This implementation describes how to view application statistics on the BIG-IP® system. It describes how you can examine the statistics in the Analytics charts
when Application Visibility and Reporting (AVR) is provisioned. Analytics charts display
statistical information about traffic on your system. The system updates the information every
five minutes.
The Overview screen shows all of the HTTP statistics in one place, including averages for
transactions per second (TPS), request and response throughput, server latency, page load time,
concurrent sessions, and new sessions. You can filter, drill down, and view selected information
by different metrics, such as by application, virtual server, URL, country, and so on.
The Analytics Custom screen provides a summary of the most frequent recent types of application
traffic, such as the most accessed virtual servers, URLs, pool members, and so on. You can design
the Analytics Custom screen so that it shows the specific types of data you are interested in.
You can schedule the reports to be sent to email addresses periodically. From any of the
displayed reports, you can also export them to a PDF file, or send the report to one or more
email addresses.
Note: The displayed Analytics
statistics are rounded up to two digits.
Examining application statistics
Before you can look at the
application statistics, you need to have created an HTTP Analytics profile so that the
system is capturing the application statistics internally on the BIG-IP® system. You must associate the Analytics profile with one or more
virtual servers (in the HTTP Analytics profile or in the virtual server). If you created
an iApp application service, you can use the provided template to associate the virtual
server.
You can review, filter, and compare
HTTP statistics for traffic on the BIG-IP system. The HTTP Overview screen provides
visibility into application behavior, user experience and client activity, transactions,
data center resource usage, and more.
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On the Main tab, click .
The Overview screen opens and displays current HTTP statistics averaged
over the last hour. On the screen, you can see time controls on the top, charts
on the left, and a list of dimensions on the right.
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Use the time settings at the top of the screen to set a time range or refresh
the information on screen.
To immediately update the statistics on screen, adjust the time range or
refresh settings.
Time Focus |
Select the time range of the displayed data.
Note: Additional time options become available as
your system gathers more data.
|
Currently Selected Time Range |
Displays the current time range of the displayed
data. |
Auto-Refresh Interval Selector |
Select how frequently the data on this screen is
refreshed. |
Manual Refresh |
Click Refresh to trigger an
immediate refresh of the displayed data. |
Manual Time Adjustment Handles |
Set the data to a specific window of time within the
currently selected time range. Use the handles at either end
of the time line to define the specific time you want to
examine. Use the handle above the time line to display data
that is outside the selected time range.
Note: Adjusting
the time range to display previous data stops the
auto-refresh so you can focus on a specific data
point.
|
You can zoom into a specific time range within a chart. Select an
area within the chart and then click the magnifying glass icon.
Note: Selecting a time range within the chart stops the screen's
auto-refresh settings.
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Review the HTTP Activity area for application traffic activity, and to evaluate
your system's traffic performance.
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Use the Transaction Outcomes (Average TPS)
chart to analyze the outcome assigned by the BIG-IP system to the
application request and response exchange.
- Use the Avg Throughput
(bps) chart to determine the average number of bytes per second
processed by the BIG-IP system during application requests and
responses.
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Use the Server Latency (ms) chart to determine
the time required for a server response once the BIG-IP system sends a
request.
- Use the Page Load Time
(ms) chart to determine the time required for a client to receive a
server response after sending a request via the BIG-IP system.
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Review the Virtual Server Activity area to evaluate the traffic processing
performance of each virtual server.
Important: Selecting
a single virtual server displays the charts in the panel. Ensure that you
have cleared all other filters when selecting a virtual server.
- Use the Avg & Max TPS (tps) chart to evaluate the highest and median
transaction processing per second for your selected virtual server.
- Use the Max Throughput (bps) chart to evaluate the maximum number of
bytes per request or response that was processed by the selected virtual
server.
- Use the Concurrent User Sessions chart to evaluate the average number of
concurrent session that were open at the same time for the selected
virtual server.
You can continue to review system
statistics on the entire system. As a result, you become more familiar with the system,
applications, resource utilization, and more. You can focus on the specific data you
need using the filters and comparison chart option provided in the Dimensions pane.
You can save the statistics in a file, and send the file to select users by
email. You can also set up schedules to send specific reports to specific users (go
to the Scheduled Reports screen, ).
Filter statistics data using the
Dimensions pane
By default, the charts and
dimensions tables display unfiltered data that is relevant to all monitored
BIG-IP
® system aspects. You can filter the
displayed data by selecting entities within dimensions in the Dimensions pane.
Important: Applying filters in
the Dimensions pane updates all statistics displayed on screen with data that
corresponds to your selection.
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On the Main tab, click .
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Locate the Dimensions pane on the right side of the screen.
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Review data according to pre-configured device group, and filter the displayed
data according to a specific configuration by selecting an option from
Device Group.
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Review dimension entities and their statistics in table form by expanding a
dimension widget. To filter by dimension entities, select one or more entities
from that dimension.
