BMC Synthetic End User Experience Monitoring overview
The Borland Silk Performer Synthetic Transaction Monitoring for BMC Software product monitors the performance and reliability of worldwide applications through synthetic (also called robotic) transactions.
The following topics provide a brief introduction to the product and its components:
Want a PDF of the BMC Synthetic End User Monitoring documentation?
Click here to create and download a PDF that contains the documentation for the BMC Synthetic End User Experience Monitoring product. The PDF export begins when you click the link and requires 30-60 seconds to complete.
BMC Synthetic End User Experience Monitoring business value
You use synthetic transaction monitoring to predict application health and user experience. BMC Synthetic End User Experience Monitoring enables you to manage the performance and reliability of your applications by executing complex business transactions and monitoring performance and functional behavior. Synthetic transaction monitoring enables your business to proactively check service level agreements (SLAs) and receive notification of a breach before the end user is impacted.
You can monitor the client-side business transactions of enterprise applications that are based on technologies such as the following:
- Web (HTML)
- Client-server databases
- Java EE applications
- .NET Framework applications
- Web services
- ERP and CRM applications
Migrating from BMC TM ART?
See Knowledge Base article KA416651 (Support logon ID required) for details about the SEUEM Assisted MIGration Operations (AMIGO) program.
Define and schedule synthetic monitoring that is distributed around the globe and measure site health based on metrics such as availability and performance. You can maintain monitoring on an ongoing basis across all tiers of an application and examine reported data in a single, intuitive interface.
Synthetic monitoring concepts and configuration objects
You use the Borland Silk Performer Synthetic Transaction Monitoring scripting utility to simulate user transactions. Synthetic transaction scripts run on a computer with the BMC Synthetic Transaction Execution Adapter (TEA) Agent installed.
To understand the monitoring of synthetic transactions, you should be familiar with the following concepts:
Concept | Description |
|---|---|
Synthetic transaction scripts | A transaction script is a sequence of instructions that simulate user transactions. BMC Synthetic End User Experience Monitoring uses prerecorded .ltz scripts to simulate end-user transactions, and BMC provides some basic scripts. You can create realistic and customizable scripts through an external scripting tool and then upload, deploy, manage the scripts in the BMC Application Management Console. The scripting tool, Borland Silk Performer Synthetic Transaction Monitoring for BMC Software, also serves as an execution module to run scripts on the computer with the BMC Synthetic Transaction Execution Adapter (TEA) Agent. Each computer with the TEA Agent requires an execution module to run the scripts. On each TEA Agent computer, you can install the full Silk Performer installation or a smaller execution-module-only installation. For details about working with synthetic transaction scripts, see Using-a-script-to-simulate-end-user-transactions. |
Agent Group | An Agent Group is a logical group of TEA Agents, grouped for load balancing and high availability, and according to the needs of your organization. Each script is run on one Agent in an Agent Group. If several scripts are run on the same Agent Group, the scripts are distributed evenly across the Agent Group. Each Agent is assigned to an Agent Group during Agent installation. |
Execution Plan | An Execution Plan provides the interface for a script and its execution. Through an Execution Plan, you specify the configuration for the script (including custom attributes), Agent Groups on which the script runs, run schedules, and blackout periods. For details about working with Execution Plans, see Defining-an-Execution-Plan-to-run-a-script. |
Business Service | Business Services enable you to group related sets of Execution Plans. Business Services provide a way for you to set up one general definition that can be applied to several Execution Plans. Every Execution Plan is associated with a Business Service, and every new Execution Plan inherits settings from the associated Business Service. For details about working with Business Services, see Defining-an-application-to-group-Execution-Plans. |
Watchpoint | A Watchpoint is a subset of synthetic transaction results, so that you can focus on smaller groups of transactions. The following Watchpoints are part of the Synthetic Device Configuration Pack:
You can configure Watchpoints in the Real User Analyzer, such as the following examples:
For details about working with Watchpoints, see Defining-and-managing-Watchpoints-to-group-web-traffic. |
BMC Synthetic End User Experience Monitoring integration with BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management
After you install synthetic transaction monitoring components, you can use BMC PATROL for Application Management to monitor the performance and reliability of your worldwide applications through BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management.
Performance statistics provided by synthetic transaction monitoring measure application health based on end-to-end metrics, such as availability, accuracy, and performance.
For information about integrating with BMC ProactiveNet, see BMC PATROL for Application Management.
Related topic
BMC-Synthetic-End-User-Experience-Monitoring-architecture