Linkchecker Guide

Configuration

To enable the Linkchecker you have to configure the following property in the sophora.properties file from Sophora server

sophora.linkchecker.enabled=true

Furthermore, the following configuration parameters can be set in the sophora.properties file:

Configuration Details

Adding to a Proposal Section

If sophora.linkchecker.documentProposal.sectionNames is set, broken links are added to the proposal section that is mapped to the closest structure path according to the link document's structure node.

The name must be unique and point to an existing proposal section (the Linkchecker will not create it). If a broken link is found to be working again, it is removed from the proposal section.

Setting Broken Links Offline

If the parameter sophora.linkchecker.urlChecker.setOffline is set to true, broken links are set offline. This is done in addition to adding them to a proposal section. When a broken link is found to be working again, the proposal is removed, but the document is left offline.

Using an URL for Testing Internet Connectivity

When a broken link is identified, it won't be marked as "unavailable" immediately. Instead, the configured test URL is checked first to verify whether there is an internet connection at all.

If the test URL is available, the previously checked link is marked as "unavailable" and its document is set offline.

If no connection exists, the Linkchecker skips the current examination but proceeds with the list of links to be checked. As long as no connection is established links are skipped.

Time Scheduling with Cron Configurations

With the parameters sophora.linkchecker.checkerJob.cronExpression.unavailable and sophora.linkchecker.checkerJob.cronExpression.available you can define when and how often the Linkchecker inspects available and unavailable links.

These parameters get a cron expression as value. A cron expression contains six fields for seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years. This enables you to configure the Linkchecker's activity in terms of time intervals.

An example: The cron expression "0 0/20 22-05 * * ?" would start the Linkchecker every day between 10p.m. and 5a.m. every 20 minutes.

The cron expression given in the sophora.properties files is passed to the CronTrigger class from the org.quartz package without any further check. Make sure that matches the notation pattern as given in the class's documentation at http://quartznet.sourceforge.net/apidoc/topic285.html.

Example configuration

sophora.linkchecker.enabled=true
sophora.linkchecker.username=admin
 
# Erreichbarkeit des Internets prüfen
sophora.linkchecker.urlChecker.testUrl=http://www.web.de
 
#Cron-Ausdruck (Sekunden Minuten Stunden Tage Monate Jahre) für den Check nicht mehr erreichbare Links.
#Mehr Informationen zu dem Ausdruck findet man unter http://quartz.sourceforge.net/javadoc/org/quartz/CronTrigger.html
#Beispiel: 0 0/2 10-18 * * ? läuft jeden Tag zwischen 10 und 18 Uhr jede zwei Minuten.
sophora.linkchecker.checkerJob.cronExpression.unavailable=0 0 0-8 * * ?
#Cron-Ausdruck (Sekunden Minuten Stunden Tage Monate Jahre) für den Check erreichbare Links.
sophora.linkchecker.checkerJob.cronExpression.available=0 0 0-8 * * ?
 
# Gültigkeitzeit der eingeführten Angebote in Tage
sophora.linkchecker.documentProposal.expireTime=0
 
# Set unavailable links offline.
sophora.linkchecker.urlChecker.setOffline=true
 
# Http Status-Code Allow-Liste. Alle Links mit einem Status Code größer als 400 werden als unerreichbar markiert solange
# die hier nicht deklariert werden. Die Werte werden mit Kommata getrennt.
sophora.linkchecker.urlChecker.httpStatusCodeWhitelist=503
 
#Verbindungszeitüberschreitung in Millisekunden.
sophora.linkchecker.urlChecker.connectionTimeout=10000
 
# Bestimmt ob Links, die zum Antworten die konfigurierte Zeit überschritten haben, als unerreichbar behandelt werden sollen.
sophora.linkchecker.urlChecker.treatTimeoutsAsUnavailable=true
 
# Der Standard-Angebotsbereich zu dem Link-Dokumente hinzugefügt werden, die nicht erreichbar sind
sophora.linkchecker.documentProposal.sectionNames.default=Broken Links
 
# Der Angebotsbereich zu dem Link-Dokumente hinzugefügt werden, die nicht erreichbar sind und unterhalb des Struktur-Pfads /demosite/trendcities verortet sind
sophora.linkchecker.documentProposal.sectionNames.demosite.trendcities=Broken Links (Trendcities)

Additional configuration parameters

The following parameters for the Linkchecker are set within the configuration part in the administrator section of the DeskClient.

Using a Custom Link Node Type

If the node type of the link document or the URL property description differ from the default values ("sophora-extension-nt:link" and "sophora-extension:url"), this needs to be set in the configuration using the following entries:

Custom Search for Broken Links

To enable a convenient search for broken link documents within the DeskClient, add the following entry:

If the property search.modifiers already exists, append the value to its list.

Triggering the Linkchecker jobs via JMX

There is a CronManager JMX interface com.subshell.sophora.cron/CronManager where you can find two operations to trigger the Linkchecker: triggerUnavailableLinkchecker and triggerAvailableLinkchecker.

These enable additional triggering and will not affect the regular schedule defined by the cron expressions.