Create a private synthetic location

With Dynatrace Synthetic, you can run your monitors from a private synthetic location, which is a location in your private network infrastructure where you install a synthetic-enabled ActiveGate.

With monitors executed from a private location, you can bring the testing capabilities available in public locations right into your own environment. With private locations you can:

measure internal web page performance and availability
measure complex internal applications with clickpath monitors
measure external resources with synthetic monitors run from internal locations
monitor APIs, both internal and external

Private synthetic locations are supported by all types of Dynatrace synthetic monitors.

System and hardware requirements for private locations

Make sure the machine you'll use for running private synthetic monitors complies with system and hardware requirements for private synthetic locations. Note that synthetic-enabled ActiveGate has more demanding hardware and system requirements than a regular Environment or Cluster ActiveGate.

Before you begin

You can't execute synthetic monitors using an ActiveGate that's configured for multi-environment support.
You can create a private location using a clean installed synthetic-enabled Environment ActiveGate version 1.169+ or Cluster ActiveGate with Dynatrace Managed version 1.176+. If you want to use an existing ActiveGate machine, uninstall it first.
The synthetic-enabled ActiveGate is used exclusively to run synthetic monitors. The clean ActiveGate installation set to Synthetic monitoring disables all other ActiveGate features, including communication with OneAgents.
You need to make sure the ActiveGate can connect to other Dynatrace components, as well as the resource you want to test. See Setting up proxy for private synthetic monitoring.
Only IPv4 and DNS UDP are supported for network configuration.
In Dynatrace Managed offline deployments, you won't be able to save screenshots.

Install synthetic-enabled ActiveGate

A synthetic-enabled ActiveGate is used exclusively to run synthetic monitors. A clean ActiveGate installation set to Synthetic monitoring will disable all other ActiveGate features, including communication with OneAgents. Make sure the machine on which you install the ActiveGate has access to the internet.

Manual installation

If the web UI-guided installation fails or you prefer to prepare the machine for the synthetic engine yourself, learn how to manually install Chromium and other dependencies.

For Environment ActiveGate, from the navigation menu, select Deploy Dynatrace > Install ActiveGate. For Cluster ActiveGate, go to Dynatrace Cluster Management Console, select the browse [...] button and select Add new Cluster ActiveGate.
Select the operating system and follow the on-screen instructions.
For What's the purpose of this ActiveGate?, select Run synthetic monitors from a private location.
Download the installer.
Linux Select Linux distribution. When you run the installer, it automatically downloads Chromium and the dependencies required by the synthetic monitors engine. On RedHat and CentOS, you'll need to enable repositories from which the installer downloads the dependencies. The web UI provides you with all the required commands. For example:
Install ActiveGate. Make sure you use the exact command displayed in the Dynatrace web UI.

Add a private location

Environment ActiveGate Cluster ActiveGate

In the Dynatrace web UI, go to Settings > Web & mobile monitoring > Private synthetic locations.
Select Create location.
Give your location a custom Name, for example Boston office, 3rd floor.
Map it from an existing geographic location or add a new one. This is defined by Region, City, and Geographic coordinates.
Add the synthetic-enabled ActiveGate you've just installed to the location.
Select Add.
Select Save.

Managed only

Use the Cluster API to create a location and assign a Cluster ActiveGate to it. The Cluster API comes with the Open API doc, which is accessible from the Cluster Management Console. In the Cluster Management Console, expand the User menu, select Cluster Management API and select the Cluster API definition. You can also use the JSON model as a reference.


        synthetic/cluster-api-spec.json

Download

The Cluster API base URL is <cluster-url>/api/cluster/v1

Use the GET /synthetic/nodes endpoint to list all the synthetic-enabled Cluster ActiveGates in your environment. Among other parameters, you'll receive the host IP address and the entityId in the response. For example:

{
"nodes": [
  {
    "entityId": "3086117876",
    "hostname": "gdn.dyna.trace",
    "ips": [
      "238.245.160.14"
    ],
    "version": "1.175.0.20181210-173639",
    "browserMonitorsEnabled": true
  }
]
}

Use the POST /synthetic/locations endpoint to create a new location and assign a synthetic-enabled Cluster ActiveGate to it. Use the entityId you determined in the previous step as one of the values for nodes and set type to CLUSTER. See an example of a request body for the POST call.

