Many businesses are depending on web applications in recent days to meet customer needs. Your website can crash at any time. Generally, downtime can have severe impacts on businesses.
Here comes the Synthetic Monitoring to save your website from this problem. But if you have no idea about how to get synthetics monitoring to work in new relic, read this post to run your website efficiently.
What is Synthetics Monitoring?
Synthetic monitoring involves anticipating potential system or service breakdowns or performance exceeding expected levels. It entails using centralized services to monitor performance and track low-level events such as JVM restarts and application faults.
Synthetic monitors check irregularities in your website by sending data to servers regularly and comparing it to historical patterns.
Types of Synthetic Monitors
New Relic offers a variety of synthetic monitors designed for different monitoring needs:
- Ping Monitor: Checks the accessibility of your website or server.
- API Test Monitor: Validates that your APIs work as expected.
- Simple Browser Monitor: Regulates the loading time of your websites.
- Scripted Browser Monitor: Enables modeling of complex user interactions.
- Broken Link Monitor: Finds broken links on your website.
Each monitor type serves a distinct purpose, which gives you flexibility in monitoring various aspects of your applications.
How to get Synthetics Monitoring to work in New Relic?
You can efficiently oversee and enhance the performance of your web applications by following the below mentioned steps:
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Selecting a Synthetic Monitor
To begin, select the proper type of monitor for your individual monitoring needs. Choose the API that offers complete monitoring features and flexibility. Access the New Relic platform and go to the monitor creation area.
Fill in important details such as the monitor name, runtime, and tags. Consider enabling additional features such as SSL verification and redirection. Monitoring many sites to achieve complete coverage and reliable insights into application performance is critical.
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Accessing the Summary Page
After creating the synthetic monitor, navigate to the summary page to check its status and performance. This page provides an overview of all active monitors. Also, this page shows any warnings that have been triggered.
To see more detailed information and incidents, click on specific monitors. Manage alert policies for all monitors to provide prompt notifications and reactions to performance issues.
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Analyzing Monitor Results
Review the generated results to gain information about performance of your web application. Sort and filter results to identify trends, anomalies, and improvement areas.
Comparing performance across different locations helps pinpoint potential regional issues and optimize application delivery.
Effective Practice for Synthetics Monitoring
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Best Monitor Locations Selection
When choosing monitor locations, consider the geographic distribution of your audience. Monitoring from appropriate locations provides important details about how different user groups interact with your application. By selecting locations strategically, you can ensure that performance metrics accurately reflect real-world user experiences.
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Design Real Synthetics Tests
It is crucial to develop synthetic tests that closely reflect the actual user behavior to obtain accurate insights. Test circumstances should replicate typical user interactions, such as navigating your application, submitting forms, and interacting with various features. You can identify performance issues by designing actual synthetics tests.
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Fine-tune Alert Conditions
It is essential to fine tune alert conditions to minimize false positives. When you review the historical performance of the data, it can help you to set appropriate thresholds that align with your application’s normal behavior. In new relic monitoring, adjusting alert conditions based on past performance can reduce unnecessary issues.
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Implement Intelligent Alerting Mechanisms
Consider implementing intelligent alerting mechanisms that leverage multiple performance metrics. You can organize alerts based on a combination of response time and error rate. This arrangement can help capture complex performance issues. So that you can quickly identify performance issues in the website.
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Leverage Performance Data
Synthetics Monitoring generates a many range of statistical data that can be utilized for making informed decisions. Analyzing previous trends and patterns allows you to find areas that require optimization. Focus on important aspects of your application to boost the performance improvements.
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Ensure Security and Privacy
When performing synthetic tests, it is important to handle sensitive data correctly. It is also essential to make sure that synthetic algorithms are crafted to handle confidential information securely. Consider using test accounts to simulate user interactions. .
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Compliance with Regulations
Following the data protection guidelines depending on industry is important. Stay informed about compliance requirements and take necessary measures to safeguard data and maintain regulatory compliance. By aligning Synthetics Monitoring practices with data protection regulations, you can mitigate risks and maintain trust with your users.
Integrating Synthetics Monitoring with Other New Relic Features
The products in New Relic’s package work together smoothly. Synthetic Monitoring tools with APM provides a complete view of application performance.
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Linking Synthetics Metrics and Application Performance Data
APM delivers detailed performance insights correlated with synthetic data to highlight direct implications on user experiences. This collaboration enables customized research, such as determining whether sluggish page loading is due to specific backend activities or external API calls.
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Customizing Dashboards and Reports
Tailored reports display performance data to match specific organizational needs. It allows for better communication of insights with stakeholders.
Troubleshooting Common Issues
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Encountering with False Alerts
Incorrect alerts can impact trust in monitoring systems and waste time. Regularly review and adjust alert conditions based on evolving application behaviors to mitigate false positives. For false outcomes, where genuine issues are missed, consider the fundamental source of cause. So, modify alert thresholds or broaden monitoring scope to encompass such incidents in the later period.
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Addressing Monitoring Limitations
Although Synthetics Monitoring indicates the issues in your website performance, it is important to know its drawbacks Synthetic tests may not accurately represent reality. Combine synthetic monitoring with RUM data to gain actual information of the user. RUM identifies flaws that synthetic tests may ignore.
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Investigating Data Fluctuations
Fluctuations in synthetic test results warrant investigation into their underlying causes. Analyze the test condition and cross-reference data from various monitoring platforms to identify aspects that cause fluctuations. Take corrective measures accordingly.
Conclusion
Acquiring skills in establishing synthetic monitoring via New Relic will drastically enhance your web operations. It allows you to manage your digital assets proactively. It results in an excellent end user experience. By leveraging New Relic’s synthetic monitoring, you can solve issues before they arise.
FAQs
1. Why use New Relic for Synthetics Monitoring?
The use of New Relic for synthetic monitoring has many advantages. It helps uncover endpoint failures, speed up issue resolution, facilitate collaboration, pinpoint affected services, view dependencies, and generate auto-tickets.
2. Can I monitor APIs with New Relic Synthetics?
Yes, New Relic Synthetics can monitor APIs and applications at any time, from any place, and with any frequency users specify.
3. What scripting languages does New Relic Synthetics support?
New Relic Synthetics uses a JavaScript-like scripting language to create scripted browser monitors, which enable the tracking of multi-step processes using a real browser. Additionally, it supports scripting languages such as Go, Java, .NET Core, .NET Framework, Node.js, PHP, Python, and Ruby.
4. How can I set up alerts for my synthetic monitors?
To set up alerts for synthetic monitors in New Relic, go to the Alerts & AI section. Select “Create alert condition,” choose your monitor, set thresholds, and configure notification channels.
5. How often should I run my synthetic tests?
Synthetic monitoring checks are often run regularly, with the frequency varying depending on what is being monitored. For example, availability may be checked once per minute.
6. Is Synthetics Monitoring available on all New Relic plans?
New Relic Synthetics is accessible across all New Relic account tiers, including complimentary and subscription-based plans. The free tier permits 500 checks monthly, while the standard and pro tiers offer 10,000 and 1 million checks per month, respectively.
7. How is Synthetics Monitoring billed in New Relic?
As of January 25, 2023, New Relic will charge $0.005 for every additional check for non-ping monitors. New Relic bills are based on the amount of data ingested and the number of billable users allocated.
8. How do I use global locations for synthetic monitoring
To use global locations for synthetic monitoring in New Relic, customize your monitor settings to pick multiple locations worldwide. It allows for complete performance monitoring across diverse geographic regions.
