eG Monitoring
 

Measures reported by CtxNsNTPStatusTest

An NTP server is added to the target ADC VPX/MPX appliance to synchronize the time on the appliance to the network time. The absence of time synchronization between an NTP client and target ADC VPX/MPX appliance can have serious repercussions on the performance and operations of the appliance - for instance, scheduled tasks such as virus scans or backup routines may not run on time on the appliance, SSL certificate validity checks may go awry, etc. If these adversities are to be avoided, administrators should be proactively alerted to a potential non-sync between the appliance's time and the NTP server's time and should also receive a ‘heads-up’ on the probable reasons for the same. This is where the Netscaler NTP Status test helps! This test periodically checks the accessibility and responsiveness of the NTP servers associated with the appliance, and also indicates how different the appliance's time is from the server's time. In the process, the test not only points to a time non-sync, but also reveals the probable reasons for the same - is it because the NTP server is down? Is it because the NTP server is slow in processing client requests? or is it because the gap between the server's time and the client's time is very high? or is it because the NTP server is slow in processing client requests? or is it because the gap between the server's time and the client's time is very high?

Outputs of the test: One set of results for each NTP server on the ADC appliance being monitored.

Descriptor: NTP Server

The measures made by this test are as follows:

Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation
No_ntp_servers Indicates the number of NTP servers configured on the target Citrix ADC VPX/MPX appliance. Number

This measure is applicable only for ‘Summary’ descriptor./p>

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to identify the NTP servers that are confiigured, the IP Address of the NTP servers, the minimum and maximum polling interval time of each NTP server.
NTP_Sync_state Indicates whether/not the NTP servers are synchronized with the target appliance.  

This measure is applicable only for ‘Summary’ descriptor.

NTP sycnhronization may fail if the NTP server is blocked by a firewall or is not responding to queries.

The numeric values that correspond to these measure values have been given in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Yes 1
No 0

Note:

By default, the measure reports the Measure Values listed in the table above to indicate whether/not the NTP servers are synchronized with the target appliance. However, in the graph of this measure, the same will be represented using the numeric equivalents only.

Is_auth_enabled Indicates whether/not authentication is enabled between the NTP servers and the target appliance.  

This measure is applicable only for ‘Summary’ descriptor.

The numeric values that correspond to these measure values have been given in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Yes 1
No 0

Note:

By default, the measure reports the Measure Values listed in the table above to indicate whether/not authentication is enabled between the NTP servers and the target appliance. However, in the graph of this measure, the same will be represented using the numeric equivalents only.
Delay Indicates the length of time it takes for a signal to be sent from this NTP server to the appliance plus the length of time it takes for an acknowledgment of that signal to be received. This time delay therefore consists of the transmission times between the two points of a signal. Seconds

 
Offset Indicates the number of seconds this NTP server should add to its time to synchronize with the target appliance’s time. Seconds

 
Jitter Indicates the measurement of variance in latency on the network between this NTP server and the target appliance. Seconds

If the latency noticed on the network is constant, then, it indicates that there is no jitter.

Ideally, this value should be zero.