For example: You can filter by selecting individual Virtual Servers or
Applications to display statistics in the charts that are specific to your
selection. You can select entities from multiple dimensions that have
corresponding data.
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You can adjust the table view by selecting the Dimensions pane handle and
dragging it to the left side of the screen.
Tip: You can expand
the pane to full screen view by double-clicking the Dimensions pane
handle.
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Clear all filter selections or those for a dimension:
- To clear all selections,
click the gear icon at the top of the Dimensions pane and select
Clear All.
- To clear selections for a
dimension, click the options icon (three horizontal lines to the left of the
title), and select Clear Selection.
About comparison charts
The AVR charts display aggregated statistics for your entire BIG-IP®
system. You can create customized charts based on specific, compatible data of interest, with
a comparison chart. You create comparison charts using dimension entities to highlight
specific data metrics, or to compare multiple entities in one chart.
Create a comparison chart using the
Dimensions pane
You can create new charts that
present statistic information about your BIG-IP® system for
selected entities from a dimension in the Dimensions pane. Once a new chart is created,
you can adjust the metric value that is presented. You can create multiple comparison
charts per screen.
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On the Main tab, click .
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In the Dimensions pane, expand a dimension widget to view its entity
list.
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Select one or more dimension entities for the comparison chart by clicking the
entity title. You can also select entities in other dimensions that have
compatible data.
Note: Selecting
entities automatically filters information in the Charts pane and compatible
data in other dimensions. You can remove these filters once the comparison
chart is created.
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Click the dimension's menu icon and select Add Comparison
Chart.
Tip: You can right
click one of the selected entities to view the dimension widget menu.
A comparison chart displays in the Charts pane.
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Adjust the displayed metric unit by selecting a different metric from the list
next to the comparison chart title.
By default, the chart displays data by the selected Sort By metric for the
entity's dimension.
Note: Comparison charts persist in the Charts pane until they are
removed. You can remove a comparison chart by selecting the
X icon in the top right corner of the
chart.
The new comparison chart displays
data for the selected entities in the Charts pane over the selected time period.
About the reporting interval for charts and reports
The system updates the statistics for charts and reports at five minute intervals: at five
minutes after the hour, ten minutes after the hour, and so on. Each five-minute mark includes
data from the previous five minutes; so 12:45 includes data starting from 12:40:01 to
12:45:00.
Charts and data that you export from charts reflect the publishing interval of five minutes.
For example, if you request data for the time period 12:40-13:40, the data in the chart or in the
file that you export is for that time period. But if there is a request for data from
12:42-13:42, the data in the chart is from 12:45-13:45. By default, the BIG-IP® system displays one hour of data.
Saving or emailing report files
To send reports by email, the default analytics profile must
specify an SMTP configuration ().
You can export or email any of the
Analytics charts including those which display statistics for HTTP, TCP, memory, disk,
virtual servers, and other charts available on your system.
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On the main tab, click and select the type of chart to display.
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Adjust the chart so that it shows the information you want, adjusting the
content as needed.
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On the upper right of the charts screen, click
Export.
Tip: To send the
report to others by email, go to .
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Click Export.
Customizing your statistics view
Before you can view HTTP
application statistics, you need to have created an Analytics profile so that the system
is capturing the application statistics internally on the BIG-IP®
system. You must associate the Analytics profile with one or more virtual servers (in
the Analytics profile or in the virtual server). If you created an iApp application
service, you can use the provided template to associate the virtual server.
You can customize how you view
statistics by displaying the information you want, organized as you want to see it into
data-specific widgets. A set of default widgets is provided showing HTTP
statistics for the top URLs, pool members, virtual servers, client subnets, and
countries. You can create additional widgets or reorganize what's there.
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On the Main tab, click .
The Custom Page opens showing current HTTP statistics. By default, there
are five widgets organized in two columns.
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To view statistics for a particular device group, from the
Device Group list, select the one you want.
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To adjust the time range for all widgets, from Override time
range to, select a new time frame for which to view
statistics.
If you select (per widget), you can specify
different time ranges for each widget.
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For each widget you want to change, click the gear icon and select
Settings.
The Modify Widget Properties popup opens where you can change what the
widget shows and the format used.
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To change the order of the widgets, drag them up or down within the
column.
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To delete a widget if you do not need that information, click the gear icon and
select Delete.
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To focus in on the specific details you want more information about in any
widget, click an item in the chart.
The system refreshes the charts and displays information about the
item. Click Back to return to the Custom Page.
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To create a new widget in either column, click Add
Widget at the bottom of the column.
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Fill in the Add New Widget popup screen to define the widget.
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From the Available Measurements, select the
measurement to use.
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If there is a choice, select the data visualization.
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Click Done.
The new widget displays in the column.
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Click Export to create a report of this
information.
Note: The timestamp
on the report reflects a publishing interval of five minutes; therefore, a
time period request of 12:40-13:40 actually displays data between
12:35-13:35. By default, the BIG-IP system displays one hour of data.
You can continue to adjust the
Custom Page so that it displays the information you want in the order you want
it.