Super HTTP Monitor

Problem this snippet solves:

Super HTTP supports GET and POST requests, HTTP 1.0 and 1.1, Host headers, User-Agent headers, HTTP and HTTPS. It supports cookies. It supports authentication (basic, digest, and ntlm). It supports checking through a proxy. Most notably it supports chains of HTTP requests with cookie preservation between them, which I think will be very useful for LTM and GTM allowing you to validate end-to-end functionality.

Note that this monitor will do just about whatever you need, but if you just want to a simple HTTP monitor try the built-in monitor first. Although this is fairly efficient (i.e. doesn't do more work than it needs to) it can never be anywhere as efficient as the built-in monitor.

Note that the native HTTP/S monitors now support NTLM / NTLMv2 authentication.

How to use this snippet:

Create a new file containing the code below in /usr/bin/monitors on the LTM filesystem. Permissions on the file must be 700 or better, giving root rwx access to the file. See comments within the code for documentation.

Code :

#!/bin/bash

# (c) Copyright 2007 F5 Networks, Inc.
# Kirk Bauer 
# Version 1.3, Aug 5, 2010

# Revision History
# 8/5/10: Version 1.3: Fixed problem with cookie parsing
# 12/16/09: Version 1.2: Fixed problem with NTLM health checks
# 3/11/07: Version 1.1: Added ability for multiple regexes in MATCH_REGEX
# 2/28/07: Version 1.0.1: Initial Release

# When defining an external monitor using this script, the argument
# field may contain the path for the request.  In addition a large
# number of variables may be defined as described below.
# 
# The argument field can contain an optional path for the request,
# if nothing is specified the default path of / is assumed.  This
# is also where you can put query parameters.  Some examples:
#    /index.asp
#    /verify_user.html?user=testuser 
#
# This script can retrieve a chain of URLs.  This is useful for two
# scenarios.  The first is if you want to check a number of different
# pages on a site, you can use one custom monitor that checks all of
# them instead of defining a bunch of separate monitors.
#
# The other scenario is when you want to perform a test that requires
# more than one page in sequence, such as something that tracks state
# with cookies.  In order to do a test login on some sites, for example,
# you must first go to one URL where you are assigned a cookie, then
# you must login through another URL with that cookie along with your
# username/password.  This script automatically stores and sends cookies
# for chains of requests.
#
# The next section describes per-request variables.  These are options 
# that can be specified a number of times for a number of separate
# requests.  In the most basic case, you must specify the URI_PATH for 
# each request.  The only exception is that the last path is taken from
# the "argument" string if URI_PATH is not specified.  So, to do three
# requests in a row, specify:
#    URI_PATH_1=/path/to/request1
#    STATUS_CODE_1=200
#    URI_PATH_2=/path/to/request2
#    STATUS_CODE_2=200
#    URI_PATH=/path/to/request3
#    MATCH_REGEX="you are logged in"
# 
# It is important to understand that there is always at least one
# request and that last request uses variables with no number appended
# to them.  All other requests are done in numerical order before that
# last request.  If you have more than 10 requests you need to use
# 2-digit numbers instead of 1 in the example above.
#
#############################################################
# Per-request Variables
# (names provided are for the last (possibly only) request,
#  for other requests append a _# on the end as described
#  above).
#############################################################
#  Define the request:
#     URI_PATH: the full path you want to request, such as /index.html.
#        This is required for every request, except that it need not
#        be defined for the last (sometimes onyl) request if you specify 
#        the path in the "argument" field.  You may include a query string
#        at the end, like /index.html?test=true
#     QUERY_STRING: You may specify the GET query string here instead of
#        appending it to the URI_PATH.  Example: 
#           name1=value1&name2=value2
#     NODE_ADDR: The IP address to connect to.  By default this will be
#        the pool member IP that is being checked.  Can also be a hostname
#        if DNS resolution works on the BIG-IP.
#     NODE_PORT: The port to connect to.  By default this will be the
#        port of the pool member being checked.
#     PROTOCOL: Either http or https.  If not specified, assumed to be 
#        http unless the port is 443.
#     POST_DATA: You may define post data to make this a POST request,
#        such as: 
#           name1=value1&name2=value2
#     HOST_HEADER: The host header to send to the remote server.  Default
#        will be the value of NODE_ADDR.
#     REFERER: The referer URL to send in the request (this variable is
#        misspelled just like the HTTP header is).
#
#  Authentication options for each request:
#     USERNAME: provide this username to the webserver
#     PASSWORD: provide this password to the webserver
#     AUTHTYPE: "basic", "digest", or "ntlm" (default is basic)
#
#  The following variables may be defined and determine what constitutes
#  an "up" status.  If none of these are specified, the script will return
#  "up" only if the web server returns a status of 200 (OK).  Any or all
#  of these may be specified.
#     HTTPS_HOSTNAME: you may optionally specify the hostname that the
#        certificate should present for https checks.
#     STATUS_CODE: numerical status code to match
#     NOT_STATUS_CODE: numerical status code that shouldn't be matched
#     MATCH_REGEX: regular expression that should be matched in the headers
#        or body.  OPTIONAL: multiple regexes to match may be specified using
#        the format:
#           MATCH_REGEX = &regex1&regex2&regex3
#        If using multiple regexes, you must start the string with & and
#        the regexes themselves cannot contain the & character
#     NOT_MATCH_REGEX: regular expression that should not be matched in the
#        headers or body.  
#
#############################################################
# Cookies
#############################################################
# You can set any number of cookies by specifying one or more variables
# named COOKIE_Name.  So if you set the variables COOKIE_country = usa
# and COOKIE_language = en, then the cookie string would be
# "Cookie: country=usa; language=en".  These cookies will be sent for
# every request.  If you are doing multiple requests then any cookies
# sent by the server will replace any existing cookie of the same name
# in future requests.  This script does not consider domain or path
# but instead just sends all cookies for all requests.
#
#############################################################
# Global Variables
#############################################################
#  HTTP/HTTPS Options (apply to all requests):
#     USER_AGENT: set to the user agent string you want to send.
#        Default is something similar to:
#        curl/7.15.3 (i686-redhat-linux-gnu) libcurl/7.15.3 OpenSSL/0.9.7i zlib/1.1.4
#     HTTP_VERSION: set to "1.0" or "1.1", defaults to 1.1.
#     SSL_VERSION: set to "tlsv1", "sslv2", or "sslv3".
#     CIPHERS: override SSL ciphers that can be used (see "man
#        ciphers"), default is "DEFAULT".
#
#  Global Proxy Settings (optional):
#     PROXY_HOST: IP address of the proxy to use (or hostname if DNS resolution works)
#     PROXY_PORT: Port to connect to on the proxy (required if PROXY_HOST is specified)
#     PROXY_TYPE: "http", "socks4", or "socks5" (defaults to http)
#     PROXY_AUTHTYPE: "basic", "digest", or "ntlm" (basic is default if a username is specified)
#     PROXY_USERNAME: username to provide to the proxy
#     PROXY_PASSWORD: password to provide to the proxy
#
#  Other Variables:
#     LOG_FAILURES: set to "1" to enable logging of failures which will 
#        log monitor failures to /var/log/ltm (viewable in the GUI under
#        System -> Logs -> Local Traffic(tab)
#     LOG_COOKIES: set to "1" to log cookie activity to /var/log/ltm (also
#        logs each request as it is made).
#     DEBUG: set to "1" to create .output and .trace files in /var/run for
#        each request for debugging purposes.

