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Backend Service Groups
What Is Backend Service Groups?
Backend Service Groups lists, in the Left Monitor Panel, the Backend Services that are members of the Backend Groups together with their health check statuses, under the header of the group they belong to. Every group starts with its name and a colored dot that shows the total health status of the group; below it every member of the group is placed as a row in the IP:port form. The colored strip on the left of the row shows the health check status of the member. When a member or a group header is clicked, not the member's own screen but the Dashboard tab of the group opens on the main screen.
The Backend Services that are not bound to a group are not listed in this category but in the Backend Services category. The list is filtered by group, by name, by health status, by the SSL, maintenance and backup settings and by route table. The selected category, the filters and the view settings are stored per user; when the session is opened again, the panel comes in the same state.
Group Members
Scope
The Backend Group members are listed under the group headers
6
Health Status
OK, Partially healthy, Preparing, Error, HC disabled, No data
7
Filter Tabs
Backend Service Groups, Name, Health, SSL service, Maintenance mode, Backup service, Route table
5s
Refresh
The default refresh interval; 10s, 30s and 60s are also selected
Accessing the Screen
- Left Monitor Panel is opened.
- Backend Service Groups is selected from the category tabs at the top left.
- The members of the Backend Groups defined on TR7 are listed under the header of their group.
- The group or a member of the group to be monitored is clicked; the screen opens with the Dashboard tab that carries the name of the group.
If Backend Service Groups is not seen in the category list, the user does not have the Load Balancer authorization or the category has been removed with the Edit Tabs arrangement in the category list; a removed category is added again from the same arrangement.
The Backend Service Groups Screen
The Backend Service Groups Screen
At the top part of the screen there are the category selector and the toolbar, below them the status strip, the search box and the group member table, and at the very bottom the metric information row. By default the table opens with the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| The status strip | The colored strip on the left of the row shows the health check status of the group member; the colors are the same as the colors in the status strip. When it is hovered over, the status name is displayed. |
| Backend Service Groups | The address of the group member (IP:port). The members are listed under the header row on which the group name and the dot that shows the total health status of the group are placed. |
| Metric column | The value of the selected metric; the name of the data source of the metric is written in the column header. In the rows that have no data - is displayed. |
The color of the dot in the group header is the total health status of the group and is calculated on the server side from the statuses of the members. While the Dashboard of a group is open, the header of that group and all its members are highlighted as selected.
The Health Check metrics are not provided for the group members
The Health Check State and Health Check Time metrics are not calculated for the group members and are not in the metric list of this category. If one of these metrics is saved in the category setting, the Primary Metric box comes empty as in the image, the header of the metric column stays empty, the cells read -, the information row writes backend.hc.state instead of the metric name and the total strip is not displayed. In this case one of the traffic metrics in the list is selected from the View Settings window. The health status of the group members is read from the color of the strip and from the status strip.
By default the table is sorted by name from A to Z. The sorting is changed by clicking a column header: the first click on a column that is not sorted sorts the name and status strip columns from the smallest to the largest and the metric columns from the largest to the smallest; a second click on the same column reverses the order and a third click removes the sorting. In the table one navigates between the rows with the ↑ and ↓ keys; the selected row opens half a second later and the Enter key opens the row immediately. The ← and → keys pass to the previous or the next category.
When a member or a group header is clicked, the Dashboard tab that carries the name of the group opens on the main screen; the Dashboard comes with the Display Period value in the panel.
The Category Selector
Which object group the panel will list is selected. When the label or the arrow next to it is clicked, the category list opens; the default order is Load Balancer vServices, WAF-Protected vServices, AGS-Enabled vServices, Bot/DDoS Protected vServices, Backend Services, Backend Service Groups, GTM, Interfaces and Route Tables & L4 DDoS. The categories for which the user has no authorization are not displayed in the list.
With the Edit Tabs button in the list, the categories are reordered by dragging, are added with Add Tab and are edited or deleted with the buttons on the right of the row. The changes are saved with the check mark; Discard changes undoes the changes made and Reset to Defaults returns to the default category list.
Backend Service Groups List
By clicking the Backend Service Groups list button, the Backend Groups listing screen opens on the main screen. While the listing screen is open, the button is displayed as active.
Search
The Search button shows or hides the search box above the table. The search is made only in the address of the group member and the table is filtered as it is typed. The cross mark in the box clears the search; the Esc key or clicking the button again hides the box and clears the search. Whether the box is open or closed is stored per user; by default it is open.
Filter
By clicking the Filter button, the Filter window opens. While a filter is active, a dot appears on the button and the tooltip of the button writes how many group members are shown in the form Showing X of Y.
View Settings
By clicking the Settings button, the View Settings window opens.
Collapse
The Collapse button collapses the panel. The collapsed panel turns into a narrow icon strip: every category is shown with an icon and the small status dots below it. When the icon is hovered over, the category name and the status distribution are displayed; when the icon is clicked, the panel expands again with that category. The width of the panel is changed by dragging its right edge and is stored per user.
The Metric Information Row
It shows the selected metric of the table, its calculation type and its period; in the setup in the image, since the saved metric is not in the list, it writes backend.hc.state — Avg. value, last 1 day(s) instead of the metric name. By clicking the row, the View Settings window opens. While the data is loading, the settings icon in the row turns; the ring around the icon shows the time remaining until the next refresh.
