The Reporting Options tab is used to tell BrowserHawk where the BRWS is located, and which of BrowserHawk’s properties to save in the database.
Note: Changes made to this tab do not take effect until your web services are restarted.
Select properties to log:
Press the Select properties to log… button to choose the browser properties you want the BRWS to save in the database when you call the LogData method. There are over 100 properties to choose from. We recommend that you select only those properties that you are particularly interested in to help keep the size of the database to a minimum.
Tip for users with several servers licensed for BrowserHawk: If you wish to configure each server to log the same properties you can follow this shortcut - The properties you select by pressing the Select Properties to Log button are stored as a comma delimited string in the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\cyScape\Browser Editor\1.0\options under the name rptProperties. After configuring this on one machine, find that registry key, copy the string to your clipboard, and then save it to a file. Move that file to each of the other servers licensed for BrowserHawk, and after fully configuring BrowserHawk on each machine, find the same registry key and paste the string from this file to overwrite the setting. This will save you time from having to check off a long list of properties (assuming you have many that you wish to save) on each machine. Or, you can use the Editor to generate this list for you in the registry, and then use that same list as the value specified in the LogDataProperties property at run-time from your script. Use caution when working with the registry editor – if you are not intimately familiar with working with the registry you should seek assistance from someone who is.
BrowserHawk Reports Web Service location:
Typically you will deploy the BRWS on one designated production web server, regardless of how many web servers your site uses. When you call the LogData method of BrowserHawk on this machine, BrowserHawk needs to know where the BRWS is located so it can send the statistics to it for logging in the database.
If you have only one production web server, typically you will choose the option to run the BRWS on the same server as your web server. Otherwise if you have multiple production web servers, typically you will designate one web server to have the BRWS installed on this server, and then configure all other machines to point to the BRWS running on another server.
See the section on Deploying the BRWS for more information.
Run the BrowserHawk Reports Service on this server:
This is the default option. Choose this option to tell BrowserHawk that the BRWS should be installed and run on this server. When you call the BrowserHawk’s LogData method from scripts running on this server, the collected stats will be reported back to the BRWS running on this server.
Selecting this option requires that you fill in the following setting to configure the BrowserHawk Reports Service:
Web address for this server:
Set this to the web address used to access your web site installed on this server. For example, www.mysite.com. The web address is used to form a URL so that BrowserHawk can communicate with the BRWS.
IIS dir to run the web service under:
Enter the IIS directory where you want to install the BRWS. The BRWS runs as an ISAPI extension. So, choose a directory that is configured as an Internet Information Services (IIS) directory. Press the Select button, to the right of this option, to select an IIS virtual directory.
Note: The BRWS must be located inside a directory that has both script and execute permissions. If you select a directory using the Select button that does not have executable permissions, BrowserHawk will ask you if you would like it to add execute permissions for you.
Tip: Before configuring this tab first use Microsoft Management Console (MMC) to create a virtual directory within your web site that will host the BRWS ISAPI dll (cyScapeBRWS.dll). Give this virtual directory execute permissions. You may also wish to turn off IIS logging for this virtual directory, as the information is already being logged to the database for you by the BRWS and the additional information in your web server logs is redundant and will be considerable in size.
After you set this location, BrowserHawk automatically copies the cyScapeBRWS.dll file into the IIS directory for you. This file is the BRWS ISAPI extension that the LogData method of the BrowserHawk component transparently communicates with through the user’s web browser.
Select button:
Press the Select button to select an IIS virtual directory. The selection dialog that appears allows you to select from a list of IIS virtual directories and ensures that the location you select is configured with permission to execute IASPI.
Directory to store log files for trouble shooting:
Set this to the full path to a directory where the BRWS should place its log files. The log files placed in this folder include some informational messages, for example start-up and shutdown, and details on any errors that occur. The log files are in the format of ’r;BHRmmdd.log’ where mm and dd are replaced by the month day. So the log file for May 15th is named bhr0515.log.
Use BrowserHawk Reports Service installed on another server:
Choose this option to have BrowserHawk use the services of another server already configured to run the BRWS. Typically, if your site is running on more than one server, you will choose this option for all but one of the servers using the BrowserHawk component. On a busy site you may decide to dedicate a server to running the BRWS. In that case you will pick this option for all servers using the BrowserHawk component.
BH Reports Web Service URL:
Ultimately this is the most important setting on this tab. If you choose the option on this tab to run the BRWS on this server, then BrowserHawk will fill out this field for you as you fill out the other fields on this tab.
If you chose the option to use BRWS running on a different server, then you need to fill out this field on your own. This field should be set to the full web address where the BRWS is located. This address must include the web address and IIS application path, for example: "http://www.mysite.com/Scripts/".
Test button:
Press this button to confirm that your BH Reports Web Service URL is configured correctly. To test this BrowserHawk opens your web browser and makes a special request to the BRWS at the location specified in the URL field. If everything is configured correctly you will see a response from the BRWS in the web browser showing its status.
If you receive a 404 error in the browser this means that the BH Reports Web Service URL does not point to a valid path on the remote server where the BRWS is located.
If you are prompted by the browser for a user name and password, or the browser tries to download the DLL to you, or you receive garbled text in the browser window it likely means that the permissions on the cyScapeBRWS.dll in your IIS directory are not set correctly. Make sure that this file has READ and EXECUTE permissions for the IIS account.
See Also: