Do you need help with getting Synthetics Monitoring to work in New Relic? Look no further! In this comprehensive blog, we will guide you through the entire process. We will start by exploring different monitoring techniques, including Real User Monitoring and Synthetic Monitoring. Then, we will delve into the necessity of Synthetic Monitoring in today’s digital world and explore the types of synthetic monitors available, such as API Tests & Browser Monitors.
But that’s not all! We will also dive deep into New Relic’s Synthetic Monitoring and provide a step-by-step guide on how to get it to work. We’ve covered you, from checking page load performance to creating a simple workflow with codeless monitoring.
And if that’s not enough, we’ll even show you how to test site behaviour with scripted monitoring and teach you how to edit and delete a monitor in New Relic. Plus, we’ll address your concerns about the security of Synthetic Monitoring.
So, if you’re ready to optimize your Synthetics Monitoring in New Relic, keep reading!
Exploring Different Techniques of Monitoring
Monitoring plays a crucial role in ensuring the optimal performance of your applications and websites. You should know two main monitoring techniques: Real User Monitoring (RUM) and Synthetic Monitoring.
Real User Monitoring
Real User Monitoring (RUM) is a powerful technique New Relic employs to monitor web application performance from the end user’s perspective. It collects valuable data on real user interactions, including page load times, network latency, and browser performance. This information lets you identify bottlenecks and optimize your application’s performance.
Enabling RUM in New Relic is as simple as adding a JavaScript snippet to your web application’s HTML code. Once activated, RUM collects data and provides invaluable insights into your application’s performance for user segments and locations.
Synthetic Monitoring
Synthetic monitoring, or synthetic testing, is a technique used to simulate user interactions with a website or application. By setting up scripted tests, you can simulate real user behaviours and monitor the performance of critical functions. New Relic offers synthetic monitoring capabilities that allow you to schedule these tests to run regularly from different locations worldwide.
This provides valuable insights into the user experience and helps you proactively address performance issues before they impact real users. With synthetic monitoring in New Relic, you can ensure that your applications are working smoothly and efficiently.
The Necessity of Synthetic Monitoring in Today’s Digital World
Synthetic monitoring has become a necessity in today’s digital world. It allows businesses to proactively monitor the performance and availability of their websites and applications. Synthetic monitoring can identify potential issues before they impact real users by simulating user interactions. New Relic offers a comprehensive synthetic monitoring solution that helps businesses ensure optimal performance and user experience.
Implementing synthetic monitoring in New Relic involves setting up monitors, defining test scripts, and configuring alerting and reporting options. With synthetic monitoring, businesses gain valuable insights into website and application performance, enabling data-driven decisions to improve their digital presence.
Delving into the Types of Synthetic Monitors
There are several types of synthetic monitors that you can use in New Relic to test the performance and availability of your applications. Browser monitors simulate user interactions with websites, checking availability and performance. API monitors, on the other hand, test the availability and response times of specific APIs or web services.
Scripted browser monitors provide more advanced testing capabilities by simulating user interactions using scripts. The mobile app monitors and tests mobile applications’ performance and availability on different devices. Server monitors check the availability and performance of servers, including response times and resource usage. Finally, the network monitors test connectivity and measures response times between locations.
Diving into New Relic’s Synthetic Monitoring
Synthetic monitoring is a crucial technique in application performance monitoring that helps you improve the performance and reliability of your applications. You can easily set up and configure synthetic monitors in New Relic to meet your needs. With New Relic’s synthetic monitoring system, you can access different types of monitors, such as HTTP, browser, and scripted monitors.
These monitors allow you to simulate user interactions, check response times, monitor web applications, and even test APIs. By utilizing the data and insights provided by New Relic’s synthetic monitoring, you can identify and address any anomalies or bottlenecks that may affect the overall performance of your application.
How to Get Synthetics Monitoring to Work in New Relic?
To enable Synthetics monitoring in New Relic:
- Ensure you have a valid account and access to the Synthetics feature.
