The DesktopProfile "How To" is a step by step guide on accomplishing many of the common tasks in the setup and use of the DesktopProfile runtime evironment. Choose a "How To" from the list below. Please let us know if the "How To..." you are seeking is not here. How To... |
How to Install DesktopProfile as NT Service
Installing DesktopProfile as an NT service is done in a DOS command line window.
1. Click the Windows desktop "Start" button and choose the "run" option. This brings up the DOS command line window
2. In the Dos window navigate to the DesktopProfile install directory. For example if the install directory is C:\DesktopProfile then from the C:\ dos prompt type "CD DesktopProfile" and hit enter.
3. Type "DesktopProfile -install" and hit enter. This should then be followed by a successful install message. Should you see a fail message please contact Support.
How to Start DesktopProfile Server After Installation
There are two ways to start DesktopProfile after the installation process is complete. First, it can be started as a Windows NT Service or secondly, it can be started as you would a normal user program like Excel or Word. Note, starting DesktopProfile just starts the core server engine and does not start the User Interface. If DesktopProfile is already running, you start the User Interface through a browser, please see How to Launch the Desktop for more information.
A. Starting DesktopProfile as an NT service.
If the NT Service installation has not been completed please see How to install DesktopProfile as an NT service before attempting to start.
1. Bring up the system control panel: Click the Windows "Start" button and choose the "Settings" and then "Control Panel"
2. In the Control Panel choose the "Administrative Tools" folder and then double click on the
icon, which starts the Windows configure services user interface.
3. Scroll the right hand pane of the configure services window until you locate the "DesktopProfile" entry, then right click on this entry and select the "Start" option from the menu displayed. If you cannot find the "DesktopProfile" service please see How to Install DesktopProfile as an NT Service. If DesktopProfile fails to start please contact support.
B. Starting DesktopProfile as a normal user program.
When this dialog appears, the DesktopProfile web server is already running but it is using the default HTTP port 80.
If you have purchased a license for DesktopProfile, select Help, License Key... from the drop down menu and enter your license key. It is recommended that you then close down the DesktopProfile application (close the window in figure 3.1) and restart as before. This will ensure that the DesktopProfile engine provides the full functionality based on your license key
To launch the User Interface to use the application click the "Run Client" button and see How To Launch the Desktop . If the above dialog fails to start please contact Support.
2. How to Launch the Desktop
There are two ways to launch the user interface. If you are on the server workstation where the DesktopProfile is installed and/or running, you may launch directly from the DesktopProfile workstation. Alternatively, you may launch DesktopProfile from a remote workstation.
A. Launching from the DesktopProfile Workstation
- Locate and select the open DesktopProfile Server window below. If this window cannot be found as an open window on the system please see How to start DesktopProfile.
- Click the "Run Client" button. This will start the following browser window and bring up the Java runtime environment.
If the above browser window does not appear then you should contact Support.
- To launch the GUI interface, click the Start (Java x.x.x) button. Note that the Java version displayed in the button (x.x.x) must be equal to or greater than the "(Java x.x.x support required)" displayed underneath the "Start" button. If this is not the case please see our Java Support page for further information.
- Clicking the "Start" button launches the loading of the GUI interface and you will see the following type dialog appear twice. Note the loading time will be dependent on the network speed. Please allow a few minutes for the code to be served to the workstation. After the application has loaded the DesktopProfile application window will appear.
Launching the user interface from a remote work station is as simple as going to the correct web page (URL) and port number for the DesktopProfile service. e.g. http://www.urlname.com:8080. If you do not know the Web URL for the DesktopProfile service you should contact your network or system administrator.
- Start or go to your browser window.
- Enter the DesktopProfile URL. e.g. http://www.urlname.com:8080.
- When you connect to the URL you will see DesktopProfile Console window
- Follow the DesktopProfile Console start panel instructions.
3. How to Change the Server Options
DesktopProfile has a number of Server Options that the user can configure. For example, TCP port number defines what DesktopProfile URL HTTP server responds. These options can be changed from the DesktopProfile desktop as follows.
- Click the select setup
button found on the main DesktopProfile toolbar just below the menu options. This brings up the floating setup menu options.
- Click the setup menu "Server" button (top) to bring up the Server Configuration dialog. If this is the first time a configuration change option has been selected DesktopProfile will first request the administration password. The default password is "hello".
- Change the desired option in the dialog and click the "Save Changes" button at the bottom of the dialog.
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- The Web Port is the TCP port number from which the HTTP server communicates. Usually Port 80. Change the Web port number (first field) as required and click save changes to save the amended details on the server. If an error occurs during this process contact Support.
- The Engine may port-hop option allows the engine to locate the first available TCP port number. Click the checkbox to turn this option on (with tick) or off (blank)
- The Max Test Worker Threads and the Max Event Worker Threads dictate the number of collection tasks (such as ping) or alert tasks (such as email) that can run concurrently. Click on the field to change and key in the number desired.
- The Max Time Intervals option limits the amount of data points available in a dataset to be plotted or viewed. This is necessary to ensure that a user does not request so much data that it causes a major bottleneck on the network. Click on the field and enter the value desired.
- The VisualRoute Server option allows the user to set the VisualRoute URL. This allows certain HTML reports to provide a VisuaRoute hyperlink which is useful when latency or packet loss is bad and you would like to trace to the destination to see where on the route the problem is. When blank, the default is http://visualroute.visualware.com/. Click on the field and add the server URL as desired.
