HTTP Form Login Monitor

The HTTP Form Login Monitor is a SAM component monitor that is also available as a SAM application monitor template that you can use to test the ability of a web server to serve web pages secured behind a forms-based login page.

The test utilizes provided credentials as the user name and password for the login form, retrieves the page behind the login form, and then searches the retrieved page for keywords that indicate either a successful or a failed login attempt.

This component monitor does not support pop-up login screens.

Statistic

This component monitor does not compute a statistic.

Troubleshooting

For most form-based login pages, this component monitor functions without any customizations. However, some login pages use unconventional HTML form tag names or form input tag names, so you may need to help the component monitor identify the names of these tags so the component monitor can function correctly.

This monitor does not support login controls located inside IFRAME HTML controls.

If the component monitor cannot match the tag names in the login page against the list of expected keywords, add the actual tag name to the keywords list. SAM displays an error message if the component monitor fails that includes the form and form input names found in the HTML page so you can add the correct name in the appropriate Keywords field.

For example, consider the following HTML snippet with tags defining a form and some form inputs:

<form name="login_form" method="post" action="Login.aspx"><p>Status (optional): <input name="status" type="text" /></p><p>Username: <input name="nick" type="text" /></p><p>Password: <input name ="pswd" type="password" /></p><input type="submit" value="Submit" /></form>

In this example, the actual login input tag name is "nick,” but testing the component monitor results in an error similar to the following:

Response page matches login error keywords Page contains 1 form(s). Form 'login_form' inputs: ( 'cust_id' 'nick' 'pswd' ); Assumed form with name = login_form as login form Assumed login input: name = status, password input: name = pswd

The error message indicates that the component monitor assumed the input tag with the name "status" was the login input. To resolve this error, add the correct tag name "nick" to the list of keywords in the Login Control Keywords field: (login)|(name)|(email)|(nick)

Polling with the SolarWinds Platform agent for Linux

Only Basic and Digest authentication are supported when this probe runs using the SolarWinds Platform agent for Linux.

For Kerberos authentication on Linux-based systems, select Agentless as the Preferred Polling Method.

Field descriptions

Description

A default description of the monitor. To override the default description, add to or replace existing text. Changes are automatically saved. The variable to access this field is ${UserDescription}.

Customize descriptions to specify what will be monitored so related alerts and notifications are more meaningful later.

Enable Component

Determines if the component is enabled. Disabling the component leaves it in a deactivated state that does not influence its application availability or status, as displayed in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.

Credential for Monitoring

Select a credential that can log in to the website from the list provided or use the <Inherit credential from node> option. If the credential you need is not in the credentials list, add it in the Credentials Library. See Understand the Credentials Library for details.

Port Number

The port number used for HTTP forms-based login sessions. The default value is 80.

Url

Specify the URL you want to monitor. The ${IP} variable in the default value for this field attempts to monitor a website at the IP address of the assigned node.

Host Header

Enter the address of the host header. For example, https://www.solarwinds.com.

Use Proxy

Select this check box to use a web proxy to access the website.

Proxy Address

Specify the address of a web proxy to access the website.

Ignore CA Errors

Indicates if Certificate Authorization (CA) errors will be ignored.

Ignore CN Errors

Indicates if Common Name (CN) errors will be ignored.

Accept Compression

Indicates if compression is supported.

Login Form Keywords

The expected keywords that identify an HTML login form. The keywords are matched against the name attribute of the <form> tags found in the HTML of the login page. Enclose each keyword in parentheses '( )', and separate keywords with a vertical bar '|', also called a "pipe." The default keywords are: (login)|(auth)|(email).

Login Control Keywords

The expected keywords that identify the form's user name input element. The keywords are matched against the name attribute of the <input> tags found in the HTML of the login page. Enclose each keyword in parentheses '( )', and separate keywords with a vertical bar '|', also called a "pipe." Default keywords are (login)|(name)|(email).

Password Control Keywords

The expected keywords that identify the form's password input element. The keywords are matched against the name attribute of the <input> tags found in the HTML of the login page. Enclose each keyword in parentheses '( )', and separate keywords with a vertical bar '|', also called a "pipe." Default keywords are (password)|(pwd)|(passwd)|(psswd)|(pswd).

Login Failed Regular Expression

The regular expression for matching an unsuccessful login. This expression may appear anywhere in the HTML source of the page.

Login Success Keywords

The regular expression for matching a successful login. This expression may appear anywhere in the HTML source of the page.

Response Time Threshold

Set the warning or critical threshold conditions based on the response time. The response time is the time in milliseconds it takes SAM to determine that a component is not Down and to retrieve any statistical data. See Application Monitor Thresholds.

User Notes

Add notes for easy reference. You can access this field by using the variable, ${UserNotes}.