The parameters associated with this test are as follows:

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

• In the HOST text box, the host name of the component for which the test is to be configured has to be specified.

• The port number to which the web server is listening to has to be mentioned in the PORT text box.

• Certain cookies that need to be returned by the web server on subsequent requests have to be saved locally. This has to be specified in the COOKIEFILE text box.

• The host on which a web proxy server is running (in case a proxy server is to be used) has to be mentioned in the PROXYHOST text box.

• The port number on which the web proxy server is listening has to be provided in the PROXYPORT text box.

• The user name and the password of the proxy server have to be specified in the PROXYUSERNAME and PROXYPASSWORD text boxes respectively.

• Confirm the password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

• The CONTENT is a set of instruction:value pairs that are used to validate the content being returned by the test. If the CONTENT value is none:none, no validation is performed. The number of pairs specified in this text box, must be equal to the number of URLs being monitored. The instruction should be one of Inc or Exc. Inc tells the test that for the content returned by the web server to be valid, the content must include the specified value (a simple string search is done in this case). An instruction of Exc instructs the test that the server's output is valid if it does not contain the specified value. In both cases, the content specification can include wild card patterns. For example, an Inc instruction can be Inc:*Home page*. An Inc and an Exc instruction can be provided in quick succession in the following format: Inc:*Home Page*,Exc:*home.

• The HttpTest supports HTTP/HTTPS authentication. The CREDENTIALS parameter is to be set if a specific user name / password has to be specified to login to a page. Against this parameter, the URLname of every configured URL will be displayed; corresponding to each listed URLname, a Username text box and a Password text box will be made available. If the web server on which Http test executes supports ‘Anonymous user access’, then this parameter will take either of the following values:

  • a valid Username and Password for every configured URLname
  • none in both the Username and Password text boxes of all configured URLnames (the default setting), if no user authorization is required

  Some IIS web servers however, support NTLM (Integrated Windows) authentication, where valid CREDENTIALS are mandatory. In other words, a none specification will not be supported by such IIS web servers. Therefore, in this case, against each configured URLname, you will have to provide a valid Username in the format: domainname\username, followed by a valid Password.

  Please be sure to check if your web site requires HTTP authentication while configuring this parameter. HTTP authentication typically involves a separate pop-up window when you try to access the page. Many sites use HTTP POST for obtaining the user name and password and validating the user login. In such cases, the username and password have to be provided as part of the POST information and NOT as part of the CREDENTIALS specification for the HTTP test.

  Moreover, SSL-enabled web sites are typically secured by a private key, public key, or a public-private key pair. If the web page configured for this test is SSL-enabled - i.e., if an HTTPS URL is specified against URL - and the contents of this web page can only be accessed using a private key, then the full path to the private key file will have to be provided against Private key file path and the password of the private key file should be specified against Password. If no such private key protects the contents of the configured URL, then set the Private key file path and its Password to none.

• In the TIMEOUT text box, specify the maximum duration (in seconds) for which the test will wait for a response from the server. The default timeout period is 30 seconds.

• If multiple components of the same component type are awaiting configuration, then an APPLY TO OTHER COMPONENTS check box will appear in this page. Clicking on this check box will allow you to apply the configuration to all/selected components of that type.

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

When changing the configuration for specific components, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$” or contain a series of “*”. A value of "none" in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.