NAME

       Smokeping::probes::WebProxyFilter - tests webproxy filter performance and function.

OVERVIEW

       This probe tests if your filtering webproxy is working properly. Drawing from a list of
       forbidden websites, it tries to establish a connection to each one of them and registers a
       'loss' when it suceeeds.

       If you want to test availability of a website, use the EchoPingHttp probe.

SYNOPSIS

        *** Probes ***

        +WebProxyFilter

        forks = 5
        maxsize = 2000
        min_interval = 0.1
        offset = 50%
        step = 300
        timeout = 15
        useragent = SmokePing/2.x (WebProxyFilter Probe)

        # The following variables can be overridden in each target section
        deny_re = Access Prohibited
        more_hosts = www.playboy.com, www.our-competition.com
        pings = 5
        timeout = 2

        # [...]

        *** Targets ***

        probe = WebProxyFilter # if this should be the default probe

        # [...]

        + mytarget
        # probe = WebProxyFilter # if the default probe is something else
        host = my.host
        deny_re = Access Prohibited
        more_hosts = www.playboy.com, www.our-competition.com
        pings = 5
        timeout = 2

DESCRIPTION

       The probe uses the LWP::UserAgent module to retreive a series of wepages. It expects to
       get the firewalls 'site-prohibited' page. Any other response (or a real loss) gets logged
       as a loss and can be used to trigger an alarm.

       The probe tries to be nice to the firewall and waits at least X seconds between starting
       filetransfers, where X is the value of the probe specific `min_interval' variable (1 by
       default).

       Many variables can be specified either in the probe or in the target definition, the
       target-specific variable will override the prove-specific variable.

VARIABLES

       Supported probe-specific variables:

       forks
           Run this many concurrent processes at maximum

           Example value: 5

           Default value: 5

       maxsize
           How much of the webpage should be retreived.

           Default value: 2000

       min_interval
           The minimum interval between each starting GETs in seconds.

           Example value: 0.1

           Default value: 1

       offset
           If you run many probes concurrently you may want to prevent them from hitting your
           network all at the same time. Using the probe-specific offset parameter you can change
           the point in time when each probe will be run. Offset is specified in % of total
           interval, or alternatively as 'random', and the offset from the 'General' section is
           used if nothing is specified here. Note that this does NOT influence the rrds itself,
           it is just a matter of when data acqusition is initiated.  (This variable is only
           applicable if the variable 'concurrentprobes' is set in the 'General' section.)

           Example value: 50%

       step
           Duration of the base interval that this probe should use, if different from the one
           specified in the 'Database' section. Note that the step in the RRD files is fixed when
           they are originally generated, and if you change the step parameter afterwards, you'll
           have to delete the old RRD files or somehow convert them. (This variable is only
           applicable if the variable 'concurrentprobes' is set in the 'General' section.)

           Example value: 300

       timeout
           How long a single 'ping' takes at maximum

           Example value: 15

           Default value: 5

       useragent
           The web browser we claim to be, just in case the FW is interested

           Default value: SmokePing/2.x (WebProxyFilter Probe)

       Supported target-specific variables:

       deny_re
           Regular expression, matching the 'deny' response from the firewall

           Example value: Access Prohibited

       more_hosts
           A comma separated list of banned websites to test in addition to the one specified in
           the host variable. The websites will be tested one after the other in one round, this
           means that while normal probes do run the same test serveral times in a row, this one
           will alter the webpage with each round.  The reason for this is, that eventhough we
           try to retreive remote webpages, the answer will come from the firewall everytime, so
           we kill two birds in one go. First we test the firewalls latency and second we make
           sure its filter works properly.

           Example value: www.playboy.com, www.our-competition.com

       pings
           How many pings should be sent to each target, if different from the global value
           specified in the Database section. Note that the number of pings in the RRD files is
           fixed when they are originally generated, and if you change this parameter afterwards,
           you'll have to delete the old RRD files or somehow convert them.

           Example value: 5

       timeout
           Timeout in seconds for the test complete.

           Example value: 2

           Default value: 2

AUTHORS

       Tobias Oetiker <tobi@oetiker.ch> sponsored by Virtela

BUGS

       This probe is somewhat unortodox, since it regards the sucessful retrieval of a banned
       webpage as a loss.