HTTP Logging

Virtual Directory Server is not only limited to working with the LDAP protocol, and can be used in conjunction with a variety of other protocols. In fact, it is quite common to develop cross-protocol solutions using this product. With the plethora of web services that are appearing in the enterprise, many customers that make use of Symlabs Virtual Directory Server also find themselves using the HTTP capabilities built into the product.

When developing a cross-protocol solution, it is useful to be able to log the various interactions that take place within each protocol for debugging purposes and also to get a clear idea of all of the traffic moving through the proxy engine.

Furthermore, for auditing purposes, it is particularly useful to be able to track each HTTP transaction that takes place within your solution.

HTTP Logs

Symlabs Virtual Directory Server conveniently includes an HTTP Log plugin that keeps track of each transaction that takes place through the proxy engine. The HTTP Log plugin is a connection logging facility offered by Symlabs Virtual Directory Server for use within an automatic stage. Its functionality is similar to Access Log plugin, in that it creates a line of log for each different packet processed within the stage, but it also keeps track of connection numbers so that finding the relation between a request and its response can be done easily.

This HTTP log plugin also provides the option to configure which types of operation you wish to include in the log. These options are distinguished by presenting three categories, HTTP POST operations, HTTP GET operations, and HTTP results operations that will log HTTP responses for each request type, or for responses.

As with all of the logging plugins, the HTTP Log plugin can be configured to output its logging detail in a variety of ways that can help facilitate log rotation or so that each log file is dated according to its creation, so that it is easy to search for a log file that relates to a particular date.

Since the logging format is known in advance, it is fairly easy to build scripts to analyze the information that it stores. It can also be used to study the behavior of client applications and to measure average response times for different operations.