Manual Chapter : Monitoring BIG-IP Acceleration Application Performance

Applies To:

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BIG-IP AAM

  • 12.1.5, 12.1.4, 12.1.3, 12.1.2, 12.1.1, 12.1.0, 11.6.5, 11.6.4, 11.6.3, 11.6.2, 11.6.1
Manual Chapter

Monitoring BIG-IP Acceleration Application Performance

Overview: Monitoring the performance of a BIG-IP acceleration application

The BIG-IP's performance reports provide information about page requests, the frequency of those requests, and how well the BIG-IP system serviced those requests from cache. Additionally, performance reports provide information about the acceleration application, policy, policy node, HTTP response status, S-code, size range of the response, response object type, and ID of the BIG-IP system or browser making the request.

The BIG-IP system provides three types of performance reports.

  • Traffic Reports. These reports display the number of requests (hits) received, and responses served, by the BIG-IP system.
  • Byte Reports. These reports display the bytes of content that the BIG-IP system has sent in response to requests.
  • Response Reports. These reports display the average amount of time it takes the BIG-IP system to respond to a request from the client.

You can use these performance reports to evaluate your acceleration policies, adjusting them as required to maximize client access to your applications. The individual performance reports display content according to the persistent parameters that you select for the filter. You can also save performance reports to a specified file type so that you can import them into specific applications.

Note: Enabling performance monitoring for a BIG-IP acceleration application can degrade overall performance and should only be used temporarily.

Enabling performance monitoring for a BIG-IP application

You can enable performance monitoring for a BIG-IP application, as necessary.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > Applications .
    The Applications List screen opens.
  2. Click the name of an application.
  3. From the General Options list, select Advanced.
  4. From the Performance Monitor list, select Enable.
  5. In the Data Retention Period field, type the number of days to retain data.
  6. Click Save.
Performance monitoring is enabled for the application.

Disabling performance monitoring for a BIG-IP application

You can disable performance monitoring for a BIG-IP application, as necessary.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > Applications .
    The Applications List screen opens.
  2. Click the name of an application.
  3. From the General Options list, select Advanced.
  4. From the Performance Monitor list, select Disable.
  5. Click Save.
Performance monitoring is disabled for the application.

Overview: Reporting ROI statistics

ROI statistics provide you with acceleration data for an application that you can use to determine the benefits of using acceleration, or use to refine acceleration performance. You can email the resultant charts and statistics, either weekly or monthly, as necessary.

Task summary

Creating an SMTP server configuration

You specify the SMTP server configuration so that you can send emails through an SMTP server.
  1. On the Main tab, click System > Configuration > Device > SMTP .
  2. Click the Create button.
    The New SMTP Configuration screen opens.
  3. In the Name field, type a name for the SMTP server that you are creating.
  4. In the SMTP Server Host Name field, type the fully qualified domain name for the SMTP server host.
  5. In the SMTP Server Port Number field, type a port number.
    For no encryption or TLS encryption, the default is 25. For SSL encryption, the default is 465.
  6. In the Local Host Name field, type the host name used in the SMTP headers in the form of a fully qualified domain name.
    This host name is not the same as the BIG-IP system's host name.
  7. In the From Address field, type the email address that you want displayed as the reply-to address for the email.
  8. From the Encrypted Connection list, select the encryption level required for the SMTP server.
  9. To require that the SMTP server validates users before allowing them to send email, select the Use Authentication check box, and type the user name and password required to validate the user.
  10. Click the Finish button.
You can now configure the system to use this SMTP server to send emails. For the SMTP mailer to work, you must make sure the SMTP server is on the DNS lookup server list, and configure the DNS server on the BIG-IP® system.

Creating a pool

You can create a pool of servers that you can group together to receive and process traffic. Repeat these steps for each desired pool.
  1. On the Main tab, click Local Traffic > Pools .
    The Pool List screen opens.
  2. Click Create.
    The New Pool screen opens.
  3. In the Name field, type a unique name for the pool.
  4. Using the New Members setting, add each resource that you want to include in the pool:
    1. In the Node Name field, type a name for the node portion of the pool member.
      This step is optional.
    2. In the Address field, type an IP address.
    3. In the Service Port field, type a port number, or select a service name from the list.
    4. In the Priority field, type a priority number.
      This step is optional.
    5. Click Add.
  5. Click Finished.
The new pool appears in the Pools list.

Overview: Configuring ROI reports

You can evaluate the benefits and performance improvements of acceleration functionality for an application by examining ROI Statistics. Acceleration ROI Statistics provide data on compression, caching, minification, inlining, image optimization, and Intelligent Browser Referencing (IBR), which you can assess to determine the current acceleration performance, and, based on those results, refine the acceleration performance.

