Cluster TCP Details Test
An L7 cluster refers to a cluster of servers that are load balanced at Layer 7 (the application layer) of the OSI model. The load balancer distributes traffic based on application layer information such as HTTP headers, cookies, or data within the application message itself, such as the values within a specific field in a database query. The load balancer can make more complex decisions based on this data, such as sending requests to different servers based on the content of the request.
This test auto-discovers the L7 TCP clusters in the target Coyote Load Balancer and for each L7 TCP cluster, this test reports the active connections and calculates load on each server in a L7 TCP cluster. Also, this test helps administrators to figure out the L7 TCP cluster that is busy processing data/compressed L7 TCP responses in L7 TCP clusters thus enabling administrators to initiate pre-emptive measures.
Target of the test: Coyote Load Balancer
Agent deploying the test: An external agent
Outputs of the test: One set of results for each cluster L7 TCP in the Coyote Load Balancer that is being monitored.
Descriptor: L7 TCP Cluster
Parameter |
Description |
---|---|
Test period |
How often should the test be executed. |
Host |
The IP address of the target host to be monitored. |
SNMPPort |
The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; the default value is 161. |
Data Over TCP |
By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No. |
Timeout |
Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds. |
SNMPVersion |
By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPversion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list. |
SNMPCommunity |
The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the switch. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear. |
Context |
This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVERSION. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the USERNAME provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the USERNAME in the CONTEXT text box. By default, this parameter is set to none. |
Username |
This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVERSION. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges - in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter. |
AuthPass |
Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned Username. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPversion selected is v3. |
Confirm Password |
Confirm the AuthPass by retyping it here. |
AuthType |
This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. From the AuthType list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options:
|
EncryptFlag |
This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option. |
EncryptType |
If the EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types:
|
EncryptPassword |
Specify the encryption password here. |
Confirm Password |
Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here. |
EngineID |
This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. Sometimes, the test may not report metrics when AES192 or AES256 is chosen as the Encryption type. To ensure that the test report metrics consistently, administrators need to set this flag to Yes. By default, this parameter is set to No. |
ISPASSIVE |
If the value chosen is Yes, then the server under consideration is a passive server in a cluster. No alerts will be generated if the server is not running. Measures will be reported as "Not applicable" by the agent if the server is not up. |
Measurement |
Description |
Measurement Unit |
Interpretation |
---|---|---|---|
Total connections |
Indicates the total number of connections processed in this L7 TCP cluster. |
Number |
|
Active connections |
Indicates the number of active connections currently available in this L7 TCP cluster. |
Number |
This is a good indicator of the connection load on a L7 TCP cluster. Compare the value of this measure across L7 TCP clusters to know which L7 TCP cluster is currently overloaded with connections. |
Connection usage |
Indicates the current usage of connections for this L7 TCP cluster. |
Percent |
|
Total transactions |
Indicates the total number of transactions (client requests and server responses) processed on this L7 TCP cluster. |
Number |
|
Data received |
Indicates the data received by this L7 TCP cluster. |
KB |
Compare the values of these measures across the L7 TCP clusters to identify the L7 TCP cluster that is experiencing the maximum traffic. |
Data transmitted |
Indicates the data transmitted by this L7 TCP cluster. |
KB |
Compare the values of these measures across the L7 TCP clusters to identify the L7 TCP cluster that is experiencing the maximum traffic. |
Current compressed TCP responses |
Indicates the number of L7 TCP responses currently compressed by this L7 TCP cluster. |
Number |
|
Total compressed TCP responses |
Indicates the total number of L7 TCP responses compressed by this L7 TCP cluster, since restart. |
Number |
|
Compressed data received |
Indicates the total amount of compressed data received by this L7 TCP cluster. |
KB |
|
Compressed data transmitted |
Indicates the total amount of compressed data transmitted by this L7 TCP cluster. |
KB |
|