SCRIPTNAME=${MON_TMPL_NAME:-$0}

# Collect arguments 
global_node_ip=$(echo "$1" | sed 's/::ffff://')
global_port="${2:-80}"
[ -z "$URI_PATH" ] && URI_PATH="${3:-/}"

# Handle PID file
pidfile="/var/run/$SCRIPTNAME.$global_node_ip.$global_port.pid"
tmpfile="/var/run/$SCRIPTNAME.$global_node_ip.$global_port.tmp"
[ -f "$pidfile" ] && kill -9 $(cat $pidfile) >/dev/null 2>&1
rm -f "$pidfile" ; echo "$$" > "$pidfile"
rm -f "$tmpfile"

fail () {
   [ -n "$LOG_FAILURES" ] && [ -n "$*" ] && logger -p local0.notice "$SCRIPTNAME($global_node_ip:$global_port): $*"
   rm -f "$tmpfile"
   rm -f "$pidfile"
   exit 1
}

make_request () {
   # First argument is blank for last request or "_#" for others
   local id="$1"
   # Collect the arguments to use for this request, first start with ones
   # that have default values if not specified
   local node_ip="$global_node_ip"
   [ -n "$(eval echo \$NODE_ADDR$id)" ] && node_ip="$(eval echo \$NODE_ADDR$id)"
   local port="$global_port"
   [ -n "$(eval echo \$NODE_PORT$id)" ] && port="$(eval echo \$NODE_PORT$id)"
   local protocol="http"
   [ "$port" -eq "443" ] && protocol="https"
   [ -n "$(eval echo \$PROTOCOL$id)" ] && protocol="$(eval echo \$PROTOCOL$id)"

