Interfaces Test
Network interfaces in the ADC appliance are numbered in <slot>/<port> notation. For each such network interface, this test reports the following:
- The current state of the interface;
- The duration for which the link to the interface was up;
- The bandwidth utilized by the interface and the nature of traffic handled by the interface - i.e., multicast packets, ADC packets, LACPDUs, etc.
- Issues experienced by the interface during transmission/reception of packets - eg., packet drops, discards, errors, stalls, hangs, and more!
Target of the test : A Citrix ADC VPX/MPX
Agent deploying the test : A remote agent
Outputs of the test : One set of results for the each network interface configured on the ADC appliance being monitored.
Measures are also reported for an additional Summary descriptor.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
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Test Period |
How often should the test be executed. |
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Host |
The IP address of the host for which the test is being configured. |
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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. |
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Confirm Password |
Confirm the ADC Password by retyping it here. |
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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 VPX/MPX 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. |
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Show Up Interface Only |
If this flag is set to Yes, then only the ADC interfaces that are operational - i.e. whose MIB-II operStatus variable has a value "up" - are monitored. If this flag is set to No, all ADC interfaces that have an adminStatus of "up" will be monitored. By default, this flag is set to No, indicating that by default the test will monitor the interfaces that are up/down. |
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Show Default Down Interface |
A certain number of network interfaces in the ADC infrastructure will by default be in down state and not operational. When this test runs for the first time, it will unnecessarily alert administrators to the down state of these interfaces. To avoid such unwanted alerts, by default the Show Default Down Interface flag is set to No, indicating that the test will not monitor those interfaces that have been shutdown by default. If this flag is set to Yes, then the test will notify administrators of the down state of such interfaces as well. |
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System Model ID |
By default, if the target Citrix ADC VPX/MPX is hosted as a standalone appliance on a hypervisor, based on the model ID of the target Citrix ADC VPX/MPX returned as a response by the NITRO APIs, the eG agent automatically collects the License allowed maximum throughput and License throughput measures from the target Citrix ADC VPX/MPX appliance and reports it for the Summary descriptor of this test. To this effect, the System Model ID is set to none, by default. However, to collect these metrics from a Citrix VPX/MPX that is hosted as an instance on Citrix ADC SDX appliance, administrators should explicitly specify the model ID of the Citrix ADC SDX appliance on which the target Citrix ADC VPX/MPX instance is hosted against this text box. |
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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:
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| Measurement | Description | Measurement Unit | Interpretation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Interface state |
Indicates the current status of this network interface. |
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This measure is not reported for the Summary descriptor. This measure reports a value Up if the Interface is up and a value Down to indicate that the Interface is down. The numeric equivalents of these measure values have been discussed in the table below:
Note: By default, this measure reports the above-mentioned Measure Values to indicate whether/not the ADC Interface is Up or Down. However, in the graph of this measure, these values will be represented using their corresponding numeric equivalents only. The detailed diagnosis of this measure lists the name of the interface, the VLAN IDs associated with the interface, the alias name, IPV6 address. |
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Link state |
Indicates the current status of the logical ADC Interface i.e., the link. |
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This measure is not reported for the Summary descriptor. This measure reports a value Up if the link is up and a value Down to indicate that the link is down. The numeric equivalents of these measure values have been discussed in the table below:
Note: By default, this measure reports the Measure Values (listed in the table above) to indicate whether the link is Up or not. However, in the graph of this measure, these values will be represented using their corresponding numeric equivalents only. |
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Link uptime |
Indicates the time duration for which this link was Up. |
Mins |
This measure is not reported for the Summary descriptor. A high value is desired for this measure.
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Link downtime |
Indicates the time duration for which the link was Down. |
Mins |
This measure is not reported for the Summary descriptor. Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0. |
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Data received |
Indicates the amount of data received by this ADC interface over a network link during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total data received by the VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
MB |
These measures serve as good indicators of the bandwidth utilized by a network interface. Compare the values of these measures across interfaces to isolate that interface which is handling bandwidth-intensive traffic. |
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Data transmitted |
Indicates the amount of data transmitted by this ADC interface over a network link during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total data transmitted by the VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
MB |
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Packets received |
Indicates the number of packets received by this ADC interface during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of packets received by all interfaces of the VPX instance. |
Number |
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Packets transmitted: |
Indicates the number of packets transmitted by this ADC interface during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of packets transmitted by all interfaces of the VPX instance. |
Number |
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Multicast packets |
Indicates the number of packets received on this ADC interface that were destined for multiple hosts during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of multicast packets received by the VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
Number |
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ADC packets |
Indicates the number of packets received during the last measurement period on this ADC interface in which the destination MAC address is either the address of one of the ADC interfaces or the VMAC address configured by the user. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of ADC packets received by the VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
Number |
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LACPDUs received |
Indicates the number of the Link Aggregation Control Protocol Data Units (LACPDUs) that were received on the selected port during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of LACPDUs received by the VPX instance via all its interfaces. |
Number |
LACP (802.3ad) is a control protocol that configures multiple ports into a single high-speed link. An aggregated link is referred to as a channel. On this aggregated link, the LACP-enabled appliances exchange LACP data units (LACPDU). After LACP is enabled on a port, the port sends LACPDUs to notify the remote system of its system LACP priority, system MAC address, port LACP priority, port number, and operational key. Upon receipt of an LACPDU, the remote system compares the received information with the information received on other ports to determine the ports that can operate as selected ports. This allows the two systems to reach agreement on the states of the related ports. |
