Configuring Health Monitors
This skill focuses on configuring health monitors within the BIG-IP environment to ensure the health and availability of member servers. It covers various types of health monitors, including address checks, service checks, and content checks, and explains how to apply these monitors to nodes, pools, and pool members. The skill also highlights the importance of understanding health icons and the impact of network traffic on monitoring. Practical examples and step-by-step instructions are provided to demonstrate the configuration and testing of different health monitors.
Full skill from F5CAB3. Preview the training IT teams trust.
Updated
Skill 1 of 3 in F5CAB3
What you'll learn
- Interpret BIG-IP Network Map status icons, including unknown blue squares, manually disabled black triangles, and gray icons from dependent objects
- Identify the four places a health monitor can be applied: nodes, pools, pool members, and links
- Compare address check, service check, content check, and WMI monitors by how they test servers and how much network traffic they generate
- Configure a custom HTTP content monitor with a send string and a receive string that matches a keyword on the served webpage
- Apply a custom HTTPS content monitor to a pool and validate that members show available and the site responds
- Distinguish a node (IP address only) from a pool member (IP address and port) when checking monitor health status
Free 46-minute video lesson with a full transcript and knowledge checks. No account needed to watch.
Introduction
Within our environment it's very important that we know the health status of our member servers. If they are down or unresponsive this will affect our users experience and can cause errors and delays which we want to avoid. Let's take some time to learn about the health monitoring options available within the Big-IP. Then we'll set some up and see our health monitoring in action.
Health Monitors
Health monitors can track the health of our member servers and make decisions based on their health. Let's take a look at health icons used within the Big-IP and where we can apply these health monitors.
Knowledge Check
Match the health icon with it's health status.
This interactive assessment is available in the full learning experience.
Types of Health Monitors
Now it's time to discuss the various types of health monitors available within the Big-IP and what each of them does. We'll discuss how they work and when you might want to use one over another.
Knowledge Check
Match the health monitor with it's functionality.
This interactive assessment is available in the full learning experience.
Configuring a Basic Health Monitor
It's time to jump onto the Big-IP and configure a couple different health monitors. We're going to compare the ICMP and HTTP monitors to see how they work differently.
Knowledge Check
ICMP health monitors are great for checking to see if a service such as HTTPS is up and running.
Monitoring Content Health
Just monitoring whether a service is running or not isn't always the best option. Sometimes we need to ensure the content being served up by a service is accurate. For example, we may want to verify content to make sure a back-end database is connected to our application. So let's see how to set up content health monitoring.
Knowledge Check
When creating custom monitors it's common practice to edit the default system monitors.
Health of Members Versus Nodes
Members and nodes are two different types of objects within the Big-IP. This is very important to remember when configuring health monitors. Let's take a look at the difference between the two when it comes to health monitors.
Knowledge Check
Members automatically inherit health monitors configured on their parent pool.
Validation
- In this skill we setup a custom health monitor for our HTTPS pool. I would like for you to create a custom health monitor named "APP1-HTTPS" using the monitor type of HTTPS. You'll also want to get creative and use something other than "Congratulations!" in the Receive String portion of the custom monitor.
- If you need some assistance refer to the "Monitoring Content Health" nugget above.
- I've also created a solution video below in case you want to check your work.
Knowledge Check
How comfortable are you with setting up health monitors on the Big-IP?
This interactive assessment is available in the full learning experience.
Frequently asked questions
What does the BIG-IP Configuring Health Monitors lesson cover?
The lesson shows a team member how to read BIG-IP Network Map status icons and where health monitors can be applied: nodes, pools, pool members, and links. It compares address check, service check, content check, and WMI monitors, then walks through building custom HTTP and HTTPS content monitors that match a keyword on the served webpage.
What is the difference between address check, service check, and content check monitors on BIG-IP?
An address check monitor tests a member's IP address with ping or ICMP and generates very little network traffic. A service check monitor sends a SYN to test a service such as DNS or SSH without establishing a full session, while a content check monitor verifies the actual content a server returns and generates the most network traffic of the three.
What do the blue squares, black triangles, and gray icons mean in the BIG-IP Network Map?
A blue square means the status is unknown because BIG-IP has no monitor telling it whether the object is up or down. A black triangle means an administrator manually disabled the object, and a gray icon means the object is unavailable because it depends on another object that has been disabled.
How do you configure an HTTPS content monitor with a send and receive string on BIG-IP?
In the lesson, the instructor creates a custom monitor of type HTTPS, uses a simple HTTP GET as the send string, and enters a receive string that matches text found on every served webpage, checking capitalization. The monitor is then applied to the HTTPS pool, and the team member validates that all members show green and the site responds in a browser.
How long is the health monitors lesson and how does it fit the F5CAB3 course?
The lesson runs 46 minutes and is part of BIG-IP Administration Data Plane Configuration (F5CAB3), a 2 hour, 19 minute course that also covers persistence profiles, profiles, and pools. The course aligns with the F5 Certified Administrator, BIG-IP certification, which spans exams F5CAB1 through F5CAB5.
How can a Training Manager assign this lesson and track team completion on CBT Nuggets?
Training Managers can assign the course as part of an F5 onboarding path using Playlists, and IT leaders can verify completion with Team Reporting. Team reporting provides per-learner progress and completion, cohort and group views, and completion exports for audit evidence.
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