Reactive Replay

Reactive replay is the replay of access log data based on the session id provided in the request. Initially, raw data files/access log files are required, which are provided by user. These files are further processed by Data Processor. This processor captures raw files as input, processes the data and saves it in a shared memory. It also creates correlation services corresponding to that data in High Performance Daemon (HPD) correlation directory. Data manager arranges the data saved in shared memory according to session ids. Responses are mapped corresponding to different session ids.

NetOcean captures the data from shared memory as input and provides to HPD. Now, HPD replays the processed data.  At run time, NetOcean identifies the requests type. If the request is identified as reactive replay, NetOcean captures the session id in request to find corresponding response in the processed data and serves the response to client. Protocols used in reactive replay are HTTP and HTTPS.

Working with Data Processor

To open the Data Processor section, go to Reactive Replay tab and click the Data Processor option. The NetOcean – Data Processor window is displayed.

Some details are pre-configured for the data processor, such as log directory, response directory etc. User can edit these details and all other details (Services and Headers) by clicking the Edit button first. On clicking the Edit button, the details are displayed in editable mode.

Here, user can edit the log directory and response directory. Log directory is the one from where data processor captures the log data for processing. After processing, the response is provided at the response directory.

User can select the Debug Level using the debug level drop-down list. Debug Level 1 provides minimum logs for method called and exit whereas Debug Level 4 provides all the debug available in the system.

To create a backup in shared memory, select ‘Yes’ from the drop-down list. Select the Total Threads from the drop-down list. It denotes the number of threads to be created during the processing of the access log file. It can range from 1 to 32. Default value is 4.

There are further other sub-sections under this section, such as Services, Headers, and Advanced Settings.

Services

Here, user needs to provide a service name for a particular URL. To do this, go to the Services sub-section, enter the URL, specify the service name, and click the Add button. The service gets added in the services list.

To delete an already added service, click the delete button corresponding to the service. The service gets deleted from the list.

Headers

Here, user can add headers in the response. To do this, go to the Headers sub-section, specify the header details in Name:Value format, specify the URL, and click the Add button.

To delete an already added header, click the delete button corresponding to the header. The header gets deleted from the list.

 1.1 For common headers, user can specify in URL as ‘ALL’.User can provide multiple header for URL with comma(,) separated

Advanced Settings

Here, in this section, user can configure some advance settings for data processor. To perform the advance settings, go to Advanced Settings, sub-section:

There are following labels under this:

  • Maximum Day(s): It denotes the maximum number of days for which the log files can be processed.
  • Request/Response Table Size: It denotes the chunk size for intermediate request/response tables. User needs to provide the following details.
    • Initial: It is the initial file size. By default, it is 1024 KB.
    • Incremental: It is the incremental to the initial file size in KB. By default, it is incremented by 1024 KB.
  • Big Buffer Size: It denotes the chunk size of big buffer used. User needs to provide the following details.
    • Initial: It is the initial buffer file size. By default, it is 1048576 KB.
    • Incremental: It is the incremental to the initial file size. By default, it is 1048576 KB.
  • Delimeter: It is the separator between two fields of the raw files. Default is pipe delimeter (|).
  • Shared Memory Path: It denotes the shared memory data path.
  • Shared Memory Key Path: It denotes the shared memory key path. The Default path is /var/www/hpd/reactive_replay.

Post setting these details, click the Save button. A confirmation message is displayed for successful saving of data.

Once the data is saved, click the Process Data button. A dialog box is displayed to select the date to repay data.

Specify/Select the date in YYYY/MM/DD format and click the Apply button.

The data is processes and system displays a confirmation message. Once the log file is processed for the particular selected date, it is managed by Data Manager. In our next section, we are describing how the processed data is managed by data manager.

Working with Data Manager

In this section, we are describing how the processed data is managed by data manager and how it can be provided to shared memory and backup files. To go to the data manager section, go to Reactive Replay tab, and click the Data Manager option. The NetOcean – Data Manager window is displayed.

Getting Shared Memory Details

To get the information on shared memory, select a date from the drop-down list.

Following information is displayed on shared memory for the selected date:

  • Hash Shm ID: This denotes the hash table shared memory ID.
  • Session Shm ID: This denotes the session table shared memory ID.
  • Response Shm ID: This denotes the response table shared memory ID.
  • Destination Path: This denotes the destination path where the output file is stored
  • Shm Path: This denotes the shared memory data path.

Deleting a Shared Memory /Backup Files

To delete a shared memory, click the Delete button. A dialog box is displayed prompting for deleting the files.

Select the “Delete only shared memory” check box, then click on Yes button to delete shared memory else click No.

For deleting the backup files too, select the “Delete shared memory and backup files and then click Yes button else click No.

Taking Backup

Click the Backup button. The system prompts for confirmation on taking backup of the selected date.

Click Yes to create the backup of the selected date else click No.

Reset Shared Memory

To restart the reply from beginning, we need to reset all the pointers in shared memory. To reset the shared memory, click the Reset button.

Click Yes to reset the shared memory of the selected date else click No.

Recreating a Shared Memory

This feature is used to reload data in shared memory. It reloads the specified date (if backup files exist) and provide the shared memory details. To do this, select ‘other’ from the date drop-down list. Provide a custom date, and click the Create button.

The details are checked in backup files for the provided custom date. If the details are present in the backup files for that particular date, then date is populated in the drop-down list, and details can be viewed on the shared memory table. If the backup files don’t exist, a message is displayed – “Date Directory doesn’t exist at Shm path”.

On selecting that date from the drop-down list, the shared memory details are displayed.

Activate Changes

This is used to restart HPD. To do this, click the  icon at the top-right corner of the window.