Tasks - Advanced Web Server

Problem
Are you losing certain Data when information is being transferred over a webpage?

Solution
Chroniker's Task Monitor will not only Load a URL and gets the server’s response code. It will monitor dynamic web pages that pass variables and data to the server.

Create an Advanced Web Server Task
Creating an Advanced Web Server Task involves the following steps:

1. Define an Advanced Web Server Task
2. Define Alerts
   1. Create Reactions
   2. Create Events
   3. Apply Events to Mail Server Task

Define an Advanced Web Server Task

Click on Tools > Add New Monitor > Advanced Web Server Task:

• Required Parameters
  
  1. Click on the Group drop down menu button and select a group from this list.
     
  2. Enter a unique Task Name. Use whichever naming convention is most useful to you.
     Example: Type of Task and the form it is checking. "advweb_login"
     
  3. Monitor From: If Chorniker Remote Location is used. Select a location where the task will be executed.
     
  4. Enter the URL
     Example: www.nrgglobal.com/mynrg/login.php
     
  5. Post Data: Enter the POST data that you want to submit when calling this URL. The format must be as follows: key1=value1&key2=value2...
     Example: name=jsmith&pass=someone&action=execute
     
  6. Login: This is a login for Basic HTTP Authentication. Leave blank if Basic HTTP Authentication is not used.
     
  7. Enter the Password for Basic HTTP Authentication.
     
  8. Type the timeout in seconds if the task cannot be initialized.
     Example: Recommended value is 15-30.
     
  9. Check the box to run the test via a Proxy Server. This is optional.
     
  10. Select the acceptable Response Code Operator (<, =, >) and enter the numerical value.
      
  11. Enter a Match against the content (Case Sensitive) of the page.
      Example: If the matched content is not found on the webpage, the task returns a down event
      
  12. Check "Fetch All Content" if you want to get all the images, css files or javascript files referenced in the page and calculate the overall response time of the task by taking the respective response time of those elements in consideration.
  13. Enter the host/server where the web server resides. This field is used for Host Outages configurations. Please click here to know more about Host Outages.
• Events
  
  1. Click on Add Event button to create a new Event or apply a predefined Event to this task.
  2. Select Event Type from Type dropdown.
  3. Select a predefined Event from the dropdown list or select [Add New Event ..] from the dropdown to create a new Event.
     
     

     When selecting [Add New Event ..], Events form opens to create the new Event.
     
     After creating the new Event, you need to click on Add Event button one more time in Add Task form to see the new Event in the Events dropdown list.

• Description: Enter a meaningful description of the Task.
  
• Click on Submit to save the form or Reset to clear the form.


Summary

You have created a Custom Task that will send an email when the event threshold you've set is exceeded. It is recommended that you create as many reactions and events as you need to monitor your systems and networks efficiently.

If you find that you are receiving emails constantly, edit the event's threshold accordingly. Or make changes to the Custom so that it does operate under desired thresholds

Now that you have a basic Custom test setup you can graph, report and monitor the data you are collecting. You may also edit the appropriate scenario and or task to include profiles and other options.

Should you need further technical help on the topic of Custom monitoring with Chroniker's TaskWatch module, feel free to contact NRG Global at: 1-626-478-2138 or email: support@NRGglobal.com.