Our F5 BIG-IP integration collects and sends inventory and metrics from your F5 BIG-IP instance to our platform, where you can aggregate and visualize key performance metrics. We collect data at the system, application, pool, pool member, virtual server, and node levels.
Read on to install the integration, and to see what data we collect.
Compatibility and requirements
Our integration is compatible with F5 BIG-IP 11.6 or higher.
Before installing the integration, make sure that you meet the following requirements:
- Install the infrastructure agent.
- Linux distribution or Windows version compatible with the infrastructure agent.
- F5 BIG-IP user account with Access Auditor-level user privileges and iControl REST API access permissions.
F5 BIG-IP users and privileges
To create a new user and assign user permissions:
-
Create a user account with, at minimum, Access Auditor-level permissions. For instructions, see the F5 official documentation.
-
Once the user has been created, assign the user iControl REST user permissions.
Administrator-level permissions may be required to collect some system sample metrics or system inventory configuration data. For more information on user permission levels, see User role access descriptions.
For detailed information on iControl users and permission, download and review the iControl REST User Guide.
Install and activate
To install the F5 BIG-IP integration, choose your setup:
- Linux installation
-
- Follow the instructions for installing an integration, using the file name
nri-f5
. - Change the directory to the integrations folder:
cd /etc/newrelic-infra/integrations.d
- Copy of the sample configuration file:
sudo cp f5-config.yml.sample f5-config.yml
- Edit the
f5-config.yml
file as described in the configuration settings. - Restart the infrastructure agent.
- Follow the instructions for installing an integration, using the file name
- Windows installation
-
-
Download the
nri-f5
MSI installer image from:http://download.newrelic.com/infrastructure_agent/windows/integrations/nri-f5/nri-f5-amd64.msi
- To install from the Windows command prompt, run:
msiexec.exe /qn /i PATH\TO\nri-f5-amd64.msi
-
In the Integrations directory,
C:\Program Files\New Relic\newrelic-infra\integrations.d\
, create a copy of the sample configuration file by running:copy f5-config.yml.sample f5-config.yml
- Edit the
f5-config.yml
file as described in the configuration settings. - Restart the infrastructure agent.
-
Additional notes:
- We recommend you install the integration on a separate server and monitor F5 remotely.
- Advanced: It's also possible to install the integration from a tarball file. This gives you full control over the installation and configuration process.
- On-host integrations do not automatically update. For best results, regularly update the integration package and the infrastructure agent.
Configure the integration
An integration's YAML-format configuration is where you can place required login credentials and configure how data is collected. Which options you change depend on your setup and preference.
For an example of the configuration file, see the example config file.
With secrets management, you can configure on-host integrations with New Relic infrastructure's agent to use sensitive data (such as passwords) without having to write them as plain text into the integration's configuration file. For more information, see Secrets management.
Commands
The f5-config.yml
file accepts the following commands:
all_data
: collects both inventory and metrics for the BIG-IP instance.inventory
: collects only the inventory (configuration) data for the BIG-IP instance.metrics
: collects only the metrics data for the BIG-IP instance.
Arguments
The f5-config.yml
commands accept the following arguments:
-
username
: The username for the F5 BIG-IP connection. This field is required. -
password
: The password for the F5 BIG-IP connection. This field is required. -
hostname
: The hostname for the F5 BIG-IP connection. Default:f5-host
. -
port
: The port on which F5 BIG-IP instance is running. Default:443
. -
timeout
: The number of seconds to wait before a request times out. Default:30
. -
ca_bundle_file
: Alternative certificate authority bundle file. -
ca_bundle_dir
: Alternative certificate authority bundle directory. -
partition_filter
: An array of the partitions to collect from, in JSON. Default:'["Common"]'
.
Example configuration
Example f5-config.yml
file configuration:
- Example configuration
-
integration_name: com.newrelic.f5 instances: - name: nri-f5 # command can be all_data, metrics, or inventory command: all_data arguments: # Username of the F5 instance username: admin # Password of the F5 instance password: admin # Hostname of the F5 instance hostname: f5-host # Port of the F5 instance port: 443 # CA certificate file ca_bundle_file: /etc/ca_certificate.crt # A JSON array of BIG-IP partitions to collect from. # The partition name should have no leading slash. # Defaults to '["Common"]' partition_filter: '["Common","MyOtherPartition"]' # The number of seconds to wait before a request times out # Defaults to 30 timeout: 10
For more about the general structure of on-host integration configuration, see Configuration.
