Legacy Manual

Web Interface

 

PingPlotter pro has a built in web interface, which allows you to view data and access quite a few options of PingPlotter Pro from a web browser - without having to be local on the machine that is collecting data.

Enabling the web interface

To enable the web interface, go to “Edit” -> “Options” -> “Web Server” and turn on the web server (yes - it’s seriously that easy).

We recommend leaving the port at 7464 (although you’re free to change it) - and if you’re doing some local testing, it’s best to turn off the “Use Security” checkmark (once your testing is finished, you can go back and re-enable this option). Apply your changes, and close down the options dialogue.

We want to make sure that the web interface is running correctly - so in PingPlotter Pro, make sure you’re tracing to at least one target, and then move on to the next section.

Accessing the web interface

To access the web interface from your local machine, fire up your favorite web browser (if you’re wondering about browser requirements, we cover that further down this page) and enter the following address:

http://localhost:7464

This should open your borrower the the PingPlotter Pro web interface - which will list all of your targets. You can click on a target to open a trace graph for it, stop tracing (and close down a target), add a new target, change some basic settings, and do some basic examination of data.

Doing Basic analysis

You can do quite a few things from the web interface - but *some* actions do require the local PingPlotter Pro client. Wondering what’s possible to do with the web interface? Well, we’ve compiled a list:

  • Add/remove targets
  • Create a custom summary screen (and add/remove targets from it)
  • Add/remove columns
  • Change column widths
  • Examine a target’s data by:
    • Changing the samples to include
    • Changing the period of time on the timeline graph
    • Turn on/off time graphs
    • Download sample data for more analysis within a local instance of PingPlotter
    • Do whois lookups through www.whois.sc
Browser Requirements

*Most* of the above operations require that Javascript be enabled. If you don’t have Javascript enabled, you’ll still be able to do a little bit, but you’ll be working against an image for the graph rather than a locally drawn version (so you won’t be able to do things like turning on time graphs or resizing columns).

With lots of Javascript running, newer browser versions are going to be faster and have a much richer interface. Although things will work on IE6, Firefox 1.03, and Opera 8.5, these browser are pretty (or, really) old. We recommend at least IE8, Firefox 10+, or any other browser that is less than a couple of years old.

Using Microsoft IIS Instead of the Built-in Web Server

If you’re in need something a bit more “industrial strength” than what PingPlotter’s built in web server has to offer, you can use Microsoft IIS; which may be helpful if:

  • You need more than one login (you can use IIS to set up multiple logins
  • You want to customize the web interface and use server variables (the list of server variables in the built-in server is pretty close to nonexistent)
  • You want to customize the web interface with cookies and/or session variables
  • You want to use a web server with known issues
  • You want to share a web server with other applications

The PingPlotter web server emulates an ASP-based VBScript IIS server, so the exact same source files can be used for both. These source files are installed in the following location (if you use the default path):

c:\program files\PingPlotter\www

If you create a new IIS application and point it to this directory, it should work. The default page is called "Default.asp", which should work without special configurations when you point IIS at this directory.

For best results, PingPlotter should be running as a service. There are security implications (COM object security) that bite us if we don't use a service.

We have had some reports of people needing to open up DCOMConfig and change some of the security options to make things work. If you have problems with this, let us know.

You shouldn't be required to make any changes to any .asp files.

We will certainly find more information about what works and doesn't work here on some machines, so feel free to contact us at support@pingplotter.com if you have any questions or problems.

Troubleshooting IIS problems
  • If you're getting a 404.3 error in your browser after adding the IIS application, then you probably don't have ASP functionality enabled on the IIS server. PingPlotter uses ASP and requires the ASP options to be installed. This is an option in the IIS configuration. Enable ASP; the .NET version is not necessary for PingPlotter.
  • If you get permission errors (a red screen with a permission-based error about the PingPlotter object), run dcomcnfg, fold open "Component Services", "Computers", "My Computer", "DCOM Config" and look for "PingPlotter". Right-click and go to properties. In "Security", change Launch and Activation Permissions to Customize and add the IUSR user. Turn on local launch and local activation for the IUSR user.

We will certainly find more information about what works and doesn't work here on some machines, so feel free to contact us if you have any questions or problems - support@pingplotter.com.

 

**The feature in this topic is exclusive to PingPlotter Pro. See our product comparison page for more details**