Workspace selection

Overview Copied

The Active Console configuration is stored in a binary workspace file in AWX format. It contains the following:

• Gateway connections
• Position, size, and placement of all the dockable components.
• Active charts and their data.
• Configured custom views, their content, and any filters you have defined.
• Configuration and layout of the dataviews, including which columns are displayed, their widths, and their position (relative to other columns).

The Active Console introduces the AWX extension file name starting GA3.0 versions to allow you to save the workspace in an XML format. However, the formerActive Console workspace or AWS extension has been introduced for GA2.1 and lower versions, but is still supported.

The workspace you are currently using is displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the application.

Note

It is possible to force the Active Console to read and write in the old .aws format using a flag in the gci file. For more information, see Start up settings.

Beginning Geneos 6.4.x, it is now possible to run the Active Console in State Only mode, and its configuration is stored in a binary workspace file in SWX format. For more information, see Quickstart guide.

Workspace directory Copied

Beginning Geneos 5.6.x, Active Console sets the new workspace default directory to the following paths:

The Active Console

• On Windows: ~\ITRS\ActiveConsole
• On macOS and Linux: ~/ITRS/ActiveConsole/

Note the following behaviours with the new workspace directory:

• Active Console will only create the new workspace directory if a new workspace is created.
• For new workspaces, recovered workspaces also exist in the new directory.
• If you manually delete ~/ITRS/ActiveConsole, Active Console will recreate the ~/ITRS/ActiveConsole directory when you save a new workspace.
• If you open an existing workspace through File > Workspace > Save As, Active Console will still use its existing directory, and not ~/ITRS/ActiveConsole.
• Do not delete the directory where the workspace resides when in use. If you delete the workspace’s current directory and the auto-save feature is enabled, then Active Console displays an error that the workspace could not be saved.

Select workspace Copied

When you start up the Active Console, you can select the workspace that you want to use:

The Select Workspace dialog presents some standard workspace options, and a list of the recent workspace files that you have used.

The general workspace options are:

• Last known good workspace — loads the last known good workspace, if it exists and is accessible.
• Create New — opens a new workspace.
• Open From File — selects an existing workspace file to load.
• Open From URL — opens a workspace from a URL.

These are the additional options available in the workspace selection dialog:

• Always use the last known good workspace — directs the Active Console to use the last known good workspace.
• Show unavailable items — displays the historical workspaces that are now inaccessible.
• Cleanup — deletes workspace entries that are inaccessible.

In Active Console, the workspace also allows you to:

• Auto-load the last good workspace by configuring the Active Console Settings > General > Persistence > Autoload last good workspace.
• Auto-save workspaces by configuring the Active Console Settings > General > Persistence > Autosave period.
• Revert a workspace to undo and discard your changes that you have made. To do this in, click File > Workspace > Revert.
• Set the workspace to read-only which means that no configurations or settings can be made. To do this, go to the Active Console Settings > General > Persistence > Workspace is read only. The auto-save function does not work when a workspace is set to read-only mode.

Load workspaces from URL Copied

Active Console allows you to open workspaces from a URL so that you can use the latest standard workspace.

When you successfully load a workspace from URL, Active Console saves a copy of this workspace locally. If a cached workspace file already exists, then it will be replaced by the newly saved workspace file.

If loading a workspace from URL is unsuccessful, then Active Console displays the Active Console failed to load the workspace. Load the cached file from <date:time>? error message. You can select whether you want or not to load the cached version of the workspace.

When you load the cached workspace, these behaviours persist:

• Status bar and the workspace history reflect the workspace URL, not the cached file location.
• Workspace remains in read-only mode.

If you do not want to use the cached version of the workspace, you can use a different URL when selecting a new workspace.

Workspace connection issues Copied

Due to an upgrade in Active Console’s JDK version, you may encounter the following conditions:

• Workspace URL no longer loads beginning Geneos version 4.12.x, but works on older versions.
• When you use NTLM authentication for your workspace URL.

To resolve the workspace connection issues:

1. Close all your running Active Console instances.
2. Open ActiveConsole.gci in your installation directory.
3. Under -jvmargs section, add this line:

Djdk.http.ntlm.transparentAuth=allHosts

Another option for jdk.http.ntlm.transparentAuth is trustedHosts, but you must add the URL as a Windows trusted site.

Error types in the workspace Copied

The workspace displays the following if it encounters any errors:

• Critical — critical or serious issues which normally result in to a significant loss of configuration information in the workspace.
• Warning — issues which result in the lost of some configuration information in the workspace.
• Information — minor losses of configuration that are unlikely to have a serious impact in the workspace.

When you encounter an error while loading a workspace, the Active Console prompts the following options:

• Load Anyway — loads the workspace normally and ignores the errors.
• Save As a different workspace — provides a new location to save the affected workspace.

When you encounter an error while saving a workspace, the Active Console prompts the following options:

• Revert to the last known good workspace — stops the saving process, and restores the last known good workspace.
• Save anyway — saves the workspaces regardless of the errors.
• Save it to a different location — provides a new location to save the affected workspace.
• Do not save the workspace — does not save the workspace, and continues to shut down or load a newly selected workspace.
• Abandon Save and return to the application — stops the save operation and returns to the application.

Use authentication to load the workspace Copied

When you load an HTTPS URL using authentication for -wsurl or selected AWS file, Active Console gets the workspace from the specified path. To access the workspace:

1. Open Select Workspace.
2. Click Open From URL.
3. Enter the link for the selected AWS file in the URL field. For example, https://website/document/path/filename.awx. When you open a valid workspace with an HTTPS URL, this opens the URL needs authentication screen.

5. Provide your username and password.
6. Click OK.

Note

Beginning Geneos 5.14.x, you can enable certificate validation for HTTPS connection by setting the enableCertificateValidation flag to true. For more information on how to set this flag up, see ActiveConsole.exe flags.

If an invalid URL is provided, the workspace displays the The specified URL is not accessible error message. If the error still occurs, you may not have permission to access the resource site. Check your credentials with your Geneos administrator.

Auto saving and recovery Copied

The Active Console has an auto save feature that can write out temporary AWES files periodically, such that it can recover after unexpected behaviour or allows you to restore an older version of your workspace in the event that it becomes corrupt.

These temp files have a name equal to:

~<day of the month>.<hour>.<minute>.<sec>~~<workspace file name>.aws

Here’s an example:

~18.14.07.02~~myworkspace.aws

These files are written to the same directory as the workspace file is located in. You can configure how often these are written out and how many temp files to keep in the Active Console settings > General settings ( once the upper limit of temp files has been reached, it starts replacing the older files.)

If the Active Console fails to shut down correctly, then the last auto save will be available in the workspace selection dialog as a recovered file on the next start up.

Import into the workspace Copied

There are a number of files types that can be imported into the open workspace.

The following files types are supported:

• Active Console Dockables (.ado) — dockables that have been exported from the Dockable Manager can be imported as new dockables.
• Metric views (.msv) — individual metrics tab are added to the metrics view.
• Active Dashboards (.adb) — a single active dashboard that can be imported into the selected dashboard dockable.
• Dashboard Tools (.adt) — contains one or more user defined tools for the Active dashboard.
• Active Dashboard components (.dbi) — a dashboard component, such as an active chart or gauge.
• Other workspaces (.aws) — merges the contents of the specified workspace with your current workspace. Currently, only the metric views and dashboards can be imported.