Configuring Statistics Collection

BIG-IP device configuration requirements for viewing statistics from BIG-IQ

Before you can enable statistics collection for centralized management, you must ensure that the BIG-IP device has the proper configuration. The proper configuration varies depending on the version of the BIG-IP device. The minimum supported BIG-IP device is version 12.1.0. BIG-IQ has limited visibility for BIG-IP devices prior to 13.1.0.5.

For details about how to configure statistics visibility, based on the BIG-IP version, see Enabling statistics collection during device discovery on support.f5.com.

For details on how to access statistic information, based on the BIG-IP version and service, refer to Statistics compatibility and visibility on support.f5.com.

For details on how to configure the connection between your BIG-IP devices and your BIG-IQ data collection cluster, refer to Connecting Devices to a Data Collection Device Cluster on support.f5.com.

Monitoring BIG-IP statistics in BIG-IQ

Visibility of statistics in BIG-IQ depends on the version of your managed BIG-IP devices. Devices running versions 13.1.X, or earlier, have limited statistics visibility support within BIG-IQ. Below outlines the compatibility and what to expect when accessing Analytics (AVR) data within BIG-IQ. For more information, see the supporting documentation found in the BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Monitoring and Reports guide.

Statistics visibility of managed BIG-IP devices

The format in which statistics are presented in the BIG-IQ environment, depends on the managed version of BIG-IP and the service presented. Refer to the table to access statistics visibility, based on the managed device version. Ensure that the managed device configuration meets the requirements outlined below.

Application data is visible to SC (service cluster), Legacy, and AS3 configurations.

Minimum configuration requirements:

BIG-IP Version 13.1.x or earlier

• Ports 22 and 443 on each BIG-IP device must be open for the BIG-IQ DCD to retrieve data.

• There must be a Data Collection Device (DCD) configured to your BIG-IQ.

BIG-IP Version 13.1.0.5 or later

• You must have AVR provisioned for each BIG-IP device.

• It is strongly recommended that monitored applications and virtual servers are associated with an analytics profile (HTTP and/or TCP).

• BIG-IQ needs to provide access on Port 443 to receive BIG-IP AVR data.

• There must be a Data Collection Device (DCD) configured to your BIG-IQ.

  Note: To view statistics, ensure that the licenses for your managed BIG-IP devices include root access. A BIG-IP license running in Appliance Mode, will not allow for statistics visibility in the BIG-IQ environment.

: #### Where to view statistics {#section_d5t_vz2_b3b .section}

*Top Charts are only available to BIG-IP version 13.1.0.5 or later

• Does not require AVR on host device for visibility.

**SSLO support is available to versions 5.4 to 8.2. Please note, SSLO support depends on the compatibility with the BIG-IP device.

***BIG-IP versions 14.1 only displays transaction outcomes/ L3 protocols (depending on virtual server configuration). Version 15.0 includes limited charts and metrics for Behavioral DoS. For more information see Monitoring Behavioral DoS protection.

How do I start viewing BIG-IP device statistics from BIG-IQ?

To start viewing statistics for a BIG-IP device, you must have enabled statistics collection for that device. You can do that either during or after adding the device to the BIG-IP Devices inventory list on the BIG-IQ system. You also need to install, configure, and add a data collection device before you can view statistics for your managed BIG-IP devices.

Enabling statistics collection during device discovery

Before you can enable statistics for BIG-IP devices:

• There must be a BIG-IQ data collection device (DCD) configured for the BIG-IQ device.
• The BIG-IP device must be located in your network and running a compatible software version. Refer to https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K34133507#cm6.0.1 for more information.
  • For BIG-IP devices running version 13.1.0.5 or later, you must have AVR provisioned.
• For BIG-IP devices running versions prior to 13.1.0.5, configure Ports 22 and 443 must be open to traffic from the BIG-IQ DCD to the managed BIG-IP devices.
• For BIG-IP devices running version 13.1.0.5 or later, BIG-IQ needs to provide access on Port 443 so that the BIG-IP AVR module can send statistics to the BIG-IQ DCD

One way to enable statistics collection for BIG-IP devices is to do it when you add those devices to the BIG-IQ system inventory. Adding devices to the inventory is referred to as device discovery. If the devices you want to enable have already been discovered, refer to Enabling collection after device discovery.

