Synthetic Agents

When deploying the on-premises Synthetic Server, you can deploy one or both Synthetic Agent types:

  • Synthetic Hosted Agents - Synthetic Agents that are hosted and maintained by Splunk AppDynamics
  • Synthetic Private Agents - Synthetic Agents that you install, configure, run, and maintain in your infrastructure

Comparison of the Synthetic Agent Types

The following table compares the two types of agents and provides the benefits and main use cases for both.

Synthetic Agent Type Key Benefits / Use Cases
Synthetic Hosted Agent
  • Access to a fleet of geographically distributed agents
  • Reduced ownership/resource costs: no hardware or cloud computing costs
  • Ease-of-use: no need to deploy/configure/manage agents
  • Scalability: Synthetic Hosted Agents are only deployed when needed, and more agents are readily available if the workload increases
Synthetic Private Agent
  • Monitoring of internal sites and services that are not publicly accessible
  • Complete control over the agent configurations and environment

Overview of Installation and Configuration Steps

The following table provides an overview of the installation and configuration steps for each type of Synthetic Agent.

Synthetic Agent Type Required Steps
Synthetic Hosted Agent
  1. Acquire the license "Browser Synthetic User Monitoring - Hosted Agent - On-Premise".
  2. Verify that the license has an HMAC key.
  3. Configure SSL for the Synthetic Server (recommended).
  4. Connect the on-premises Synthetic Server to the SaaS EUM API Server and SaaS Synthetic Server.
Synthetic Private Agent
  1. Acquire one of the following licenses:
    • Browser Synthetic Monitoring - Private Agent - Per Location (on-premises)
    • Browser Synthetic Monitoring - Private Agent - Unlimited Locations (on-premises)
  2. Install Synthetic Private Agents.
  3. Connect the Synthetic Private Agent to the on-premises Synthetic Server.
  4. Configure SSL for the Synthetic Server (recommended).
  5. Start and maintain the Synthetic Private Agent.