This test emulates a user accessing a web page on the cloud via HTTP(S), and reports whether that page is accessible or not. In the process, the test indicates the availability of the cloud over the web, and the time it took for the agent to access the cloud over the web. This way, issues in web-based access to the cloud come to light.

The default parameters associated with this test are as follow:

• 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.

• The web page(s) that is being accessed has to be provided in the URL text box. While multiple URLs (separated by commas) can be provided, each URL should be of the format URL name:URL value. URL name is a unique name assigned to the URL, and the URL value is the value of the URL. By default, the URL parameter is set to HomePage:http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/, where HomePage is the URL name, and http://aws.amazon.com/ec2 is the URL value. You can modify this default setting to configure any URL of your choice - eg., the URL of the login page to your cloud-based infrastructure.

• 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. 

• In the CONTENT text box, specify 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 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 HttpTest executes supports 'Anonymous user access', then this parameter will take either of the following values:

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

  Where NTLM (Integrated Windows) authentication is supported, valid CREDENTIALS are mandatory. In other words, a none specification will not be supported in such cases. 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 this test.

• 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.