Default Parameters for XchgLogonSimTest

This test emulates a user logging into an Exchange server and accessing a mailbox. In the process, the test reports the total duration of the simulation, time taken for the login, and the time taken for accessing the mailbox. Additionally, the test also captures failures (if any) at each step of the simulation. Using the real-time and detailed insights provided by this test, Exchange administrators can proactively detect logon slowness/failures and precisely pinpoint when the slowness/failure occurred - is it when accessing the web interface? during login authentication? or during mailbox access? This way, Exchange administrators are enabled to isolate the probable pain-points of the Exchange infrastructure, even before users complain.

This page depicts the default parameters that need to be configured for the XchgLogonSimTest.

• The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

Note:

Some parameter changes can sometimes impact the simulation duration. Most often, this can happen in the following situations:

• If multiple mailboxes are configured for monitoring against Email id: In this case, the test will repeat the entire sequence of steps for every configured email ID - i.e., after a mailbox is accessed, the test will logoff and then log in again to attempt opening another mailbox. This can increase the duration of the simulation.
• If the value of the LAUNCH TIMEOUT, WEB LOGON DELAY, and/or the WEB LOGOFF DELAY parameters of the test is significantly increased: If this is done, then the test will wait that much longer for the mailbox access or logoff to happen, thereby increasing simulation duration.

Sometimes, these changes can cause the simulation to take more time than the configured Test Period.

If this happens, the test will fail after logging an error to that effect in the <EG_AGENT_INSTALL_DIR>\agent\error_log file. To avoid this, it would be good practice to relook at the TEST PERIOD configuration every time one of the parameters mentioned above is modified, and increase it if required.

• Indicate how the test should access the Exchange server from the EXCHANGE SERVER TYPE list. If the test should access Exchange via the Outlook Web Access (OWA) interface, then select the MS Exchange option from this drop-down. If the test should access Exchange via the Office 365 portal, then pick the Office365 option from this drop-down. If the Office365 option is chosen, then make sure that the default start page of the Office 365 portal is set to Mail for every email ID that you configure for this test. The steps for achieving this are detailed below:

  1. Open your Chrome browser and connect to the Office 365 portal.
  2. Login to the portal using an email ID and corresponding access credentials that you have configured for the purpose of the simulation. In other words, use any of the email IDs that you have configured for the Exchange Logon Simulator test.
  3. Once you login successfully, go to the Office 365 Settings page by clicking on the icon.
  4. In the Settings page that appears next, select Mail from the Start page drop-down and click the Save button to save the changes.
  5. Repeat steps 2 to 4 for each email ID that has been configured for the Exchange Logon Simulator test.
  Once this is done, make sure you clear the browser history.

• Specify the URL for connecting to Exchange server in the EXCHANGE SITE URL text box. You can provide an HTTP or an HTTPS URL here.

• eG Enterprise provides a special page using which you can configure multiple email IDs and their access credentials for monitoring. To access this page, click the button against the EMAIL ID parameter. The EMAIL AND PASSWORD pop up window then appears. Follow the steps below to configure the email IDs using the EMAIL ANS PASSWORD pop up window.

  1. In the Email ID text box, configure a valid email ID that the simulation should use.
  2. Specify the Password for accessing the mailbox mapped to the configured Email ID.
  3. Confirm the Password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box.
  4. To configure one more email ID, click the Add More button. A blank record will pop up, using which you can configure one more email ID and its password.
  5. To remove an email ID, click the encircled - button corresponding to that record.
  6. To save the changes, click the Update button.
  7. To cancel all changes, click the Clear button.

• The Logon Simulator Agent needs to run in the account of a user who has local administrator rights on the simulation end point - i.e., the system on which the agent has been installed. Specify the name of this user in the CONSOLE USERNAME text box. This user should also be logged in at all times for the simulator to run continuously.

• Specify the domain to which the user configured against CONSOLE USERNAME belongs to in the CONSOLE DOMAIN text box.

• By default, the LAUNCH TIMEOUT parameter is set to 90 seconds. This implies that the simulator will wait for a maximum of 90 seconds (by default) for a configured mailbox to open. If the mailbox cannot be opened even after the 90 seconds have elapsed, then the simulation will be automatically terminated, and the simulator will report that the mailbox is unavailable. Accordingly, the Inbox folder availability measure for that email ID will report the value 0, and no Inbox folder access duration will be reported for the same.
  
  In some environments, it may be normal for some mailboxes to take longer than the rest to open. In such environments, you can instruct the simulator to wait longer for each mailbox to open, by increasing the launch timeout. The high time out setting for mailbox access ensures that the simulator captures and reports only genuine failures, and does not treat an access delay as a failure.

• By default, the WEB LOGON DELAY parameter is set to 30 seconds. This implies that the test will wait for a maximum of 30 seconds (by default) to login to the Exchange server. If the login does not happen even after the 30 seconds have elapsed, then the simulation will be automatically terminated, and the simulator will mark the login attempt as ‘failed’. A login duration will hence not be computed or reported in this case.
  
  In some environments, even during normal operation, login may take longer. In such environments, you can instruct the simulator to wait longer for the login to occur, by increasing the web logon delay. The high time out setting for login ensures that the simulator waits for the login to complete and captures and reports the accurate login duration.

• By default, the WEB LOGOFF DELAY parameter is set to 30 seconds. This implies that the test will wait for a maximum of 30 seconds (by default) after each mailbox access, for the logoff to occur. If the logoff does not happen even after 30 seconds, then the simulation will be automatically terminated, and the simulator will mark the logoff attempt as ‘failed’. A logoff duration will hence not be computed or reported in this case.
  
  In some environments, even during normal operation, logoff may take longer. In such environments, you can instruct the simulator to wait longer for the logoff to occur, by increasing the web logoff delay. The high time out setting for logoff ensures that the simulator waits for the log off to complete and captures and reports the accurate logoff duration.

• For the logon simulation to be successful on the simulation endpoint at all times, it is important to maintain the Windows session in ‘active’ state always. To this effect, the ENABLE SESSION ACTIVE flag is set to Yes by default.

• The DD FREQUENCY refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD FREQUENCY.

• Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the UPDATE button will register the changes made.

When changing default configurations of tests, the values with “$” indicate variables that will be replaced by the eG system according to the specific server being managed - for instance, $hostName is the host/nickname of the target host, $port is the port number of the server being monitored. E.g., for a server xyz:80, $hostName will be changed automatically by the eG manager to “xyz” and $port will be changed to “80” when configuring a test.