Configure Monitors in Netscaler

Monitors are used to poll and monitor services on the Netscaler to ensure that they are in service when required by clients.

Configuration

To create a new monitor

add lb monitor <monitor name> tcp <options>

So to create a new monitor to monitor TCP port 8012 named "alfa_8012"

add lb monitor alfa_8012 tcp -destport 8012

Default options include polling interval, timeouts, retries, etc as per the example below - these can all be adjusted accordingly.

> show monitor alfa_8012
1)   Name.......:      alfa_8012  Type......:       TCP State....:   ENABLED
Standard parameters:
 Interval.........:            5 sec   Retries...........:                3
 Response timeout.:            2 sec   Down time.........:           30 sec 
 Reverse..........:               NO   Transparent.......:               NO
 Secure...........:               NO   LRTM..............:         DISABLED
 Action...........:   Not applicable   Deviation.........:            0 sec 
 Destination IP...:    Bound service
 Destination port.:             8012
 Iptunnel.........:               NO
 TOS..............:               NO   TOS ID............:                0
 SNMP Alert Retries:               0     Success Retries..:                1
 Failure Retries..:                0
Done

After creating a new monitor, you must bind it to an existing service.

bind lb monitor alfa_8012 pdc2axa002_8012

To see current state of bound services to a monitor

> show lb monbindings alfa_8012
       alfa_8012       Type : TCP      State : ENABLED
               1) pdc1axa001_8012 (10.80.16.76:8012)   Type : TCP      Service state : UP      Monitor state :  ENABLED
               2) pdc2axa002_8012 (10.160.16.32:8012)  Type : TCP      Service state : UP      Monitor state :  ENABLED
Done
> 

Finally, you can see which monitor is bound to a given service

> show service pdc1axa001_8012
       pdc1axa001_8012 (10.80.16.76:8012) - TCP
       State: UP
       Last state change was at Mon Jun 27 09:46:39 2016 
       Time since last state change: 7 days, 01:07:14.390
       Server Name: pdc1axa001 
       Server ID : None        Monitor Threshold : 0
       Max Conn: 0     Max Req: 0      Max Bandwidth: 0 kbits
       Use Source IP: NO
       Client Keepalive(CKA): NO
       Access Down Service: NO
       TCP Buffering(TCPB): NO
       HTTP Compression(CMP): NO
       Idle timeout: Client: 9000 sec  Server: 9000 sec
       Client IP: DISABLED 
       Cacheable: NO
       SC: OFF
       SP: ON
       Down state flush: ENABLED
       Appflow logging: ENABLED
        TD: 0
1)      Monitor Name: alfa_8012
               State: UP       Weight: 1       Passive: 0
               Probes: 95      Failed [Total: 0 Current: 0]
               Last response: Success - TCP syn+ack received.
               Response Time: 0.0 millisec
Done

Netscaler Documentation

Configuring Monitors