What Do the NServiceBus Monitoring Tools Do?
The NServiceBus Monitoring Tools receive a copy of all messages sent via NServiceBus and allow the user to view the headers, saga's, xml data and message flow using ServiceInsight. The installer installs 3 applications:
ServiceInsight: Diagnostics tool showing messages and conversations. Uses ServiceControl to view all transmitted messages.
ServicePulse: A health monitor for the bus stops (production monitoring). It processes heartbeat messages from the bus stops and it allows the user to resend failed messages.
ServiceControl: Backend/service that provides information for ServiceInsight and ServicePulse. It's the central service that handles and processes the audit and error messages. The bus stops have a module/library that connects to the ServiceControl service.
Installing NServiceBus Monitoring Tools
Installing ServiceControl
Start the ServiceControl setup utility that is present in the Particular.Service.Platform.zip file.
Press Next.
Accept the EULA and press Next.
Select the installation directory and press Next.
Press Install to start the service control installation.
Select the Launch the ServiceControl Management Utility check box and press Finish.
Configuring ServiceControl
The ServiceControl management tool is started when ticking the Launch the ServiceControl Management Utility check box at the final step in the ServiceControl installer. This tool can also be started from the Windows start menu. This tool configures ServiceControl and Monitoring instances.
Select the +New button at the top right-hand side to add a new ServiceControl or monitoring instance.
Select Add ServiceControl Instance to add a new ServiceControl instance. This instance should be configured with the following properties:
The name of the ServiceControl windows service. This name is also used as the name of the control queue for this instance. The control queue is used to exchange heartbeats, custom check info and saga state changes.
The user that should run the ServiceControl service.
A hostname (localhost).
A free port number for the ServiceControl HTTP interface (http://localhost:33333/api) used by ServiceInsight and ServicePulse.
A free port number for the ServiceControl embedded database maintenance interface. This will create an endpoint (http://localhost:33334) that can be used to access RavenDB Studio to maintain the ServiceControl embedded database.
The paths for the database and log files. The management tool creates default directories on the C drive.
Please be advised that the ServiceControl database may consume a lot of disk space depending on the retention times configured for this instance. The average message size and the amount of messages processed. Moving the database to a drive that has more storage space is advisable.
Error retention: 5 days. This gives the user 5 days to detect errors and retry the messages using ServicePulse or ServiceInsight. The value could be set to a higher value but that requires more disk space to be used by the embedded ServiceControl database. The approximate storage capacity required depends on the amount of messages being audited * their message size * the retention time.
Audit retention: 2 days. The value could be set to a higher value but that requires more disk space to be used by the embedded ServiceControl database. The approximate storage capacity required depends on the amount of messages being audited * their message size * the retention time.
Transport should be set to MSMQ.
A name for the error and audit queue.
Error and audit forwarding should be set to ‘Off’
The ServiceControl management application will start the ServiceControl instance once it is configured and it will create the control, audit and error queue when they are not present.
Select Add Monitoring Instance to add a new Monitoring instance (ATS Intelligence 3.0 only). This instance should be configured with the following properties:
The name of the Monitoring windows service. This name is required later when configuring ATS Intelligence.
The user that should run the ServiceControl service.
A hostname (localhost).
A free port number for the Monitoring HTTP interface (used by ServicePulse).
The paths to the log files.
Transport should be set to MSMQ.
The name of the error queue.
The ServiceControl management application will start the Monitoring instance once it is configured and it will create the monitoring queue when it is not present.
Installing ServiceInsight
Execute the installer named serviceinsight-<version>.exe.
Press Next.
Accept the EULA and press Next.
Select an installation directory and press Next.
Press Install.
ServiceInsight is available via the Windows Start menu.
Press the lightning bolt to provide the ServiceControl endpoint.
The default URL is http://localhost:33333/api.
Press OK to accept the provided endpoint.
The endpoint is shown on the left-hand side in the Endpoint Explorer. Pressing the pin will not collapse the view.
Installing ServicePulse
Execute the installer named Particular.ServicePulse-<version>.exe.
Press Next.
Accept the EULA and press Next.
Select an installation directory and press Next.
Provide the following information and press Next:
Port: The port number at which the ServicePulse web interface is accessible.
ServiceControl URI: The endpoint of the ServiceControl instance. The default value is http://localhost:33333/api.
Monitoring URI: The endpoint of the monitoring instance. The URI is configured via the ServiceControl Management application.
Press Install.
ServicePulse is accessible via any web browser by typing in the following address: http://localhost:9090
Upgrading NServiceBus Monitoring Tools
The install.cmd script from NServiceBus.Monitoring.Node.a.b.ccccc.d.zip will install a version of ServiceControl, ServiceInsight and ServicePulse suitable for the ATS Bus version that is installed. The same script will upgrade existing versions of the application when required.
The script does not upgrade the ServiceControl and Monitoring instances which should be upgraded using the ServiceControl Management application. Each instance will show a hyperlink stating ‘(Upgrade to Vx.yy.z)’. Clicking the hyperlink will start the upgrade of the instance.