Connection Analytics
To facilitate efforts in tracing and debugging traffic to your services, the Virtual Traffic Manager can display full details about each connection handled by a virtual server.
To enable this feature for a virtual server, click Services > Virtual Servers > Edit > Connection Analytics.
The following table contains details of the connection analytics configuration options available to a virtual server:
Configuration Option | Description |
|---|---|
recent_conns!enabled | Enable this setting to ensure connections handled by this virtual server are shown on the Activity > Connections page. |
recent_conns!save_all | Select whether to show or hide, by default, all connections handled by this virtual server on the Activity > Connections page. You then override this behavior for individual connections using TrafficScript. Set to “No” to hide all connections by default, and then use the TrafficScript function recentconns.include() to selectively include connections in your rules. Set to “Yes” to show all connections by default, and then use the TrafficScript function recentconns.exclude() to selectively exclude connections in your rules. For more details about these functions, see the TrafficScript Reference in the Online Help, or the Virtual Traffic Manager: TrafficScript Guide available from the Ivanti Web site at www.ivanti.com. |
request_tracing!enabled | Enable this setting to instruct the Virtual Traffic Manager to collect detailed data on internal events connected to each request and response. This data includes the time that each request is received by the Virtual Traffic Manager and when each TrafficScript rule is run. |
request_tracing!trace_io | If request_tracing!enabled is set to Yes, use this setting to enable the collection of data on individual read and write events for this connection. |
Viewing Connection Analytics
Use the Activity > Connections page to interrogate each individual request in detail. Click the magnifying glass icon next to each connection to view specific details. For more information, see Activity > Connections .
Exporting Transaction Metadata
Your Virtual Traffic Manager cluster can export metadata records for transactions handled by your virtual servers as a JSON stream to an external endpoint such as an analytics service or dashboard. Use these settings to disable or limit analytics exporting for specific virtual servers, and thus to limit the overall volume of data exported by the Virtual Traffic Manager.
Before the Virtual Traffic Manager can start exporting transaction metadata, first configure the destination endpoint and other global settings your cluster should use. For more information, see Exporting Analytics to a Remote Service.
To configure the parameters this virtual server uses when exporting transaction metadata records, use the Virtual Server > Edit > Connection Analytics > Transaction Metadata Export section. The following table lists the available settings:
Key | Description |
|---|---|
transaction_export!enabled | Instructs the Virtual Traffic Manager to export metadata records for transactions handled by this virtual server. Use this setting to isolate out the services for which you do not want to export transaction metadata from those that you do. For all virtual servers in scope, ensure the corresponding transaction_export!enabled key is set to "Yes". For all virtual servers out of scope, set to "No". The Virtual Traffic Manager contains a global transaction_export!enabled key that overrides all individual virtual server settings. Use this global key to fully disable analytics exporting across your cluster. For more information, see Configuring Export Settings for Transaction Metadata Records. |
transaction_export!brief | Enables "brief" mode for transaction metadata records. The JSON schema for transaction metadata (see link in System > Analytics Export > Transaction Metadata) shows the full set of data included in each record exported by the Virtual Traffic Manager. The full record includes verbose information such as HTTP request and response header data, and detailed information about the TLS session if one was negotiated. To reduce the volume of data exported in each metadata record, use brief mode to configure the Virtual Traffic Manager to instead provide just a limited set of properties. Where transaction_export!brief is disabled, the Virtual Traffic Manager includes request tracing and I/O tracing information in the exported metadata only if request_tracing!enabled and request_tracing!trace_io are enabled respectively. If transaction_export!brief is enabled, request tracing information is always excluded from the exported metadata. |
transaction_export!http_header_blacklist | The list of HTTP headers that the Virtual Traffic Manager should exclude from exporting. Use this setting to exclude headers that might contain sensitive information such as passwords, or to reduce the exported data size where headers are not required for analysis. For more complex or conditional filtering, use TrafficScript to create a Transaction Completion Rule to alter the headers before they are recorded. For more information, see Applying Rules. |
transaction_export!hi_res | Enables high resolution mode for the connection timeline. Use this setting to control whether the Virtual Traffic Manager records the connection timeline with high resolution (in microseconds) or with low resolution (in milliseconds). High resolution gives a more accurate portrayal of processing time, but can have a small impact on the latency of each connection handled. |
Perform this configuration for each virtual server whose transaction metadata records you want to export. Disable transaction_export!enabled for all other virtual servers to ensure you export data for only the services you want to analyze.
To fully disable transaction analytics exporting from the Virtual Traffic Manager cluster without having to reconfigure each virtual server separately, use the settings at System > Analytics Export. For more details, see Configuring Export Settings for Transaction Metadata Records.