Scheduled Test Settings Reference

This article outlines the available configuration options for Scheduled tests.

Basic Configuration Options

HTTP server test
Agent to server test
Configuration Option
Test Type
Required / Optional
Description
Test Name
Both
Optional
An optional field for a user-defined name. If left blank, the URL/Target field value will be used.
URL
HTTP server only
Required
The target URL for the HTTP server test.
Target
Agent-to-server only
Required
The target domain name or IP address for the agent-to-server test.
Protocol
Both
Required
Supported protocols. The options include:
  • Auto-detect*: The default option selected.
  • ICMP: Use ICMP only.
  • ICMP + TCP Connect: Enables a TCP connection with a 10 second timeout, and closes the connection if it was able to connect. Unsuccessful connections count towards the TCP Connection Failures metric.
  • Prefer TCP: Falls back to ICMP if TCP is unavailable.
  • TCP: Use TCP only.
TCP Port
Agent to server only
Optional
Defines the port to be used for the TCP connection. The default port is 443.
Probing Mode
Both
Optional
Determines which of the TCP measurement options to use:
  • Prefer SACK: Use SACK where possible, and revert to SYN if SACK is not supported.
  • FORCE SACK: Always use SACK regardless of support.
  • FORCE SYN: Always use SYN even if SACK is supported.
For more information, see: Network Tests Explained
TCP Connect
Both
Optional
Path trace in session
Both
Optional
Enables performing path trace "in session". This option initiates a TCP session with the target server, and sends path trace packets within the TCP session.
Interval
Both
Required
The frequency the test should be run at. The default is five minutes.
Agents
Both
Required
The agents the test should be run on. There are three options available:
  • All Agents: The test is assigned to all available agents.
  • Specific Agents: The test is assigned to user-defined agents.
  • Agent Labels: The agent is assigned based on pre-configured labels. See Configure Endpoint Agent Labels for more information.
Prioritise this test
Both
Optional
This is a toggle switch that overrides the default priority definition. By default, this is toggled off.
Alerts
Both
Required
Select the alert rules enabled for the test from the drop-down list, or click Edit Alert Rules to create or configure the available rules. See How Alerts Work.
Proxy Options
HTTP server
Required
Define which proxy should be used when running the HTTP server test.
Max No. of Agents
Both
Required
Specifies the maximum number of agents that should run the test each interval from the list of available agents.
* Auto-detect works by trying several probes to identify the best test method for the agent's current network conditions. For example, some ISPs limit ICMP traffic, some firewall vendors block SACK traffic and more. The system will discover and adjust its settings at each network change event to use the best method at that point in time.

Advanced Configuration Options

Agent to Server Test

Configuration Option
Description
Preferred Stack
Specifies if the agent-to-server test should use IPv4 or IPv6 networks. The available configuration options are:
  • IPv4 only
  • Prefer IPv6
  • Force IPv6

HTTP Server Test

Configuration Option
Description
Timeout
The number of second until the test terminates due to an unresponsive target server.
Target Time for View
Sets the color legend on the global map, and the corresponding font colors for the agent results table. For example, Response Time for an HTTP server test sets the range of the legend from 0 seconds (green end) to 2x the Target Time for View (red end).
Data Collection
Enable this option to collect network metrics and create a path visualization.
Scheme
Defines the type of authentication. The available options are:
  • None/p>
  • Basic (requires username and password configuration)
  • NTLM (requires username and password configuration)
Preferred Stack
Specifies if the agent-to-server test should use IPv4 or IPv6 networks. The available configuratio options are:
  • IPv4 only
  • Prefer IPv6
  • Force IPv6
Request Method
Select the HTTP request method - either GET or POST. If POST is selected, you may specify data in the POST Body field. The default is GET.
Follow Redirects
Enable to have the pathtrace follow any redirects that are in place within the monitored domain.
SSL Version
Defines the SSL version used.
Verify SSL Certificate
Uncheck this box to ignore certificate errors during SSL/TLS negotiation. By default, certificate-related errors will result in a test error.
User Agent
Defines the browser version and device used.
Custom Headers
Enter one or more HTTP header strings in the form stringname: value. Ensure there is a space between the colon and value.
Override DNS
Instead of using standard DNS resolution, this option allows you to specify the IP address to which the target's domain name will resolve. This option is useful for targeting a specific server within a cluster, or when testing HTTPS URLs which require a server name indication (SNI) in the SSL/TLS negotiation that is different from the domain name-to-IP address mapping required to access the URL.
Desired Status Code
Sets the HTTP status code returned by the server that is defined as a successful test (i.e. no errors will be displayed in the test table results, no response code-based alerts generated etc). By default, either a 200-level or 300-level status code is considered a successful return code. Uncheck this box and enter a response code in the field below to use a different expected response code.
Verify Content
Search the HTTP headers and body for text which matches the expression in the Verify Content field. The expression can be a literal text or a POSIX regular expression. If no match occurs, the test shows an error condition.
Limit Download Size
Load only the first number of kilobytes (kB) specified in the field below the Enable box. The result is not guaranteed to be exactly the number specified but can be slightly more, yet always within a few percent, or less as the size of the download is increased. Note that this function does not use an HTTP Range header, so the HTTP response code should not be affected (i.e. success is a 200 OK response, not a 206 Partial Content response).