Task summary

Configuring a Caching Bytes Saved report

You can configure the Cache Bytes Saved report to provide statistics about the number of kilobytes served from cache, describing the reduction in bandwidth between the origin web server and the BIG-IP® system, and optionally export the resultant data.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > ROI Reports > Byte Savings > Caching Bytes Saved .
    The Caching Bytes Saved screen opens.
  2. From the Byte Rate: Daily Time Period list, select a range for the period displaying daily statistics.
    Settings for a daily time period range from Last Hour through Last 4 Weeks, providing statistical results in daily increments.
  3. To refresh statistical results for a selected daily time period, click the Refresh button, or select a value for the Auto Refresh setting.
  4. From the Device list, select a device group.
  5. Observe the statistical results for caching bytes saved.
    • Time: Lists the day for the statistical results.
    • Caching Bytes Saved (KB): Lists the number of kilobytes cached, and saved from being sent to origin web servers, for the respective day.
  6. Optional: From the Export options controls, click an option to specify how to export data.
    • CSV. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a column separated value file.
    • Excel. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a Microsoft® Excel® file.
    • XML. Exports data for the configured ROI report as an XML file.
The ROI Report for Caching Bytes Saved data is available for evaluation, advanced configuration within an application, and optional exporting to a specified file format.

Configuring a Compression Bytes Saved report

When BIG-IP® system, instead of the origin web server, performs compression, you can configure the Compression Bytes Saved report to provide statistics about the reduction in kilobytes sent to the client, and optionally export the resultant data.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > ROI Reports > Byte Savings > Compression Bytes Saved .
    The Compression Bytes Saved screen opens.
  2. From the Byte Rate: Daily Time Period list, select a range for the period displaying daily statistics.
    Settings for a daily time period range from Last Hour through Last 4 Weeks, providing statistical results in daily increments.
  3. To refresh statistical results for a selected daily time period, click the Refresh button, or select a value for the Auto Refresh setting.
  4. From the Device list, select a device group.
  5. Observe the statistical results for Compression Bytes Saved.
    • Time: Lists the day for the statistical results.
    • Compressed Bytes (KB): Lists the compressed size of objects in kilobytes, reducing the sizes of objects sent to origin web servers, for the respective day.
    • Pre-Compressed Bytes (KB): Lists the precompressed size of objects in kilobytes for the respective day.
  6. Optional: From the Export options controls, click an option to specify how to export data.
    • CSV. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a column separated value file.
    • Excel. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a Microsoft® Excel® file.
    • XML. Exports data for the configured ROI report as an XML file.
The ROI Report for Compression Bytes Saved data is available for evaluation, advanced configuration within an application, and optional exporting to a specified file format.

Configuring an Image Optimization Bytes Saved report

You can configure the Image Optimization Bytes Saved settings to provide statistics about optimized images in kilobytes, which reduces the sizes of images sent to the client, and you can optionally export the resultant data.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > ROI Reports > Byte Savings > Image Optimization Bytes Saved .
    The Image Optimization Bytes Saved screen opens.
  2. From the Byte Rate: Daily Time Period list, select a range for the period displaying daily statistics.
    Settings for a daily time period range from Last Hour through Last 4 Weeks, providing statistical results in daily increments.
  3. To refresh statistical results for a selected daily time period, click the Refresh button, or select a value for the Auto Refresh setting.
  4. From the Device list, select a device group.
  5. Observe the statistical results for Image Optimization Bytes Saved.
    • Time: Lists the day for the statistical results.
    • Optimized Bytes (KB): Lists the size of optimized images in kilobytes, reducing the sizes of images sent to origin web servers, for the respective day.
    • Pre-Image Optimization Bytes (KB): Lists the preoptimized size of images in kilobytes for the respective day.
  6. Optional: From the Export options controls, click an option to specify how to export data.
    • CSV. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a column separated value file.
    • Excel. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a Microsoft® Excel® file.
    • XML. Exports data for the configured ROI report as an XML file.
The ROI Report for Image Optimization Bytes Saved data is available for evaluation, advanced configuration within an application, and optional exporting to a specified file format.

