Service Check
The Service Check plug-in allows you to perform checks using various protocols and services, such as Ping, FTP, HTTP, etc., to see if a service is running and available on a particular server. This augments the classic end-to-end monitoring tools included with RPA Builder with some element monitoring checks.
The Service Check plug-in consists of a single new action step called Service Check – this is accessed in the same place as the other Action Step elements.
Properties
Backup Target Host Enter the host name without protocol prefix. When the Target Host cannot be reached, the Backup Host will be checked instead. Leave blank if not required.
Enable Error Trace You can define a set of Error Traces that will be executed when the check fails and this property is enabled
Iteration Count/Iteration must succeed Define how often the check should be repeated and how often it needs to be successful
Iteration delay If you defined more than one iteration, this specifies the pause in milliseconds between each iteration
Packet Size (kb) Shows you the payload of the sent packages. This is only relevant for TCP Ping.
Protocol Protocol to use for this check. Available values are: Ping, TCP Echo, FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, and TCP Portcheck.
Target Host Enter the DNS name or IP address of the host without protocol prefix to check.
Target Port Which port to check on. Will be populated with default protocol after protocol is selected within the wizard.
Timer Mode When "Record Timer" is enabled and the Ping is used in a loop, the following mode is for calculating the timer value:
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Last The last time measured is saved
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Average The Workflow calculates an average of all times measured and saves it
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Min The fastest time measured is saved
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Max The slowest time measured is saved
Other Properties that are the same in all action steps are described in the section on Common Properties. For reasons of clarity they are not shown here.
Inbound Variables
Target Host Enter the DNS name or IP address of the host without protocol prefix to check.
Backup Target Host Enter the host name without protocol prefix. When the Target Host cannot be reached, the Backup Host will be checked instead. Leave blank if not required.
Target Port Which port to check on. Will be populated with default protocol after protocol is selected within the wizard.
Packet Size Shows you the payload of the sent packages. This is only relevant for TCP Ping.
Suffix can be used if the Service Check is within the Control Block's File Controlled Loop. A suffix is then added to the name of the Service Check during every loop. Each suffix is a column entry in the file that was imported in the File Controlled Loop.
Wizard
Service Check will connect to the specified Target Host on the specified Port and attempt to perform a default handshake for the chosen protocol. It will try as many times as defined in the Iteration Count. If you have activated the Record Timer, the response time of the check will be recorded as a timer and sent to the server. The name appearing in the reporting corresponds to the name of the action step.
If it does not succeed after the defined number of attempts, it will fail and try again with the Backup Host. If the Backup Host fails too (or the field is empty), the Error Traces will be created and logged. You can define Error Traces by clicking the appropriate button.
With Define Error Traces you can configure the Error Traces. These are a set of checks that will be executed on failure. Each of these checks resembles a Service Check, but it only has the properties Protocol], Target Host], Port], and Timeout]. Error Traces may also use Traceroute as the protocol – this will perform a standard trace route command and log the results.
Simply click in the empty row to create a new Error Trace. You can then choose the Protocol (note that for Error Traces, Traceroute is available), specify the Target Host and Port, and change the Timeout if required. Press Enter or click OK when you are done. You can repeat this as often as you like to create as many Error Traces as needed.