Note: The ADC component is automatically included (first) any time you discover or import services for a device.

Note: You do not need to discover and import a device’s configuration to collect and view statistics for it. You just need to establish trust between your BIG-IQ and the device. If you do not discover and import the device configuration, the virtual servers, pool, pool members, and iRules will be visible in the statistics dimension panes, but these objects will not appear in the configuration page for those objects. Also, you will not be able to manage these objects in BIG-IQ. If you decide you want to manage these objects, you can discover and import the BIG-IP device’s configuration later without interrupting statistics collection.

1. At the top of the screen, click Configuration.

2. Click the Add Device(s) button.

3. For IP Address, type the IPv4 or IPv6 address of the device.

4. Type the User Name and Password for the device.

5. If this device is part of a DSC group, for the Cluster Display Name setting, specify how to handle it:

   • For an existing DSC group, select Use Existing from the list, and then select the name of the DSC group from the next list.
   • To create a new DSC group, select Create New from the list, and type a name in the field. For BIG-IQ to properly associate the devices in the same DSC group, the Cluster Display Name must be the same for all members in a group.

   There can be up to eight members in a DSC group.

   Important: For BIG-IP devices with ASM services, you can only add five devices at a time. If the BIG-IP device(s) provisioned with ASM is part of a DSC cluster, that device must also be a member of a sync-only device group, and ASM synchronization must be enabled for the device group. Without these DSC group settings, deploying changes to the ASM device can cause the cluster to get out of sync. For more information see https://support.f5.com/csp/article/K12200102, or the ASM Implementations chapter Automatically Synchronizing Application Security Configurations on support.f5.com.

6. If this device is configured in a DSC group or you are creating a new DSC group, for the Cluster Properties, specify how to handle it:

   • Initiate BIG-IP DSC sync when deploying configuration changes (Recommended): Select this option if you want this device to automatically synchronize configuration changes with other members in the DSC.

   • Allow deployment when DSC configured devices have changes pending ( Not Recommended): Select this option if you want to deploy changes to this device even if there are changes pending for devices in the DSC group.

     Note: This option is not recommended, because it can lead to unpredictable results.

   • Ignore BIG-IP DSC sync when deploying configuration changes: Select this option if you want to manually synchronize configurations changes between members in the DSC group.

7. Click the Add button at the bottom of the screen.

   The BIG-IQ system opens communication to the BIG-IP device, and checks the BIG-IP device framework.

   Note: The BIG-IQ system can properly manage a BIG-IP device only if the BIG-IP device is running a compatible version of the REST framework.

8. If a framework upgrade is required, in the popup window, in the Root User Name and Root Password fields, type the root user name and password for the BIG-IP device, and click Continue.

9. If in addition to basic management tasks (like software upgrades, license management, and UCS backups) you also want to centrally manage this device’s configurations for licensed services, select the check box next to each service you want to discover.

   You can also select these service configuration after you add the BIG-IP device to the inventory.

10. To enable statistics collection for this BIG-IP device, under Statistics monitoring, select the check box next to each service you want to collect statistics for, and then click Continue.

    For Network Security, enable the AFM Statistics Collection.

    Note: If you want to enable statistics collection without managing any services, clear the check boxes for all services.

11. Click the Add button at the bottom of the screen.

Enable statistics collection for devices

Before you can enable statistics collection for a BIG-IP device:

• The device must already be in the BIG-IQ system inventory.
• There must be a BIG-IQ data collection device configured for the BIG-IQ device.
• For BIG-IP device version 13.1.0.5 or later, AVR must be provisioned.

