Set up a proxy for private synthetic monitoring

You can incorporate proxies, load balancers, and reverse proxies in your Dynatrace deployment. In particular, your ActiveGate configuration allows you to define one or more proxies for outgoing connections.

To set up a proxy for communication with the tested resource, edit the custom.properties file and set properties in the [synthetic] section.
To set up a proxy only for internal communication with the Dynatrace Cluster, see settings for Dynatrace Cluster communication only.
To set up the same proxy for both a tested resource and the Dynatrace Cluster, set properties in the [http.client] section.

Proxy configuration properties

You can use the following properties when configuring a proxy for your Synthetic-enabled ActiveGate.

Property	Description
`proxy-server`	Server address (hostname or IP address)
`proxy-port`	Port optional If left empty, the default `8080` port is used.
`proxy-user`	User name optional
`proxy-domain`	User domain in the case of NTLM authentication
`proxy-password`	Password optional The password provided in the `proxy-password` property is obfuscated after ActiveGate restart, and the obfuscated password is stored in the `proxy-password-encr` property. Note: If a comma (`,`) is part of a value, you need to add an escape backslash (`\`) before the comma. For example, `proxy-password = foo\,bar`.
`proxy-off`	If set to `true`, causes proxy to be disabled for the particular type of communication.
`proxy-non-proxy-hosts`	A list of hosts for communication with which proxy should not be used by ActiveGate The hosts in the list should be separated by `\|` characters. You can also use an asterisk `` as a wildcard character to match any string. There can be only one wildcard character, either at the beginning or the end of the hostname. For example, `proxy-non-proxy-hosts=.foo.com\|localhost` indicates that every host in the `foo.com` domain and the `localhost` should be accessed directly even if a proxy server is specified. For a full description of allowed syntax, see the syntax for the `http.nonProxyHosts` parameter in Networking Properties.

Proxy connection scenarios

These are the possible scenarios for your proxy configuration.

Connection to the Dynatrace Cluster

plaintext
[http.client]
proxy-server=<proxy>
proxy-port=8080
proxy-user=username
proxy-password=password

[synthetic]
proxy-off=true

Connection to both the Dynatrace Cluster and tested resource

plaintext
[http.client]
proxy-server=<proxy>
proxy-port=8080
proxy-user=username
proxy-password=password

Different proxies for connection to the Dynatrace Cluster and tested resources

To the Dynatrace Cluster

plaintext
[http.client]
proxy-server=<proxy>
proxy-port=8080
proxy-user=username
proxy-password=password

To the tested resource

plaintext
[synthetic]
proxy-server=<proxy between AG and tested resource>
proxy-port=9090
proxy-user=username_two
proxy-password=password_two

Connection to the tested resource and/or Amazon S3

The Synthetic-enabled ActiveGate needs access to the Amazon S3 service to upload and access screenshots for browser monitors on private locations.

Note

For new Dynatrace Managed version 1.216+ installations, screenshots are stored and served locally from the Dynatrace Cluster. For other Managed offline deployments, you will not be able to save screenshots.

plaintext
[synthetic]
proxy-server=<proxy between AG and tested resource>
proxy-port=8080
proxy-user=username
proxy-password=password

Only for synthetic monitoring with direct connection to other resources

plaintext
[synthetic]
proxy-server=<proxy between AG and tested resource>
proxy-port=8080
proxy-user=username
proxy-password=password
proxy-non-proxy-hosts=my.corp.org|*.gdansk.dynatrace.com

Proxy Auto-Configuration (PAC) files

You can use Proxy Auto-Configuration (PAC) files to handle complex proxy configuration for private browser monitors.

What is a PAC file?

A Proxy Auto-Configuration (PAC) file is a JavaScript function that determines whether web browser requests (HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP) go directly to the destination or are forwarded to a web proxy server (from developer.mozilla.org).

How to provide a PAC file to your browser monitors

Use the script mode for single-URL browser monitors and browser clickpaths.

For new monitors, switch from Visual mode to Script mode.
For existing monitors, select Edit to open settings and select Recorded clickpath for clickpaths. Then switch to Script mode.

For existing single-URL browser monitors, select Monitor script.

You’ll need to add the following in the configuration object of the JSON file:

json
"proxy": {
"pacUrl": "https://www.example.com/test.pac"
}

where pacUrl points to your hosted PAC file.

For more information on script mode, see Script mode for browser monitor configuration.

Important to know

PAC file configuration only applies to private Synthetic locations, not public locations.
PAC file configuration applies only to the monitor you configure; you cannot share PAC files between monitors.
If a PAC file is specified, it overrides the proxy settings specified at the ActiveGate level for communication with the tested resource, that is, the properties in the [synthetic] section.
The PAC file must be served via HTTP/S.