eG Administration
 

Adding a custom help page

eG Enterprise embeds a context-sensitive online help system, which enables users to instantly invoke help pages for assistance while configuring the tests run by the eG agent or understanding the measures reported by the tests. By default, the eG manager comes bundled with help pages for the tests it supports out-of-the-box. Each test is associated with an Admin and a Monitor help page. While the Admin help page describes how the test parameters are to be configured, the Monitor help page lists the measures reported by the test and explains the significance of each measure.

For new tests added via the Integration Console capability however, no such help pages pre-exist. To enable users to include help pages for these new tests into eG Enterprise, you can do either of the following:

  • Use the Integration Console itself to create new Admin and Monitor help pages for the new test or;

  • Create Admin and Monitor help pages using a third-party HTML editor (eg., Editplus, Adobe Dreamweaver, Microsoft Frontpage, etc.), and use the Integration Console to upload these help pages to the eG manager.

Let us now define an Admin and a Monitor help page for a test say for e.g., MsFileTest_ex. To begin help page creation, click the Help tab that appears next to the Generate tab in the NEW TEST DETAILS page.

By default, you can define the help pages for Admin and Monitor modules. For this, choose the module for which you wish to create a new help page from the Module list.

Once you choose the module, the Template content section displays the help page template in HTML format. This template content can be easily customized to create the help pages you want. To create an Admin help page, do the following:

  1. From the Module list, pick the Admin option.

  2. This will bring up the Admin help page template in the Template content section.

  3. The Admin help page template includes embeds directions on how to edit the template. You just need to scan the template for these instructions and follow them. For instance, search the template for the string Enter the Test Name. Once it is found, remove the string and in its place type the test name, MsFileTest_ex, as directed. Likewise, look for the following strings in the template, remove them one after another from the template, and in the place of each, provide the inputs indicated by the corresponding string as shown in the table below.

    String Help page Information
    Enter the test purpose Describe the purpose of the MsFileTest_ex
    Enter the name of parameter1 Specify the first parameter that is to be configured for the MsFileTest_ex. If you can recall, while creating the MsFileTest_ex, we had not configured any special parameters for the test. However, by default, any non-port-based test added using IC will take TEST PERIOD and HOST as its parameters. Therefore, type TEST PERIOD as the first parameter.
    Describe the parameter This string will appear after parameter1 and parameter2. Provide a description of the corresponding parameter here.
    Enter the name of parameter2 Enter HOST as parameter 2

  4. By default, the template allows you to provide details for a maximum of two parameters. If your test supports say, one more parameter, and you want to include the details of this additional parameter in the help page, then, insert a line of the following format just above the </ul> tag in the help page template:

    <li><p align="justify"><b>Enter the name of parameter 3</b>: Description of parameter 3</li>
    <p></p>

    For instance, if you are adding an additional parameter named FILENAME into the help page, then, the new line you insert should be as follows:

    <li><p align="justify"><b>FILENAME</b>: The name of the file to be monitored</li>
    <p></p>

    Multiple lines of the above format can be inserted for every additional parameter the test takes.

  5. Likewise, if your test supports only one parameter, then you will have to explicitly remove the entire row of information available for the second parameter from the template. For instance, if you want to remove the HOST parameter from the MsFileTest_ex in our example, then, simply delete the following line of code:

    <li><p align="justify"><b>HOST</b>: The host for which the test is being configured</li>
    <p></p>

  6. No additional parameters exist for the MsFileTest_ex in our example. Similarly, no lines of code need to be removed from the template for the purpose of our example. Therefore, simply proceed to click the Create help button to generate the Admin help page for MsFileTest_ex. If the help page is generated successfully, then a message to that effect will appear.

Let us now proceed to create a Monitor hlep page for the MsFileTest_ex. For this, do the following:

  1. From the Module list, pick the Monitor option.

  2. This will bring up the Monitor help page template in the Template content section.

  3. Like the Admin help page template, the Monitor help page template also includes instructions for editing the template. You just need to scan the template for these instructions and follow them. For instance, search the template for the string Enter the name of the test. Once it is found, remove the string and in its place type the test name, MsFileTest_ex, as directed. Likewise, look for the following strings in the template, remove them one after another from the template, and in the place of each, provide the inputs indicated by the corresponding string.