To collect statistics for a BIG-IP device, you enable statistics collection when you discover it, however, you can enable or disable statistics collection for a device any time it is convenient for you. When enabling statistics for services and modules (including AFM), local storage is disabled on the device to prevent data duplication and extraneous resource usage.

1. At the top of the screen, click Configuration.

2. Click the name of the device you want to enable statistics collection for.

3. On the left, click Statistics Collection.

4. To begin statistics collection, for Collect Statistics Data, select Enabled.

   If this option is disabled, no statistics will be collected from your device, regardless of service or module.

5. For Modules/Services, click the check box to enable statistics collection for specific system modules and services.

6. For AFM Statistics Collection select Enabled to collect statistics from your device’s Network Security module.

7. For Frequency, next to Collect every, select the interval at which you want to collect statistics from this device.

8. Click Save & Close.

After you enable statistics collection for a device, data for that device begins aggregating along with any other devices for which you are collecting data. Two buttons (View Health Statistics, and View Traffic Statistics) are added to the properties page for enabled devices. Clicking either of these takes you directly to the overview page for the statistics type you clicked

Statistics retention policy overview

Statistics retention impacts quantity of data reported by your managed BIG-IP devices. When you choose how much data to retain, you need to consider how much disk space you have available. The controls for data retention require an understanding of how much space you have to store data, and which data needs additional storage.

The fields on the Statistics Retention Policy screen set the size of the indices that BIG-IQ uses to store raw data. These fields all work in a similar fashion. One way to understand how these indices work is to think of your data storage space as a set of containers. The values you specify on this screen determine how much storage space each container (index) consumes. Because data is saved for the time periods you specify, the longer the time period that you specify, the more space you consume. The disk storage that is consumed depends on several factors.

• The number of BIG-IP devices for which you are collecting data
• The number of objects those BIG-IP devices have (for example, virtual servers, pools, pool members, and iRules)
• The frequency of data collection
• The data retention policy
• The data replication policy
• Additional data storage for prioritized service groups

It is important to note, that the system has default global retention settings, and fine-tuning the statistics retention policy is not required. Changing the retention settings can improve the efficiency of disk usage, or quality of statistics data retained, depending on how long you retain certain data after its initial collection.

The following are key concepts to understand about how the retention policy works.

Manage the retention policy for your statistics data

Before you can set the statistics retention policy, you must have added a data collection device (DCD). If you are adding statistics retention for a specific service group, ensure that the service is activated on the DCD.

You can manage the default settings that determine how your statistics data is retained, based on quality. The highest quality data is real-time (raw) data, (data that has not been averaged), but that consumes a lot of disk space, so you need to consider your needs in choosing your data retention settings.

1. From BIG-IQ, at the top of the screen, click System, then, on the left, click BIG-IQ DATA COLLECTION and then select BIG-IQ Data Collection Cluster.

   The BIG-IQ Data Collection Cluster screen opens. On this screen, you can view summary status for the Data Collection Device (DCD) cluster and access the screens that you can use to configure the DCD cluster.

   • Under SUMMARY, you can access screens detailing how much data is stored, as well as how the data is stored.
   • Under CONFIGURATION, you can access the screens that control DCD cluster performance.

2. Under the screen name, click CONFIGURATION > Statistics Data Collection.

   The Statistics Collection Status screen opens.

3. Click the Configure Retention button.

   The Statistics Retention Policy screen opens.

4. Go to Global Properties to edit default retention:

   1. In the Keep real-time (raw) data up to field, type the number of hours of raw data to retain.

      You must specify a minimum of 1 hour, so that there is sufficient data to average and create a data point for the Keep hourly data up to

   2. In the Keep hourly data up to field, type the number of hourly data points to retain. field, type the number of hours of raw data to retain.

      You must specify a minimum of 24 hours, so that there is sufficient data to average and create a data point for the Keep daily data up to container.

