To learn which filters you should use to replicate your existing Pulsar Sort and Stabilize configuration within the new structure, click here.
Before you make the transition to use the new filters, you should understand how the new filters improve upon existing functionality. If you want to skip to the procedure, choose one of the following links:
With our new Pulsar Availability Threshold filter, it’s easier to provide a record-level value for all answers and their associated metadata at the same time. You achieve this by setting a threshold that helps determine when to eliminate an answer. By default, this record-level value is set to 90%; in this case, if any answer and its associated availability data fall below 90%, the answer will be eliminated. Answers between 90% to 100% are kept and will be passed along in the Filter Chain.
If you use our new Pulsar Availability Threshold capability, you can apply the same value across all answers, or set different thresholds for answers in their pulsar metadata. If an individual threshold is not specified in the pulsar metadata, the filter-level threshold is applied. As a result, availability thresholds become more flexible when selecting and eliminating answers before continuing along the Filter Chain.
Best practices can vary depending on the use case:
To treat all availability thresholds the same across each Pulsar job, use the Availability Threshold filter and specify a universal threshold percentage at the filter level. You can override this value by altering the Pulsar job metadata at the answer level.
The Availability Threshold filter ensures that you can set individual thresholds for answers within the answer metadata. Add the Availability Threshold filter to your filter chain and specify a value. At the answer level, you can change this value to override the threshold already set in the filter.
With the current Pulsar Stabilize filter, you set a threshold in either absolute values (ms) or relative (%) values. The Pulsar Performance Stabilize filter offers the choice between the two within the Pulsar Stabilize configuration, and selecting one of these choices makes it the default for all answers within a record unless it’s changed at the answer level.
You can optionally enable the Sort from the worst value configuration option to reverse the sorting behavior. If there is not enough performance data available to make a decision, answers are passed through unchanged, and these decisions are logged as Insufficient data in the Global decisions dashboard. After determining the best or worst performance in each of the answers, the filter then compares its defined performance threshold to the other responses.
If sorting by the default behavior, any answer that is above the threshold is removed. This can be useful if, for example, you are setting a threshold for latency, where a higher value can slow the flow of traffic. Conversely, your threshold could be based on bandwidth. if you sort from lowest to highest, the lowest-performing answer will be discarded.
With the new Pulsar Performance Stabilize filter, you can define stabilization values for all answers in the record in a single field within its configuration. By default, this value is absolute (ms), which works best for latency-based or regional use cases. To make this value relative (%), just add the % sign after the number.
The following procedure explains how to transition from the Pulsar Stabilize filter to use the new Pulsar Availability Threshold and Pulsar Performance Stabilize filters. The same procedure applies to transition from the Pulsar Sort to the new Pulsar Availability Threshold and Pulsar Performance Sort filters.
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Retrieve your current Pulsar Stabilize filter and its configuration with a
GETrequest:$ curl -s -X GET -H "X-NSONE-Key: $API_KEY" https://my.nsone.net/v1/zones/ns1dns.org/old-pulsar.ns1dns.org/CNAME | jq '{filters: .filters}'The response for this request should look as follows:
{ "filters": [ {"filter": "pulsar_stabilize", "config": {"sort_descending": "0", "stabilization_threshold": "50" } }, { "filter": "select_first_n", "config": {"N": "1"} } ] }You will be replacing the
pulsar_stabilizefilter object with the two new filter objects that will replicate and improve upon its functionality:pulsar_availability_thresholdandpulsar_performance_stabilize. -
After running that request, you should be able to format a new
POSTrequest with the new filters, in this case replacing thepulsar_stabilizefilter. We recommend a similar call to the following:$ curl -s -X POST -H "X-NSONE-Key: $API_KEY" https://my.nsone.net/v1/zones/ns1dns.org/old-pulsar.ns1dns.org/CNAME -d ' {"filters": [ { "filter": "pulsar_availability_threshold", "config": { "threshold": "0.9" } }, { "filter": "pulsar_performance_stabilize", "config": { "sort_descending": "0", "stabilization_threshold": "50" } }, { "filter": "select_first_n", "config": { "N": "1" } } ]}'
To learn which filters you should use to replicate your existing configuration within the new structure, click here. The following procedure demonstrates how to move from the Pulsar Stabilize filter to the Pulsar Availability Threshold and Pulsar Performance Stabilize filters.
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Navigate to a record that currently uses at least one Pulsar filter:
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Review the availability or performance threshold within the metadata of every answer in the record and make note of it. You can review and modify the availability threshold by clicking the pulsar metadata tag for every answer.
If you want to use the same threshold for every answer or job, take note of that value and transfer it to the new filter in step 7.
If you require different threshold values for each answer, answer group, or job, you can keep the threshold value at the answer level, or insert new values if you need to change them.
Note
NOTEIf you set availability threshold values for individual answers, this threshold overrides the thresholds at the filter level.
Review the existing threshold for Pulsar Stabilize (if applicable) and whether these filters currently sort in descending order (from the highest value), and make note of it. You can transfer this information to the new filters that you set up in step 7.
Click the Edit Filter Chain button to open the Add Filters dialog.
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Add the appropriate filters to replace the Pulsar Stabilize and/or Pulsar Sort filters. You can either:
Click the + next to the new filter in the Pulsar list.
Drag and drop the filter from the Pulsar list to where you want it to appear in the Filter Chain.
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Delete the existing Pulsar filters. Click the vertical ellipsis to the right of the filter in the Active Filters menu, then click Delete. Confirm the changes in the Delete Filter dialog.
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Configure thresholds for the new filters by clicking their names in the Active Filters menu, then specifying a value.
Note
IMPORTANTDouble-check your changes before you proceed to the next step. If you click Save Filter Chain at this point, the changes are immediately applied, and traffic will be routed accordingly.
Click the Save Filter Chain button.
Note
NOTEIf at any point you decide that you want to apply a filter’s threshold to all answers, answer groups, or jobs in a record, delete the answer-level metadata by clicking the pulsar metadata tag for the answer, then deselect the Apply Availability Threshold option. Be sure to click Save Record before you leave the record page. Remember that answer-level thresholds supersede thresholds set at the filter level.