- The Help File URL allows the user to set another help URL other than the default. Click on this field and type the new URL.
- The New Password option allows the user to change the default password. Click in both fields and type the same password, one is for verification to ensure that there are no typing errors.
Finally remember to click the "Save Changes" button to update the server with all the amendments applied. If an error occurs during this process contact Support.
4. How to Add a Fixed Group
A DesktopProfile fixed group is essentially a named folder into which you assign a number of hosts, devices or desktop agents. The data collection process is run against folders and collects from all the hosts/devices/agents that are present. For example you might create a group called "Web Servers" and you would place all your Web Server Domain/IP addresses in this folder.
- Click the select setup button found on the main DesktopProfile toolbar just below the menu options. This brings up the floating setup menu options.
- Click the setup menu "Hosts/Groups" button (3rd) to bring up the Hosts and Groups dialog. If this is the first time a configuration change option has been selected DesktopProfile will first request the administration password. The default password is "hello". See "How to change sever options" to change password.
- Click the "Add" button in the bottom left corner of the Hosts and Groups dialog (not shown) to bring up the Group Editor dialog.
- Type in the desired Group Name, click the Fixed Group option, then select the desired hosts from the available hosts list on the right by clicking on them to highlight them blue and click the "Add" button to add the selected hosts to the Group Pane on the left side.
- Then click the "OK" button to complete the Group Editor dialog and then Click "OK" to close the Hosts/Groups dialog.
5. How to Add an Attribute Group
A DesktopProfile attribute group is essentially a named folder into which you assign label values. The Hosts and Devices with the same labels will automatically populate attribute folders. The data collection process is run against folders and collects from all the Hosts/Devices that are present.
- Follow steps 1-to-3 from How to Add a Fixed Group
- Type in the desired Group Name, click the Attribute Group option, then select the desired "where" label and key in "equals" value.
- Click the "OK" button to complete the Group Editor dialog and then Click "OK" to close the Hosts/Groups dialog.
6. How to Add a Host /Device
To add a Host such as a server or device all you need to do is enter the domain name or IP address. This is done in the same dialog as adding a Group. DesktopProfile Support Edition Agents should automatically be populated into the Hosts table when the are started at the remote desktop.
- Click the select setup button found on the main DesktopProfile toolbar just below the menu options. This brings up the floating setup menu options.
- Click the setup menu "Hosts/Groups" button (3rd) to bring up the Hosts and Groups dialog. If this is the first time a configuration change option has been selected DesktopProfile will first request the administration password. The default password is "hello". See "How to change sever options" to change password.
- Click the "Editor" button underneath the right hand edit pane of the Hosts and Groups dialog (not shown) to bring up the Host Editor dialog.
- Type in the desired Host/Device name/IP address, click the "Add" button. The new host will appear in the viewing window below. Repeat this process until all the host/devices are added.
- Then click the "OK" button to complete the Host Editor dialog and then Click "OK" to close the Hosts/Groups dialog.
Note: The "Bulk Edit" button allows you to key in (or cut & paste) multiple Hosts/devices.
7. How to Add Attributes to a Host /Device
Attributes are labels attached to a host/device that cause the item to automatically populate a group folder that matches the attribute label. This allows you to name a device as a "router" or a "server" or maybe the location such as "New York" or "UK". Attributes are added during the Add host/device process.
- When in the "Host Editor" dialog (see item 3 of how to add a host device) click on a single host/device then click the "Attributes" button. This brings up the "Attribute Editor" dialog.
- To add new attributes for the first time you use the "Add New Attribute" section at the bottom on this dialog.
- Enter the desired attribute label name such as "country" or "type" and click the "add" button
- Repeat this process as many times as necessary to add all the desired label names
- To select an exiting attribute label (either just added from the step 2 above) or from a previous add process
- Select the desired attribute label from the drop down list box immediately above words "Defined Attributes" and click the "Add" button. This adds the attribute label to the list above with a blank value field. You may add as many labels to a device as you require.
- Click on the value field adjacent to the label(s) added and enter the label value you require.
- To add the plugin attribute labels. Click the "Plugins" button to bring up the Plugin Attributes dialog. Scroll to the desired Plugin such as "Ping" and select the desired label such as timeout. The purpose of these special labels is to pass predefined parameter values directly to the collection process. This allows you to set global values for runtime options. For example, you can globally change the timeout using this mechanism.
8. How to Add a Test
A DesktopProfile test is the task that collects the performance data. DesktopProfile supports many different types of tests such as Ping to measure packet loss of routers or HTTP to measure the performance of web pages.
- Click the select setup button found on the main DesktopProfile toolbar just below the menu options. This brings up the floating setup menu options.
- Click the setup menu "Tests" button (2nd) to bring up the Configure Tests dialog. If this is the first time a configuration change option has been selected DesktopProfile will first request the administration password. The default password is "hello". See "How to change sever options" to change password.
- Click the "New" in the top right hand corner to bring up the Edit Test dialog. It is this dialog that sets: what (you run), where (you run it) and when (it is run).
- Click on the description field and give the test a meaningful name such as "Availability of all web servers".
- Select the desired Test (the what) from the plugin drop down list box (for example Ping) changing any of the parameter fields Packet Size and Number of Packets.
- Highlight the group folder (the where) that contains all the Hosts and devices that you wish this test to be run against
- Select the time interval (the when) in seconds, minutes or hours that you wish the test to be run on.
- Click "OK" to close the Edit Test dialog.
- Click "OK" to close the Configure Tests dialog and schedule your test.