Create advanced Environments

In the OSV Web Monitor, you can create simple or advanced Environments. Which kind of Environment you create is up to you and depends on your time and test requirements.

Simple Environment: just enter a name and your Environment is ready to use. OSV creates a default SQLite database for you.
Advanced Environment: take the time to configure all details according to your needs, such as your database connection or a proxy.

Set up advanced Environments

To create an advanced Environment, follow the steps below:

Open the OSV Web Monitor.
In the Environments section, click the arrow on the Create new button in the top right corner.
Select Create advanced from the drop-down menu.

This takes you to the page Environments > Create. The instructions below guide you through each of the required steps on this page.

An asterisk (*) indicates a mandatory field.

Step 1 - Give your Environment a name

In this step, you define general Environment details.

Field	Description
Name	Enter a name for your Environment. This step is mandatory.
Description	Enter a description of your Environment. This step is optional.

Step 2 - Connect to a database

In this step, you specify which database you want the Environment to use.

Which of the following fields are available depends on the database type you select.

Field	Description
Type	Select a database type: mssql: use a Microsoft SQL Server database. sqlite: use an SQLite database. oracle: use an Oracle database. This requires an installation of Client-Library 32-bit Oracle Data Access Components (ODAC). db2: use a DB2 database. This requires a Client-Library IBM Data Server Runtime Client 32-bit.
Server or File	Enter the host name, IP address, or path to the database.
Schema Name	Specify the schema you want to use. Each database schema has a unique schema version.
User	Enter the user name of the schema user.
Password	Enter the password of the schema user.

Tricentis doesn't recommend changing the database of an existing Environment. This can corrupt the Environment and lead to a loss of all stored data including the Environment's Scenarios or logs.

Step 3 - Define a proxy

In this step, you can specify a proxy if you want to use one. If you enable a proxy, the proxy and the Environment start and stop together.

When a message arrives, the proxy checks the destination URL of the request. If the URL matches a real service, the proxy forwards the message to the corresponding Service Port. In all other cases, the proxy forwards the message to the specified destination.

Field	Description
Enabled	Enable or disable the proxy.
Port	Enter a port for the proxy.

Step 4 - Enable fallback mode

In this step, you can enable fallback mode.

Fallback mode starts if a service is not available or responds with an error. It allows OSV to send a virtualized response instead, if it finds a fitting Scenario.

Field	Description
Enabled	Enable or disable fallback mode.
Status codes	Specify which status codes trigger fallback mode. You can enter multiple status codes, separated by comma.
Timeout (ms)	Specify how long OSV should wait for the service to respond before fallback mode starts. Enter the time in milliseconds, for example 3000.

Field

Description

Enabled

Enable or disable fallback mode.

Status codes

Specify which status codes trigger fallback mode.

You can enter multiple status codes, separated by comma.

Timeout (ms)

Specify how long OSV should wait for the service to respond before fallback mode starts.

Enter the time in milliseconds, for example 3000.

Step 5 - Manage log settings

In this step, you can specify whether you want OSV to create logs that store information about your test activities in the Environment. For instance, which messages were sent or which Scenarios were completed.

You can disable these logs in case you need to improve performance. For instance, if you run Scenarios with a very high number of messages for load testing, you can disable the messages log to avoid that OSV creates a log entry for each message.

Field	Description
Enabled	Enable or disable all logs.
Log Messages	Enable or disable the Messages Log.
Log Completed Scenarios	Enable or disable the Completed Scenarios Log.
Validation	Enable or disable the Validation Log. If you disable the validation log, OSV doesn't verify messages against a schema.

Step 6 - Submit your Environment

Once you have finished all required steps, you can submit your changes and save your Environment.

To do so, click on Save at the bottom of the page.

You can always go back and change your Environment details and settings, as described in chapter "Edit Environment details".

What's next?

Now that you have created an Environment, you have to define connections between OSV, your system under test, and your real service. To do so, start with your Service Ports.