    String Help page Information
    Enter the test purpose Describe the purpose of the MsFileTest_ex
    Enter the name of measure1 Specify the first measure that is reported by the MsFileTest_ex. For our example, type File_locks_count here.
    Enter the name of measure2 Specify the second measure that is reported by the MsFileTest_ex. For our example, type Unique_users_count here.
    Describe the measure This will appear after measure1 and measure2. Provide a description for the corresponding measure here.
    Specify the unit of measurement This will appear after measure1 and measure2. Provide the unit of measurement that you have configured for the corresponding measure here. For the File_locks_count and the Unique_users_count measures in our example, the unit will be Number.
    Provide interpretation (if any) This will be available for both measure1 and measure2. Here, you can explain how the high or low values of the corresponding measure will impact the performance of the target server. This is an optional specification. In other words, if you feel that no interpretation is necessary, then, you can just remove the string and leave the placeholder blank.

  4. By default, the template allows you to provide details for a maximum of two measures. If your test supports say, one more measure, and you want to include the details of this additional measure in the help page, then, insert a block of HTML code of the following format, just above the </table> tag in the help page template:

    <tr>
    <th width="17%" align="left" valign="top">Enter the measure name</th>
    <td width="28%" valign="top" align="justify" id="just">Briefly describe the measure</td>
    <td width="17%" valign="top" align="center">Specify the unit of measurement for the measure</td>
    <td width="38%" valign="top" align="justify" id="just">Provide interpretation (if any)</td>
    </tr>

    For instance, say that you are adding an additional measure named Open_files; this measure reports the total number of files that have been opened on the server by users over the network. The HTML code block that you insert into the Monitor template for this purpose should be as follows:

    <tr>
    <th width="17%" align="left" valign="top">Open_files</th>
    <td width="28%" valign="top" align="justify" id="just">The total number of files that have been opened on the server by users over the network</td>
    <td width="17%" valign="top" align="center">Number</td>
    <td width="38%" valign="top" align="justify" id="just">This measurement is an indicator of the workload on the file server.</td>
    </tr>

    Multiple blocks of the above format can be inserted for every additional measure that you configure for the test.

  5. Likewise, if your test reports only one measure, then you will have to explicitly remove the entire block of code that is provided for the second measure from the template. For instance, if you want to remove the Unique_users_count measure from the help page of the MsFileTest_ex in our example, then, simply delete the following line of code:

    <tr>
    <th width="17%" align="left" valign="top">Unique_users_count</th>
    <td width="28%" valign="top" align="justify" id="just">The number of distinct users with open files</td>
    <td width="17%" valign="top" align="center">Number</td>
    <td width="38%" valign="top" align="justify" id="just">Provide interpretation (if any)</td>
    </tr>

  6. No additional measures are reported by the MsFileTest_ex in our example. Similarly, no lines of code need be removed from the template for the purpose of our example. Therefore, simply proceed to click the Create help button to generate the Monitor help page for MsFileTest_ex. If the help page is generated successfully, then a message to that effect will appear.

Uploading Help Pages that Pre-exist to the eG Manager

If you have chosen to upload the help pages that pre-exist in the eG Manager, then do the following in the Help tab of the NEW TEST DETAILS page:

  1. In the Admin text box, specify the full path to the Admin help page to be uploaded. Typically, once generated, the Admin help page will be available in the <EG_MANAGER_INSTALL_DIR>\tomcat\webapps\final\eghelp directory. If required, you can use the Browse button to specify the location of the Admin help page.

  2. In the Monitor text box, specify the full path to the Monitor help page to be uploaded. Like the Admin help page, the Monitor help page too will be available in the <EG_MANAGER_INSTALL_DIR>\tomcat\webapps\final\eghelp directory. Here again, you can use the Browse button to specify the location of the Monitor help page.

  3. Once the locations are specified, click the Update button to upload both the help pages.

    Note:

    • It is not mandatory to upload both the Admin and Monitor help pages of a test simultaneously.
    • At any given point in time, you can upload only one Admin help page and/or one Monitor help page to the eG manager.

To modify an existing help page, click on the icon against the test in the INTEGRATION CONSOLE - TEST page and navigate to the Help tab of the NEW TEST DETAILS page. In the page that appears, do the following:

  1. Pick the module for which you want to modify the help page for (whether Admin or Monitor) from the Module list. Upon selection, the contents of that help page will then be displayed in the Template content section. Make the changes that you wish to make and then click the Update button.

    Note:

    You do not have to re-upload the help pages after modifying them.