Configuring Riverbed AppResponse

What Riverbed AppResponse is and why configuration matters

Riverbed AppResponse is an application and network performance monitoring product that collects metrics from your environment. When you add it as a data sourceClosed A product in your network that forwards data to the system. This data can be streaming data used to detect anomalies and generate incidents, or data that can be fetched on demand when runbooks are executed. in Riverbed IQ Ops, that data flows through Riverbed Edge into the platform and feeds analytics, incidentsClosed A collection of one or more related triggers. Relationships that cause triggers to be combined into incidents include application, location, operating system, or a trigger by itself., and runbooks. Before you can add Riverbed AppResponse as a data source, you must configure the Riverbed AppResponse system so it can communicate with Riverbed Edge: create a dedicated user and role with the right permissions, and ensure host group definitions are complete so IQ Ops can monitor application performance by client and server groups. Without this setup, you cannot connect Riverbed AppResponse in Riverbed IQ Ops, and you will miss data and incidents for that scope.

What you need before you start

This topic covers only the configuration you do in the Riverbed AppResponse web UI. You will also add and configure Riverbed AppResponse as a data source in Riverbed IQ Ops afterward. That procedure is in Adding a Data Source.

  • Riverbed Edge must be configured and deployed. If you have not done that yet, or need to revisit it, see Configuring Riverbed Edge and Data Sources. You will create an account for this Riverbed AppResponse connection on the Edge as well (the same pattern as for NetProfiler).

  • Access to the Riverbed AppResponse web UI with rights to create users, assign roles, and manage definitions (e.g. host groups).

  • Repeat the steps in this topic for each Riverbed AppResponse system you want to use as a data source.

Create a Riverbed AppResponse user and role for IQ Ops

The Edge connects to Riverbed AppResponse using a dedicated user account. Create that user and a role with the permissions required for integration, then assign the role to the user. You will use the same credentials when you add Riverbed AppResponse as a data source in Riverbed IQ Ops.

To create the user and role:

  1. In the Riverbed AppResponse web UI, navigate to User Management (or the area where you create users and assign roles).

  2. Create a new local user. Use any username you prefer; a descriptive name (e.g. iq_account) makes the purpose clear.

  3. Open the Roles and Permissions tab and click Add to create a role for Riverbed IQ Ops integration. Set Feature Settings and Definitions to Full Control. Other permissions can remain No Access.

  4. Assign that role to the user you created (e.g. iq_account).

  5. Create the same user account on Riverbed Edge (same approach as for NetProfiler). You will use this when you add Riverbed AppResponse as a data source.

    Note: The account must exist on the Edge as well, as for NetProfiler.

Configure and verify host group definitions

IQ Ops monitors how applications are performing for each configured client and server host group. If there are ungrouped hosts, that traffic is not monitored and you can miss incidentsClosed A collection of one or more related triggers. Relationships that cause triggers to be combined into incidents include application, location, operating system, or a trigger by itself.. Ensure host group definitions are complete and that client and server IPs are assigned to groups, then allow a few minutes for changes to take effect.

To configure and verify host groups:

  1. In the Riverbed AppResponse UI, go to Definitions > Host Groups and review the host groups.

  2. Go to Navigator > Client Groups and confirm that the groups are reporting traffic data.

  3. Go to Navigator > Client IPs. Set the top value to 500 (maximum), then open the column chooser (top right), and under the Info section add the Member of Client Host Groups column.

  4. Sort by the Member of Client Host Groups column and check for hosts that are not in any group (e.g. ungrouped IPv6 hosts).

  5. Go to Definitions > Host Groups and add any ungrouped hosts to the appropriate group definitions.

  6. Repeat the same checks for Navigator > Server IPs: add the Member of column for server host groups, sort to find ungrouped IPs, and update definitions in Definitions > Host Groups as needed.

  7. After you change host group definitions, wait five to 10 minutes for Riverbed AppResponse to apply the changes. Verify in Navigator that the IPs now appear in the expected groups.

Add Riverbed AppResponse as a data source in Riverbed IQ Ops

After you complete the steps above for each Riverbed AppResponse system, add and configure each one as a data source in Riverbed IQ Ops. For the procedure, see Adding a Data Source.