Foglight Transaction Recorder 5.6.13 - Recorder Getting Started Guide

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Get started with the Foglight Transaction Recorder

System requirements for the Foglight Transaction Recorder/Player Foglight Transaction Recorder, Player, and Agent installation procedures Using the Foglight Transaction Recorder

Script window Properties window Main window Results window Favorites window

How Foglight Transaction Recorder works Foglight Transaction Recorder sample scripts

FTR-Random Input example FTR-Clipboard example WScript Simple Timers example WScript Database example FTRA-Getting Started example

Working with thin client scripts

Record thin client scripts Insert transactions into a script Save a script Play back a script Insert validation rules View results Publish scripts to Foglight

Working with thick client scripts

Manually record a thick client application using Tevron CitraTest

Manually record a Tevron script Create the script logic Insert captured images into CitraTest scripts Compile the script Run the CitraTest scripts Instrument Tevron CitraTest for use with the Foglight Transaction Recorder Insert a CitraTest script into the Foglight Transaction Recorder Save and playing back the CitraTest script

Get started with the Foglight Transaction Recorder

Foglight’s synthetic monitoring solution consists of the following products:

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Foglight Transaction Recorder. The Foglight Transaction Recorder is a Windows®-based application used for the creation of scripts that model an end-user’s actions against a monitored server environment. After download and installation, the Foglight Transaction Recorder records scripts in a graphical environment resembling an internet browser. Once recorded and played back, the user can set expected times that help determine acceptable time frames the script and parts of the script can run within. When the scripts are played back and configured satisfactorily, they are published to Foglight.

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Foglight Transaction Recorder Advanced (provided by Tevron® CitraTest®). Foglight Transaction Recorder Advanced is used when the applications being driven are thick client (not Web-based), or are Web-based and contain applets or objects not handled natively by the Foglight Transaction Recorder.


	NOTE: Tevron® CitraTest® 751e1 is required for thick client monitoring.

A script created by CitraTest is inserted into the Foglight Transaction Recorder with a special instruction. After playing this instruction, all of the results generated by Foglight Transaction Recorder Advanced are merged with all scripts results. These results are then used as any other instructions in the setup and calculation of expected times as described above.

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Foglight Transaction Player. The Foglight Transaction Player is a Foglight Agent used to playback the scripts recorded by Foglight Transaction Recorder/Advanced. The player requires agent supporting files to be downloaded and installed from the Foglight Management Server.

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Foglight. In Foglight, scripts or services are configured into a Service Group that defines the application. These Service Groups are then assigned to a Transaction Player agent to be played back at defined intervals, reporting their timings back to Foglight. These timings, using the advanced rules engine of Foglight, are then compared to the expected times initially set in the recording of the scripts, but can be overridden on the server. The rules engine can take any defined action based on the results.

Figure 1. Synthetic Monitoring Diagram

For more information, see the following topics:

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System requirements for the Foglight Transaction Recorder/Player

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Foglight Transaction Recorder, Player, and Agent installation procedures

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Using the Foglight Transaction Recorder

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How Foglight Transaction Recorder works

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Foglight Transaction Recorder sample scripts

System requirements for the Foglight Transaction Recorder/Player

The following lists provide hardware and software system requirements for the Foglight Transaction Recorder/Player.


	NOTE: The Foglight Transaction Recorder is supported on both 32-and 64-bit systems. The Foglight Transaction Player requires the 32-bit Foglight Agent Manager.

Software

Foglight Transaction Recorder software requirements:

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Browser: Internet Explorer® 8, 9, 10, and 11

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Operating System:

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Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 SP2 64-bit for Internet Explorer 8, and 9

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Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 64-bit for Internet Explorer 9, 10, and 11

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Microsoft Windows Server 2012 64-bit for Internet Explorer 10 and 11

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Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 64-bit for Internet Explorer 10 and 11

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Windows 7 for Internet Explorer 9, 10, and 11

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Additional Software:

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Windows .Net® Framework 3.5 (automatically installed, if not present)

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WinPcap 4.1.3 (automatically installed, if not present)

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Tevron® CitraTest® 751e1 (required for thick client monitoring)

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Microsoft Visual Basic® (6.0, VB.Net 2002, VB.Net 2003, or VB 2005)


	NOTE: Microsoft Visual Basic is only required if you want to compile or edit CitraTest scripts with Visual Basic instead of using the .NET compiler.

Hardware

Foglight Transaction Recorder minimum hardware requirements:

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Processor: 1.5 GHz Processor

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Memory: 1 GB RAM

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Hard Disk Space: 1 GB


	NOTE: The hardware requirements are the minimum requirements for a machine running on a single Transaction Player agent configured for one worker process (a client machine running one FTR script at a time).

Foglight Transaction Recorder, Player, and Agent installation procedures

For complete installation procedures for the Foglight Transaction Recorder, Player, Agent, and Foglight core components, refer to the End User Monitoring Installation and Configuration Guide.

Using the Foglight Transaction Recorder

The Foglight Transaction Recorder is a Windows® application that records Web browser instructions to identify response time problems and service level degradation before they affect end users. Service level objective times can be compared, showing actual response time versus expected response time to provide feedback when response time degrades. The Foglight Transaction Recorder has the look and feel of a common Internet browser. The difference is that the Foglight Transaction Recorder captures and records any click or action you make when navigating a Web site.

The Foglight Transaction Recorder graphical user interface provides the following windows:

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Figure 2. Foglight Transaction Recorder user interface windows