{
  "type": "CLUSTER",
  "name": "Dynatrace Gdansk Lab",
  "countryCode": "PL",
  "regionCode": "PL82",
  "city": "Gdansk",
  "latitude": 54.3990,
  "longitude": 18.5766,
  "nodes": [
    "3086117876"
  ]
}

If your call is successful, you'll receive a 200 OK response.

Create a private monitor

Now, when you create your HTTP or browser monitor, select the location you've just created from the list of all available locations. For more information, see Create an HTTP monitor, Create a single-URL browser monitor, or Record a browser clickpath.

Install Chromium and dependencies manually (Linux only)

If the web UI-guided installation fails or you prefer to prepare the machine for the synthetic engine yourself, you can install Chromium and other dependencies using the procedure below.

Ubuntu Server 16.04

Install synthetic engine dependencies:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y install xvfb x11-xkb-utils xfonts-100dpi xfonts-75dpi xfonts-scalable

Install Chromium dependencies:

sudo apt-get -y install libasound2 libatk-bridge2.0-0 libatk1.0-0 libc6:amd64 libcairo2 libcups2 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 libgtk-3-0 libnspr4 libnss3 libxss1 xdg-utils

Download and install Chromium.
ActiveGate 1.189+ ActiveGate 1.183 to 1.187 ActiveGate 1.169 to 1.181
- Download the deb packages archive. This is a safe and verified archive hosted by Dynatrace.
  
  curl --output chromium.tgz https://synthetic-packages.s3.amazonaws.com/Chromium/deb/chromium-79.0.3945.130-0ubuntu0.16.04.1.tgz
  
  You can verify the authenticity of the packages using the signature files stored together with the package archives.
- Extract the installation packages. Go to the directory where you saved the archive and run the following command:
  
  mkdir /tmp/chromium ; tar xzf chromium.tgz -C /tmp/chromium
  
  This will create a /tmp/chromium directory and extract the packages into it.
- Install extracted packages.
  
  sudo dpkg -i /tmp/chromium/*.deb
  
  This will install all the packages extracted to the /tmp/chromium/ directory. You can delete the /tmp/chromium/ directory and the downloaded chromium.tgz archive after successful Chromium installation.
- Download the deb packages archive. This is a safe and verified archive hosted by Dynatrace.
  
  curl --output chromium.tgz https://s3.amazonaws.com/synthetic-packages/Chromium/deb/chromium-78.0.3904.108-0ubuntu0.16.04.1.tgz
  
  You can verify the authenticity of the packages using the signature files stored together with the package archives.
- Extract the installation packages. Go to the directory where you saved the archive and run the following command:
  
  mkdir /tmp/chromium ; tar xzf chromium.tgz -C /tmp/chromium
  
  This will create a /tmp/chromium directory and extract the packages into it.
- Install extracted packages.
  
  sudo dpkg -i /tmp/chromium/*.deb
  
  This will install all the packages extracted to the /tmp/chromium/ directory. You can delete the /tmp/chromium/ directory and the downloaded chromium.tgz archive after successful Chromium installation.
- Download deb packages and save them to a convenient place. These are safe and verified packages hosted by Dynatrace.
  curl https://s3.amazonaws.com/synthetic-packages/Chromium/deb/chromium-browser_73-ubuntu.16.04.1_amd64.deb --output chromium-browser_73-ubuntu.16.04.1_amd64.deb curl https://s3.amazonaws.com/synthetic-packages/Chromium/deb/chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra_73-ubuntu.16.04.1_amd64.deb --output chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra_73-ubuntu.16.04.1_amd64.deb
- Install downloaded packages. Go to the directory where you saved the packages and run the following command:
  sudo dpkg -i chromium-browser_73-ubuntu.16.04.1_amd64.deb chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra_73-ubuntu.16.04.1_amd64.deb

