Configure business transaction rules

Learn how business transaction rules make trace behavior in transaction processing explicit and transparent.

Note: This feature is only available in the Enterprise version.

Use business transaction rules to group related traces in a service as a business transaction.

You can configure the following types of business transaction rules:

Global tag rule: Creates business transactions with traces that contain spans with a specified global tag value. You can also specify the environments that you want the rule to apply to. The business transaction name will be the specified tag value.
Service rule: Creates business transactions with traces that include a specified service. You can also specify the endpoints, environments, and root spans that you want the rule to apply to. The business transaction name can be set to the service:endpoint syntax using the service and endpoint name from the matched service span, the value of a specified tag from the matched service span, or a custom name.

Splunk APM includes one default system-generated rule that can be turned off. For more information, see About the default business transaction rule.

Prerequisites

To configure business transaction rules, you must meet the following requirements:

You have the admin role in Splunk Observability Cloud.
To create a business transaction rule that uses global span tags, you must first index the tag. For more information, see Index span tags to create Troubleshooting MetricSets.

Before you configure business transaction rules, you can optionally:

Review the Business transaction rule configuration behavior and limits.
Review the Example business transaction configurations.
Create endpoint rules to group related instances. You can then create business transactions based on the new endpoint groups. For more information, see Create endpoint rules to group related instances.

Create and apply a business transaction rule

Complete the following steps to create and apply a business transaction rule.

From the Splunk Observability Cloud main menu, select Settings, then APM business transactions.
Select New Rule. Follow the on-screen instructions to create the rule.
Select Create to save your changes and create the rule.
In the Business Transaction Rules table, confirm that the toggle for the rule is enabled. If not, select the toggle to enable the rule.
Adjust the priority of the new rule as needed. Rules are applied in the priority order defined by the table. By default, the newest rule has the highest priority.
Select Save Changes to apply the new rule and priority order.

View the rule that generated a business transaction

A business transaction is automatically linked to the rule that generated it. Complete the following steps to view the rule that generated a business transaction.

From the Splunk Observability Cloud main menu, select APM, then Overview.
Select the Business Transactions tab. In the table of business transactions, select the actions menu (...) for the business transaction.
Select View associated business transaction rule.
The Configure rule tab displays by default and shows the business transaction rule. You can also select the Business Transactions tab to see the list of business transactions generated by the rule that were active in the last hour.

View the business transactions generated by a rule

Complete the following steps to view the business transactions generated by a rule.

From the Splunk Observability Cloud main menu, select Settings, then APM business transactions.
Select the edit icon for a business transaction.
Select the Business Transactions tab. This tab displays the business transactions generated by the rule that were active in the past hour. To filter the list, enter a business transaction name in the search bar.

Next steps

After you create and apply a business transaction rule, you can monitor the new business transactions in the business transaction view. For more information, see: