4

Extended Content Verification (ECV)

If you set up an ECV service monitor, you can monitor not only the availability of a port or service on a server, but also the availability of a specific file on a particular server. An ECV service monitor verifies whether a specific file is available via the HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP network services.

An ECV service monitor can help you ensure that clients are getting what they are after, and that they will not get an error, whether they are looking for information, making an online purchase, or uploading software.

The way ECV works is, if the file responds appropriately to the ECV query, the server where the file resides is marked as up and the client will be sent to that server. If the file does not respond as expected to the ECV query, the server where the file resides is marked as down, and the client will not be sent to that server.

To define ECV service monitors using the Configuration utility

1. In the navigation pane, click Wide IPs.
   The Wide IP List screen opens.
2. In the Wide IP column, click the wide IP to which you want to add an ECV service monitor.
   The Modify Wide IP screen opens.
3. Add the settings for the ECV near the bottom of the screen, and click Update. For more information on the ECV settings, click Help on the toolbar.

To define ECV service monitors from the command line

1. At the command prompt, type 3dnsmaint to open the 3-DNS Maintenance menu.
2. On the 3-DNS Maintenance menu, choose Edit 3-DNS Configuration to open the wideip.conf file.
3. Use the syntax shown in Figure 4.1 to define an ECV service monitor.
   
   You should place all ECV service monitor statements just before the wide IP pool definitions in the wideip.conf file.

Note: The https protocol is available only on crypto 3-DNS Controllers.

Figure 4.1 Syntax for defining ECV service monitors

 ecv {     
      protocol        <http | https | ftp>     
      filename       "<path and file name>"    
      scan_level      <all | first>    
      user            "<user name for servers that require authentication>"    
      hashed_password "<hashed version of server password>"    
   }     

Figure 4.2 shows a sample ECV statement that defines an ECV service monitor.

Figure 4.2 Sample ECV service monitor definition

 ecv {     
      protocol        http     
      filename        "/home/user/readme.txt"    
      scan_level      all    
      user            "jones"    
      hashed_password "22AECCCD9CA9C2CC8B"    
   }