Webserver Extension

If Apache HTTP Server 2.x, IIS 6, or IIS 7 is detected during the installation of the Collector, the option to install the webserver data collection extension is given. Choose to either install it and have the webserver restarted gracefully without terminating or disrupting any HTTP requests, install it and manually restart the webserver yourself after installing the Collector, or not to install the extension.

The Webserver Extension installation will fail on Linux if SELinux is enabled and in strict mode. A warning is given after installation if SELinux is in targeted mode. Refer to Using with SELinux for more information.

If IIS 7 is running in Shared Configuration Mode, the Webserver Extension can only be installed manually after Collector installation. Contact BlueStripe Support for instructions.

If the extension is installed, the Collector monitors inbound HTTP requests to the server and response codes in clear text. HTTP and HTTPS transactions are supported. It collects information about the URLs a webserver serves, how often, and how quickly. By default, a total of 20 URLs are reported to FactFinder every minute. These URLs can appear in the App List of the App Center as applications. For example, if the URL http://www.example.com/myapp is used to access an application, the URL appears so you can quickly drill-down to an App Explorer view to triage a problem.

If the webserver extension is installed, URL metrics can be found in the URLs tab of Machine Full Details for the machine running the webserver. Click on the context menu for a machine in the map and choose View Machine Details. The following metrics are reported (The HTTP(S) errors are error code 400 and higher) as seen in Figure 9. URLs Tab of Machine Full Details:

• Average Response Time
• Load (Responses/sec)
• Total Response Time (ms)
• HTTP(S) Errors (Counts/15sec)
• Requests (KB/sec)
• Responses (KB/sec)

The HTTP(S) errors are error code 400 and higher.

Installing/Uninstalling the IIS Webserver Extension after Collector Installation

The IIS webserver extension can be installed or uninstalled after the Collector is installed. The scripts for these actions are different for IIS 6 and IIS 7. Be sure to use the proper scripts. They are not inter-changeable between IIS versions.

If the machine is running IIS 6 in IIS 5 compatibility mode, the webserver must be recycled manually even if the option to gracefully recycle it is selected due to a limitation in IIS.

IIS 6

For the IIS 6 filter, in the bin subdirectory of the Collector installation directory, there are two batch files related to the IIS 6 filter:

• InstallBlueStripeIISFilter.bat: Installs the extension as a global IIS 6 filter and recycles all IIS 6 application pools
• UninstallBlueStripeIISFilter.bat: Removes the extension from the global IIS 6filter list and recycles all IIS 6 application pools

For IIS 6, to perform each step independently, use the Visual Basic scripts instead (found in the same bin directory):

• bluestripe_isapi_install.vbs: Install IIS 6 Isapi filter
• bluestripe_isapi_uninstall.vbs: Uninstall IIS 6 Isapi filter
• iis_recycle.vbs: Recycle all IIS 6 application pools

IIS 7

For the IIS 7 module, use the following from the bin subdirectory of the Collector installation directory:

• IIS7ModuleInstall.bat: Install IIS 7 module (IIS 7 automatically recycles the application pools)
• IIS7ModuleUninstall.bat: Uninstall IIS 7 module

Installing/Uninstalling the Apache Module after Collector Installation

On Windows, in the bin subdirectory of the Collector installation directory, there is a InstallBatchFilter.bat batch file. Run this command from a command prompt with one of three options:

• C:Program FilesBlueStripeCollectorbinInstallApacheFilter.bat auto
• C:Program FilesBlueStripeCollectorbinInstallApacheFilter.bat manual
• C:Program FilesBlueStripeCollectorbinInstallApacheFilter.bat uninstall

On Linux, Solaris, and AIX, run the install-apache-filter.sh command with the same options:

• /usr/lib/bluestripe-collector/scripts/install-apache-filter.sh auto
• /usr/lib/bluestripe-collector/scripts/install-apache-filter.sh manual
• /usr/lib/bluestripe-collector/scripts/install-apache-filter.sh uninstall

For both scripts, the auto option installs the module and gracefully recycles Apache without disrupting HTTP requests. The manual option installs the webserver extension without recycling Apache. Apache has to be manually recycled before the extension can collect data. Using the uninstall command line argument uninstalls the extension without recycling Apache. Apache must be manually recycled to complete the uninstall.

Using with SELinux

If SELinux is enabled in enforcement mode, it will prevent you from installing or using the webserver extension on Linux. If SELinux is in targeted mode (auditing but not enforcing), the webserver extension will be installed, but the Collector installer will display a warning.

Either disable SELinux or add policies to allow the extension to work.

In version 4, add the following policies:

allow httpd_t var_run_t:sock_file write;
allow httpd_t initrc_t:unix_stream_socket connectto;

In version 5, add the following policies:

policy_module(bluestripe, 1.0)
require {
   type initrc_t;
   type var_run_t;
   type httpd_t;
}
allow httpd_t initrc_t:unix_stream_socket connectto;
allow httpd_t var_run_t:sock_file write;