Proxy Svc Test

This test can be executed from a location external to the proxy server, and presents an unbiased external perspective of the state of the server. This test is disabled by default. To enable the test, go to the enable / disable tests page using the menu sequence : Agents -> Tests -> Enable/Disable, pick the Microsoft proxy as the desired Component type, set Performance as the Test type, choose the test from the disabled tests list, and click on the < button to move the test to the ENABLED TESTS list. Finally, click the Update button.\

Target of the test : A Microsoft Proxy server

Agent deploying the test : An external agent executing on an eG server

Outputs of the test : One set of outputs for every URL being monitored

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameters	Description
Test period	This indicates how often should the test be executed.
Host	The host for which the test is to be configured.
Port	Refers to the port used by the Microsoft Proxy server.
URL	The web page being accessed. 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. For example, a URL can be specified as HomePage:http://192.168.10.12:7077/, where HomePage is the URL name and http://192.168.10.12:7077/ is the URL value.
Cookiefile	Whether any cookies being returned by the Microsoft Proxy server need to be saved locally and returned with subsequent requests.
Proxyhost	The host on which a web proxy server is running (in case a proxy server is to be used)
Proxyport	The port number on which the web proxy server is listening.
Proxyusername	The user name of the proxy server.
Proxypassword	The password of the proxy server.
Confirm password	Confirm the password by retyping it here.
Content	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 Microsoft Proxy 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.
Credentials	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. This parameter is a comma separated list of user name:password pairs, one pair for each URL being monitored. A value of none:none indicates that user authorization is not required. 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 uses 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 HttPTest.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Proxy service availability	This measurement indicates whether the server was able to respond successfully to the query made by the test.	Percent	Availability failures could be caused by several factors such as the MS Proxy process(es) being down, the MS Proxy servers being misconfigured, a network failure, etc. Temporary unavailability may also occur if the proxy server is overloaded. Availability is determined based on the response code returned by the server. A response code between 200 to 300 indicates that the server is available.
Total response time	This measurement indicates the time taken by the server to respond to the requests it receives.	Secs	Response time being high denotes a problem. Poor response times may be due to the server being overloaded or misconfigured. If the URL accessed involves the generation of dynamic content by the server, backend problems (e.g., an overload at the application server or a database failure) can also result in an increase in response time.
TCP connection availability	This measure indicates whether the test managed to establish a TCP connection to the server.	Percent	Failure to establish a TCP connection may imply that either the MS proxy server process is not up, or that the process is not operating correctly. In some cases of extreme overload, the failure to establish a TCP connection may be a transient condition. As the load subsides, the server may start functioning properly again.
TCP connection time	This measure quantifies the time for establishing a TCP connection to the MS proxy server host.	Secs	Typically, the TCP connection establishment must be very small (of the order of a few milliseconds). Since TCP connection establishment is handled at the OS-level, rather than by the application, an increase in this value signifies a system-level bottleneck on the host that supports the MS proxy server.
Server response time	This measure indicates the time period between when the connection was established and when the server sent back a HTTP response header to the client.	Secs	While the total response time may depend on several factors, the server response time is typically, a very good indicator of a server bottleneck (e.g., because all the available server threads or processes are in use).
Response code	The response code returned by the server for the simulated request	Number	A value between 200 and 300 indicates a good response. A 4xx value indicates a problem with the requested content (eg., page not found). A 5xx value indicates a server error.
Content length	The size of the content returned by the server	Kbytes	Typically the content length returned by the server for a specific URL should be the same across time. Any change in this metric may indicate the need for further investigation on the server side.
Content validity	This measure validates whether the server was successful in executing the request made to it.	Percent	A value of 100% indicates that the content returned by the test is valid. A value of 0% indicates that the content may not be valid. This capability for content validation is especially important for multi-tier web applications. For example, a user may not be able to login to the web site but the server may reply back with a valid HTML page where in the error message, say, "Invalid Login" is reported. In this case, the availability will be 100 % (since we got a valid HTML response). If the test is configured such that the content parameter should exclude the string "Invalid Login," in the above scenario content validity would have a value 0.