Connecting a monitoring job to a DNS answer

You can connect an IBM® NS1 Connect® monitoring job, an external monitoring job feed, and/or a Pulsar (RUM) job to an answer in a DNS record to automatically update the corresponding metadata with the latest availability or performance data. Automatic updates to answer metadata are a key component of many routing configurations, such as automatic failover, automatic load shedding, and RUM-based traffic steering.

After connecting a monitoring job or third-party data source to a DNS answer, you can create a Filter Chain containing the specific filters that reference the connected answer metadata fields. For example:

  • After creating a monitoring job, you can connect it to the Up/down metadata field in the relevant answer metadata, and then use the Up filter in a Filter Chain to eliminate unavailable endpoints when making traffic steering decisions.
  • Third-party data sources from your existing monitoring service may support more advanced data collection beyond basic up/down monitoring—although, this is usually included. After configuring a data source from a third-party monitoring service and the individual feeds corresponding to individual endpoints or services being monitored, you can connect the data feed to the relevant DNS answer metadata. In most cases, this includes but may not be limited to the Up/down metadata field. Then, you can create a Filter Chain containing the Up filter and any others for which data is available. For example, some third-party monitoring services can collect load-related metrics that can be applied to answer metadata and paired with the Shed Load filter to steer traffic away from overloaded endpoints.
  • Accounts with access to RUM-based traffic steering tools can leverage real user monitoring (RUM) data collected from shared or private resources to render key performance and availability metrics about your application endpoints and services. This data can be connected to RUM-specific metadata fields where it is available for RUM-based traffic steering filters to reference when making routing decisions. Refer to Introduction to Pulsar (RUM-based traffic steering).

Before you begin

You must configure an NS1 Connect monitoring job, a third-party data source and feed, or a RUM-based data source and feed before you can configure automatic updates.

Instructions

Note: The following instructions detail the process for connecting a monitoring job to the Up/down metadata field in a DNS answer. If you are using a third-party or RUM-based data source, the instructions are generally the same, except for the answer metadata field(s) to which you connect the data feed. Third-party data sources collecting more than just the up/down status of an endpoint can be connected to all relevant metadata fields for automatic updates. RUM data feeds can be connected to RUM-specific metadata fields only.
  1. Click Zones.
  2. Click the name of the zone containing the relevant DNS record, and then click the name of the record to drill into record details.
  3. Click the menu icon next to the relevant DNS answer and select Edit answer metadata.
  4. In the Answer metadata & feeds modal, click the Up/down setting. By default, you are presented with a manual option to change the status of the endpoint, but you can ignore this.
  5. Click the Feed icon next to the Up/down setting to view a list of available monitoring feeds from the NS1 Connect or external monitoring jobs to attach to this answer..
  6. Select the corresponding monitoring job from the list.
  7. Click Ok. Now, a label appears under the relevant answer indicating the "up" setting is now connected to the DNS answer.
  8. Click Save record to save these changes.

Repeat this process to connect monitors or data sources to all DNS answers in the record. Then, you can create a Filter Chain that includes the Up filter so that unavailable answers are eliminated from the answer pool before NS1 Connect responds to the requesting client.

Again, if you are using third-party or RUM-based data sources instead of the basic up/down monitoring tools of NS1 Connect, the supported metadata fields and traffic steering filters may vary.