Managing the Natural Screen Tester Server


Starting Natural Screen Tester Server

The Natural Screen Tester server can be started either as a Windows service or using a batch file.

Note:
If you run Natural Screen Tester as a service it will, by default, start automatically when Windows is started.

Start of instruction setTo start the Natural Screen Tester server as a Windows system service

  1. In the installation process, define that Natural Screen Tester server will run as a Windows system service.

  2. Choose Start > Settings >Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.

  3. Start the Natural Screen Tester Server service.

Start of instruction setTo start the Natural Screen Tester Server using a batch command file

  1. Access the folder <NSR_installation>/bin folder.

  2. Double-click startup.bat.

It is possible to configure the server's system properties.

Refer to Natural Screen Tester Server, System Parameters for further details.

Natural Screen Tester Server System Parameters

When running Natural Screen Tester server as a batch file, these parameters can be configured in the startup.bat batch file/GXNatural Screen TesterService.ini/startup.sh.

Parameter Description
com.sabratec.gxhome The location of the Natural Screen Tester_home directory.
com.sabratec.license The directory of the license file.
com.sabratec.useicon Put the server icon in the icon tray.
com.sabratec.conf Natural Screen Tester configuration file name - under the config folder of the installation.
com.sabratec.prpfile The location of gxstartup.prp.
com.sabratec.logger Servlet logger.

The following parameters provide you with the ability to determine the server's system properties. Define these properties in the \config\gxstartup.prp file. These parameters can be overridden by parameters defined in the startup.bat batch file/GXNatural Screen TesterService.ini/startup.sh files.

Parameter Description
com.sabratec.license The directory of the license file.
com.sabratec.useicon Put the server icon in the icon tray.
com.sabratec.conf Natural Screen Tester configuration file name - under the config folder of the installation.
com.sabratec.logger Servlet logger.

Stopping Natural Screen Tester Server

Start of instruction setTo stop the Natural Screen Tester server, when started as a Windows system service

  1. Select Start > Settings >Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.

  2. Stop the Software AG Natural Screen Tester Serverservice.

Start of instruction setTo stop the Natural Screen Tester server using a batch command file

  1. Access the Natural Screen Tester installation folder.

  2. Double-click shutdown.bat.

Connecting to the Server

Start of instruction setTo connect to the server

  1. In the Natural Screen Tester Designer, click Connect to Server on the toolbar, or right-click on the relevant server and select Connect.

  2. When connecting for the first time, ensure that the server address (IPv4 and IPv6 address formats are supported) and port that are displayed in the pop-up are correct.

  3. Click OK.

  4. Type the User name and Password and click OK.

Start of instruction setTo disconnect from the server

  1. In the Natural Screen Tester Designer, click Disconnect from Server on the toolbar, or right-click on the relevant server and select Connect.

    The communication with the server terminates, and the user's details disappear.

Configuring the Server

To update a Server's configuration, open Natural Screen Tester Designer, and either right-click on the server (in the Natural Screen Tester Explorer) and select Properties, or select Properties from the Server menu.

The Server Properties dialog box is displayed.

Edit the dialog box as follows:

General

Non-secured port

Does not require user name and password authentication.

Secured port

The Secured port check box determines whether SSL is used to securely transfer the data between the client and Natural Screen Tester server.

To change the HTTP port, edit the server.xml and gxconfig.xml files.

Load Natural Screen Tester archive test projects (gxar)

This check box determines whether to automatically update the test project with new/updated gxar files. Once selected, Natural Screen Tester searches the host-projects folder looking for new/updated gxar files. When one is found, it is loaded automatically as a new/updated project. You must determine how often to search the folder (by default this is set as one minute).

Enable encryption of recorded sessions

Selecting this checkbox, enables encrypting recorded sessions.

Encryption key file

The encryption key enables Natural Screen Tester to encrypt and decrypt the recorded sessions. A key is required for each Natural Screen Tester server.

Note:
Refer to Recording Sessions for further details regarding encrypting recorded sessions.

License

This page provides information regarding the Natural Screen Tester Server license. It includes the number of users, the number of licenses for each type of license, the expiry date, the platforms and the special license terms. See License Keys.

Log

The server log can be accessed from the Natural Screen Tester Designer. Refer to Viewing Server Logs for further details.

Level

The contents of the log file are as detailed as this property defines, where every level includes the levels above it. For example, the Debug level also logs Normal, Warnings and Errors Only levels. Available values: "Errors only", "Warnings", "Normal" and "Debug" (by default Normal is selected).

Log File Name

The log is written to this file.

Open log folder

Enables you to see the list of existing log files.

Max. file size

Starts a new log file after the current file has been filled to the maximum file size.

Save History

Selecting this check box determines whether backups of old log files will be saved, after restarting the server.

The radio button options determine the number of backups saved before overwriting the old log files. For example: 10 means "save the last 10 log files, in addition to the current one, then start to overwrite". When selecting All Files, old log files are never deleted. Default value is "10".

Outgoing SMTP Server

Server Address

The IP address of the SMTP server.

From address

Mail sent as part of a Procedure, requires using a From address, which is defined in the procedure. When the From field in the procedure is left empty, the address defined here, in the Default From address, will be used.

Requires authentication

For security reasons, you may want to require authentication. Enter the Account name and Password.

Note:
Only an Administrator is able to change the server's configuration.

Viewing Server Logs

The Server Log includes information as to the Server's activities and problems. The contents of the server log file are defined according to the settings configured in the Server Parameter>Log node. The Server Log can be accessed from Natural Screen Tester Designer.

Start of instruction setTo View the contents of server log files from within Natural Screen Tester Designer

  1. In the Natural Screen Tester Designer, either right-click on a server and select Show Server Log, or select Show Server Log in the Server Menu.

  2. To view previous log file history select the relevant file from the list of files in the File name field.

  3. Double-click a file's name. A dialog box with the file's contents appears.

  4. Click Refresh, or press the F5 key on the keyboard to renew information on the log file manually.

  5. Click Restart Log to restart the log. The previous data is saved to a file, and a new file is created.