   3. In the Keep daily data up to field, type the number of daily data points to retain.

      You must specify a minimum of 31 days, so that there is sufficient data to average and create a data point for the Keep monthly data up to container.

   4. In the Keep monthly data up to field, type the number of monthly data points to retain.

      Once the specified number of months passes, the oldest monthly data set is deleted.

   5. In the Limit max storage to

   6. In the Keep events up to field, type the number of days that you want keep events before the oldest events data set is deleted.

   7. n the Keep traffic capturing up to field, type the number of days that you want keep captured traffic before the oldest traffic data set is deleted.

   The Global Properties are the default retention settings for any service groups, or service group values, that are not populated in Group Properties.

5. Go to Group Properties to add custom time retention settings for specific service groups.

   These settings will retain any Global Properties that are not specified in the Group Properties. Ensure that you have enough disk space to accommodate service group statistics retention.

6. Expand Advanced Settings:

   The following configuration of data scaling and resilience using Elasticsearch. For more information, see BIG-IQ: DCD Sizing Guidelines found on support.f5.com.

   The following configuration of data scaling and resilience using Elasticsearch. For more information, see General Elasticsearch FAQ.

   1. Select the Replicas check box to enable high availability for the stored data on your DCD cluster.

      Replicas are copies of a data sets available to the DCD cluster when one or more devices within that cluster become unavailable. By default, data replication for statistics is enabled. Disabling replication reduces the amount of disk space required for data retention. However, this provides no protection from data corruption that can occur when you remove a DCD. You should enable replicas to provide this protection.

   2. Select the Auto expand replicas check box to enable automatic duplication of the number of replicas for a specific data set.

      This allows the DCD cluster to dynamically host up to 2 separate replicas for a given data set, based on the number of DCDs available. This provides redundancy that protects from data loss even when more than one DCD becomes unavailable.

      Note: This option is only available when Enable Replicas is selected. In addition, your system must include at least 3 DCDs (one primary and two replicas) with sufficient disk space.

7. When you are satisfied with the values specified for data retention, click Save & Close.

The aggregation policy for your statistics data

There is a default statistics aggregation policy for the data added to your data collection device. The aggregation policy impacts the quality of the entity data, per dimension, over time. This optimizes the disk usage, and allows for high quality data for short-term analysis and troubleshooting for raw, hour, or even day time layers of data. Long term data storage provides insights into global statistics over time, but are not recommended for troubleshooting.

Managing Analytics Data Collection Profiles

About Analytics profiles

An Analytics profile is a set of definitions that determines the circumstances under which the managed BIG-IP system gathers, logs, notifies, and displays information regarding HTTP or TCP traffic to an application. Each monitored application is associated with an Analytics profile. You associate an 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)

• Notifications

• Traffic capturing specifications (HTTP only)

  Note: See Troubleshoot HTTP Traffic by Reviewing Captured Traffic for more information

The system includes a default HTTP Analytics profile called analytics and a TCP Analytics profile called tcp-analytics. These serve as the parent of all other Analytics profiles that you create on the system. You can modify the default profile, or create custom Analytics profiles for each application if you want to track different data for each one.

Note: Certain settings, such as SMTP Configuration, Transaction Sampling, and the Subnets list, can only be set in the default HTTP Analytics profile.

Analytics profiles for AS3 applications

If you are managing AS3 applications, update analytics profiles using an AS3 template or directly add profile settings to the application declaration JSON. Information about the field attribute is listed within the customizing procedures. For the full reference index for analytics profile attributes, including traffic capturing, go to https://clouddocs.f5.com/products/extensions/f5-appsvcs-extension/latest/refguide/schema-reference.html.

For HTTP Analytics properties, see Analytics_Profile.

For Traffic Capturing settings, see Capture_Filter

For TCP Analytics properties, see Analytics_TCP_Profile.

