Step 1: Initial Setup
The Initial Setup step has a checklist section and the following setup sections:
When you complete each setup section, click Next to move on to the next section.
Name/Description
The Service Name you enter in this section is displayed on the dashboards and reports. It should be short but descriptive enough for you to recognize. Do not use spaces in the name.
Entries you make in the Notes section are displayed in the Description column on the Defitions > Services page.
Name End Users Component
The End Users component represents the end user clients that are using this service. By default, this component monitors each location defined for the ByLocation host group type separately. The list of locations can be tuned later when configuring monitoring.
The name you enter for the end user component is displayed on the service map.
Define Front End Component
The front end component includes the servers that the end users are connecting to.
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Name - Enter a name that represents the function of the servers in this component. The name you enter for the front end component is displayed on the service map.
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Type - Select the type of front end component, Servers or Load Balancer VIPs. If the front end component of the service uses physical servers, the displays and steps are as follows below. If the front end component uses virtual servers (the virtual IP addresses of a load balancer), the procedure is slightly different. Click here for the description of the setup fields that are required for a load balancer front end component: Load Balancer VIPs
- Hosts/Subnets - Identify the servers to be included in the front end component by specifying a comma-separated list of IP addresses, server names, or subnets that make up make up this component. Specify subnet address ranges in CIDR format.
For example, assume that a web-based service has five front end servers with addresses 10.100.201.30, 10.100.201.31, 10.100.201.32, 10.100.201.33 and 10.100.201.34 that end users connect to. This would be defined as:
Name: WebServers
Hosts / Subnets: 10.100.201.30, 10.100.201.31, 10.100.201.32, 10.100.201.33, 10.100.201.34
- Excluded Hosts/Subnets - Identify any servers to be excluded from the front end component by specifying a comma-separated list of IP addresses, server names, or subnets. Specify subnet address ranges in CIDR format. more
For example, assume that you defined the Hosts/Subnets to be included in the service component as 10/8, but you want to exclude a group of hosts within that range. You can specify a comma-separated list of IP addresses, host names or subnets to be excluded from the service component. The list can be in the form of:
Excluded Hosts/Subnets: 10.200.100.1, 10.200.100.2, 10.200.100.3, 10.200.0/24
Identify Applications and Ports
After you have defined the front end server component, you can use the NetProfiler appliance to discover which applications and ports are being served by that component. That is, you can identify the applications and/or ports with which the end users communicate with the front end servers. This process may identify end user clients or services that you did not know about but want to include in the service you are tracking.
Advanced options - You can use these options to limit the discovery process to specific applications and a specific time frame.
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Restrict discovery to applications/ports - Enter ports or applications manually, or use the Browse feature to look up named applications and ports. This limits the discovery process to just those applications, ports, or application-port combinations that you select. Syntax notes
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Aggregate discovery results by - The discovery process finds each application, port, or application-port combination in use between end users and the front end servers. You can use the Aggregate discovery results by options to control how the discovered applications and ports are aggregated into proposed service segments:
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Ports only – a service segment is proposed for each server port that is in use.
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Applications and Ports – a service segment is proposed for each application-port combination discovered.
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Applications only – a service segment is proposed for each Layer 7 application that is discovered.
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Discovery time frame - The time frame must include a time when there was traffic involving the front end servers component.
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Skip discovery - if you choose to enter the segment definition manually instead of using the discovery process.
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Run Discovery & Next - causes the NetProfiler appliance to look for all applications being served by the front end servers component. The appliance uses historical traffic data for the previous business day to determine the applications, protocols and server ports that were connecting to the front end servers component. However, you can change this time frame in the Advanced options section. The discovery process either lists its results or displays a message box with suggestions for improving the discovery criteria.
Create Front End Segments
The Create Front End Segments section is used to select the applications/ports that you want to be included in the front end segments of the service you are defining. Use the New Apps/Ports tab to add discovered applications or ports to the service. Use the other tabs help you keep track of what you have added or merged into the definition of the service.
New Apps/Ports tab
This tab lists all server ports and applications that were discovered in the preceding section and have not yet been processed. Each application/port combination, along with its client component and server component, is a candidate for being added to the service as a service segment.
Select the checkbox for a proposed segment and click Add to add it to the service. Alternatively, select the check boxes for multiple proposed segments and click Merge to include them in the service as a single segment.
Clicking Add or Merge opens a window in which you can assign a name to the front end segment. In this window you can also click Show traffic report to run a service traffic report to check on the applications/ports that you are adding.
When you click Save, the appliance adds your selected application/port connections, and the client and server components that are using them, as a new service segment. The Service Map displays the new segment with the name that you assigned to it.
Any discovered application/port that you did not add, drop or delete is displayed as "Undecided." Note that if the Undecided segment and the added segment are using the same client and server components, those components are displayed only once. Each segment includes the both components, and the components are highlighted for each segment that you hover the mouse over.
To remove an "Undecided" connection from the segment, select it and click Drop or Delete.
If you click Drop, the application/port connection is not monitored as part of the service and it is not rediscovered if you run the discovery step again. However, it is saved in case you choose to add it in the future. It remains listed on the All Segments tab.
If you choose Delete, the proposed segment is discarded and no longer available to be added to the definition of the service. However, it will be rediscovered if you run the discovery step again.
Added Segments tab
This tab lists the segment names, their client and server components and applications/ports between the components. Select the check box for a segment and click Edit to open a window in which you can edit the definition and run a service traffic report. You can select two or more segments and click Merge to combine them into one segment. You can also drop or delete the segment.
Components tab
This tab lists the components that have been added to the service. Components can be shared between segments. You can edit or delete components on this tab.
All Segments tab
This tab lists the segments that have been added or merged and the proposed segments that have been dropped or remain undecided.
After you have defined the front end segments, you can move on to Step 2: Find Additional Components and Segments.