   # Now the rest come straight from the environment variables
   local authtype="$(eval echo \$AUTHTYPE$id)"
   local username="$(eval echo \$USERNAME$id)"
   local password="$(eval echo \$PASSWORD$id)"
   local host_header="$(eval echo \$HOST_HEADER$id)"
   local referer="$(eval echo \$REFERER$id)"
   local uri_path="$(eval echo \$URI_PATH$id)"
   local query_string="$(eval echo \$QUERY_STRING$id)"
   [ -n "$query_string" ] && query_string="?$query_string"
   local post_data="$(eval echo \$POST_DATA$id)"
   local https_hostname="$(eval echo \$HTTPS_HOSTNAME$id)"
   local status_code="$(eval echo \$STATUS_CODE$id)"
   local not_status_code="$(eval echo \$NOT_STATUS_CODE$id)"
   local match_regex="$(eval echo \$MATCH_REGEX$id)"
   local not_match_regex="$(eval echo \$NOT_MATCH_REGEX$id)"

   # Determine what we are checking for
   [ -z "$match_regex" ] && [ -z "$not_match_regex" ] && [ -z "$status_code" ] && [ -z "$not_status_code" ] && status_code=200

   [ -n "$https_hostname" ] && [ "$protocol" == "https" ] && {
      # The cert will contain a hostname but curl is going by IP so it will fail but give us the hostname in the error
      local actual_ssl_hostname=$(curl $global_args --cacert '/config/ssl/ssl.crt/ca-bundle.crt' "$protocol://$node_ip:$port$uri_path$query_string" 2>&1 | sed -n "s/^.*SSL: certificate subject name '\(.*\)' does not match target host name.*$/\1/p")
      [ "$actual_ssl_hostname" == "$https_hostname" ] || fail "HTTPS Hostname '$actual_ssl_hostname' does not match HTTPS_HOSTNAME$id=$https_hostname"
   }

   # Determine argument string for curl
   local args=""
   [ -n "$host_header" ] && args="$args --header 'Host: $host_header'"
   [ -n "$referer" ] && args="$args --referer '$referer'"
   [ -n "$post_data" ] && args="$args --data '$post_data'"
   # IP used in URL will never match hostname in cert, use HTTPS_HOSTNAME to check separately
   [ "$protocol" == "https" ] && args="$args --insecure"
   [ -n "$DEBUG" ] && args="$args --trace-ascii '$tmpfile.trace$id'"

   [ -n "$username" ] && {
      # Specify authentication information
      args="$args --user '$username:$password'"
      [ "$authtype" == "digest" ] && args="$args --digest"
      [ "$authtype" == "ntlm" ] && args="$args --ntlm"
   }
   # Determine cookies to send, if any
   local cookie_str=""
   for i in ${!COOKIE_*} ; do
      cookie_name=$(echo $i | sed 's/^COOKIE_//')
      cookie_str="$cookie_str; $cookie_name=$(eval echo "$"$i)"
   done
   cookie_str="$(echo "$cookie_str" | sed 's/^; //')"
   [ -n "$LOG_COOKIES" ] && logger -p local0.notice "$SCRIPTNAME($global_node_ip:$global_port): $protocol://$node_ip:$port$uri_path$query_string: cookie string [$cookie_str]"
   [ -n "$cookie_str" ] && args="$args --cookie '$cookie_str'"

   # Make request
   eval curl -i $global_args $args "'$protocol://$node_ip:$port$uri_path$query_string'" >"$tmpfile" 2>/dev/null || fail "$protocol://$node_ip:$port$uri_path$query_string: Request failed: $!"
   [ -n "$DEBUG" ] && cp "$tmpfile" "$tmpfile.debug$id"

   # Validate Check Conditions
   [ -n "$status_code" ] || [ -n "$not_status_code" ] && {
      local actual_status_code=$(head -n 1 "$tmpfile" | sed "s/^HTTP\/.\.. \([0123456789][0123456789][0123456789]\) .*$/\1/")
      [ "$actual_status_code" -eq 401 ] && [ "$authtype" == "ntlm" ] && {
         # Skip past 401 Unauthorized response and look at second response code
         actual_status_code=$(grep '^HTTP/' "$tmpfile" | tail -n 1 | sed "s/^HTTP\/.\.. \([0123456789][0123456789][0123456789]\) .*$/\1/")
      }