Configuring a Minification Bytes Saved report

You can configure the Minification Bytes Saved settings to provide statistics about minified JavaScript and cascading style sheet (CSS) objects in kilobytes, reducing the sizes of objects sent to the client, and to optionally export the resultant data.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > ROI Reports > Byte Savings > Minification Bytes Saved .
    The Minification Bytes Saved screen opens.
  2. From the Byte Rate: Daily Time Period list, select a range for the period displaying daily statistics.
    Settings for a daily time period range from Last Hour through Last 4 Weeks, providing statistical results in daily increments.
  3. To refresh statistical results for a selected daily time period, click the Refresh button, or select a value for the Auto Refresh setting.
  4. From the Device list, select a device group.
  5. Observe the statistical results for Minification Bytes Saved.
    • Time: Lists the day for the statistical results.
    • Minification Bytes (KB): Lists the size of minification objects in kilobytes, reducing the sizes of objects sent to origin web servers, for the respective day.
    • Pre-JavaScript/CSS Minification Bytes (KB): Lists the pre-minification size of JavaScript and CSS objects in kilobytes for the respective day.
  6. Optional: From the Export options controls, click an option to specify how to export data.
    • CSV. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a column separated value file.
    • Excel. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a Microsoft® Excel® file.
    • XML. Exports data for the configured ROI report as an XML file.
The ROI Report for Minification Bytes Saved data is available for evaluation, advanced configuration within an application, and optional exporting to a specified file format.

Configuring a Caching Requests Saved report

You can configure the Caching Requests Saved settings to provide statistics about the number of requests that are served from cache, which reduces the load for the origin web server, and you can optionally export the resultant data.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > ROI Reports > Caching Requests Saved .
    The Caching Requests Saved screen opens.
  2. From the Byte Rate: Daily Time Period list, select a range for the period displaying daily statistics.
    Settings for a daily time period range from Last Hour through Last 4 Weeks, providing statistical results in daily increments.
  3. To refresh statistical results for a selected daily time period, click the Refresh button, or select a value for the Auto Refresh setting.
  4. From the Device list, select a device group.
  5. Observe the statistical results for Caching Requests Saved.
    • Time: Lists the day for the statistical results.
    • Caching Requests Saved: Lists the number of requests not made to an origin web server when using caching for the respective day.
  6. Optional: From the Export options controls, click an option to specify how to export data.
    • CSV. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a column separated value file.
    • Excel. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a Microsoft® Excel® file.
    • XML. Exports data for the configured ROI report as an XML file.
The ROI Report for Caching Requests Saved data is available for evaluation, advanced configuration within an application, and optional exporting to a specified file format.

Configuring Client IBR'd Links data

You can configure the Client IBR'd Links settings to provide statistics about the number of Intelligent Browser Referencing (IBR) links that have been sent to a client, and to optionally export the resultant data. You will want to use the statistics for this setting in combination with the Client IBR'd Links Received statistics, to determine the number of links that eliminated unnecessary conditional GET requests by increasing the content expire time.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > ROI Reports > IBR Savings > Client IBR'd Links .
    The Client IBR'd Links screen opens.
  2. From the Byte Rate: Daily Time Period list, select a range for the period displaying daily statistics.
    Settings for a daily time period range from Last Hour through Last 4 Weeks, providing statistical results in daily increments.
  3. To refresh statistical results for a selected daily time period, click the Refresh button, or select a value for the Auto Refresh setting.
  4. From the Device list, select a device group.
  5. Observe the statistical results for Client IBR'd Links.
    • Time: Lists the day for the statistical results.
    • Client IBR'd Links: Lists the number of Intelligent Browser Referencing (IBR) links that have been sent to a client for the respective day.
  6. Optional: From the Export options controls, click an option to specify how to export data.
    • CSV. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a column separated value file.
    • Excel. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a Microsoft® Excel® file.
    • XML. Exports data for the configured ROI report as an XML file.
The ROI Report for Client IBR'd Links data is available for evaluation, advanced configuration within an application, and optional exporting to a specified file format.

Configuring Client IBR'd Links Received data

You can configure the Client IBR'd Links Received settings to provide statistics about the number of Intelligent Browser Referencing (IBR) links that have been received from a client, and optionally to export the resultant data. You will want to use the statistics for this setting in combination with the Client IBR'd Links statistics, to determine the number of links that eliminated unnecessary conditional GET requests by increasing the content expire time.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > ROI Reports > IBR Savings > Client IBR'd Links Received .
    The Client IBR'd Links Received screen opens.
  2. From the Byte Rate: Daily Time Period list, select a range for the period displaying daily statistics.
    Settings for a daily time period range from Last Hour through Last 4 Weeks, providing statistical results in daily increments.
  3. To refresh statistical results for a selected daily time period, click the Refresh button, or select a value for the Auto Refresh setting.
  4. From the Device list, select a device group.
  5. Observe the statistical results for Client IBR'd Links Received.
    • Time: Lists the day for the statistical results.
    • Client IBR'd Links Received: Lists the number of Intelligent Browser Referencing (IBR) links that have been received from a client for the respective day.
  6. Optional: From the Export options controls, click an option to specify how to export data.
    • CSV. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a column separated value file.
    • Excel. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a Microsoft® Excel® file.
    • XML. Exports data for the configured ROI report as an XML file.
The ROI Report for Client IBR'd Links Received data is available for evaluation, advanced configuration within an application, and optional exporting to a specified file format.