Find and use data
To find your integration data, go to infrastructure.newrelic.com > Third-party services and select one of the F5 BIG-IP integration links.
In New Relic Insights, F5 BIG-IP data is attached to the following Insights event types:
F5BigIpSystemSample
F5BigIpVirtualServerSample
F5BigIpPoolSample
F5BigIpPoolMemberSample
F5BigIpNodeSample
For more on how to find and use your data, see Understand integration data.
Metric data
The F5 BIG-IP integration collects the following metric data attributes. Some metric name are prefixed with a category indicator and a period, such as system.
, virtualserver.
, or pool.
.
System sample metrics
These attributes can be found by querying the F5BigIpSystemSample
event types.
Metric | Description |
---|---|
|
Amount of CPU ticks that the CPU was idle per second. Requires Administrator-level user permissions to collect. |
|
Average percentage of time the CPU is idle. |
|
Average percentage of time the CPU is handling interrupt requests. |
|
Average percentage of time the CPU is waiting on IO. |
|
Average percentage of time the CPU is handling nice level processes. |
|
Average percentage of time the CPU is handling soft interrupt requests. |
|
Average percentage of time the CPU is handling reclaimed cycles by the hypervisor. |
|
Amount of CPU ticks used by the kernel processes per second. Requires Administrator-level user permissions to collect. |
|
Average percentage of time the CPU is used by the kernel. |
|
Amount of CPU ticks used by user processes per second. Requires Administrator-level user permissions to collect. |
|
Average percentage of time the CPU is used by user processes. |
|
Total amount of memory free, in bytes. |
|
Total amount of memory, in bytes. Requires Administrator-level user permissions to collect. |
|
Total amount of memory used, in bytes. Requires Administrator-level user permissions to collect. |
|
Free memory reserved for control plane processes, in bytes. |
|
Total memory reserved for control plane processes, in bytes. |
|
Used memory reserved for control plane processes, in bytes. |
|
Swap space free, in bytes. |
|
Swap space total, in bytes. |
|
Swap space used, in bytes. |
|
Free memory reserved for Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM), in bytes. |
|
Total memory reserved for Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM), in bytes. |
|
Used memory reserved for Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM), in bytes. |
Virtual server sample metrics
These attributes can be found by querying the F5BigIpVirtualServerSample
event types in Insights.
Metric | Description |
---|---|
|
The BIG-IP defined availability. Options:
|
|
The rate of connections created through the client side of the object per second. |
|
Indicates whether or not Cluster Multiprocessing (CMP) is enabled. |
|
Shows the Cluster Multiprocessing (CMP) mode indicators. Options:
|
|
The current number of connections from BIG-IP. |
|
Maximum connection duration from the client side of the object. |
|
Minimum connection duration from the client side of the object. |
|
The current enabled state. Options:
|
|
Total number of bytes in through the ephemeral port per second. |
|
Total number of bytes out through the ephemeral port per second. |
|
The rate of connection creation through the ephemeral port per second. |
|
The current number of connections through the ephemeral port. |
|
The number of connections that are evicted through the ephemeral port per second. |
|
Maximum number of connections through the ephemeral port. |
|
The number of packets in through the ephemeral port per second. |
|
The number of packets out through the ephemeral port per second. |
|
The number of slow connections that are killed through the ephemeral port per second. |
|
The rate of connections evicted per second. |
|
The amount of data received from the BIG-IP virtual server, in bytes. |
|
The amount of data sent to the BIG-IP virtual server, in bytes. |
|
The number of packets received from the BIG-IP virtual server. |
|
The number of packets sent to the BIG-IP virtual server. |
|
The number of requests in the last collection interval to BIG-IP. |
|
The number of slow connections killed through the client side of the object per second. |
|
An explanation of the current status. |
|
The usage ratio for the virtual server. |
Pool sample metrics
These attributes can be found by querying the F5BigIpPoolSample
event types in Insights.