The Status Strip
The strip below the toolbar shows the number of the group members in the list by their health check status; there is a box for every status that has a group member at that moment. The boxes are counted according to the other filters; the search and the Health filter do not change the numbers, so all the statuses continue to be seen on the strip.
| Status | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| OK | Green | The health check is successful. |
| Partially healthy | Yellow | It is used only in the total status of the group: the health statuses of the group members differ from one another. It is not seen in the member rows and in the status strip; it is displayed on the dot in the group header and on the group label in the Backend Service Groups filter tab. |
| Preparing | Yellow | The health check has been started, no result has been received yet. |
| Error | Red | The health check has failed. |
| HC disabled | Gray | No health check has been assigned (in the group header: the group has no member). |
| No data | Gray | A health check is defined but its result cannot be received; the first result is being waited for or the check service cannot be reached. |
For the details of the health check statuses see Health Checks.
When a box is clicked, that status is added to the Health filter in the Filter window and the table shows only the group members in that status; when it is clicked again, the status is removed from the filter. More than one box can be selected and the selected boxes are displayed highlighted. The strip is hidden with the Show status bar option in the View Settings window.
The Filter Window
In the window that opens by clicking the Filter button, the group members in the table are filtered according to the values in the tabs.
The Filter Window
In the header of every tab the number of values in that tab is written, and next to every value the number of group members that have that value. When no value is selected in a tab, that tab does not filter the list. When more than one value is selected in a tab, the group members that match any one of them are listed, and when a selection is made in different tabs, the group members that match the condition of all the tabs are listed.
Tabs
INFO
Backend Service Groups Default: All
The Backend Groups that have a member are listed; the label of every group is in the color of the total health status of the group. The members of the selected groups are shown in the table.
INFO
Name Default: All
The group members are listed in the IP:port (group name) form; the selected members are shown in the table.
INFO
Health Default: All
It is filtered by health check status; the statuses that are in the list are listed as labels with the colors in the status strip. Clicking a box in the status strip also changes the selection in this tab.
INFO
SSL service Default: All
It is filtered by the SSL service setting of the member: Enabled, Disabled.
INFO
Maintenance mode Default: All
It is filtered by the Maintenance mode setting of the member: Enabled, Disabled.
INFO
Backup service Default: All
It is filtered by the Backup service setting of the member: Enabled, Disabled.
INFO
Route table Default: All
It is filtered by the route table the member is bound to; only the route tables that have at least one group member are listed.
Window Controls
INFO
Select All
The Select all button selects all the values displayed in the tab; while all the values are selected, the button becomes Deselect all and removes the selection.
INFO
Search
In the Backend Service Groups, Name and Route table tabs the values are filtered according to the text typed in the search box; Select all is applied only to the filtered values. In the other tabs there is no search box.
INFO
Save
By clicking the Save button, the selected filters are applied and stored per user. If the window is closed without the Save button being clicked, the selections made are not applied.
The View Settings Window
In the window that opens by clicking the Settings button or the metric information row, which metric the table will show, its sorting and its refresh period are set.
The View Settings Window
The settings are stored per category and per user; a setting made for Backend Service Groups does not affect the other categories.
Metrics
INFO
View Type Default: Basic
The view of the list is selected:
- Basic: the group members are listed as a table with the columns of the selected metric.
- Advanced: every group member is shown as a card; on the card there are at most five additional metrics together with the Primary Metric. In this view the Additional Metrics field in which the additional metrics are selected is added to the window.
INFO
Primary Metric
The metric to be shown in the table and the calculation type are selected. In the first box the metrics that combine the traffic of the member on all the vServices (HTTP Requests, Response Time, Bandwidth, Current Sessions, Queue Depth, Connect Time, Connections, HTTP Response Codes) are listed; the health check metrics are not provided in this category. The Static group contains the information that does not depend on time:
- Address: the IP address and port of the member.
- Weight: its weight in the load balancing.
- Health: the name of the assigned health check.
- Route table: the route table it is bound to.
- Status: the SSL service, Maintenance mode and Backup service settings that are on, with icons.
In the setup in the image, since Health Check State is saved in the category setting, the box comes empty and Avg. value is displayed in the second box.
Sorting & Appearance
INFO
Sort By Default: Name
The sorting criterion of the table is selected: Default Order, Name, Status or one of the columns of the selected metric.
INFO
Ascending Default: Checked
While it is checked, the sorting is made from the smallest to the largest (from A to Z), and while it is not checked, from the largest to the smallest.
INFO
Group by Status Default: Not checked
When it is selected, the group members are grouped by their health check statuses; the groups are arranged in the order No data, HC disabled, Error, Preparing and OK. At the beginning of every group the status name and the number of group members are written; by clicking the group header, the group is opened or closed.
Data Refresh
INFO
Display Period Default: Last 1 day(s)
The period over which the metric value will be calculated is selected. The ready options are 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 6 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months and 1 year; the period is also entered manually. The field is not displayed when no time-dependent metric is selected in the saved setting and in the window (e.g. when a metric is selected only from the Static group). The Dashboard that opens when a row is clicked comes with this period.
INFO
Refresh Interval Default: 5s
The refresh interval of the values in the table is selected: 5s, 10s, 30s, 60s.
INFO
Accept
By clicking the Accept button, the settings are saved and the table is refreshed with the new settings.
