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For security reasons, Blackboard recommends that Server-Status be enabled only if the user is familiar with the module and understands how to deny access to unwanted users.

The Apache Server-Status module provides an instrumentation tool set to determine how well the Apache server instance is performing. Server-Status provides the following information about an Apache server instance:

  • The number of children serving requests.
  • The number of idle children.
  • The status of each child, the number of requests that child has performed, and the total number of bytes served by the child.
  • The total number of accesses and byte count served.
  • The time the server was started or restarted and the amount of time the server has been running.
  • An average of the number of requests per second, the number of bytes served per second, and the average number of bytes per request.
  • The current percentage of the CPU used by each child and in total by Apache.
  • The current hosts and requests being processed.

Temporarily enable server-status

  1. Open the httpd.conf file in the following directory:

    %/usr/local/blackboard_directory/apps/httpd/conf

  2. Uncomment the ExtendedStatus On line by removing the pound sign (#) at the beginning of the line: #ExtendedStatus On

    For example:

    ExtendedStatus On

  3. Locate the <Location> section of code. If it does not exist, add the code to the end of the file:

    #<Location /server-status> #    SetHandler server-status
    #    Order allow, deny
    #    Allow from all
    #    Deny from all
    #</Location>

  4. Uncomment the <Location>, SetHandler and </Location> lines as well as the appropriate access control lines to allow server status reports by removing the pound signs (#) at the beginning of each line:

    <Location /server-status>
       SetHandler server-status
       Order allow, deny
       Allow from all
       #Deny from all
    </Location>

  5. Save and close the file.
  6. Restart the Apache web server using the following two commands in order:

    ./ServiceController.sh services.webserver.stop
    ./ServiceController.sh services.webserver.start

  7. View the Server-Status page in a web browser by going to the following URL: http://webServerName/server-status.

    The httpd.conf file will be overwritten each time the PushConfigUpdates command is run. To make the server-status URL permanent, repeat these steps for the template file httpd.conf.bb. To learn more, see PushConfigUpdates.