Sun Java System Directory Server Enterprise Edition 6.3 Reference

How Data Sources Are Monitored

Directory Proxy Server performs the following tests to monitor the health of a data source:

These tests are described in the following sections.

Monitoring a Data Source by Listening for Errors

When this type of monitoring is configured, Directory Proxy Server listens for errors on the traffic between itself and the data source. If Directory Proxy Server detects that a client operation fails, the proxy tests the data source related to the failure.

This type of monitoring is called reactive monitoring because Directory Proxy Server reacts to an error, but otherwise performs no active testing of the data sources.

Directory Proxy Server can be configured to perform this type of reactive monitoring only, without performing the monitoring described in Monitoring Data Sources by Periodically Establishing Dedicated Connections and Monitoring Data Sources by Testing Established Connections. When only reactive monitoring is configured, the monitoring less complete but does not cause additional traffic.

Monitoring Data Sources by Periodically Establishing Dedicated Connections

When this type of monitoring is configured, Directory Proxy Server establishes a dedicated connection to a data source when no requests made to the data source or responses given by the data source for a specified time period. By periodically establishing a dedicated connection to a data source, Directory Proxy Server monitors whether the data source is working.

This type of monitoring is more complete than Monitoring a Data Source by Listening for Errors because Directory Proxy Server does not wait to detect a failure before it tests the data source. However, this type of monitoring is less complete than Monitoring Data Sources by Testing Established Connections, because the proxy does not test whether the existing connections to a data source are working.

This type of monitoring can be used in addition to Monitoring Data Sources by Testing Established Connections.

Monitoring Data Sources by Testing Established Connections

When this type of monitoring is configured, Directory Proxy Server tests each connection to each data source at regular intervals. In this way, the proxy prevents connections from being dropped because of inactivity, and detects closed connections.

This type of monitoring can be used in addition to Monitoring Data Sources by Periodically Establishing Dedicated Connections.

Directory Proxy Server can be configured to test connections in the following scenarios:

Testing established connections consumes system resources, but it provides good security for connections. If you are using the Active Directory product, you must use this method of monitoring because the Active Directory product closes inactive connections.

To test an established connection, Directory Proxy Server issues a search request with the following parameters:

If a connection is found to be down, Directory Proxy Server polls the connection at a specified interval to detect its recovery. You can configure this interval by setting the monitoring-interval property. For more information, see To Monitor a Data Source by Testing Established Connections in Sun Java System Directory Server Enterprise Edition 6.3 Administration Guide.

Directory Proxy Server monitors data sources by using a search filter. Data sources that return a result that satisfies the filter are considered to be working.