Agents Administration - Tests
 

Configuration of SpConnectivityTest

Typically, the test emulates an HTTP/S request to a configured site, and if that request results in a valid HTML response from the server, the test reports that the site is available. Sometimes however, users may not be able to login to the web site but the server may still reply back with a valid HTML page where in the error message, say, “Invalid Login”. In this case, the test will report that the site is available (since we got a valid HTML response). To be able to correctly detect that the site could not be accessed, you can additionally configure this test to search the content of the site for a specific text string. Typically, this should be a text string that you will find in the web page that you have configured for monitoring, if that page had loaded properly. If the test does not find the string configured in the monitored page, it will automatically report that the content is invalid. This way, administrators can easily detect that the site is unavailable, even if one measure of the test reports that it is.

The default parameters associated with this test are:

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

  • Specify the host for which the test is to be configured in the HOST text box.

  • Indicate the port at which the host listens to in the PORT text box.

  • Provide a comma-separated list of site URLs that you want to monitor in the SITE URLS text box. Your specification should be of the following format: <DisplayName>:<Site_URL>, where DisplayName is any name using which you want to uniquely identify a site, and Site_URL is the complete URL of the site to be monitored. For example, to monitor the site with URL, http://www.cscorp.com/homepage.html, your site url specification can be: Company:http://wwww.csscorp.com/homepage.html. To monitor multiple sites, your specification can be: Company:http://wwww.csscorp.com/homepage.html, Payroll:http://192.168.10.95:10818/login.html. The DisplayNames will appear as the descriptors of the test.

  • These parameters are to be set only if a specific user name / password has to be specified to login to the web page (i.e., Site URL) that you have configured for monitoring. In this case, provide valid login credentials using the USERNAME and PASSWORD text boxes. Then, confirm the password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

  • If the web page to be monitored does not require any authorization, then set the USER NAME and PASSWORD parameters to none.

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

  • If multiple Site URLs have been configured for monitoring, then you will have to provide a USER NAME and PASSWORD for each configured URL. In this case, the multiple user names and passwords will have to be provided as a comma-separated list.

  • Typically, the test emulates an HTTP/S request to a configured site; if that request results in a valid HTML response from the server, the test reports that the site is available. Sometimes however, users may not be able to login to the web site but the server may still reply back with a valid HTML page where in the error message, say, “Invalid Login”. In this case, the test will report that the site is available (since we got a valid HTML response). To be able to correctly detect that the site could not be accessed, you can additionally configure this test to search the content of the site for a specific text string. Specify the text string to search for, in the VALIDITY STRING text box. Typically, this should be a text string that you will find in the web page that you have configured for monitoring, if that page had loaded properly. If the test does not find the string configured in the monitored page, it will automatically report that the content is invalid. This way, administrators can easily detect that the site is unavailable, even if one measure of the test reports that it is.

  • 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 servers, 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.