Web Gateway 7.1.5 Product Guide - McAfee

8
Monitoring
Performance measurement
Using properties in rules to log performance information
You can insert the properties that are available on the appliance for logging performance information
into logging rules that write log lines into log files.
The properties for logging performance information make this information available with regard to the
processing of individual requests. When a request is received on the appliance, particular activities are
completed to process it, which are together considered as one transaction.
An Access Log exists by default on the appliance with log files into which a log line is written whenever
a transaction has been completed for a request. This log is an appropriate location for recording
performance information.
Writing log lines into the log files of the Access Log is handled by a logging rule. This rule uses one
event to create a log file entry and another to write this entry as a log line into a log file.
A log entry is composed of several elements, each of which adds a particular piece of information, for
example, the date and time when a request was received on the appliance. By inserting an element
providing performance information into the entry you can let this information be recorded.
The event that creates a log entry for the Access Log begins as follows:
Set User-Defined.logLine = DateTime.ToWebReporterString + “”” ...
Date and time for a request is recorded by the DateTime.ToWebReporterString + “”” element. More
elements providing other information follow this element.
To record performance information about, for example, the processing time consumed for DNS lookups
you need to add the following element:
+ Number.ToString (Timer.ResolveHostNameViaDNS) + “””
Since the log line is a string, the numerical value for the processing time must be converted to string
format before it can be recorded. This is done by the Number.ToString property, which takes the
Timer.ResolveHostNameViaDNS property as a parameter.
For more information on working with log entries, see Sample logging rule and Create a sample logging
rule.
Events for measuring performance in rule set processing
You can measure the time the rule engine consumes for processing individual rule sets. Several events
to be used in appropriate rules are available for this purpose.
The reason for measuring this time could be that you want to know whether performance is improved
or reduced after you have applied changes to the rule set.
The events for measuring rule set processing performance control an internal watch on the appliance.
The following events are available:
• Stopwatch.Start (String) — Starts the internal watch
• Stopwatch.Stop (String) — Stops the internal watch
• Stopwatch.Reset (String) — Resets the internal watch
The string parameter that each of these events takes can be used to identify the event. For example, if
you use these events to record processing time for the URL Filtering rule set, you can assign
URLFiltering as a value to this string.
298 McAfee Web Gateway 7.1.5 Product Guide