Version 4.1 User's Guide
Web Reporting And Administration	Previous | Next Contents

In addition to testing Web servers, PageSentry actually acts as a special purpose Web server to allow you to retrieve status reports and administer Sentries, Notifiers and Groups from any Web browser on the Internet. To access Web reports and the remote administration service, be sure to enable Web reporting and enter an administration username and password on the "Web Monitor" pane of the main Preferences window.

The current status of each Sentry, along with basic statistics reflecting the reliability of the server, is displayed in the main status report, as shown in Figure 42.

Figure 42: PageSentry's Web Status Report.

To access the Web-based report, open any Web browser and enter the IP address or domain name of the PageSentry Macintosh into the location field, just as you would any Web site. The URL can be linked from any page, and can be viewed from anywhere on the Internet. So, for example, an ISP can add a link to any page that shows the current status of each of the servers they run.

The statistics displayed for each Sentry are largely self-explanatory. It should, however, be pointed out that the "Up Time Percentage" is computed based on the number of successful tests compared with the number of failed tests. In other words, the time the server has been down for is not taken into account, but rather the results of each test run by PageSentry. In general, the real world difference between down time and test failures is very small, especially over long periods of time.

Group Reports

The same report, filtered by group, is also available. When groups have been defined, links to each group report will be included at the bottom of the overall status report shown above. To access the report for a specific group, use a URL of the form:

http://192.168.1.3/GroupName/

In the URL, replace "192.168.1.3" with the name or address of the PageSentry Macintosh, and "GroupName" with the actual name of the group to report on. The easiest way to do this is to simply access the main status report, then click the appropriate Group link shown.

To continue with the example of an ISP, Groups will allow the administrator to create a Group for each of any number of customers. The Group report URL can then be sent to each individual customer, enabling them to view real-time statistics of only the services they are interested in.

A Sentry detail page is also available, and is accessed by clicking on the Sentry name on the main Status Report page or Group Status Report page.

The Sentry detail page includes information similar to that on the main Status window in PageSentry, and is broken into 4 sections. "Basic Statistics" includes the Sentry name, current status, tests passed and failed, etc. The second section "Recent Test History" displays the results of the most recent 10 tests performed by the Sentry, including the time each test was run, the result, and the length of time the entire test required to complete. The "Recent Failures" section displays up to the 5 most recent server failures, just as they are on the "Detail" tab of the main status window. The last section, "Notifiers" mirrors the information shown on the "Notification" tab of the status window.

At the bottom of the status report is a link entitled "Administration", which will take the PageSentry administrator to PageSentry's Web administration system. You can also link directly to the Web administration page with the URL:

http://192.168.1.1/PS-Admin.main

As always, remember to use the address or name of your PageSentry Mac in place of "192.168.1.1".

Whether you access this URL directly or click the "Administration" link of the Web report page, you will next be asked to enter a username and password. Enter this information exactly as it was entered into the username and password fields on the "Web Monitor" panel of the Preferences window. Once authenticated, the main administration menu will be displayed, as shown in Figure 43.

Figure 43: PageSentry's Web Administration Menu.

From this menu, click on any Sentry, Notifier or Group to access the detail page for that object. All detail pages include exactly the same fields that are available using the graphical interface withing PageSentry, as described in the "Defining Sentries", "Defining Notifiers" and "Defining Groups" chapters earlier in this guide. In a few cases, fields set directly in PageSentry can not be configured or modified through Web administration. AppleShare and Process Watch Sentries, for example, must be configured using the PageSentry application interface, although the configuration for these Sentry types can be viewed using the Web administration.

Triggering Sentry Tests Remotely

Sentry tests can be triggered remotely using the Web Reporting interface. Using any Web browser, load the PageSentry Web Report Summary page, and then log in as an administrator by clicking the "Administration" link and entering your administrator username and password. Return to the Summary page by clicking the "Return To Reports" link at the bottom of the Administration page.

Once you have logged in as an administrator, each Sentry listed on the Summary page will have it's Status hyperlinked. Simply click the Status link for whichever Sentry you would like to trigger, and the Sentry will be run. PageSentry will immediately report the result of the test, as long as the test takes less than 15 seconds to complete. If the test does not finish within 15 seconds, a link will be provided back to the Summary page. The Status for the Sentry displayed on the Summary page will reflect the completion status of the test.

Copyright © 1995-2002 Maxum Development Corporation http://www.maxum.com/ Rev. 7/10/02	Previous | Next Contents