To run synthetic functionality on an application, you need to turn Synthetic on for the application and then configure the application accordingly. To turn Synthetic on for an application, on the Edit Application page, set the Synthetic field for the application to ON.
Warning
If you set the Synthetic field to OFF, all synthetic configurations for the application, including all Execution Plans, are deleted.
To run synthetic functionality, you also must make sure the current status is set to Active.
Synthetic configuration includes the following:
An Execution Plan provides the interface for a script and its execution. Through an Execution Plan, you specify configuration values for the script, indicate on which locations the script runs, and define the run schedule.
BMC Synthetic Transaction Execution Adapter (TEA) Agents can process up to 120 Execution Plans each.
This topic contains the following procedures:
Note
You can also add custom SLA levels for individual execution plans. See To edit the Custom SLA for an Execution Plan for more details.
Enter a unique Name for the Execution Plan and, optionally, a Description for the Execution Plan.
The description appears in a tooltip when you place the cursor over the Execution Plan name on the list of Execution Plans.
Note
Execution Plan names must be unique within the same application configuration. You can use the same Execution Plan name in different application configurations.
In Script Attributes, set values for the script attributes that require user input, such as URLs, host names, and passwords.
Note
In Locations, you can assign or unassign locations where the Execution Plan runs.
Click OK.
In Execution Plan Schedule, you see a summary of the current schedule settings for the Execution Plan.
To edit the schedule, click Edit Schedule.
In the Execution Plan Schedule dialog box, set the following options:
Repetition | |
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Repeat Every | Set how often the Execution Plan runs. This must be a whole number of minutes or hours.
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Timeout Period | Set the amount of time the Execution Plan is allowed to run before it stops automatically. |
Advanced Settings | |
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) | Select this to schedule the Execution Plan according to UTC time. |
TEA Agent Time | Select this to schedule the Execution Plan according to the local time of the TEA Agent where the Execution Plan runs. |
Random Start-Time Delay (Maximum in minutes) | Set this to the maximum range of delay before the Execution Plan starts. A different delay value is randomly set for each location where the Execution Plan runs. In each location, the Execution Plan runs at start time + the random delay set for the Execution Plan in that location.
See examples at the end of this procedure.
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Effective Immediately / Effective From | Select Effective Immediately to start running the Execution Plan immediately. Select Effective From to start running the Execution Plan from a specific date and time.
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Never Expire / Expire On | Select Never Expire to indicate the Execution Plan should continue running and will never expire. |
Select Expire On to set an expiration date and time for the Execution Plan. The Execution Plan will not run anymore after the expiration date/time passes. |
Click Save.
In Blackouts, If you have blackout periods set for this Execution Plan, you see a table listing the blackout periods.
The following details are shown in the table (see the description of editing a blackout field below for more details):
Column | Description |
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Time Zone | The clock used to calculate the blackout period:
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Period | Time period when the blackout period is in effect |
Recurrence | When, and how often the blackout period recurs |
Description | Optional description |
To add a blackout period for this Execution Plan, click Add Blackout.
To edit a blackout period for this Execution Plan, click Edit on the blackout period's action menu.
In the Blackout Settings dialog box, set the following options:
Description (optional) | Enter a logical name or description for the blackout period. |
Time Period | |
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Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) / TEA Agent Local Time | Select Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to schedule the blackout according to UTC time. |
Select TEA Agent Local Time to schedule the blackout according to the local time of the TEA Agent where the Execution Plan runs. | |
Effective Immediately / Effective From |
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Never Expire / Expire On |
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Recurrence | |
All Day | Select this to set the blackout period to cover the entire day for the selected days. |
Start Time, End Time | Select the start and end times of the blackout period for the selected days of the week. The same Start Time and End Time apply to all selected days. |
Days of the week | Select the days of the week when the blackout period takes effect. At least one day must be selected. |
Click Save.
To delete a blackout period, click Delete on the action menu for the blackout period.
Click Save to save the Execution Plan settings.
Note
Initial configuration operations might take several minutes to take effect, depending on the heartbeat interval of the TEA Agent (30 seconds, by default) and the amount of time to download the scripts to the TEA Agent computer.
Using scripts to simulate end-user transactions
Application and Execution Plan status
Daylight saving time and blackout periods
Preparing Silk Test script execution for synthetic transaction monitoring