The CAS can be configured to bypass the database and store the user activity details and server statistics separately on disk. This option can be used in situations where the user details are not required on a regular basis, but are available for occasional inspection. You can also use this feature to reduce the database size, if it is acceptable that the user details are only available through the drill downs.
Before You Begin
• Consider the issues related to database size and complexity. The User Activity Details
and Server Statistics on Demand feature is available in PVU and ISP Extended aggregation
modes. Be sure that these are appropriate for your monitoring requirements. For more information, see Resolving CAS Database Sizing Issues in the Data Center Real User
Monitoring Capacity Planning and Performance Assessment User Guide.
• Prepare storage, either a directory on a local drive or a network share, for the data files containing the user activity details and server statistics.
To enable User Activity Details and Server Statistics on Demand:
1. Open the Central Analysis Server Configuration screen. Do one of the following:
• Log on to the CAS as a user with administrative rights. From the CAS top menu, choose
Settings ➤ Central Analysis Server ➤ Server Configuration.
• Log on to the RUM Console and choose Devices and Connections ➤ Manage Devices from the top menu. Then choose Open configuration from the context menu for your CAS on the Devices screen. This command opens the configuration screen for a given server. For basic server settings, choose Server Configuration from the menu.
2. Choose the aggregation mode. Chapter 8 ∙ CAS Basic Configuration Settings
Track user IP addresses (FE mode)
FE mode records each client IP address separately (it ignores recognized user names and reports users with IP-address resolution).
This mode consumes the most resources and significantly increases the database size. It is good for intranet sites with limited numbers of clients, coming from a limited IP address space of the internal network, and sending no information on actual website user names (no login to the website).
Remember: All autodiscovered clients are aggregated, regardless of any other aggregation settings. If a client IP address is private, it is aggregated by subnet, not by site, for both autodiscovered and user-defined software services.
Track users with identifiers, aggregate other users (ISP mode)
In this mode, you track users with defined user names and aggregate other users. The ISP modes record each user name separately. User name recognition from HTTP logins must be enabled on the AMD.
ISP mode enables you to count user IP addresses that are aggregated as single users. Remember: All autodiscovered clients are aggregated, regardless of any other aggregation settings. If a client IP address is private, it is aggregated by subnet, not by site, for both autodiscovered and user-defined software services.
also track IP addresses from selected ranges
Record each client IP address separately.
also count user IP addresses that are aggregated (ISP Extended mode)
Select also count user IP addresses that are aggregated to see the number of unique client IP addresses for user aggregates.
Use the ISP mode for websites with required login and limited numbers of website users (for example, e-commerce secure sites). Traffic generated by clients that have not been identified (no user name is available) is aggregated into user-defined sites, AS instances, or CIDR blocks. However, if you specify user IP addresses and select also track IP addresses from selected ranges
(ISP Extended mode) you will track users that do not have defined user names.
For more information, see Limitations of ISP Mode User Aggregation in the Data
Center Real User Monitoring Capacity Planning and Performance Assessment User Guide.
Aggregate all users but count distinct user identifiers (PVU mode)
In this mode, all clients from the same Autonomous System (AS) or CIDR block or subnet are treated as a single user, but the number of unique, non-aggregated users is also provided (for named users in the default configuration). The PVU mode is appropriate for large and very large Internet-facing websites, when knowledge of the number of unique site visitors is needed. The CAS maintains the top N most active AS instances or CIDR blocks as identified client sites (user substitutes), and it rolls up other clients into a single All Other Clients category. Although users are aggregated, the CAS provides an accurate count of actual unique users of the monitored website. Users are counted before aggregation is applied, and the real user count is provided as a metric on CAS reports.
To count users that do not have defined user names, specify user IP addresses and select also count user IP addresses from selected ranges. Unique users are identified on AMDs based on cookies or HTTP headers that identify users.
Remember: All autodiscovered clients are aggregated, regardless of any other aggregation settings. If a client IP address is private, it is aggregated by subnet, not by site, for both autodiscovered and user-defined software services.
For more information, see Limitations of PVU Mode User Aggregation in the Central
Analysis Server Online Help. Aggregate all users (PV mode)
In this mode all clients from the same AS or from the same CIDR block are counted as a single user. Use the PV mode for large, Internet-facing websites. The CAS maintains the top N most active AS instances or CIDR blocks as identified client sites (user substitutes), and it rolls up other clients into a single All Other Clients category.
3. Enable access to user activity details and server statistics on demand.
In the User activity details and server statistics on demand section, select Enable
on-demand access to user activity details and server statistics. 4. Set the storage path.
Type the path of the location to store the user activity details data: either a local path, for example Z:\UserDetails; or a network share, for example \\server\UserDetails.
When you choose to save the user activity details on a network share, ensure that the
Central Analysis Server service is run under a common domain user account and that
a common user has read and write permissions for the share.
NOTE
Do not use a mapped network drive to store the data files containing the user activity details.
a. In Administrative Tools, select Services.
b. Right-click the Central Analysis Server service and open the service's Properties window. Click the Log On tab.
In the Log on as section, make sure that This account is selected and that the account name and password are correct and have administrative privileges.
Figure 2. Specifying the Domain Account for the Central Analysis Server Service
c. Click OK.
d. Restart the service.
Right-click the service and select Restart.
5. Set a storage quota.
Type the number of days to store the data files of user activity details.
6. Update the configuration.
Click Update. Every time the settings are updated on this screen, including the first time the application is run, the report server is restarted. When you click Update, the server is restarted and a message appears on the screen. Return to the CAS home page by clicking
Continue. The report server restart can take a while, which may prevent you from quickly
accessing the home page.
What to Do Next
After the server is up and running, ensure that the CAS is saving the data in the location you chose for the data file storage.