Recommended configuration for synthetic monitoring

BMC strongly recommends configuring the BMC Synthetic End User Experience Monitoring system to increase the effectiveness of filters and the grouping of results. The recommended configuration provides following benefits:

Names of elements such as Execution Plans and TEA Agent Groups are displayed
All related synthetic objects are grouped into sessions
Session details are displayed in the Session Browser or in the Session Overview pages

This topic contains a description of the recommended settings for synthetic monitoring. Configure the system manually if you have a working system to which you want to add synthetic monitoring.

Note

To configure the system automatically, see Implementing Synthetic Device Configuration Pack.

Perform all configurations in the Real User Analyzer or Monitor. You can adjust the recommended or automatic configuration to suit you and your organization's requirements.

Watchpoints for synthetic transactions

Define page Watchpoints (Administration > Watchpoint Management > Available Watchpoints) to enable detailed monitoring of the performance and availability for all synthetic transactions.

Watchpoints configuration for synthetic transactions

Watchpoint name	Type	Description	Traffic filter
All synthetic transactions	Page	Page Watchpoint to aggregate all synthetic transactions	`(url.stem_string contains "bmc-synthetic-1.0" ignorecase)`
All synthetic transactions excluding timers	Page	All synthetic transactions, without showing custom timers and page timers. This Watchpoint is useful for dashlets and reports where timers might cause distortion.	`(url.stem_string contains "bmc-synthetic-1.0" ignorecase) AND (mime_type is "synthetic/transaction")`

Watchpoint filters for synthetic data

Add filters to the Watchpoint filter library (Administration > Watchpoint management > Filter library) to help further filter synthetic transactions.

Filter configuration for synthetic transactions

Filter name	Expression	Description
Synthetic all	`(url.stem_string contains "bmc-synthetic-1.0" ignorecase)`	Synthetic transactions, custom timers and page timers
Synthetic timers	`(url.stem_string contains "bmc-synthetic-1.0" ignorecase) AND (mime_type is "synthetic/timer")`	Synthetic timers only
Synthetic transactions	`(url.stem_string contains "bmc-synthetic-1.0" ignorecase) AND (mime_type is "synthetic/transaction")`	Synthetic transactions only (no timers)

Custom error-detection rules

Create custom error-detection rules (Administration > Thresholds and problem detection > Error detection rules) to notify you about synthetic transactions with availability errors, accuracy errors, or execution errors.

Error-detection rule configuration for synthetic transactions

Match Policy	Severity	Category	Description	Filter Expression
Proceed	Error	Content (CT)	Synthetic transaction accuracy error	`(custom_synthetic_accuracy_errors > 0)`
Proceed	Error	Application (AP)	Synthetic transaction availability error	`(custom_synthetic_availability_errors > 0)`
Proceed	Error	Custom (CU)	Synthetic transaction execution error	`(custom_synthetic_execution_errors > 0)`

Use the Move up and Move down arrows to ensure that the new rules appear before the first rule with a Stop match policy, as shown in the following image.

Example of the synthetic error-detection rules above the first Stop match policy

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Session termination rule

Create session termination rules (Administration > Data flow settings > Session detection, click Termination rules) to define the conditions under which the system considers a session ended. For synthetic monitoring, each run of an Execution Plan is a session.

Session termination rule configuration for synthetic transactions

Name

Filter

Termination Conditions

Synthetic termination rule

(url.stem_string contains "bmc-synthetic-1.0" ignorecase)

if inactive for 15 minutes

or when a specific event occurs (Specify with filter expression)
(post_param("bmc_syn_session_termination") is "true")

followed by 1 second(s) of inactivity

Example of session termination rule

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Custom fields

Add object custom fields (Administration > Data flow settings > Custom fields) and add an extraction rule to capture page data that you can later use in error-detection rules and other system entities. Create the following custom fields:

Synthetic Accuracy Errors
Synthetic Availability Errors
Synthetic Execution Status

Page custom field and extraction rule configuration for Synthetic Accuracy Errors

Custom field
Field name	Synthetic Accuracy Errors
Description	Synthetic Accuracy Errors
Grammar name	`custom_synthetic_accuracy_errors`
Export name	`x-custom-synthetic_accuracy_errors`
Expected data type	Integer
Extraction rule for Synthetic Accuracy Errors
Traffic selection
Format	Filter expression only
Extraction Name	Synthetic Accuracy Errors
Filter Expression	`(url.stem_string contains "bmc-synthetic-1.0" ignorecase) AND (mime_type is "synthetic/transaction")`
Data source
Source Field	POST parameter
Key	`bmc_syn_acc_err`
Transformation
Transformation	Use default value: None (use as is)

