Preferred Data Sources

When both Riverbed AppResponse and Riverbed NetProfiler feed the same Edge, they can send the same application An entity type representing software applications deployed in the customer environment that are monitored for performance and anomalies.-location An entity type representing physical or logical locations in the customer environment where entities are deployed and monitored. metrics A measurement or data point that is monitored and analyzed to detect anomalies and generate incidents. (for example User Response Time) for the same entities Things deployed in the customer environment that are needed to run the business, such as applications, devices, interfaces, and locations.. Riverbed AppResponse and Riverbed NetProfiler compute those metrics differently, so if the platform used both at once you would get conflicting values and inconsistent incidents 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.. The Preferred Data Source setting tells Riverbed IQ Ops which system to use for application-location metrics. Only that source’s data is streamed for analytics and anomaly An unexpected event or measurement that does not match the expected model. detection One or more indicators that are correlated and may act as a trigger for incident creation or runbook execution..

You choose either Riverbed AppResponse or Riverbed NetProfiler. That keeps incident behavior consistent and reduces duplicate ingest. The default is Riverbed AppResponse. You can change it in the Edge configuration. For the full picture of how data sources connect to the platform, see Data Sources page and Configuring Riverbed Edge and Data Sources.

Important considerations

When choosing or changing the preferred data source you should consider the following:

What the setting applies to

The setting applies only to application-location metrics that can be supplied by either Riverbed AppResponse or Riverbed NetProfiler (for example User Response Time and % Total Retrans). It does not apply to other entity types or to metrics that only one source provides. Device, interface, and other non–application-location metrics from Riverbed NetProfiler (for example Inbound/Outbound Network Utilization) continue to stream regardless of the preferred data source.

Only one source streams application-location at a time

When both Riverbed AppResponse and Riverbed NetProfiler are connected to the same edge, only one of them can stream application-location metrics to IQ Ops. The platform effectively turns off the other for that entity type. If Riverbed AppResponse is preferred, Riverbed NetProfiler does not stream application-location metrics. If Riverbed NetProfiler is preferred, Riverbed AppResponse does not stream them. There is no option to use both at once for application-location.

Metric availability by source

Some application-location metrics are available only from one source. MOS is only available through Riverbed NetProfiler. Throughput, % Retrans Packets, and % Failed Connections are only available through Riverbed AppResponse. Choosing the preferred source determines which of these you get for streaming and incident detection. For full metric definitions, see metric definitions.

Runbooks and data queries are not limited by preference

The preferred data source controls which data the platform streams for analytics and triggering A set of one or more indicators that have been correlated based on certain relationships, such as time, metric type, application affected, location, or network device. incidents 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.. It does not limit runbooks An automated workflow that executes a series of steps or tasks in response to a triggered event, such as the detection of anomalous behavior generating an incident, a lifecycle event, or a manually executed runbook. or data queries A runbook node category that gets data about the trigger and forwards it to other nodes in the runbook for further processing.: you can still query both Riverbed AppResponse and Riverbed NetProfiler in runbooks for all metrics and properties.

No automatic fallback

If you disable the preferred data source or it becomes unavailable, streaming of application-location metrics stops. The platform does not automatically switch to the other source. Re-enable the preferred source or change the preference to the other source to restore streaming.

Changing the preferred data source

To change the preferred data source:

1. Navigate to the Data Sources Page:

   1. Click the Launchpad button ⁝⁝⁝.
   2. Click AI Ops > Management.
   3. In the Management page, click the Hamburger Icon, then click Edge & Data Sources.

2. Open an edge to view its data sources.

3. Find the Data Ingestion column.

   1. The current preferred source is labeled Preferred Data Source; the other is Not Preferred Data Source.

4. Click Change to open the Change Preferred Data Source dialog.

5. Choose Prefer AppResponse Data Sources or Prefer NetProfiler Data Source.

6. Click Apply.

The dialog shows a warning that changing will reset baselines and require retraining. You may want to consult Riverbed Technology Support before applying. For adding or editing data sources on an edge, see Adding a Data Source.

Related information

Data Sources page describes the tabs and how to manage edges and data sources. Configuring Riverbed Edge and Data Sources covers gateway and data source setup. Adding a Data Source explains how to connect a data source to an existing edge.