- Install the Synthetics agent on your server or device.
- Configure monitors by specifying URLs and locations and checking frequency.
- Monitor performance and uptime using the Synthetics dashboard for detailed analysis.
Check Page Load Performance
To ensure optimal website performance, utilize New Relic’s synthetic monitoring feature. Using synthetic monitors, you can simulate user interactions and measure page load times. Monitor crucial metrics such as response time, availability, and error rates to identify performance bottlenecks.
Use New Relic’s reporting and alerting capabilities to stay informed about potential issues. Synthetic monitoring can optimize your website’s performance and enhance user experience. Stay ahead of any anomalies and ensure smooth functionality with New Relic Synthetics.
Sign in to your New Relic account
To access the synthetics monitoring feature in New Relic, you must first sign in to your New Relic account. Once signed in, navigate to the Synthetics section of the platform. Within this section, you can create monitors to track the performance and availability of your web applications. To set up a monitor, click “Create a Monitor” and select “Page Load Performance.”
Paste in a URL
To monitor your website’s or application’s performance using synthetic monitoring in New Relic, you can start by pasting in the URL of the specific page you want to monitor. Once the URL is entered, you can customize the monitoring settings, such as location, frequency, and device type.
New Relic will then simulate visits to the specified URL from different locations and devices to measure its performance. The real-time results can be viewed on the New Relic dashboard, providing metrics like page load time, response time, and any encountered errors. Regularly monitoring your page load performance helps identify and address issues affecting user experience.
View your data
After setting up synthetic monitoring in New Relic, you can access your data by navigating to the Synthetic Monitoring tab. From there, go to Summary Page to view reports and charts that provide insights into the performance of your monitored pages. Additionally, you can set up alerts to notify you when certain thresholds are exceeded or specific errors occur. Regularly checking and analyzing your synthetic monitoring data will help you identify and resolve any performance issues or errors, ensuring optimal website performance.
Simple Workflow with Codeless Monitoring
One of the key advantages of New Relic’s codeless monitoring feature is that you can create synthetic tests without having to write any code. Define the test parameters, such as the URL, location, and frequency. After running the tests, you can monitor the results and analyze any failures or performance issues. Based on the insights gained from monitoring, you can then fine-tune your synthetic tests to optimize the performance of your application.
Sign into your New Relic account
To begin, access your New Relic account using your login credentials. Once you’ve signed in, locate the Synthetics section within the New Relic dashboard. You’ll find options to create and manage monitors for your applications or websites from there. To set up a new monitor, click the “Create a Monitor” button and select the “User Step Execution” tile.
Create your step monitor
To create a step monitor in New Relic’s synthetics monitoring system:
- Go to Synthetics section and click on “Monitors” to create a new monitor.
- Choose the type of monitor you want to create, such as a scripted browser or API test.
Follow the prompts to define the steps of your monitor, including specifying URLs, filling out forms, or making API requests. You can also add assertions to verify that certain elements or conditions are on the page.
This allows you to simulate user interactions and ensure the performance and availability of your application.
Define your steps
Start by identifying the key transactions or user interactions you want to monitor in your application. Define the steps involved in each transaction or interaction using New Relic’s codeless monitoring feature. This allows you to record and analyze user interactions without writing any code.
Set up synthetic monitors to run at regular intervals and simulate these defined steps. Analyze the results to identify any issues or bottlenecks in your application. Regularly review and update your synthetic monitors as your application evolves to monitor critical transactions and interactions effectively. Make sure to click “Validate” before saving your monitor.
View your data
Once you have set up synthetic monitoring in New Relic, you can easily view and analyze the performance of your applications. To do this, navigate to the Synthetics tab in the New Relic UI. Within this tab, you will find a comprehensive list of your synthetic monitors and their current status.
By clicking on a specific monitor, you can access more detailed information, such as response time, availability, and error rate. Additionally, you can customize the displayed data through filters and sorting options. This allows you to effectively identify potential performance issues or errors and take the necessary steps to optimize your applications.
