Monitoring data from a SOAP or other HTTP data source

You can define a data source to receive data from an HTTP server (for example, using the SOAP protocol). The data source sends an HTTP request to an URL and parses the response (in XML, HTML, or JSON formats) into the attributes of the resulting data set. You can select the data that is retrieved from the request.

1. On the Agent Initial Data Source page or the Data Source Location page, click Data from a server in the Monitoring Data Categories area.
2. In the Data Sources area, click SOAP.
3. Click Next.
4. On the SOAP Information page, enter a URL.
   The default value is:

   http://${KQZ_HTTP_SERVER_NAME}:${KQZ_HTTP_PORT_NUMBER}

   Note: You can use a configuration variable or multiple configuration variables that resolve to a URL. Click Insert Configuration Property to select a property to insert. For more information, see Customizing agent configuration.
5. Select a request type. The default request type is Get. For Post and Put requests, enter the data to be processed.
   Note: For Post and Put requests, the Insert Configuration Property is enabled. Click Insert Configuration Property to include a configuration variable in the data to be processed. For more information, see (Customizing agent configuration).
6. Click Browse
   Note: If after you enter a URL and select a request type, you do not want to use the SOAP browser to build the definition, enter a Row Selection XPath. You enter the Row Selection XPath in the SOAP Information window. Next, define all of the attributes for the attribute group.
7. In the SOAP Browser window, do the following steps:
   1. Enter a URL and select a request type if you did not already do so.
   2. Click Configuration to set any configuration properties that are referenced in the URL or other fields.
   3. Click Connect to obtain data from the SOAP provider.
      When you connect to the URL, a list of XML elements for this URL is shown in a Document Object Model (DOM) tree. An HTML or JSON response is converted to XML and displayed as a DOM tree. For details about conversion of a JSON response to XML, see XML representation of JSON data. In the WebSphere® Application Server example in (Figure 1), the following URL was entered:

      http://nc053011.tivlab.raleigh.ibm.com:9080/wasPerfTool/servlet
      /perfservlet?module= \threadPoolModule

      The PerformanceMonitor XML element is shown. This element is the top-level XML element in the XML document that is returned by the SOAP provider.

      

   4. In the DOM tree, find and select the XML node that you want to set as the Row Selection XPath.
      In the WebSphere Application Server example in (Figure 2), the PerformanceMonitor/Node/Server/Stat/Stat/Stat node is selected. This node represents a row of data in the attribute group. When you select a node in the DOM tree and click Add, you get all of the attributes and elements defined on that node of the tree. (You click Add in the Agent Attributes area).

      When a node is selected, the XML Attributes area shows any XML attributes defined for the selected node. Select an XML attribute and click Add to include this attribute in the list of Agent Attributes.

      Note: If more than one row of data is expected, the XPath must map to a node set. Where the Row Selection XPath returns a node that is set with only one item, the attribute group contains only one row.

      

   5. Click Add in the Agent Attributes area.
      The list of agent attributes is shown and the Row Selection XPath field is filled.

      The XPath for each agent attribute is used to map XML nodes or elements to agent attributes. In the WebSphere Application Server example in theFigure 3, the first attribute in the list of agent attributes, Stat, is not of use and would be removed.

      You can edit the name and XPath for an agent attribute in the Type Value field. For more information about using XPaths, see XPath options

      

   6. In the SOAP Browser window, click OK to save your changes and return to the SOAP Information window.
8. In the SOAP Information window, click Next.
9. If you did not use Browse earlier and you entered the URL and Row Selection XPath in the SOAP Information window, the Attribute Information page is shown. Specify the information for the first attribute on the Attribute Information page, and click Finish. You can then specify more attributes by using the Agent Editor. For more information about creating attributes, see (Creating attributes).
10. If you used the Browse function in step 6, the Select key attributes page is shown. On the Select key attributes page, select key attributes or indicate that this data source produces only one data row. For more information, see Selecting key attributes.
11. Optional: You can test this attribute group by clicking Test. For more information about testing, see Testing SOAP attribute groups
12. Optional: You can create a filter to limit the data that is returned by this attribute group by clicking Advanced. For more information about filtering data from an attribute group, see Filtering attribute groups
13. Do one of the following steps:
    1. If you are using the Agent wizard, click Next.
    2. Click Finish to save the data source and open the Agent Editor.