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LACPDUs transmitted |
Indicates the number of the Link Aggregation Control Protocol Data Units (LACPDUs) that were transmitted by the selected port during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of LACPDUs transmitted by the VPX instance via all its interfaces. |
Number |
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Dropped packets received |
Indicates the number of error-free outbound packets that were dropped when received by this ADC interface during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of outbound packets that were dropped during reception by the VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
Number |
Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero. The packets may be dropped due to a VLAN mismatch, an oversized packet or a disabled network interface card. |
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Dropped packets transmitted |
Indicates the number of error-free outbound packets that were dropped during transmission by this ADC interface during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of outbound packets that were dropped during transmission by the VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
Number |
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Inbound packets discarded |
Indicates the number of error-free inbound packets that were discarded by this ADC interface during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of inbound packets that were discarded by the VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
Number |
Ideally, the value of these measures should be zero. These measures may report a non-zero value when an interface runs short of resources – e.g., NIC buffers. |
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Outbound packets discarded |
Indicates the number of error-free outbound packets that were discarded by this ADC interface during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of outbound packets that were discarded by the VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
Number |
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Error packets received |
Indicates the number of packets that were received with errors by this ADC interface during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of packets that were received with errors by the VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
Number |
Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero. |
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Error packets transmitted |
Indicates the number of packets that were transmitted with errors by this ADC interface during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of packets that were transmitted with errors by the VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
Number |
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MAC moves registered |
Indicates the number of MAC moves that were registered between ports during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of MAC moves registered by the VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
Number |
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NIC hangs |
Indicates the number of times the Network Interface Card (NIC) hanged. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of times the interfaces of this ADC VPX instance hanged. |
Number |
Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero. A non-zero value is reported when the ADC detects an error on the transmission or reception path of the NIC. |
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Stalls status |
Indicates the number of system detected stalls that occurred during transmission or reception of packets on this Network Interface Card during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of the VPX instance acrsystem detected stalls that occurred on the VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
Number |
When the status is not updated within 0.8 seconds by the NIC hardware, the NIC is said to be in a status stall state. |
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Stalls received |
Indicates the number of system registered stalls that occurred during reception of packets on this ADC Interface. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of system registered stalls that occurred on the VPX instance during reception across all its interfaces. |
Number |
When the link is UP for more than 10 minutes and packets are transmitted, but no packets are received for 16 seconds, the NIC is said to be in a receive stall state. This commonly occurs in lab environments when no packets, including spanning tree, are received on the wire. |
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Stalls transmitted |
Indicates the number of system detected stalls that occurred during transmission of packets on this Network Interface Card. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of system registered stalls that occurred on the VPX instance during packet transmission across all its interfaces. |
Number |
When a packet posted for transmission is not transmitted in 4 seconds, the NIC is said to be in a transmit stall state. |
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Error disables |
Indicates the number of times this ADC Interface has been disabled. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of times the network interfaces of the target VPX instance were disabled. |
Number |
Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero. The ADC interface would be disabled due to errors such as the stall in the transmission or reception of packets. |
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Duplux mismatches |
Indicates the number of duplux mismatches that were detected on this ADC Interface. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of duplux mismatches that were detected on the interfaces of the target VPX instance. |
Number |
Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero. |
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Link re-initializations |
Indicates the number of times the network link has been re-initialized. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of time network links were re-initialized on the target VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
Number |
Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero. |
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NIC muted |
Indicates the number of times this ADC interface was muted i.e., this ADC interface stopped transmitting or receiving the packets . For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total number of times the interfaces on the VPX instance were muted . |
Number |
Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero. The ADC interface may be muted when there were too many dropped packets or when there were too many MAC moves on this ADC interface which would occur due to a suspected configuration issue. |
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Input throughput |
Indicates the input throughput of this interface during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total input throughput of the VPX instance across all its interfaces.
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Mbps |
Compare the value of this measure across interfaces to know which interface has the lowest input throughput. |
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Output throughput |
Indicates the output throughput of this interface during the last measurement period. For the Summary descriptor, this measure reports the total output throughput of the VPX instance across all its interfaces. |
Mbps |
Compare the value of this measure across interfaces to know which interface has the lowest output throughput. |
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License allowed maximum throughput |
Indicates the maximum throughput that the ADC license allowed. |
Mbps |
This measure is reported for the Summary descriptor only. |
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License throughput |
Indicates the percentage of maximum throughput that the ADC VPX instance is using. |
Percent |
This measure is reported for the Summary descriptor only. The value of this measure is computed using the following formula: (Input throughput / License allowed maximum throughput)*100 A value close to 100% is a cause for concern, as it implies that the VPX instance is rapidly exhausting its licensed throughput limit. |
hosted on an appliance - standlaone appliance on any hypervisor
hosted on SDX - n number of VPX instances - license model cannot be shown by querying through Nitro API
