Using Data Parsers to monitor the status of service from the website
Use NetCrunch data parsers to get information from dedicated website about system status on example of Gitlab.
Why parsing a website
Many service providers like gitlab have dedicated websites with statuses of various services they provide. If something goes wrong, usually there's information on the website that state of particular service "is not okay." NetCrunch can parse these websites, get the requested statuses, and generate alerts.
Scenario
This article will show you how to parse statuses of gitlab located on gitlab status page and be alerted on issues related to this service performance.
Creating Data Parser
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First of all, add a new parser to the Data Parsers and select XPath/DOM type. This article explains how to do it.
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Open up the web browser (this article features chrome, but any recent browser will do) and head to status.gitlab.com.
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Right click on the green 'OK' and select 'inspect'
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In the console, right click on the marked line and select Xpath - just like on the screen below.
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Head back to the parser, add new status object and paste the path you have just copied to the status object you have just created
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Redo steps 3 - 5 for all elements of gitlab that you want to monitor and save the parser.
REST HTTP sensor with a parser
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Open up node settings of status.gitlab.com
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Add REST HTTP sensor
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Type "/" as URL path
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Select Follow redirects option.
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Select Data format for your parser and click the test icon located in the top right corner.
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As you can see in the sensor result - status has been detected and monitored. Right now you can set an alert based on status - to monitor when the 'OK' status changes to anything else.
