ping page
The ping page tests whether a specific component of the reporting environment is operational, and optionally retrieves other diagnostic information about the component. You can test the following components of the reporting environment:
*Visualization Platform itself
*The Encyclopedia service
*The Factory service
*The Integration service
*The Message Distribution service (MDS)
*The View service
*An Actuate open server driver
If a component is not operational, iHub returns an error message. If a component is operational, the response depends on the ping page parameters. For example, you can request a simple time stamp that shows the time elapsed between the time that a component receives the request and the time that it returns a reply, as shown with the following URI:
http://seamore:8700/iportal/ping.do?destination=EE&mode=trace
generates the following response:
18:03:23.100: MDS(seamore) received Ping message
18:03:23.100: MDS(seamore) forwarding Ping request to node seamore
18:03:23.100: EncycEngine(seamore) received Ping message
EncycEngine(seamore): Echoing 0 bytes of payload data
18:03:23.100: EncycEngine(seamore) replying to Ping message. Elapsed=0 ms
18:03:23.100: MDS(seamore) received Ping reply from node seamore. Roundtrip= 0 ms
18:03:23.100: MDS(seamore) replying to Ping message. Elapsed=0 ms
You also can request more detailed information. A ping request to the MDS has no security restrictions. For all other components, the request is subject to Encyclopedia volume authentication. The user must be an Encyclopedia volume administrator or a user with the Operator security role.
Name
<context root>\ping.do
Parameters
Table 25‑23 lists and describes the parameters for the ping page. The ping page also uses the common URI parameters.
Table 25‑23 Parameters for ping URI
URI parameter
Description
action
Specifies the action to take at the destination. Valid values are:
*Echo—Echoes data specified by the payloadSize parameter. Echo is the default action.
*ReadFile—Opens a specified Encyclopedia volume file, reads its content, and closes the file. Destination must be EE, FS, or VS.
*WriteFile—Creates a temporary file in a partition, writes a specified number of bytes, closes the file, and deletes it. Destination must be EE or FS.
*Connect—Connects to a data source.
*If you do not specify a value, the destination component responds to the request without taking any other actions.
destination
The reporting environment component to test. Valid values are:
*AP (Visualization Platform)
*MDS (Message Distribution service)
*EE (Encyclopedia Engine)
*FS (Factory service)
*VS (View service)
*AIS (Actuate Integration service)
AIS only supports the Echo action.
Except when AP is specified as destination, Visualization Platform sends a ping request to the iHub and passes on the destination as the ping request’s destination parameter.
The default value is AP.
filename
When action=ReadFile, this parameter is required to indicate the Encyclopedia volume file to read. If you ping an open server driver, filename specifies the executable file to prepare for execution.
mode
Specifies the level of detail in the ping response. Valid values are:
*Concise—Returns the elapsed time between a component’s receipt of the request and the time the component sends a reply.
*Normal—Returns the names of components in the test path and the time stamps of the request entering and leaving each component. This is the default mode.
*Trace—Returns a time stamp at times when the request enters and leaves major subcomponents of the component being tested. For example, a request to a node running the Encyclopedia service can provide a time stamp for times when the request enters and leaves the process queue.
A ping request at the trace level also can return diagnostic information other than timing. For example, a request to test writing a temporary file to a partition can return the amount of free disk space on the partition.
partitionName
Specifies the name of the Encyclopedia partition on which to create the temporary file. Used only if the value of action is WriteFile.
payloadSize
Length of payload string in number of characters that Visualization Platform should generate. Used only if the value of action is Echo.
processID
Specifies the process ID of the Factory or View service to test. Used with the server parameter.
server
Specifies which instance of a Factory service or View service to test. Works with the processID parameter. To test all available instance of the Factory or View service, use an asterisk (*).
If you do not specify server, the iHub load balancing mechanism allocates an available instance of the requested service to respond to the ping request.
Used by
Not applicable.