When monitoring a NetScaler appliance, you may first want to know whether the target NetScaler has been deployed in an HA setup or not. If so, you may then want to time and again evaluate the effectiveness of the HA configuration, by checking the following:

• Is the target NetScaler appliance the primary node or the secondary node of the HA setup?
• What is the current state of the monitored NetScaler appliance? Did failover occur when the primary node went down?
• Are both nodes able to communicate freely with each other via heartbeat packets?
• Is the configuration of both the primary and secondary managers in sync?

The CtxNsHATest test does all the above, and more!

The default parameters associated with this test are:

• The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

• Specify the host for which the test is to be configured in the HOST text box.

• To monitor a NetScaler device, the eG agent should be configured with the credentials of a user with read-only privileges to the target NetScaler device. Specify the credentials of such a user in the NETSCALER USERNAME and NETSCALER PASSWORD text boxes.

• Confirm the password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

• The eG agent collects performance metrics by invoking NITRO (NetScaler Interface Through Restful interfaces and Objects) APIs on the target Netscaler device. Typically, the NITRO APIs can be invoked through the HTTP or the HTTPS mode. By default, the eG agent invokes the NITRO APIs using the HTTPS mode. This is why, the SSL flag is set to Yes by default. If the target Netscaler device is not SSL-enabled, then the NITRO APIs can be accessed through the HTTP mode only. In this case, set the SSL flag to No.

• If multiple components of the same component type are awaiting configuration, then an APPLY TO OTHER COMPONENTS check box will appear in this page. Clicking on this check box will allow you to apply the configuration to all/selected components of that type.

• Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the UPDATE button will register the changes made.

When changing the configuration for specific servers, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$” or contain a series of “*”. A value of "none" in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.