HTTPS Monitor
The HTTPS Monitor is a SAM component monitor that is also available as a SAM application monitor template to test a web server's ability to accept incoming sessions over a secure channel and then transmit the requested page. The component monitor can also test security certificates.
The HTTPS Monitor measures the time it takes the HTTPS get for the page referenced in the component monitor to load. This response time is measured in milliseconds.
If a web page redirects to another page, the response time measures the entire time from the original request until the last redirected page is loaded.
This monitor supports the following additional macros:
${Node.SysName}${Node.Caption}${Node.DNS}${Node.ID}
This component monitor does not compute a statistic.
Polling limitations when using the SolarWinds Platform agent for Linux
Note the following limitations for this component monitor when using the SolarWinds Platform agent for Linux to poll.
- Only Basic and Digest authentication are supported when this probe runs using the SolarWinds Platform agent. For Kerberos authentication on Linux-based systems, select Agentless as the Preferred Polling Method.
- In Python 2.7.5 or earlier, the Linux implementation does not support checking of Certificate Authority (CA) and Common Name (CN) errors for the SSL connection. If you configure the component monitor to recognize CA or CN errors but the installed version of Python does not allow checking, polling fails and a message prompts you to either update the CA or CN settings, or switch to agent-less polling.
To resolve, consider one of the following options:
-
Continue using the current Python version and switch the option to Ignore CA/CN Errors.
- Update the Python version to support SolarWinds Platform agent for Linux, as well as CA and CA checks.
- Switch to agent-less polling.
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 whether the component is enabled. Disabling the component leaves it in the application in a deactivated state not influencing either SolarWinds SAM application availability or status.
Credential for Monitoring
If the website is password-protected, select a credential that can access the website. You can click a credential in the list, 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 used by the website. The default value is 443.
Url
Specify the URL you want to monitor. The variables contained in the default value for this field attempt to monitor a website at the IP address of the assigned node ${IP} and on the port specified in the Port Number field ${PORT}.
Proxy Servers: To prevent proxy servers from caching the monitored URL, you can append a unique query string to the URL with the ${TimeStamp} variable.
Example "cache buster" for simple URL: http://${IP}:${Port}/?_cb=${TimeStamp}
Example "cache buster" for URL with existing query string:http://${IP}:${Port}/?page.aspx?var=value&_cb=${TimeStamp}
Host Header
Enter the address of the host header. For example, www.solarwinds.com.
Host Request
Enter the type of content. For example, POST.
Follow Redirect
Specify the component monitor to automatically follow server-side redirects.
Use Proxy
Enable this option to use a web proxy to access the website.
Proxy Address
Specify the address of a web proxy to access the website.
Certificate Subject
Use this field to select a private key when client authentication is used.
Specify the X.509 certificate subject (also called a Distinguished Name or DN) to select a certificate from the local machine user certificate store.
The subject must equal the exact format to find the certificate using .NET.
Use commas (,) to separate the different subject fields, as shown here: CN=Baltimore CyberTrust Root,OU=CyberTrust,O=Baltimore,C=IE
Do not use semicolons or newlines as separators.
Ignore CA Errors
Specify if the component monitor should ignore the certificate authority (CA) errors. If this setting is disabled, users will be prompted to verify untrusted connections before proceeding.
Ignore CN Errors
Specify if the component monitor should ignore the certificate name (CN) errors. If this setting is disabled, users will be prompted to verify untrusted connections before proceeding.
User Agent
This field allows you to emulate a specific user agent or browser type when contacting the website. For example, to emulate Internet Explorer 7, type Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0b; Windows NT 6.0). To learn more, click here.
Search String
Provide a text string that indicates successful page retrieval. If the specified string is found in the web page content, the monitor is considered up.
The search string is not case-sensitive.
Fail if Found
Enable this option to reverse the default behavior of the search string. If the search string is found in the web page content, the monitor is considered down instead of up.
Head Request
Enable this option to ensure the website responds to the HTTPS protocol, but without checking the validity of the web page content. Search strings are ignored if you select this option.
Accept Compression
If checked, indicates that compression is supported.
Authenticate Mode
Select an option for the authentication of the HTTPS: Normal, PreAuthenticate, or AlwaysAuthenticate.
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}.