The FACT-Finder applications should be monitored during operation, allowing you to react quickly, should a problem crop up.

Search client

As mentioned before, the search client contains the business logic and is in charge of processing search queries. This makes it the most important of all three applications.

Monitoring Functionality

The simplest way of verifying the functionality of the search application is to issue a search query and to check whether a valid response is returned. These checks should be performed using the search term "FACT-Finder Version", both because this term causes very little CPU load, AND it is neither cached, nor does it count towards the monthly license volume.

The search results that are returned have the status resultsFound, and contain multiple instances of the same article. We recommend searching for this keyword. Please note, the Authentication Parameters have to be used for a query. Omikron will gladly assist with setting up monitoring for you.

If you want to monitor the XML interface, the necessary call would look like this:

http://<Your Server Address>:8080/fact-finder/Search.ff?query=FACT-Finder%20version&format=xml&username=...&password=...&timestamp=...

Keeping data current

For trouble-free operation, it is especially important that the export data and the search database are both kept up-to-date. By default, FACT-Finder treats data that is older than 24 hours as obsolete. This can be adjusted via the Management Interface.

Details for querying the interface can be found in the Integration Documentation.

Monitoring memory space

To speed up the processing of recurring queries, FACT-Finder includes a file-based search query cache. THe corresponding files can be found in the cache folder in a temporary system directory (z.B. /tmp/cache/). Invalid content is cleared daily, this requires no direct input.

If you are not monitoring memory by default, we recommend monitoring free space on the search system. The cache automaticaly shuts down if free memory space is running out, which leads to increased search times.

UI

The UI application consists of an interface for configuring and operating the search client. Monitoring accessibility and the returned HTTP-status should suffice. To do so, use this URL:

http://<Your Server Address>:8080/fact-finder-ui/

Analytics

The Analytics application can be checked by accessing this URL:

http://<Your Server Address>:8080/analytics/manage/health

The following JSON object should be returned:

{"status":"UP"}

Application logfiles

All three applications have their own logfiles in their respective resource directories. These files log warning and error messages, so you should either monitor them or check them regularly.

The last entries in the search client's application logfile can be reviewed via the Management Interface under Messages → Application Logfiles..