NetScaler Uptime Test

In most production environments, it is essential to monitor the uptime of critical servers/devices in the infrastructure. By tracking the uptime of each of the servers/device, administrators can determine what percentage of time a server/device has been up. Comparing this value with service level targets, administrators can determine the most trouble-prone areas of the infrastructure.

In some environments, administrators may schedule periodic reboots of their servers/devices. By knowing that a specific server/device has been up for an unusually long time, an administrator may come to know that the scheduled reboot task is not working on a server/device.

The NetScaler Uptime test included in the eG agent monitors the uptime of the ADC device.

Target of the test : An ADC VPX/MPX

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the ADC appliance being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	The IP address of the host for which the test is being configured.
NetScaler Username and NetScaler Password	To monitor a ADC device, the eG agent should be configured with the credentials of a user with read-only privileges to the target ADC device. Specify the credentials of such a user in the NetScaler Username and NetScaler Password text boxes.
Confirm Password	Confirm the ADC Password by retyping it here.
SSL	The eG agent collects performance metrics by invoking NITRO (ADC Interface Through Restful interfaces and Objects) APIs on the target ADC device. Typically, the NITRO APIs can be invoked through the HTTP or the HTTPS mode. By default, the eG agent invokes the NITRO APIs using the HTTPS mode. This is why, the SSL flag is set to Yes by default. If the target ADC device is not SSL-enabled, then the NITRO APIs can be accessed through the HTTP mode only. In this case, set the SSL flag to No.
ReportManagerTime	By default, this flag is set to Yes, indicating that, by default, the detailed diagnosis of this test, if enabled, will report the shutdown and reboot times of the device in the manager’s time zone. If this flag is set to No, then the shutdown and reboot times are shown in the time zone of the system where the agent is running(i.e., the system being managed for agent-based monitoring, and the system on which the remote agent is running - for agentless monitoring).
DD Frequency	Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD Frequency.
Detailed Diagnosis	To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option. The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled: The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Has the ADC been rebooted?	Indicates whether the server has been rebooted during the last measurement period or not.	Boolean	If this measure shows 1, it means that the server was rebooted during the last measurement period. By checking the time periods when this metric changes from 0 to 1, an administrator can determine the times when this server was rebooted.
Uptime of the ADC during the last measure period	Indicates the time period that the system has been up since the last time this test ran.	Secs	If the server has not been rebooted during the last measurement period and the agent has been running continuously, this value will be equal to the measurement period. If the server was rebooted during the last measurement period, this value will be less than the measurement period of the test. For example, if the measurement period is 300 secs, and if the server was rebooted 120 secs back, this metric will report a value of 120 seconds. The accuracy of this metric is dependent on the measurement period – the smaller the measurement period, greater the accuracy.
Total uptime of the ADC	Indicates the total time that the server has been up since its last reboot.		This measure displays the number of years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds since the last reboot. Administrators may wish to be alerted if a server has been running without a reboot for a very long period. Setting a threshold for this metric allows administrators to determine such conditions.