Documentation |
Requirements
Java Virtual Machine
You will need a Java Runtime Environment or Java SDK. Observetron has been tested with Sun's Java 1.3 and 1.4 JVM's, but should work with any 1.2+ VM. You can download Sun's JVM's from java.sun.com.Libraries
If you are not using a 1.4 JVM, you'll have to download the jsse package separately. T he jsse package is included in JDK 1.4.
Observetron uses the Jakarta Oro libraries. This is included in the Observetron distribution.
The calpa.html package is used for displaying the help windows. This is included in the Observetron distribution.
Installation
- Download the latest distribution from the Files area.
- Create a new directory (for example "observetron") and unzip the distribution into the directory.
- If you download the jsse separately, place the jar files in the lib directory (for example "observetron/lib").
- You can now run Observetron using the command line
java -jar observetron.jar
Configuration
Network Tab:
- Listen IP/Host The host address or ip address that Observetron should bind to. This is the host your http client will need to talk to.
- Listen Port The port that Observetron should bind to. This is the port your http client will need to talk to.
- Remote IP/Host The host address or ip address that Observetron should communicate with. This is the host your http client normally talks to.
- Remote Port The port that Observetron should communicate with. This is the port your http client normally talks to.
- Max Content Size The maximum size of a single http message content that will be tracked and held by Observetron. This setting helps you tune the amount of memory that an instance of Observetron consumes. The content of messages that exceed this level will not show up in the request/response window.
- Max Total Content The maximum size all http message content that will be tracked and held by Observetron. This setting helps you tune the amount of memory that an instance of Observetron consumes. If Observetron exceeds this level, it will discard the content of the oldes request/response pair that it currently holds.
- Receive TimeOut The timeout for remote server replies in seconds
- Receive TimeOut The timeout for sends to the remote server in seconds
- Show Printable Contents Controls whether Observetron tracks and hold message content.
Logging Tab:
- Access Log Logs all access that passes through Observetron.
- Error Log Logs all erroneous http requests that pass through Observetron.
- Request Log Logs the full details of all requests that pass through Observetron.
- Response Log Logs the full details of all reponses that pass through Observetron.
- Log Level Allows you to control how much server debugging/logging info that Observetron generates on its own.
Filtering Tab:
For both of these properties, if the text entered is enclosed in '/' characters, it will be treated as a regular expression. Otherwise, it will be treated as a straight text match.- Drop Request Headers Matching Enter the text in this box if you want to remove http headers from request messages that flow through Observetron.
- Drop Response Headers Matching Enter the text in this box if you want to remove http headers from response messages that flow through Observetron.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who wrote Observetron?
Observetron 1.0 was written by Mohammed Rezaei and Andrew Peterson. A few years ago we download and used a similar application by Steve Y.C. Hsueh. We need more features, most importantly gateway (as opposed to proxy) functionality. We started modifying Steve's code, but finally decided to start over and rewrite everything from scratch.Why did you bother?
Even though there are other similar utilities available, this piece of code has proven extremely useful to both authors over the years. It has saved us a lot time and avoided much frustration. We hope you will find it equally useful.What do I need to do to get Observetron to work with SSL sites?
If you are running with the JSSE, you must include the following flag on the command line:-Djava.protocol.handler.pkgs=com.sun.net.ssl.internal.www.protocol
Usage Examples
Watching HTTP traffic to xml.apache.org
- Start Observetron.
- Choose the menu "Setup->Configuration"
- Under network configuration, make sure the following settings are used:
- Save the configuration.
- Press the "Play" button on the main window to start listening for connection.
- Open the requests window by choosing "View->Requests Window" from the menu.
- Open a browser and type "http://localhost:8001" in the url.