SDX XenServer Uptime Test

ADC SDX uses the XenServer hypervisor to partition its acceleration services by carriers and service providers, so that individual accelerators can be created for separate cloud customers.

SDX administrators can assure their cloud customers of uninterrupted acceleration only if they can ensure the high availability of the XenServer that underlies the SDX appliance. For this purpose, administrators can use the SDX XenServer Uptime test.

This test monitors the uptime of the SDX XenServer and promptly alerts administrators if an unscheduled reboot occurred or if a scheduled reboot failed.

Target of the test : Citrix ADC SDX

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results the target ADC SDX.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The host for which the test is to be configured.

SDX Username and SDX Password

To monitor a ADC SDX device, the eG agent should be configured with the credentials of a user with read-only privileges to the target device. Specify the credentials of such a user in the SDX Username and SDX Password text boxes.

Confirm Password

Confirm the 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 SDX 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 SDX 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.

Report Manager Time

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 XenServer 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 remote agent is running.

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 Xen server 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. 

The detailed diagnosis of this measure, if enabled, will provide you with the details of the last reboot of the XenServer. Such details will include the shutdown date/time, reboot date/time, the shutdown duration (in minutes), and whether the host has been configured for maintenance or not.

Uptime of the Xen server 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 Xen server

Indicates the total time that the server has been up since its last reboot.

Mins

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.