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Troubleshooting errors in checks

The state of a monitor is determined by the last check. If the last check encountered an error, the monitor will be in the Error state. The Error section contains only the Monitors that are in the error state, though you can find them in the All section of the Watchlist as well.

Error count in side bar

Open the Monitor’s check log to view logs of the recent checks. Clicking on the View Details link in the log will take you to the error page.

Log of checks

Here is the list of errors that you will normally encounter:

EPROXY

This happens when the proxy server is not able to connect to the remote server you’re monitoring. The most common scenario for this error is when the default proxy server’s IP / location is blocked by the remote server.

In these cases try using a different proxy server. Check out: Using proxy servers for checks for more information.

SELECTION_EMPTY

Checkout page’s snapshot by clicking the “View Details” link in the log. The snapshot was captured when the page was loaded but Distill couldn’t find the selected content in the page.

Some of the common reasons for a SELECTION_EMPTY error are:

  1. When the monitor was working well earlier but started encountering this error. It is possible that the elements selected earlier no longer exist on the page. You can create a new monitor or change the selection of the existing monitor using visual selector to see if it works.

  2. When the selected element loads after a delay. This can happen when the element is dynamic and it loads after some delay. In this case, you can add a delay in the config. To add a delay, go to the config of the existing monitor, and change the delay to some value. This value is in seconds. By setting a delay, Distill will wait for the delay period for the page to load and then check the elements.

  3. When you select an element with some text but expect that it will change to no text and you want to get an alert on such no text change. You can include an additional element in the selection. A good example of such an element is the page’s <title> element. The tag’s XPath selector is //title and the CSS selector is title.

  4. When the page is blocking access from Distill servers. In this case, the page provides an error response to the server. You can use Proxies to run checks in the cloud. Please check out: https://distill.io/docs/web-monitor/monitor-webpage-using-proxy-servers/. Alternatively, you can use local checks to run the monitor in your browser.

TIMEOUT

You get this error when Distill is not able to load the page contents. This can happen in the following cases.

  1. Local monitor does not load in a background tab. Some pages need an active tab to load completely. You can verify this by clicking on the tab which checks the page. If clicking on it runs the check without any error and throws an error otherwise, it means the page requires to be active for the checks. For such cases, you can use either of the following methods:
  • Use Distill’s Desktop app to monitor it locally
  • Monitor it in the cloud using Distill servers

  1. Cloud monitor times out when websites refuse to accept connections from some IPs. In these cases try using proxy servers in the cloud. Check out: https://distill.io/docs/web-monitor/monitor-webpage-using-proxy-servers/ for more information. Alternatively, you can use local checks to run the monitor in your browser.

  2. If cloud monitors do not work with any proxy then, in most cases, using a local monitor works.

EPORTREQ

When Distill is not able to find the monitored frame within which contents are selected, it errors out with EPORTREQ. Note that PORT refers to connection to the frame and REQ refers to a request sent to that frame.

Solutions:

  • Monitor should check successfully in subsequent checks.
  • Add a delay in the config.
  • Modify the URL of the monitor if the page redirects.

ERR_PDF_PARSE

Monitors with the type PDF Document can encounter this error. This happens when the pdf document cannot be parsed correctly. Possible scenarios for this error can include:

  • The document is not a valid PDF Document.
  • The document is corrupted.

ESSLCERT

This happens when the server’s SSL/TLS certificate is invalid. There can be a variety of reasons for this error. Here are some common scenarios:

  • When the website’s domain name is not available in the server’s certificate.
  • When the server’s certificate is expired.

EUNHANDLED

Generally, EUNHANDLED errors are uncategorized errors that do not fall into any of the other categories described on this page. Here are some of the common reasons for this error:

  • For PDF monitors, when the PDF contains invalid content or cannot be parsed correctly.
  • When the server’s response contains an invalid content type or charset.

EMACRO

EMACRO is logged when there’s an error running your macro. This can happen at any step in the macro. To get the error detail you can check the macro step’s error in the error page. Click on the View Details link available in the log of checks to go to the error page.

macro-error-page.png

The last step at which the macro errored out is available in the Error Details section. The page’s snapshot is taken the moment the error is encountered. This can help edit your macro to handle previously unknown scenarios.

ECONFIG

ECONFIG is a monitor configuration error. It is logged when the monitor configuration is invalid. Here are some of the common reasons for this error:

  • The monitor configuration is malformed or isn’t a valid JSON.
  • The monitor’s URL is either empty or invalid.
  • For webpage monitors, when the monitor’s selector type is invalid. We support XPATH, CSS, and JS selectors. supported-selector-types.png

EJAVASCRIPT

It is usually logged when a JavaScript selector throws an error. You can try looking for the error in the script and fix it. javascript-selector.png

EREQUEST

This happens:

  • For static webpage monitors, when the server returns an error response, like, status not being 200. In those cases try setting up the dynamic option to true in the config to check if the page loads correctly.

  • For XML, JSON, and UPTIME monitors when response is returned with an invalid content type by the server, for example when a server returns HTML content for an XML monitor or when an Invalid request method is used for the monitor. For example, when a GET request is used for a POST monitor. To get the root cause of the error, you can check the response and configure your request accordingly using the Request Editor. json-request-editor.png

EFEED

EFEED is logged when there’s an error parsing the feed. This can happen when the feed’s URL returns content other than a valid feed. You can check the feed’s URL in the monitor’s config and verify if it returns a valid feed.

ETIMEDOUT

This happens when the request to the remote server fails as it took too long to respond. This error can be encountered for any type of monitor.

For a Webpage Monitor, you can set the dynamic to true the config.

TYPE_UNKNOWN

You get this error when the monitor’s type is unsupported. Here are the supported monitor types: supported-monitor-types.png

EFRAMEEVAL

EFRAMEEVAL is logged when there’s an error running your selectors on the page. It can happen when the selectors are incorrect.

You can try opening the monitor using the visual selector to simulate and detect the selector which is erroring out. visual-selector.png

ENOTFOUND

This happens when the server’s domain name from the monitor’s URL cannot be resolved. This can happen when:

  • the server’s domain name is not available in the DNS
  • the server’s domain name is invalid

You can check the monitor’s URL in the config and verify if it contains a valid domain.

ECONNREFUSED

This happens when the remote server refuses to accept the connection from the client. This error can be encountered for any type of monitor. If you’re getting this error for a Webpage Monitor, setting dynamic to true in the config should fix the error.

ERR_DOC_PARSE

Monitors with the type Word Document can encounter this error. This happens when the word document cannot be parsed correctly. Possible scenarios for this error can include:

  • The document is not a valid Word Document.
  • The document is corrupted.

Feel free to contact us in case you need any help with troubleshooting.

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