Troubleshooting methods
When problems arise on a Web Gateway appliance, you can use several methods to solve them.
Rule tracing
You can create and review rule traces on the Web Gateway interface. These traces record how rules were processed to deal with requests received from clients, as well as with the responses to these requests that were received from the web.
Reviewing these traces, you can find out which rules were processed and what actions were executed. For example, actions for blocking requests.
Tracing information is displayed for the following:
- Cycles — Cycles in which rules were processed, such as the request, response, or embedded objects cycle.
- Rules — Rules that were processed in these cycles.
- Rule sets — Rule sets where these rules were contained.
- Rule Criteria — Criteria that matched, so actions were executed.
- Properties — Properties and their values at the time when the rule criteria matched.
- Actions — Actions that were executed when the rule criteria matched.
- Events — Events that were triggered when the rule criteria matched.
Record and inspect data in files
You can record data about appliance behavior in files and inspect them. The following file types can be created:
- Log files — Log events and functions, such as access to the web or file updates.
- Rule tracing files — Record the processing of rules.
- Feedback files — Trace processes that went on before a function failed.
- Core files — Record memory content after a function failed and caused an appliance to finish operation.
- Connection tracing files — Record activities on connections between an appliance and other network components.
- Packet tracing files — Record network activities of an appliance.
Use network tools
You can test whether connections from an appliance to other network components still work. Tools for this purpose include ping, nslookup, ipneigh, and others.
Use system tools
You can use system tools to perform a service restart on an appliance and to display the anti-malware filtering threads that are currently running.
Restore a configuration
When other troubleshooting methods do not work, it might be necessary to replace a faulty appliance configuration with a backup.
Having a backup available can also help in other situations. For example, when you want to discard changes applied to an existing configuration.
Options are provided for creating backups and using them to restore configurations.
Reset the appliance password
You can reset the appliance password. This password is the root password that is required when accessing an appliance from a system console using the command line. It is also known as a root or console password.
Resetting this password may be required. For example, if you cannot remember it.