Web Content Type Test

Users place requests for different web content types with the NetScaler appliance. A web content type represents the type of content in a file that the web server serves to the NetScaler appliance in response to a user's web request. This can be, text/html, image/jpeg, etc. By identifying the web content types that users often request for and the ones that consume bandwidth excessively, administrators can determine which content types to continue supporting and how. The Web Content Type test enables administrators to make a prudent decision regarding the same. This test auto-discovers the content types served by the NetScaler appliances, and for every content type, it reports the number of requests for that content type and the bandwidth used by that content type.

For instance, if the test reports that a content type is bandwidth-intensive, but is very popular amongst users, then administrators may decide to continue serving requests for that content type via NetScaler by providing adequate bandwidth resources. On the other hand, if a content type is bandwidth-intensive, but rarely requested by users, then administrators may decide to discontinue support for that content type via NetScaler.

Target of the test : Citrix NetScaler Web Insight

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every content type

Configurable parameters for the test
  1. Test period - How often should the test be executed. It is recommended that you set the test period to 5 minutes. This is because, the Nitro API using which the eG agent collects metrics from Web Insight, is capable of capturing only the performance data related to the last 5 minutes.
  2. Host - The host for which the test is to be configured.
  3. insight username, insight password, and confirm password -  To connect to Web Insight and collect the metrics it captures, the eG agent needs to be configured with the credentials of a user with read-only permissions to Web Insight. Type the name of this user against insight username and the password of this user against insight password. Then, confirm the password by retyping it in the confirm password text box.
  4. ssl – By default, Web Insight is not SSL-enabled. This is why, this flag is set to No by default. If it is SSL-enabled, then change this flag to Yes.
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Hits:

Indicates the number of requests received for this content type.

Number

Compare the value of this measure across content types to know which is the most popular content type.

Bandwidth:

Indicates the amount of bandwidth consumed when processing requests for this content type.

KB

Compare the value of this measure across content types to know which content type is the most bandwidth-intensive.