Site 24×7 and JSONPath Example

We had an issue a couple of days ago where two points of failure caused some downtime and so I spent most of today revisiting all my monitors to give us as much warning as possible if one of our services fails.

One particular API I set up lives on the as400 (iSeries) and operates off of it’s ZendCore server in PHP.  I quickly scripted a page to verify:  connection between ZendCore PHP and db2, that the connection to that endpoint was in fact SSL, and on what port.

The PHP code is very simple and returns a JSON string that looks like this:

{
    "AS400CONNECTION": true,
    "SSL": true,
    "PORT": "633"
}

The slight problem today was figuring out how to get Site 24×7 to not just verify the link, but check the JSON values and verify it is what I need.  If not, then send the alert.  In this case, I want to verify AS400CONNECTION is true and SSL is true.

Site 24×7 suggests using a REST API monitor and then asserting the value in JSONPath.  I was completely new to this and finding a good clean example was a bit tough, hopefully this saves someone some time.  Here’s how I setup the JSONPath expression:

$[?(@.AS400CONNECTION==true)]
$[?(@.SSL==true)]

For a full screenshot of the setup I did to make this work click here.

 

 

 

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Daisy Chaining Monitors (models: u2414h / u2417h)

  1. First, in 2414, you must enable DP 1.2 in the menu. (In 2417 it’s enabled by default)
  2. Plug-in the mini display port (small rounded square) to the 2nd monitor and run it to the first monitor
  3. make sure you plug it into the OUT display port (on the 2417, the out has a small orange-red cap in it, remove and plug it in there)
  4. on the first monitor, go to the monitor’s menu and enable MST, this will make Windows recognize the 2nd monitor as separate
  5. the first monitor flickered, so unplug the power, wait 5 seconds and replug
  6. adjust your display settings accordingly for extended desktop, etc.

 

*I also installed the latest Intel drivers off of Dell’s website

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