Example of custom field and extraction rule for Synthetic Accuracy Errors

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Page custom field and extraction rule configuration for Synthetic Availability Errors

Custom field
Field name	Synthetic Availability Errors
Description	Synthetic Availability Errors
Grammar name	`custom_synthetic_availability_errors`
Export name	`x-custom-synthetic_availability_errors`
Expected data type	Integer
Extraction rule for Synthetic Availability Errors
Traffic selection
Format	Filter expression only
Extraction Name	Synthetic Availability Errors
Filter Expression	`(url.stem_string contains "bmc-synthetic-1.0" ignorecase) AND (mime_type is "synthetic/transaction")`
Data source
Source Field	POST parameter
Key	`bmc_syn_av_err`
Transformation
Transformation	Use default value: None (use as is)

Example of custom field and extraction rule for Synthetic Availability Errors

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Page custom field and extraction rule configuration for Synthetic Execution Status

Custom field
Field name	Synthetic Execution Errors
Description	Synthetic Execution Errors
Grammar name	`custom_synthetic_execution_status`
Export name	`x-custom-synthetic_execution_status`
Expected data type	Integer
Extraction rule for Synthetic Execution Status
Traffic selection
Format	Filter expression only
Extraction Name	Synthetic Execution Status
Filter Expression	`(url.stem_string contains "bmc-synthetic-1.0" ignorecase) AND (mime_type is "synthetic/transaction")`
Data source
Source Field	POST parameter
Key	`bmc_syn_exec_err`
Transformation
Transformation	Use default value: None (use as is)

Example of custom field and extraction rule for Synthetic Execution Status

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Extraction rules on existing system custom fields

Add an extraction rule to custom fields (Administration > Data flow settings > Custom fields) to determine the POST parameter within a page that contributes its data to the field. Add rules to the following existing system custom fields:

Group ID is a session custom field. The added rule enables the Session Browser to display the name of the Execution Plan in the Group ID column of the page.
User ID is a session custom field. The added rule enables the Session Browser to display the name of the TEA Agent Group in the User ID column of the page.
Application Name is a page custom field. The added rule enables the name of the Execution Plan to be displayed as an Application. You can use the name of the Execution Plan to create Application Watchpoints for monitoring through the BMC Application Management Console.
Page Name is a page custom field. The added rule enables the name of the synthetic transaction to be displayed as a page name according to the following syntax:
- Overall transaction: executionPlan---transactionName
- Custom timer or page timer: executionPlan---transactionName---timer

Extraction rule configuration for Group ID field

Traffic selection
Format	Filter expression only
Extraction Name	Synthetic Group ID
Filter Expression	`(url.stem_string contains "bmc-synthetic-1.0" ignorecase)`
Data source
Source Field	POST parameter
Key	`bmc_syn_ep`
Transformation
Transformation	Use default value: None (use as is)

Example of extraction rule for Group ID

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Extraction rule configuration for User ID field

Traffic selection
Format	Filter expression only
Extraction Name	Synthetic User ID
Filter Expression	`(url.stem_string contains "bmc-synthetic-1.0" ignorecase)`
Data source
Source Field	POST parameter
Key	`bmc_syn_tea_group`
Transformation
Transformation	Use default value: None (use as is)

Example of extraction rule for User ID

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Extraction rule configuration for Application Name field

Traffic selection
Format	Filter expression only
Extraction Name	Synthetic Application Name
Filter Expression	`(url.stem_string contains "bmc-synthetic-1.0" ignorecase)`
Data source
Source Field	POST parameter
Key	`bmc_syn_ep`
Transformation
Transformation	Use default value: None (use as is)

Example of extraction rule for Application Name

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Extraction rule configuration for Page Name field

Traffic selection
Format	Filter expression only
Extraction Name	Synthetic Page Name
Filter Expression	`(url.stem_string contains "bmc-synthetic-1.0" ignorecase) AND (mime_type startswith "synthetic" ignorecase)`
Data source
Source Field	POST parameter
Key	`bmc_syn_name`
Transformation
Transformation	Use default value: None (use as is)

Example of extraction rule for Page Name

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Page tree

Watchpoints for synthetic transactions

Watchpoint filters for synthetic data

Custom error-detection rules

Session termination rule

Custom fields

Extraction rules on existing system custom fields

Related topics