Transaction Tests Compared With Other Test Types

Transaction tests are web layer tests, and are in the same family as HTTP tests, page load tests and API tests. What do these other test types have to offer?

• HTTP tests use an HTTP client to verify an HTTP server connection, availability, and response time. Use this test to spot early failures, or regional differences. For example, you can configure a single HTTP test including several different Cloud Agents from around the world, to see performance differences by region.

• Page load tests use a ThousandEyes version of the Chromium browser to measure total page load time, as well as evaluating specific elements of the page’s Document Object Model (DOM). Use this test to spot problems with individual page elements. For example, if your site’s front page includes complex elements such as animations, pop-up modal dialogs, scripts that execute or fetch data from other web sites, you can pinpoint problems with greater accuracy.

• API tests allow you to monitor API Endpoints and run synthetic API Transactions. Use this test to understand API availability, latency and validate functional performance.

The HTTP server and page load are quite useful, and simpler to set up than a full-blown transaction test. However, they only test the website’s front page. Sometimes, the site owner isn’t aware of other problems because “the login page was still up.”

The remaining web layer tests are the FTP server test, which tests file transfer performance and doesn’t emulate a browser, and the API test, which consists solely of API calls.