doc::Smokeping::probes::Curl(3)

NAME
Smokeping::probes::Curl - a curl(1) probe for SmokePing

OVERVIEW
Fetches an HTTP or HTTPS URL using curl(1).

SYNOPSIS
 *** Probes ***

 +Curl

 binary = /usr/bin/curl
 forks = 5
 offset = 50%
 step = 300

 # The following variables can be overridden in each target section
 agent = User-Agent: Lynx/2.8.4rel.1 libwww-FM/2.14 SSL-MM/1.4.1 OpenSSL/0.9.6c
 extraargs = -6 --head --user user:password
 extrare = / /
 follow_redirects = yes
 include_redirects = yes
 insecure_ssl = 1
 interface = eth0
 pings = 5
 ssl2 = 1
 timeout = 20
 urlformat = http://%host%/ # mandatory

 # [...]

 *** Targets ***

 probe = Curl # if this should be the default probe

 # [...]

 + mytarget
 # probe = Curl # if the default probe is something else
 host = my.host
 agent = User-Agent: Lynx/2.8.4rel.1 libwww-FM/2.14 SSL-MM/1.4.1 OpenSSL/0.9.6c
 extraargs = -6 --head --user user:password
 extrare = / /
 follow_redirects = yes
 include_redirects = yes
 insecure_ssl = 1
 interface = eth0
 pings = 5
 ssl2 = 1
 timeout = 20
 urlformat = http://%host%/ # mandatory

DESCRIPTION
(see curl(1) for details of the options below)

VARIABLES
Supported probe-specific variables:

binary
    The location of your curl binary.

    Default value: /usr/bin/curl

forks
    Run this many concurrent processes at maximum

    Example value: 5

    Default value: 5

offset
    If you run many probes concurrently you may want to prevent them from hitting your network all at the same time. Using the probe-specific offset parameter you can change the point in time when each probe will be run. Offset is specified in % of total interval, or alternatively as 'random', and the offset from the 'General' section is used if nothing is specified here. Note that this does NOT influence the rrds itself, it is just a matter of when data acqusition is initiated. (This variable is only applicable if the variable 'concurrentprobes' is set in the 'General' section.)

    Example value: 50%

step
    Duration of the base interval that this probe should use, if different from the one specified in the 'Database' section. Note that the step in the RRD files is fixed when they are originally generated, and if you change the step parameter afterwards, you'll have to delete the old RRD files or somehow convert them. (This variable is only applicable if the variable 'concurrentprobes' is set in the 'General' section.)

    Example value: 300

Supported target-specific variables:

agent
    The "-A" curl(1) option. This is a full HTTP User-Agent header including the words "User-Agent:". Note that it does not need any quotes around it.

    Example value: User-Agent: Lynx/2.8.4rel.1 libwww-FM/2.14 SSL-MM/1.4.1 OpenSSL/0.9.6c

extraargs
    Any extra arguments you might want to hand to curl(1). The arguments should be separated by the regexp specified in "extrare", which contains just the space character (" ") by default.

    Note that curl will be called with the resulting list of arguments without any shell expansion. If you need to specify any arguments containing spaces, you should set "extrare" to something else.

    As a complicated example, to explicitly set the "Host:" header in Curl requests, you need to set "extrare" to something else, eg. "/;/", and then specify "extraargs = --header;Host: www.example.com".

    Example value: -6 --head --user user:password

extrare
    The regexp used to split the extraargs string into an argument list, in the "/regexp/" notation. This contains just the space character (" ") by default, but if you need to specify any arguments containing spaces, you can set this variable to a different value.

    Example value: / /

    Default value: / /

follow_redirects
    If this variable is set to 'yes', curl will follow any HTTP redirection steps (the '-L' option). If set to 'no', HTTP Location: headers will not be followed. See also 'include_redirects'.

    Example value: yes

    Default value: no

include_redirects
    If this variable is set to 'yes', the measurement result will include the time spent on following any HTTP redirection steps. If set to 'no', only the last step is measured. See also 'follow_redirects'.

    Example value: yes

    Default value: no

insecure_ssl
    The "-k" curl(1) option. Accept SSL connections that don't have a secure certificate chain to a trusted CA. Note that if you are going to monitor https targets, you'll probably have to either enable this option or specify the CA path to curl through extraargs below. For more info, see the curl(1) manual page.

    Example value: 1

interface
    The "--interface" curl(1) option. Bind to a specific interface, IP address or host name.

    Example value: eth0

pings
    How many pings should be sent to each target, if different from the global value specified in the Database section. Note that the number of pings in the RRD files is fixed when they are originally generated, and if you change this parameter afterwards, you'll have to delete the old RRD files or somehow convert them.

    Example value: 5

ssl2
    The "-2" curl(1) option. Force SSL2.

    Example value: 1

timeout
    The "-m" curl(1) option. Maximum timeout in seconds.

    Example value: 20

    Default value: 10

urlformat
    The template of the URL to fetch. Can be any one that curl supports. Any occurrence of the string '%host%' will be replaced with the host to be probed.

    Example value: http://%host%/

    This setting is mandatory.

AUTHORS
 Gerald Combs <gerald [AT] ethereal.com>
 Niko Tyni <ntyni@iki.fi>

NOTES
You should consider setting a lower value for the "pings" variable than the default 20, as repetitive URL fetching may be quite heavy on the server.

The URL to be tested used to be specified by the variable 'url' in earlier versions of Smokeping, and the 'host' setting did not influence it in any way. The variable name has now been changed to 'urlformat', and it can (and in most cases should) contain a placeholder for the 'host' variable.

SEE ALSO
curl(1), <http://curl.haxx.se/>