Metric | Description |
---|---|
|
The number of active pool members. |
|
The current availability state. Options:
|
|
The current number of connections. |
|
The queue age exponential-decaying max. |
|
The queue age exponential-moving average. |
|
The current queue age head. |
|
The queue age all-time max. |
|
The sum of pool member queue age exponential-decaying max. |
|
The sum of pool member queue age exponential-moving average. |
|
The sum of pool member queue age head. |
|
The sum of pool member queue age all-time max. |
|
The sum of pool member depth. |
|
The queue depth. |
|
The current connections. |
|
The current enabled state, can be user defined. Options:
|
|
The amount of data received from the BIG-IP pool, in bytes. |
|
Pool minimum active members. |
|
The amount of data sent to the BIG-IP pool, in bytes. |
|
The number of packets received from the BIG-IP pool. |
|
The number of packets sent to the BIG-IP pool. |
|
The total number of requests to the pool. |
|
Textual property explaining the overall health reason. |
Pool member sample metrics
These attributes can be found by querying the F5BigIpPoolMemberSample
event types in Insights.
Metric | Description |
---|---|
|
The current availability from the BIG-IP system. Options:
|
|
The current connections. |
|
Enabled state of the pool member with regards to the parent pool. Options:
|
|
The amount of data received from the BIG-IP pool member, in bytes. |
|
The status of the monitor. Options:
|
|
The amount of data sent to the BIG-IP pool member, in bytes. |
|
The number of packets received from the BIG-IP pool member. |
|
The number of packets sent to the BIG-IP pool member. |
|
The current number of requests over the last collection interval. |
|
The current session count. |
|
The current session health status. Options:
|
|
The current state. Options:
|
|
Explanation of the current status. |
Node sample metrics
These attributes can be found by querying the F5BigIpNodeSample
event types in Insights.
Metric | Description |
---|---|
|
The current BIG-IP availability state to the node. Options:
|
|
The current number of network connections from BIG-IP. |
|
The number of connections made per second. |
|
The current BIG-IP enabled state. Options:
|
|
The amount of data received from the BIG-IP node, in bytes. |
|
The current health monitor rule status. Options:
|
|
The amount of data sent to the BIG-IP node, in bytes. |
|
The number of packets received from the BIG-IP node. |
|
The number of packets sent to the BIG-IP node. |
|
The current number of requests over the last collection from BIG-IP. |
|
The current number of sessions. |
|
The current status of the session. Options:
|
|
BIG-IP reason for the current status. |
Inventory data
The F5 BIG-IP integration also collects configuration data at system, application, pool, pool member, virtual server, and node levels.
The data is available on the Infrastructure Inventory page, under the config/f5 source. For more about inventory data, see Understand integration data.
The integration captures data for the following F5 BIG-IP configuration parameters:
- Pool Inventory
-
Metric Description currentLoadMode
Current load balancing mode.
description
User defined description.
kind
Kind of pool.
maxConnections
Current max number of connections seen at one point.
monitorRule
Current health monitoring rule applied.
- Node inventory
-
Metric Description address
BIG-IP network address to send to the node.
fqdn
FQDN of node.
kind
Type of Node in BIG-IP.
maxConnections
Current highest number of network connections reported from BIG-IP.
monitorRule
BIG-IP Health Monitor rule.
- Pool Member Inventory
-
Metric Description kind
Type of Pool member.
maxConnections
Current highest number of network connections reported from BIG-IP.
monitorRule
BIG-IP health monitor rule.
nodeName
Name of the node the pool member is using.
poolName
Name of the pool the pool member belongs.
port
Port the pool member listens on.
- Virtual Server Inventory
-
Metric Description applicationService
Current application service assigned.
destination
Destination address picked up by BIG-IP.
kind
Type of virtual server.
maxConnections
Current highest number of network connections reported from BIG-IP.
name
User defined name.
pool
Pool the virtual server uses for load balancing.
- System Inventory
-
Metric Description chassisSerialNumber
Chassis Serial Number for the current device. Requires Access Administrator-level user permissions to collect.
platform
Platform of the current device. Requires Access Administrator-level user permissions to collect.
product
Product Name for the current device. Requires Access Administrator-level user permissions to collect.
- Application Inventory
-
Metric Description deviceGroup
Device group running application service.
kind
BIG-IP Defined type.
name
User defined name.
poolToUse
Server side pool load balancing requests.
template
Template applied to application including security and monitoring rules.
templateModified
Indicator of modifications made to out of the box template.
trafficGroup
Current traffic group to which service is applied.
Check the source code
This integration is open source software. That means you can browse its source code and send improvements, or create your own fork and build it.