Customizing the default HTTP Analytics profile

Before you begin, you need to ensure that AVR is provisioned on your managed BIG-IP devices, and that Statistics Collection is enabled on your BIG-IQ per device (Devices > BIG-IP DEVICES > <DEVICE NAME> > STATISTICS COLLECTION). Enabling Statistics Collection ensures that traffic data from BIG-IP is logged on BIG-IQ.

To view log messages on an external server, you must configure a Remote Publisher. For more information about configuring a Remote Publisher, see the Managing Logs section of BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Local Traffic and Network Implementations on support.f5.com.

An HTTP Analytics profile directs the system to store various HTTP statistics for troubleshooting application-layer issues. The system 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. Go to Configuration > LOCAL TRAFFIC > Profiles.

   If you would like to edit the parent profile, select analytics from the Parent Profile column and proceed to step 7.

2. Click Create.

   The New Profile screen opens.

3. For Name, type a name for the new profile.

4. If required by your managed BIG-IP device, change the Silo and Partition field.

5. 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.

6. To make all the fields editable, click Override All. This applied to both the Settings, Metrics Gathering Configuration, and Dimensions Gathering Configuration options.

7. For Collected Statistics Internal Logging, select Enable to specify the system collectes a postion of the application traffic data.

Once enabled, you can manage which Dimension Gathering Configuration settings are collected.

8. (Optional) To send HTTP traffic data to an external server, enable Collected Statistics External Logging.

Selecting this option allows you to choose a **Remote Publisher**. You must select a remote publisher configured to BIG-IQ to view log data using BIG-IQ.

AS3 Attribute: externalLoggingPublisher

9. For Captured Traffic Internal Logging, select Enable to manage the Capture Filter settings.

**Important:** Once traffic capturing is enabled, you can configure the capture 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 **Configure traffic capturing for troubleshooting**.

10. (Optional) To send TCP traffic data to an external server, enable Collected Statistics External Logging.

Once you enable this field, you can select a pre-configured server from the **SMTP Configuration** field.

11. 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.

12. For the Notification by… settings, enable the settings to send alerts and notifications.

13. 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.

    Tip: Sampling improves system performance. F5 recommends that you enable sampling if you generally use more than 50 percent of the BIG-IP system CPU resources, or if you have at least 100 transactions in 5 minutes for each entity.

14. If you want the system to collect and display statistics, according to the expressions written in an iRule, enable 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`.

**Important:** For the system to collect iRule statistics, you must also write an iRule describing which statistics the system should collect.

15. In the Metrics Gathering Configuration area, enable additional statistics you want the system to collect from the HTTP requests:

    By default, the system collects many metrics, including TPS, throughput, server latency, response time, and network latency. You can select the metrics here, in addition to the ones already collected, once the HTTP Analytics profile is attached to one or more virtual servers.

16. In the Dimensions Gathering Configuration area, enable additional entities to collect statistics for each request.

    By default, the system collects many entity statistics, including virtual servers, pool members, browser names, and operating systems You can select the ones here, in addition to the ones already collected, once the HTTP Analytics profile is attached to one or more virtual servers.

    Note: When you select URLs, Countries, Client IP Addresses or Client Subnets you have additional options configure specific statistics filtering options.

17. When you are done click Save & Close.

Virtual servers and applications configured to this profile collect and report traffic statistics according to specified settings. For more information about how to view an analyze application traffic, see Monitoring and Managing Applications Using BIG-IQ on support.f5.com.

Customizing the default TCP Analytics profile

Before you begin, you need to ensure that AVR is provisioned on your managed BIG-IP devices, and that Statistics Collection is enabled on your BIG-IQ per device (Devices > BIG-IP DEVICES > <DEVICE NAME> > STATISTICS COLLECTION). Enabling Statistics Collection ensures that traffic data from BIG-IP is logged on BIG-IQ.

To view log messages on an external publisher, you must configure a Remote Publisher. For more information about configuring a Remote Publisher, see the Managing Logs section of BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Local Traffic and Network Implementations on support.f5.com.