Test site behaviour with scripted monitoring
You can set up synthetic monitors to test your site’s behaviour with scripted monitoring in New Relic. Define the desired actions and behaviours you want to monitor, and create script files that replicate these interactions. Configure synthetic monitors in New Relic to run the scripts at regular intervals. You can identify issues or performance bottlenecks by monitoring and analyzing the results. The insights gained from synthetic monitoring can then be used to optimize your website and enhance the user experience.
Go to URL
The code $webdriver.get() will send your monitor to the targeted domain you need to monitor.
Interact with Page Element
To ensure the performance and functionality of your website, scripted monitoring in New Relic allows you to simulate user interactions with specific elements. When you navigate to a URL on your monitor, $webDriver.findElement() detects the specified element and executes an action, click(). When the action is finished, the monitor follows the same logic to return to the home page.
Wait for Page element
To ensure accurate simulation of user interactions in New Relic’s synthetics monitoring, you can utilize the “Wait for Page element” feature. With this step, you can specify a particular element on your webpage that the script should wait for before proceeding. Since some dynamic elements require time to track, you can pass parameters to $webDriver.waitForandFindElement(). The monitor in this snippet searches for “supportFAQLink” and waits 20000 seconds before informing you of an error.
Log in to Website
By logging in, you can simulate user interactions and effectively monitor how your site performs during these actions. Scripting the login process ensures that the monitoring accurately reflects real user behavior, allowing you to identify any performance issues or errors that may arise during the login process. This step plays a vital role in assessing the overall performance of your application and verifying SSL certificates.
How to Edit and Delete a Monitor in New Relic?
To edit or delete a monitor in New Relic:
- Access the dashboard and navigate to the “Synthetics” section.
- From the list of active monitors, locate the one you want to edit or delete.
- For editing, click the monitor’s name and go to the settings page.
- Make necessary changes like URL, check frequency, or alert conditions.
- Save the changes and ensure the updated monitor is active.
- Select the checkbox next to its name to delete a monitor and click the “Delete” button.
How Secure is Synthetic Monitoring in New Relic?
Synthetic monitoring in New Relic is highly secure and adheres to industry best practices. Data transmitted during monitoring is encrypted for utmost protection. New Relic implements strict measures to prevent unauthorized access to monitoring data, utilizing secure authentication methods to ensure only authorized users can access the features.
FAQ – How to Get Synthetics Monitoring to Work in New Relic?
How do I monitor API in New Relic?
To monitor APIs in New Relic:
- Utilize the Synthetics feature.
- Create a dedicated monitor for your API endpoints and define HTTP requests and assertions to test functionality.
- Monitor response time and error rates for optimal performance.
How does New Relic monitoring work?
New Relic monitoring operates by gathering and analyzing data from your applications and infrastructure using agents. This information is then transmitted to the New Relic platform for processing and display. By leveraging New Relic monitoring, you can gain valuable insights into application health, performance, and troubleshooting to identify bottlenecks and enhance overall performance.
How do I disable Synthetic monitoring on New Relic?
To disable synthetic monitoring on New Relic:
- Navigate to the Synthetic Monitoring settings in your account.
- Locate the option to disable or turn off synthetic monitoring and follow the provided prompts or instructions to confirm the action.
- Remember that disabling synthetic monitoring may affect your ability to monitor and analyze the performance of your web applications.
What are the benefits of Synthetic monitoring with New Relic?
Synthetic monitoring with New Relic offers proactive performance and availability monitoring for your website or application. It provides real-time data on global performance, helps you detect and resolve issues before users are affected, and ensures a seamless user experience.
What is the difference between distributed tracing and infinite tracing?
Distributed tracing tracks the path and performance of individual requests in a distributed system. In contrast, infinite tracing captures traces for all requests within a specific time frame, enabling a more comprehensive analysis of system behaviour. Distributed tracing is useful for troubleshooting specific issues, while infinite tracing gives a broader view of system performance trends. Both are valuable tools for monitoring and optimizing application performance in New Relic.
