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Create a Test

Configure Test settings

Tests measure metrics in a time-bound manner to produce a static measurement for the given duration. Tests have two sub components namely, Steps and Tasks. A Test is a collection of Steps, and a Step is a collection of Tasks. In Tests, Tasks under Steps are run parallel and each Step runs for the duration you configure. For more information, see Tests and Monitors Overview.

To create a Test:

  1. Do one of the following to access the Measurement Designer page:

    1. Access Measurement Designer page through the Tests page.

      1. Navigate to the Tests (Observability > Active Assurance > Tests) page.

        The Tests page appears.

      2. Click the Add (+) icon.

        The Create new page appears.

        The Create new page displays All, Tests, and Monitors mode, and the Tests mode is enabled by default.

      3. Select the + Create blank Test.

        The Measurement Designer page appears.

    2. Access Measurement Designer page directly.

      1. Navigate to the Measurement Designer (Observability > Active Assurance > Measurement Designer) page.

        The Create new page appears.

        The Create new page displays All, Tests, and Monitors modes, and the All mode is enabled by default.

      2. Select the Tests mode.

      3. Select the + Create blank Test.

        The Measurement Designer page appears.

  2. Specify a name for the Test.

    Click the Sequence Name or click the Edit (pencil) icon to enter a name for the Test in the Sequence Name text box.

    Sequence Name is the placeholder name for the Test.

  3. Click + Add Step to add Steps for a Test.

    Note:

    In the Measurement Designer page, the first Step and the Task selector are available by default in the GUI.

    For the Step, you can do the following:

    • (Optional) Edit the name of a Step—Click the Edit (pencil) icon near the Step Name and specify a name for the Step.

    • (Optional) Edit the duration of a Step—Click the Edit (pencil) icon near the Duration (clock) icon to edit the duration.

      The default duration for a Step is set to 30 seconds. The duration range is 30s through 86400s.

    • (Optional) Delete a Step—To delete a step, do one of the following:

      • Click the horizontal ellipsis (three dots) in the Step and click Remove.

      • Drag the Step anywhere on the screen.

      A confirmation message appears asking to confirm if you want to remove the Step. Click Yes.
    Note:

    Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory.

  4. Select a Task from the Task selector page displayed by default, or click + Add Task to add Tasks for a Step. The Tasks page displays the list of protocols that can be configured for a Test.

    In the Tasks page, do one of the following:

    • Select a Task from the Tasks page. For example, click DNS to add DNS as one of the Tasks in the Step.

    • Click the Add (+) icon next to the Task.

    • Drag and drop the Task inside the Step that you are configuring.

    Select the Close (X) icon to close the Tasks page.

    For a Task, you can do the following:

    • (Optional) Edit the name of a Task—To edit a Task, do one of the following:

      • Click the Edit (pencil) icon to specify a name for the Task in the Task-Name text box.

      • Click the Task-Name and specify a name for the Task in the Task-Name text box.

      By default, the plugin name is displayed. If you do not edit, the default name will be used.

    • (Optional) Delete the Task—To delete a Task, do one of the following:

      • Click the down arrow in the Task box and click Remove.

      • Drag the Task anywhere on the empty portion of the screen.

      A confirmation message appears asking to confirm if you want to remove the Task. Click Yes.

    • Configure the parameters for a Task—Click the Settings (gear) icon on the Task box to configure a Task. The Step Name page appears and displays the Task you added. This page includes the following tabs:

      • Parameters tab—Configure parameters for the Tasks that you have added. For more information on parameters that you can configure for a Task, see Supported Plug-ins.

        You can also configure input variables for each parameter so that the same values are consistently used across different Steps. For more information on input variables, see Create Input Variables.

      • Evaluation criteria tab—The Evaluation Criteria for each Task is added by default. You can configure customized evaluation criteria for metrics by using threshold expressions. On violation of any configured expression, Routing Director generates events. For more information on metrics that you can configure, see Table 1.

  5. Click + Add Task to add Task for a Step.

    A Test can include one or more Steps, and a Step can include one or more Tasks. Based on your requirements, repeat Step 3 and Step 4.

  6. Click the Global icon on the right side of the Measurement Designers page to manage input variables. For more information on input variables, see Create Input Variables.

  7. Click Test Settings (gear) icon on the right side of the page to,

    • Specify the wait duration (in seconds)—You can specify the maximum wait duration. After the Test Agent completes a Step, Routing Director waits for the Test Agents to configure or download the plugins or for the Test Agents to be ready to run the Steps.

      By default, the Step wait duration is 60 seconds. The Max wait duration has no effect on the Test duration.

    • (Optional) Specify a short description for the Test.

    • (Optional) Add Tags—Specify a key-value pair in the key:value format.

      You can configure Tags for the Test in the key:value format to provide additional information about the Test you are configuring. A tag is a key-value pair in which the key signifies a category for which you configure a value. The value is an identifier for the category. Examples of key-value pairs are device and device name (edgedevice:acx7000), site and site name (site:bangalore).

  8. Click Run.

    A message confirming that the Test is created successfully appears and you are redirected to the Test-Name (Observability > Active Assurance > Tests > Test-Name) page. On the Test-Name page, Test status is displayed as Running indicating that the Test is in progress. The status changes to Completed when the Test is complete and you can view the details of the Test. See About the Test-Name page for more information about the Test details.

    Note:

    The Run button is disabled until you add a Task under a Step. Also, You cannot run a Test if you have not specified the Test Name.

To configure Task parameters to execute a Test, see Supported Plug-ins.

Configure Evaluation Criteria

Table 1: Evaluation Criteria
Field Description

Field

Select the type of metric that you want to evaluate from the drop-down list.

The metrics listed in this drop-down depends on the Task you select.

The metrics will be displayed as stream graphs in the Stream-Name Details page.
Comparator

Select the type of comparator that you want to use for the evaluation.

You can choose among the following comparators—==(equal to), != (not equal to), < (less than), <= (less than or equal to), > (greater than), >= (greater than or equal to).

For example, if you have used > (greater than) comparator, and if you have specified 3000 ms in the Value text box, then an event is raised if the value exceeds 3000 ms.
Value

Specify the threshold value that you want to evaluate. On violation of any configured threshold value, an event is generated.
Severity

Select the severity level of the event that is raised when there is a threshold violation. The severity levels are:

Debug—Indicates that the event needs troubleshooting.

Info—Indicates that it is an informational event and does not require immediate attention.

Warning—Indicates that the event needs to be reviewed but does not require immediate attention.

Error—Indicates that the event needs to be reviewed and requires immediate attention.

Critical—Indicates that the event is major and needs immediate attention.

When an event is raised, the severity level you have selected will be displayed in the Events bar of the Test-Name page.

Name

Specify the name for the evaluation criteria.

Description

Specify the description to be displayed when there is a threshold violation. If you do not specify the description, the default description generated by Routing Director is displayed.

When an event is raised, the description you have specified here will be displayed in the Events bar of the Test-Name page.

Raise Delay

Specify the duration that the Routing Director waits before triggering an event.

If the number of seconds exceeds the configured Raise delay value, then an event is triggered. The triggered event is displayed in the Events bar of the Test-Name page.

Clear Delay

Specify the duration of time after which an event is cleared if the threshold is not violated.

If the threshold has not exceeded the configured Clear delay value, then the event is cleared.