      [ -n "$status_code" ] && [ "$actual_status_code" -ne "$status_code" ] && fail "$protocol://$node_ip:$port$uri_path$query_string: Status code ($actual_status_code) not what was expected (STATUS_CODE$id=$status_code)"
      [ -n "$not_status_code" ] && [ "$not_status_code" -eq "$status_code" ] && fail "$protocol://$node_ip:$port$uri_path$query_string: Status code ($actual_status_code) was what was not expected (NOT_STATUS_CODE$id=$not_status_code)"
   }
   [ -n "$match_regex" ] && {
      if echo "$match_regex" | grep -q '^&' ; then
         IFS="&"
         match_regex="$(echo "$match_regex" | sed 's/^&//')"
         for regex in $match_regex ; do
            egrep -q "$regex" "$tmpfile" || fail "$protocol://$node_ip:$port$uri_path$query_string: Did not find [MATCH_REGEX$id=$regex] in response"
         done
         unset IFS
      else
         egrep -q "$match_regex" "$tmpfile" || fail "$protocol://$node_ip:$port$uri_path$query_string: Did not find [MATCH_REGEX$id=$match_regex] in response"
      fi
   }
   [ -n "$not_match_regex" ] && egrep -q "$not_match_regex" "$tmpfile" && fail "$protocol://$node_ip:$port$uri_path$query_string: Found [NOT_MATCH_REGEX$id=$not_match_regex] in response"

   # Store cookies from response for next request (if any)
   [ -z "$id" ] && return
   `sed -n "s/^Set-Cookie: \([^=]\+\)=\([^;]\+\);.*$/export COOKIE_\1='\2';/ip" "$tmpfile"`
}

# Build global option string
global_args=""
[ "$HTTP_VERSION" == "1.0" ] && global_args="$global_args --http1.0"
[ "$SSL_VERSION" == "tlsv1" ] && global_args="$global_args --tlsv1"
[ "$SSL_VERSION" == "sslv2" ] && global_args="$global_args --sslv2"
[ "$SSL_VERSION" == "sslv3" ] && global_args="$global_args --sslv3"
[ -n "$USER_AGENT" ] && global_args="$global_args --user-agent '$USER_AGENT'"
[ -n "$CIPHERS" ] && global_args="$global_args --ciphers '$CIPHERS'"
[ -n "$PROXY_HOST" ] && [ -n "$PROXY_PORT" ] && {
   if [ "$PROXY_TYPE" == "socks4" ] ; then
      global_args="$global_args --socks4 '$PROXY_HOST:$PROXY_PORT'"
   elif [ "$PROXY_TYPE" == "socks5" ] ; then
      global_args="$global_args --socks5 '$PROXY_HOST:$PROXY_PORT'"
   else
      global_args="$global_args --proxy '$PROXY_HOST:$PROXY_PORT'"
   fi
   [ -n "$PROXY_USERNAME" ] && {
      global_args="$global_args --proxy-user '$PROXY_USERNAME:$PROXY_PASSWORD'"
      [ "$PROXY_AUTHTYPE" == "digest" ] && global_args="$global_args --proxy-digest"
      [ "$PROXY_AUTHTYPE" == "ntlm" ] && global_args="$global_args --proxy-ntlm"
   }
}

requests="$(echo ${!URI_PATH_*} | sort)"
for request in $requests ; do
   id=$(echo $request | sed 's/^URI_PATH//')   
   make_request "$id"
done
# Perform last request
make_request ""

# If we got here without calling fail() and exiting, status was good
rm -f "$tmpfile"
echo "up"
rm -f "$pidfile"
exit 0
Published Mar 12, 2015
Version 1.0

Was this article helpful?

3 Comments

  • This monitor does not work on later versions of LTM (since the filestore was introduced) To fix, replace the line SCRIPTNAME=${MON_TMPL_NAME:-$0} with SCRIPTNAME=`echo ${MON_TMPL_NAME:-$0}| awk '{gsub("/", "_", $0); print}'` Worked for me on 11.6.0
  • Daniel_Cayer_-_'s avatar
    Daniel_Cayer_-_
    Historic F5 Account
    Thanks for sharing Kirk! Especially useful when you need to explicitly set the version of TLS on your monitors. Similarly to what S Blakely commented below; I noticed that to correctly set the "script name" variable in version 12.0 (probably will work with 11.5.x and up), you need to remove the "partition name" from the start of the $MON_TMPL_NAME variable ("/Common/" by default). Since this is a !/bin/bash script, I used the /*/ regex as follows: SCRIPTNAME=${MON_TMPL_NAME:/*/}
  • How much impact would this be to a larger deployment? I have concerns based on the external monitor documentation and the seriousness in which it is worded:

     

     

    The cookie handling support would be something most desirable for a particular application we have... but I'm afraid to implement something like the above based on the dual warnings (here and above).