by BIG-IP from the
remote hosts | ||
Max | Highest value of Goodput observed, in bytes per second,
for a single connection received by BIG-IP from a remote host | ||
Min | Lowest value of Goodput observed, in bytes per second,
for a single connection received by BIG-IP from the remote hosts | ||
Goodput Sent | The number of application-level bytes, or
Goodput, sent by BIG-IP to the remote hosts. | Avg/s | Average Goodput in bytes per second, sent from BIG-IPs
to the remote hosts |
Total | Total Goodput in bytes, sent from BIG-IP to the remote
hosts | ||
Max | Highest value of Goodput observed, in bytes per second,
for a single connection sent from BIG-IP to remote hosts | ||
Min | Lowest value of Goodput observed, in bytes per second,
for a single connection sent from BIG-IP to remote hosts | ||
Round Trip Time | The communication time (in ms) from a SYN
to an ACK message between BIG-IP and the remote hosts | Avg | The average round trip time between BIG-IP and the
remote hosts |
Max | The highest observed round trip time between BIG-IP and
the remote hosts | ||
Min | The lowest observed round trip time between BIG-IP and
the remote hosts. | ||
Count | The number of times a round trip time
was measured (number of data samples).
| ||
Connections Opened | Number of new TCP connections opened
between BIG-IP and the remote hosts | Avg/s | The average number per second of TCP connections that
were opened between BIG-IP and the remote hosts. |
Total | The number of TCP connections that were opened between
BIG-IP and the remote hosts | ||
Connections Duration | Approximate time (in ms) TCP connections from the moment
they are established until they are closed | Duration | The average duration of a TCP connection with BIG-IP
from the moment they were established with the remote hosts, and until they were
closed. |
Connections Closed | The number of TCP connections between BIG-IP
and remote hosts that were closed | Avg/s | The average number per second of TCP connections that
were closed opened between BIG-IP and the remote hosts |
Total | The number of TCP connections that were closed opened
between BIG-IP and the remote hosts |