A TCP Analytics profile directs the system to store TCP statistics about specific entities for use in diagnosing network problems. The system includes a default TCP Analytics profile called tcp-analytics. You can edit the values in the default profile, or create a new one, as described here.

1. Go to Configuration > LOCAL TRAFFIC > Profiles.

   If you would like to edit the parent profile, select tcp-analytics from the Parent Profile column and proceed to step 7.

2. Click Create.

   The New Profile screen opens.

3. For Name, type a name for the new profile.

4. If required by your managed BIG-IP device, change the Silo and Partition field.

5. 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.

6. To make all the fields editable, click Override All. This applied to both the Settings and Dimensions Gathering Configuration options.

7. For Collected Statistics Internal Logging, select Enable to manage the Dimension Gathering Configuration settings.

8. (Optional) To send TCP traffic data to an external server, enable Collected Statistics External Logging.

Selecting this option allows you to choose a **Remote Publisher**. You must select a remote publisher configured to BIG-IQ to view log data on an external server.

9. For Collected Statistics By Server Side enable to specify that statistics from the server side of the TCP transaction are collected.

10. For Collected Statistics By Client Side enable to specify that statistics from the client side of the TCP transaction are collected.

11. From Dimensions Gathering Configuration, select the entities for which you want the system to collect information.

    Note: The more entities you enable, the greater the impact on system performance.

    Entity	Description	AS3 Attribute
    City	Collects the name of the city with which traffic was exchanged.	collectCity
    Country	Collects the name of the country with which traffic was exchanged.	collectCountry
    Continent	Collects the name of the continent with which traffic was exchanged.	collectContinent
    Next Hop Ethernet Address	Collects the addresses to which traffic is being routed.	collectNexthop
    Post Code	Collects the name of the postal code with which traffic was exchanged.	collectPostCode
    Remote Host IP Address	Collects the IP addresses with which traffic was exchanged	collectRemoteHostIp
    Region	Collects the name of the region with which traffic was exchanged.	collectRegion
    Remote Host Subnet	Collects the addresses of the subnets with which traffic was exchanged.	collectRemoteHostSubnet

12. When you are done click Save & Close.

Virtual servers and applications configured to this profile collect and report traffic statistics according to specified settings. For more information about how to view an analyze application traffic, see Monitoring and Managing Applications Using BIG-IQ on support.f5.com.

Enable HTTP Traffic Capturing

Reviewing captured traffic details

Traffic capturing prompts the system to log traffic request and response headers and payload data, based on specific collection requirements. You enable traffic capturing in your Analytics profile to monitor a known application issue, such as trouble with throughput or latency, or a known factor that can impact application performance, such as HTTP method, or client IP address. You can specify these traffic aspects to later examine application statistics, and troubleshoot captured transactions.

Once enabled, you can examine the captured traffic to explore details, such as the payload of captured transactions, requested URLs and response size. When traffic capturing is enabled, you can view data about captured traffic within the charts for HTTP traffic statistics.

Configure traffic capturing for troubleshooting

Before you begin, you need to ensure that AVR is provisioned on your managed BIG-IP devices, and that Statistics Collection is enabled on your BIG-IQ per device (Devices > BIG-IP DEVICES > <DEVICE NAME> > STATISTICS COLLECTION). Enabling Statistics Collection ensures that traffic data from BIG-IP is logged on BIG-IQ.

To view log messages on an external server, you must configure a Remote Publisher. For more information about configuring a Remote Publisher, see the Managing Logs section of BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Local Traffic and Network Implementations on support.f5.com.

You can configure your HTTP analytics profile to capture traffic headers and additional transaction details. Once configured, you can review captured traffic, based upon specific transaction parameters and performance thresholds.

1. Go to Configuration > LOCAL TRAFFIC > Profiles.

   This screen lists the profiles that are configured for the managed BIG-IP devices in your network.

