MetriWorks Signature Frequently Asked Questions The list below represents the most commonly asked questions regarding Metriworks Signature. We endeavor to keep this FAQ up to date and plan to add more as the need arises. If you feel there are other questions you'd like answered please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to answering your questions and appreciate the feedback.

^  Why do I need a web service logging system? Isn't my web server log good enough?

While web server logs are good for the well known data structures of web sites, they are lacking when it comes to the complex data structures of SOAP requests and responses. In the world of web site serving, the data that can be collected is highly limited. One can measure the request for a file on a server, a "hit", what IP made the request, cookie data that may have been sent in the header, and numerous other items all relating to HTTP gets or posts. Note that what is not generally collected by a web server would include things like the value of a particular html page title or data field at the particular time it was served. One could learn from a web server log what page was requested, but not without significant work and care could one get to the actual data deep in the request. Similarly, when one deploys a web service on a web server, the fact that the service was called may be recorded if one were to use web server logs. In contrast, Metriworks Signature allows the complete collection of data flowing into and out of a web service. Additionally, Signature allows the user to fine tune exactly what data components of a web service should be collected. In the case of a catalog lookup web service, for instance, this makes it possible to collect all requests for all product id's going through the web service while filtering out unnecessarily verbose data also being served by the service such as product descriptions and image urls. Such data collection would make it possible for a company to generate reports on what mix of products are currently generating the most interest on the various sites and applications that utilize the service. Key to remember here is that with Metriworks Signature this is possible WITHOUT additional programming or forethought as to what data will need to be logged.

^  How does Metriworks Signature work?

Signature consists of a Signature admin tool and a report generation/data extraction tool. A web service administrator would be responsible for setting up the admin tool on the server hosting the web service. Once installed, the administrator can open the admin tool and configure the logging for each web service resident on the machine. Signature uses the notion of a "SOAP Pointer". A SOAP Pointer is the entity allowing one piece of logged data to be distinguished from another. Through SOAP Pointers, very fine-grained control is allowed on each web service data parameter for both SOAP requests and responses. In addition, the administrator has the ability to set up custom SOAP Pointers in the format of XPath queries that allow additional collection of data sitting in SOAP headers or any special mix of parameters. Once configured, Signature will collect the data and make it available to the Signature Viewer. The Viewer allows business users to carefully pick the data they wish to report on and view quick trending information for data of interest. Finally, the extraction facility of the Viewer allows for immediate or scheduled XML export of the data to a flat file, database, or Microsoft Excel for analysis and graphing.

^  Does Signature rely on network sniffing to collect data?

No. In contrast to most web service management or debugging tools on the market, the Signature data capture mechanism is resident in the .NET Framework as an HTTP module. As such, Signature provides extremely low performance overhead for data collection and will not impede web service traffic into and out of your servers.

^  What is Signature's Architecture?

At present Signature is built entirely with managed code in utilizing C#. There are versions available for .NET framework 1.1 and 2.0. This makes for a great mesh with .NET web service applications, as no additional configuration is needed in those environments to make Signature run. The Signature architecture consists of an HTTP Module, a Windows service, and two graphical user interfaces. Initially, an Administrator launches the Signature Manager UI. This UI allows the Administrator to turn logging on or off. The Administrator can also browse the host server's web services to the parameter level and choose the parameters the HTTP module is to index. Once configured, the HTTP module begins logging SOAP requests and responses coming through the web services. All data is placed on a local message queue (MSMQ) to ensure data is logged and the web service host is minimally impacted from a performance perspective. The Signature Service monitors this queue from either the local machine or from a remote reporting and analysis server. This architecture allows for extremely scalable configurations as the data capture can happen on multiple web services hosts (as in a cluster), then analysis can occur on a separate server with a consolidated set of data. The Signature Service is responsible for creating the indexes that allow the Signature Viewer UI to trend data and export data for detailed reporting. Again, this processing can either be performed on the local web service host, as might be the case in a development environment, or on a completely different server, as would be likely in a production environment.

^  How much does Signature cost?

A Signature Professional license costs US$179.00 per server. However, Signature Express is absolutely free and will always display the last 31 days worth of data. With a valid license key purchased from MetriWorks the Express version can be made a Professional version without the need for reinstallation. For pricing info on Signature Enterprise, please contact us. The Enterprise License includes two collector server licenses, a reporting server license, and one day of on-site instruction and installation within the continental US. Additional logging server licenses cost US$895.00 each with volume discounts available.

^  How is Signature licensed?

Signature Professional works on a single server and is licensed per server. The base version of Signature Enterprise is sold as a bundle of a single reporting server and two collector server licenses with additional collector server licenses available per server as needed.

^  How hard is it to set up Signature?

Signature installation is extremely easy. In the case of a stand-alone installation, the application is simply installed using the MS Installer and can be used immediately. In the case of clustered server installations only a few additional steps leveraging the same installer are required.

^  Can Signature work in my clustered web service farm?

Signature Enterprise can be installed on any number of servers in your web service cluster. The Signature Reporting Server is able to pull all logged data into a consolidated view.

^  Does Signature work with web services not implmented in .NET?

At present, Signature only works on .NET Framework 1.1 and above. We are currently considering porting to other platforms and would appreciate any feedback as to what platforms are most desired.

^  What are the performance implications of installing Signature?

Signature web service logging has a very small footprint as an IIS HTTP module and has a negligible impact on the performance of hosted web services. All processing for indexing and analysis occurs outside of the IIS process and, in the case of Signature Enterprise, on an entirely separate server.

^  What are the Signature minimum system requirements?

At a minimum, Signature requires a system capable of running .NET Framework 1.1 and above and MSMQ. We recommend at least 512M RAM, 800MHz processor and 10G available disk space for data storage.