SimonFlexible server monitoring
SimonSimon shows ALL SITES DOWN (they're not) and Stop Checking doesn't stop the checking. This started yesterday, after I upgraded to 3.1.1 (the day before - correlation, not necessarily causation) I've restarted the program, the computer, trashed the plist file, tried to use the setup wizard in 3.1.1 (that froze the system) and downgraded to 3.0.2. The setup wizard in 3.0.2 seems to be okay, but I guess since I use FF4, the setup assistant doesn't seem to work with its bookmarks.
It started with reporting one site failing erroneously, then a couple more, now all of them.
Also this morning when I checked, Simon was hung.
It seems if I go back and readd the sites, then it works. So that's a workaround, but readding 20, 30, 100 (not there yet) sites would be a mind bogglingly tough thing to do. And I only just added them. How long before they fail?
How come?
Re: Simon shows ALL SITES DOWN (they're not) and Stop ...
I'm sorry that Simon is misbehaving.
One thing that might be helpful is a hang log — if Simon hangs again, go to Activity Monitor (in /Application/Utilities), select Simon, and do a Sample of it while it's not responding. That'll show what is hanging it.
You could also look in the Console log to see if there are any Simon-related issues listed there (/Applications/Console).
What kinds of services do you have? Only Web (HTTP), or others? I plan on splitting the Web (HTTP) plugin out to a separate process in version 3.2, to address some hangs that some people have experienced with lots of tests overloading Simon.
Re: Simon shows ALL SITES DOWN (they're not) and Stop ...
Right now only Web (HTTP).
Thanks for the advice about the hangs/crashes, but the bigger issue is the false readings. I'll reload all my sites for now, but I'll have around 30 and that's too much to have to do regularly, especially as it's increasing regularly.
Re: Simon shows ALL SITES DOWN (they're not) and Stop ...
And if it's giving false positives, how do I know it's not giving false negatives?
Re: Simon shows ALL SITES DOWN (they're not) and Stop ...
The false failures would be due to timing out, possibly due to the OS's background thread hanging. That's the issue I'll be addressing in 3.2, so if that's what you're experiencing, a fix is coming. But with that issue, simply quitting and relaunching Simon fixes it, which doesn't sound exactly what you experienced. So a log may be helpful.
Re: Simon shows ALL SITES DOWN (they're not) and Stop ...
I've already eliminated all the old services and reloaded them anew, so the failure logs are clear. Is there a way to view logs for sites/services that are no longer being followed?
If it happens again, I'll send that on.
Re: Simon shows ALL SITES DOWN (they're not) and Stop ...
I meant the Console log (/Applications/Console). It might provide clues about what's going on. Probably wait to see if it occurs again.
Re: Simon shows ALL SITES DOWN (they're not) and Stop ...
The described behavior reminds me of my own issue with Simon 3.1.1 (German localization) which was due to the fact that all „Options“ times in the filter settings were reset to 0 seconds - which doesn’t give any test a chance to ever succeed.
David: Maybe this issue is not only inside the German localized NIBs but some kind of structural issue?
Re: Simon shows ALL SITES DOWN (they're not) and Stop ...
Ulf: I hope not, but it's worth investigating.