2. Select the HTTP Analytics profile you wish to edit.

   The analytics profile is a default profile for all HTTP Analytics management. If you are creating a new HTTP Analytics profile, make sure to select the Override All check box to change the settings inherited by the parent profile.

3. For Captured Traffic Internal Logging, select Enable to manage the Capture Filter settings.

Once you enable a traffic capturing, the Capture Filter area becomes available. This allows you to further configure which traffic you would like to capture.

4. (Optional) To send captured traffic to an external server, enable Captured Traffic External Logging.

Once you enable this field, you can select a pre-configured server from the **Remote Publisher** field.

5. From the Capture Request Details and Capture Response Details lists, select the options that indicate the part of the traffic to capture.

   Detail options for request and response capture:

   Entity	Description
   None	Specifies that the system does not capture request (or response) data.
   Headers	Specifies that the system captures request (or response) header data only.
   Body	Specifies that the system captures the body of requests (or responses) only.
   All	Specifies that the system captures all request (or response) data, including header and body.

   Entity	AS3 Attribute
   Capture Request Details	requestCapturedParts
   Capture Response Details	responseCapturedParts

6. For DoS Activity, select the option that indicates which DoS traffic is captured.

   Option	Description
   Any	Specifies that the system captures any traffic regardless of DoS activity.
   Mitigated by Application DoS	Specifies that the system only captures DoS traffic if it was mitigated.

7. For Protocols, specify whether the system captures Alltraffic, or traffic with HTTP, or HTTPS protocols.

8. For Qualified for JavaScript Injection, you can select Qualified only to specify that the system only captures traffic that qualifies for JavaScript injection, which includes the following conditions:

   • The HTTP content is not compressed
   • The HTTP content-type is text/html.
   • The HTTP content contains an HTML <head> tag

9. Customize the dimension filters, according to your application needs, to capture the portion of traffic to that you need for troubleshooting.

   Tip: Dimension filters capture traffic according to defined aspects of the transaction’s configuration, or header/payload contents. By focusing in on the data and limiting the type of information that is captured, you can troubleshoot particular areas of an application more efficiently. For example, capture only requests or responses, specific status codes or methods, or headers containing a specific string.

10. Click Save & Close.

Your analytics profile is now configured for traffic capturing.You can assign this profile to your virtual servers, if they do not yet have an Analytics profile configured.

Review captured traffic

To display captured traffic, your virtual server must be assigned an HTTP analytics profile that has captured traffic enabled, with external logging.

You can troubleshoot details of captured HTTP traffic to your applications and virtual servers. This information can provide details of request/response headers and payload sent to your managed application. Captured traffic information is found within the following dashboards that provide HTTP traffic visibility:

• Device Traffic: Monitoring > DASHBOARDS > Device > Traffic.
• DDoS HTTP Analysis: Monitoring > DASHBOARDS > DDoS > HTTP Analysis.
• Local Traffic: Monitoring > DASHBOARDS > Local Traffic > HTTP.

1. Navigate to one of the monitoring dashboards that display HTTP traffic data.

2. Select the Traffic Capturing button above the charts.

   Selecting this option overlays captured traffic data over the charts, and adds a traffic capturing filter in the Dimensions pane.

3. To filter captured traffic based on a specific host object, such as a BIG-IP system (BIG-IP Host Names), application (Applications Services), or virtual server (Virtual Servers), expand the dimension widgets in the Dimensions pane to the right of the charts.

   You can select multiple dimension objects from multiple dimensions. With each selection, the charts and dimensions filter displayed data according to your selections.

4. To filter captured traffic based on server latency and payload volume metrics, expand the Traffic Capturing Filters found in the dimensions pane.

   For latency metrics, you can enter a range, or set a greater or less than filter value.

5. To view traffic details, select a traffic capturing icon from within the chart to display an information table.

   You can click the rows within the displayed table to view additional request/response header and payload information.