Manual Chapter : What resources do I need to collect APM data

Applies To:

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BIG-IQ Centralized Management

  • 5.4.0
Manual Chapter

For APM®, we provide a spreadsheet and a script to help you determine the number of DCDs required to handle the data generated by the BIG-IP® devices you manage. You can download these tools from downloads.f5.com. The APM data script collects metrics for the data your APM devices generate and stores the data in a file on your BIG-IP device.

The script reads the last 10 days of logging data and provides the metrics you need for the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet uses those metrics to calculate your resource requirements. You enter information about the amount of data you expect to generate each day, and the spreadsheet calculates the number of DCDs required to handle that data.
Note: You can use the script only if you have enabled local db-logging. For information about enabling local-db logging, refer to Overview: Configuring remote high-speed APM and SWG event logging on support.f5.com.

If you use another logging mechanism, you can run reports (such as log reports or sessions reports) to get this data.

Note: Unless there has been a recent HA failure event (within the last 3 days), run this script on the active device. In this case, the active device may not have enough data and it is better to run the script on the standby device.

Even with the script, it might be tedious to collect data from each of your BIG-IP devices, so we recommend that you take the values from one of the BIG-IP devices with the most users and access profiles to account for the worst-case scenario.

Using the script to estimate resources for APM data collection

The sizing tools uses metrics and a script that help you to calculate your resource requirements. To use the spreadsheet, you must first download it.
  1. Log in to downloads.f5.com.
  2. Navigate to BIG-IQ Centralized Management, v5.4.0, and click I Accept to accept the EULA.
  3. Click F5_Networks_BIG_IQ_DCD_Sizing_Tools.zip.
    After a brief pause, the Download Locations screen opens.
  4. Click a download location to start the download.
  5. When the download completes, unzip the file.
    Two files will extract:
    • F5_Networks_BIG_IQ_DCD_Sizing_Tool.xlsx
    • F5_Networks_BIG_IQ_Apm_Dcd_Sizing_Metrics.sh
  6. After the script has run, navigate to the /var/tmp folder on the BIG-IP device and open the output file to see the collected metrics.
                            NUMBER_OF_EVENTLOGS_PER_DAY
                            400,000
                            -----------------------------
                            NUMBER_OF_SESSIONS_PER_DAY
                            20,000
                            -----------------------------
                            LOGS_PER_SESSION
                            20
                            -----------------------------
                            NUMBER_OF_ACCESSS_PROFILES
                            10
                            -----------------------------
                            NUMBER_OF_ACLs
                            50
                        
  7. Open the spreadsheet to the Access DCD Sizing Tool tab, and type the values from the script output file into the appropriate fields on the spreadsheet.
    For example, for the sample output above, you would type 20,000 in the Number of APM sessions per day field.
  8. After you fill in all of the fields, the recommended number and configuration of DCDs is calculated and displayed in the Recommended number of DCD nodes field.