Synthetic transaction configuration workflow

This topic describes an example scenario of a network administrator using synthetic transaction monitoring.

Gwen is a network administrator for PetRocks.com and she needs to plan, deploy, and configure synthetic transaction monitoring to check the performance when a user logs onto the website from a certain location. She needs to set up monitoring for the availability and accuracy of the web-based shopping cart application from different locations to see that the end-user experience is working according to the service-level agreement.

Gwen is responsible for the following tasks:

Planning location and installing the synthetic TEA Agent

Gwen must identify the exact host computers on which to install the BMC Synthetic Transaction Execution Adapter (TEA) Agents. Each Agent is associated with a location, which is a logical group (such as by geographical location or application type), that is used for load balancing and high availability.

From the TEA Agents, scripts run sequences of instructions that simulate user transactions.

Understanding the script

Gwen examines the provided URLChecker script, which checks the availability, accuracy, and response time of the URL by downloading its page and embedded objects, and verifying the title and content. The script is run by an Execution Plan, which determines the location, script definitions, run frequency, and blackout periods.

Configuring an application

Before configuring the Execution Plan, Gwen defines an application, named “PetRocks Online Services,” in the TrueSight console. She prepares several scripts for the application, and the scripts will be run the by the application's Execution Plans.

Configuring an Execution Plan

In the TrueSight console, Gwen enables synthetic transaction monitoring for the application and defines one or more Execution Plans. Gwen defines an Execution Plan, named “PetRocks Dealer Portal,” where she provides values for the parameters in the URLChecker script. The Execution Plan runs the script in specified locations, which are logical groupings of TEA Agents.