Disable automatic update of Chromium packages:

 echo "chromium-browser hold" | sudo dpkg --set-selections  
 echo "chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra hold" | sudo dpkg --set-selections

Optional Install non-latin TrueType fonts:

sudo apt-get install xfonts-cyrillic fonts-arphic-uming ttf-wqy-zenhei fonts-wqy-microhei ttf-wqy-microhei ttf-wqy-zenhei xfonts-wqy fonts-hosny-amiri

Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS

Set up repositories

Red Hat 7 CentOS

sudo subscription-manager register --auto-attach

Enable the Red Hat Extras and Optional repositories, as well as EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux ).

sudo subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-7-server-extras-rpms  
sudo subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-7-server-optional-rpms  
sudo rpm -Uvh https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm

Enable EPEL (Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux ).

sudo yum install epel-release

Install synthetic engine dependencies

sudo yum install -y xorg-x11-server-Xvfb xorg-x11-xkb-utils xorg-x11-server-utils xorg-x11-fonts-100dpi xorg-x11-fonts-75dpi xorg-x11-fonts-Type1 curl

Download and install Chromium

ActiveGate 1.189+ ActiveGate 1.183 to 1.187 ActiveGate 1.169 to 1.181

Download the rpm packages archive. This is a safe and verified archive hosted by Dynatrace.
```
curl --output chromium.tgz  https://synthetic-packages.s3.amazonaws.com/Chromium/rpm/chromium-79.0.3945.130-1.el7.tgz
```
You can verify the authenticity of the packages using the signature files stored together with the package archives.
Extract the installation packages. Go to the directory where you saved the archive and run the following command:
```
mkdir /tmp/chromium ; tar xzf chromium.tgz -C /tmp/chromium
```
This will create a /tmp/chromium directory and extract the packages into it.
Install extracted packages.
```
sudo yum install -y /tmp/chromium/*.rpm
```
This will install all the packages extracted to the /tmp/chromium/ directory. You can delete the /tmp/chromium/ directory and the downloaded chromium.tgz archive after successful Chromium installation.

Download the rpm packages archive. This is a safe and verified archive hosted by Dynatrace.
```
curl --output chromium.tgz https://s3.amazonaws.com/synthetic-packages/Chromium/rpm/chromium-78.0.3904.97-1.el7.tgz
```
You can verify the authenticity of the packages using the signature files stored together with the package archives.
Extract the installation packages. Go to the directory where you saved the archive and run the following command:
```
mkdir /tmp/chromium ; tar xzf chromium.tgz -C /tmp/chromium
```
This will create a /tmp/chromium directory and extract the packages into it.
Install extracted packages.
```
sudo yum install -y /tmp/chromium/*.rpm
```
This will install all the packages extracted to the /tmp/chromium/ directory. You can delete the /tmp/chromium/ directory and the downloaded chromium.tgz archive after successful Chromium installation.

Download rpm packages and save them to a convenient place. These are safe and verified packages hosted by Dynatrace.

curl https://s3.amazonaws.com/synthetic-packages/Chromium/rpm/chromium-73.el7.x86_64.rpm --output chromium-73.el7.x86_64.rpm  
curl https://s3.amazonaws.com/synthetic-packages/Chromium/rpm/chromium-common-73.el7.x86_64.rpm --output chromium-common-73.el7.x86_64.rpm  
curl https://s3.amazonaws.com/synthetic-packages/Chromium/rpm/chromium-libs-73.el7.x86_64.rpm --output chromium-libs-73.el7.x86_64.rpm  
curl https://s3.amazonaws.com/synthetic-packages/Chromium/rpm/chromium-libs-media-73.el7.x86_64.rpm --output chromium-libs-media-73.el7.x86_64.rpm