Configuring Inlined Links data

You can configure the Inlined Links settings to provide statistics about the number of links that become inlined when sending a response to a client, reducing the number of GET requests from the client, and you can optionally export the resultant data.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > ROI Reports > Inlined Links .
    The Inlined Links screen opens.
  2. From the Byte Rate: Daily Time Period list, select a range for the period displaying daily statistics.
    Settings for a daily time period range from Last Hour through Last 4 Weeks, providing statistical results in daily increments.
  3. To refresh statistical results for a selected daily time period, click the Refresh button, or select a value for the Auto Refresh setting.
  4. From the Device list, select a device group.
  5. Observe the statistical results for Inlined Links.
    • Time: Lists the day for the statistical results.
    • Inlined Links: Lists the number of links that become inlined when sending a response to a client for the respective day.
  6. Optional: From the Export options controls, click an option to specify how to export data.
    • CSV. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a column separated value file.
    • Excel. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a Microsoft® Excel® file.
    • XML. Exports data for the configured ROI report as an XML file.
The ROI Report for Inlined Links data is available for evaluation, advanced configuration within an application, and optional exporting to a specified file format.

Configuring ICC Inlined Links data

You can configure the ICC Inlined Links settings to provide statistics about the number of links that become inlined for a client by Intelligent Client Cache (ICC) functionality, reducing the number of GET requests from the client, and you can optionally export the resultant data.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > ROI Reports > ICC Savings > ICC Inlined Links .
    The ICC Inlined Links screen opens.
  2. From the Byte Rate: Daily Time Period list, select a range for the period displaying daily statistics.
    Settings for a daily time period range from Last Hour through Last 4 Weeks, providing statistical results in daily increments.
  3. To refresh statistical results for a selected daily time period, click the Refresh button, or select a value for the Auto Refresh setting.
  4. From the Device list, select a device group.
  5. Observe the statistical results for ICC Inlined Links.
    • Time: Lists the day for the statistical results.
    • ICC Inlined Links: Lists the number of links that become inlined for a client by Intelligent Client Cache (ICC) functionality for the respective day.
  6. Optional: From the Export options controls, click an option to specify how to export data.
    • CSV. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a column separated value file.
    • Excel. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a Microsoft® Excel® file.
    • XML. Exports data for the configured ROI report as an XML file.
The ROI Report for ICC Inlined Links data is available for evaluation, advanced configuration within an application, and optional exporting to a specified file format.

Configuring ICC Referenced Links data

You can configure the ICC Ref'd Links settings to provide statistics about the number of links referencing content that might exist in the client's local storage, added by Intelligent Client Cache (ICC) functionality, and to optionally export the resultant data. Content residing in a client's local storage reduces the number of GET requests from the client, and reduces the amount of bytes sent to the client, by instead referencing the content in the client's local storage.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > ROI Reports > ICC Savings > ICC Ref'd Links .
    The ICC Ref'd Links screen opens.
  2. From the Byte Rate: Daily Time Period list, select a range for the period displaying daily statistics.
    Settings for a daily time period range from Last Hour through Last 4 Weeks, providing statistical results in daily increments.
  3. To refresh statistical results for a selected daily time period, click the Refresh button, or select a value for the Auto Refresh setting.
  4. From the Device list, select a device group.
  5. Observe the statistical results for ICC Reference Links.
    • Time: Lists the day for the statistical results.
    • ICC Referenced Links: Lists the number of links referencing content that exists in the client's local storage, added by Intelligent Client Cache (ICC) functionality, for the respective day.
  6. Optional: From the Export options controls, click an option to specify how to export data.
    • CSV. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a column separated value file.
    • Excel. Exports data for the configured ROI report as a Microsoft® Excel® file.
    • XML. Exports data for the configured ROI report as an XML file.
The ROI Report for ICC Referenced Links data is available for evaluation, advanced configuration within an application, and optional exporting to a specified file format.

Modifying an application to export ROI statistics

Exporting ROI statistics for an application requires the following items.
  • Availability of an SMTP server.
  • Preconfiguration of ROI reports.
You can modify an application to use advanced ROI statistics, which include configured ROI reports, and send the results by email for evaluation.
  1. On the Main tab, click Acceleration > Web Application > Applications .
    The Applications List screen opens.
  2. Click the name of an application.
  3. From the General Options list, select Advanced.
  4. Configure settings as needed.
  5. Click Save.
An application is available that sends advanced ROI statistics, with configured ROI reports, by email for evaluation.