F5 BIG-IP LTM monitoring
This extension documentation is now deprecated and will no longer be updated. We recommend using the new F5 BIG-IP LTM extension for improved functionality and support.
Learn how to monitor F5 BIG-IP LTM devices using the F5 LTM ActiveGate extension.
Prerequisites
- F5 BIG-IP LTM devices with iControl API support.
- Credentials for F5 admin account or non-admin account with
iControl_REST_API_User
role. For F5 version 13.1+, any user with the access to the objects to monitor is sufficient. For more information, see K84925527: Overview of iControl permissions. - An Environment ActiveGate (version 1.155+) that has the ActiveGate plugin module installed, and isn't used for synthetic or mainframe monitoring.
- ActiveGate version 1.175+ is ready to accept and run extensions. If you are running an earlier version of ActiveGate, see Install ActiveGate plugin module for instructions on installing the plugin module.
- For Environment ActiveGate installation instructions, see Dynatrace ActiveGate.
- One environment ActiveGate can typically support 30-50 F5 LTM devices.
Extension installation
-
In Dynatrace Hub, select F5 BIG-IP.
-
Select Download to get the extension ZIP file. Don't rename the file.
-
Unzip the ZIP file to the
plugin_deployment
directory of your ActiveGate host. -
Restart the Dynatrace Remote Plugin Module service.
- On Linux, restart the service using the following commands with admin rights:
systemctl restart remotepluginmodule.service
- On Windows, run these two commands in a Command Prompt launched as Admin:
sc stop "Dynatrace Remote Plugin Module"sc start "Dynatrace Remote Plugin Module"
- On Linux, restart the service using the following commands with admin rights:
-
In Dynatrace, go to Settings > Monitoring > Monitored technologies and select Add new technology monitoring > Add ActiveGate extension.
-
Select Upload extension and upload
custom.remote.python.f5rest.zip
. -
Enter the endpoint information requested for connecting to F5 device:
Setting
Details
Endpoint name
Enter a meaningful endpoint name.
Username
The username for connecting to the iControl REST API. The account must be an admin account or non-admin account with the
iControl_REST_API_User
role).Password
The account password.
Use token authentication
Use token authentication instead of direct connection (required for LDAP-integrated and non-admin users, but may also be used with admin accounts).
Hostname/IP of management interface
The hostname/IP where the management interface is listening, defaults to port
443
(HTTPS).Require a valid SSL certificate
Select if a valid SSL certificate is required. Note that even if the certificate validation is disabled the extension will still communicate via HTTPS, if the device is configured for that.
Path to a
CA_BUNDLE
file or directoryThe absolute path to self-signed certificates of trusted CAs.
Enable debug logging
Select this only if a Dynatrace product expert requests it to investigate an issue.
Comma-separated virtual servers
Allows for filtering of the virtual servers that are to be monitored.
Comma-separated pools
Allows for filtering of the pools that are to be monitored.
Comma-separated nodes
Allows for filtering of the nodes that are to be monitored.
Comma-separated rules
Allows for filtering of the rules that are to be monitored.
Comma-separated profiles
Allows for filtering of the profiles that are to be monitored.
Comma-separated interfaces
Allows for filtering of the interfaces that are to be monitored.
Comma-separated partitions
Allows for filtering of the partitions that are to be monitored.
Comma-separated additional IPs
Allows for filtering of any additional IPs that are to be monitored.
Name of the group
If the device is part of a cluster, type the name here to group the devices in the Dynatrace web UI.
Troubleshoot ActiveGate extensions
-
404 error when connecting to F5?
Starting in BIG-IP 11.6.0, a non-admin user account may be granted with the minimum permissions required to successfully query the iControl API (
iControl_REST_API_User
role). This role may be granted by a BIG-IP admin, using the following command:curl -sk -u <admin_username>:<admin_password> https://localhost/mgmt/shared/authz/roles/iControl_REST_API_User -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X PATCH -d '{ "userReferences":[{"link":"https://localhost/mgmt/shared/authz/users/<username>"}]}'
See also Troubleshoot ActiveGate extensions.
Metrics
The IP address of all network interfaces and the ports used by the services are automatically captured, as are the following metrics:
Device
- Availability
Virtual servers (split by virtual server)
- Status
- Requests
- Ephemeral/client-side connections
- Ephemeral/client-side received bytes
- Ephemeral/client-side transmitted bytes
- Ephemeral/client-side received packets
- Ephemeral/client-side transmitted packets
- Ephemeral/client-side slow killed
- Ephemeral/client-side evicted connections
- CPU usage
- Syncookie accepts
- Syncookie rejects
Pools (split by pool)
- Status
- Requests
- Connections
- Received bytes
- Transmitted bytes
- Received packets
- Transmitted packets
- Member count
- Current sessions
Nodes (split by node)
- Status
- Requests
- Connections
- Received bytes
- Transmitted bytes
- Received packets
- Transmitted packets
Rules (split by rule)
- Executions
- Aborts
- Failures
Network interfaces (split by interface)
- Status
- Received bytes
- Transmitted bytes
- Received packets
- Transmitted packets
- Dropped packages
- Errors
Client and server SSL (split by profile)
- Common connections
- Native connections
- Fatal alerts
- Secure handshakes
- Handshake failures
- Insecure handshake accepts
- Insecure handshake rejects
- Insecure renegotiation rejects
- Requests (split by protocol)
Disks (split by disks)
- Free
- Used
- Reserved
CPU (split by CPUs)
- Idle
- IO wait
- IRQ
- Soft IRQ
- Stolen
- System
- User
Memory
- Total
- Used
HTTP stats (split by profiles)
- GET/POST requests
- 2xx responses
- 3xx responses
- 4xx responses
- 5xx responses