Install downloaded packages. Go to the directory where you saved the packages and run the following command:

sudo yum install -y chromium-73.el7.x86_64.rpm chromium-common-73.el7.x86_64.rpm chromium-libs-73.el7.x86_64.rpm chromium-libs-media-73.el7.x86_64.rpm

Disable automatic update of Chromium packages:

sudo yum -y install yum-plugin-versionlock  
sudo yum versionlock chromium  
sudo yum versionlock chromium-common  
sudo yum versionlock chromium-libs  
sudo yum versionlock chromium-libs-media

Optional Install non-latin TrueType fonts:

sudo yum install xfonts-cyrillic fonts-arphic-uming ttf-wqy-zenhei fonts-wqy-microhei ttf-wqy-microhei ttf-wqy-zenhei xfonts-wqy fonts-hosny-amiri

After you satisfy the dependencies, run the installer with root rights with the --enable-synthetic parameter. For example:

/bin/sh Dynatrace-ActiveGate-Linux.sh --enable-synthetic

Questions and answers

How can I verify the authenticity of downloaded chromium packages?

Each tgz package archive is stored in the S3 Bucket together with the *.tgz.sig signature file. To verify if the packages on your drive are authentic Dynatrace-provided archives, perform the following steps:

Download the signature file. The filename is identical as the packge archive plus the sig filename extension. For example, for Chromium 78, it'll be:

curl --output chromium.tgz.sig https://s3.amazonaws.com/synthetic-packages/Chromium/rpm/chromium-78.0.3904.97-1.el7.tgz.sig

Verify the package:

wget https://ca.dynatrace.com/dt-root.cert.pem ; openssl cms
-verify
-in chromium.tgz.sig
-inform PEM
-content chromium.tgz
-binary
-CAfile dt-root.cert.pem > /dev/null

Verify the signature timestamp.
You can also get the exact timestamp of a signature. Download the *.tgz.sig.tsr file from the same location as installation packages and signature and run the following command:

openssl ts -reply -in chromium.tgz.sig.tsr -text

Can I use a proxy with the synthetic-enabled ActiveGate?

With ActiveGate version 1.175+, an ActiveGate executing private monitors can connect through the proxy to both, the Dynatrace Cluster and tested resource. For more information, see Setting up proxy for private synthetic.

Can I update an earlier ActiveGate to version 1.169+ and configure it to use with private browser monitors?

No, you need to run a clean installation in the Synthetic monitoring mode to enable your ActiveGate to execute monitors from private locations.

Can I turn on Synthetic on an existing ActiveGate installation?

Private synthetic location requires a clean installation of ActiveGate in the Synthetic monitoring mode.

Manual editing of the custom.properties file is not sufficient to enable ActiveGate to execute synthetic monitors.

Can I add browser monitoring to a Synthetic-enabled ActiveGate already running HTTP monitors?

To add browser monitoring on Synthetic-enabled ActiveGates already running HTTP monitors, you need to reinstall the ActiveGate.

Manual editing of the custom.properties file is not sufficient to enable browser monitoring in this case.

Troubleshooting

ActiveGate installation failed due to missing dependencies

In such cases

Uninstall ActiveGate.
See Uninstall ActiveGate for details.
Satisfy the dependencies.
Run the installation again.

I can't see the browser monitors' screenshots

We store the screenshots in Amazon S3. If you can't see your reference or error screenshots, it means that either your ActiveGate or the browser from which you access Dynatrace can't access the Amazon S3 service. Change your firewall configuration to allow connections to *.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com on port 443. You can also set up your proxy to connect to the Amazon S3 service. Since version 1.175, you can proxy communication to S3 for screenshots. Add proxy connection details to the [synthetic] section of the ActiveGate custom.properties file. For more information, see Set up a proxy for private synthetic monitoring.