Introduction to WPM

Discover Web Performance Monitor (WPM), a SolarWinds Platform tool developed to detect website performance issues before users are affected.

Download the PDF: WPM Product Guide (formerly known as Administrator Guide)

What you monitor

With WPM, you can capture the typical steps performed by your end users in a recording, and then assign that recording to various locations throughout your environment. WPM constantly replays recorded transactions to perform the following tasks:

• Check whether web servers or applications are up, down, or experiencing high loads.
• Continuously monitor the end user experience for each step of a web transaction, track duration, dependencies, alerts, and more.
• Monitor any web application, whether internal (behind the firewall), external (customer-facing), or cloud-based.

For an overview of WPM, see How WPM works.

WPM and the SolarWinds Platform

The SolarWinds Platform server hosts a variety of products, including WPM, as well as the SolarWinds Platform Web Console. Learn here how you can use WPM with other SolarWinds products.

You can utilize the SolarWinds Platform to easily view and monitor transactions and triggered alerts through the Web Transaction Recorder and the WPM Player service. For more information, see SolarWinds Platform features available in WPM

WPM access levels can be configured in the SolarWinds Platform by adjusting account permissions.

Deploy WPM to remote sites

While the Web Transaction Recorder and WPM Player service are automatically added to the SolarWinds Platform server after installation, they can also be deployed to remote systems. This deployment allows users to simulate and mimic an end users location and permissions.

Once the Web Transaction Recorder is deployed to a remote system, it can be configured to communicate with the SolarWinds Platform and upgraded to match the latest version of the primary WPM application.

Similarly, once the WPM Player service has been deployed to a remote system, it can be configured to communicate with the SolarWinds Platform and upgraded to match the latest version of the primary WPM application. Additionally, users can migrate WPM Players to a new system if they need to replace the original host system.

Manage WPM recordings

The Web Transaction Recorder captures web browser steps as you recreate them and turns them into a recording. These transactions can be assigned to different locations in your WPM environment and scheduled to run at set intervals. See Use the Web Transaction Recorder for guidance on how to best utilize the Web Transaction Recorder.

The Web Transaction Recorder can create recordings that access resources that only become available after traversing a proxy server to verify a transactions ability to pass through a proxy server and get to the requested resource. To authenticate access to a proxy server in a recording, see Work with WPM recordings that traverse proxy servers.

Recordings can also be used to check for valid client certificates with the Web Transaction Recorder. See Work with client certificates in WPM recordings to link a certificate to a recording.

WPM recordings can be exported to a local drive in an instance where a connection cannot be establish with the SolarWinds Platform. When a connection cannot be establish or the system is offline, you cannot retrieve recordings directly from the SolarWinds Platform server. In this case, you can open previously exported recordings and import the recording into the SolarWinds Platform Web Console. The SolarWinds Platform Web Console can also be utilized to delete WPM recordings as needed.

If needed, changes can be made to the WPM Recorder. See Learn about the WPM Recorder configuration file for more information.

The Recordings Migration Tool (RMT) enables you to migrate WPM recordings created with the Deprecated Recorder. If you are currently using the Deprecated WPM Recorder, see Migrate WPM recordings using the Recordings Migration Tool for guidance.

Manage WPM transactions

Assigning a previously created recording to a specific location creates a WPM transaction. The transaction is an active monitor that performs web actions based on the steps completed in the recording to monitor and evaluate web performance. For more information, see Manage WPM transactions.

Transaction locations are remote systems in your environment where WPM Players are deployed. To learn how you can add, edit, and delete transaction locations, see Manage transaction locations in WPM.

Proxies can be configured for WPM transactions and transaction locations to facilitate communication with the SolarWinds Platform server. To configure proxies, see Configure proxies for WPM transaction locations and transactions.

Users can stop and start transaction monitoring should the need arise. Transaction management can be done through the SolarWinds Platform Web Console or on a regular schedule set up by the user. To learn how you can stop and start transactions as needed, see Stop and start WPM transaction monitoring.

Dependencies in the SolarWinds Platform work to associate objects into a parent-child relationship, showing that one object depends on another. Dependencies can be configured in WPM on transactions and transaction steps to provide an heightened level of detail to isolate dependencies on single browser actions. To configure dependencies in WPM, see Configure WPM transaction dependencies.

WPM transactions can be viewed in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console as they are played back in your environment. See Monitor WPM transactions in views and widgets for a detailed breakdown on how you can use the SolarWinds Platform server to view WPM transactions.

WPM Player service accounts

A WPM Player simulates an end users activity by playing back a recorded transaction. WPM worker processes are utilized to perform recorded steps and collect data during playback. As WPM worker processes can be run simultaneously, each worker process requires its own WPM Player service account. To manager these accounts, see Manage WPM Player service accounts.

If needed, changes can be made to the WPM Player. See Learn about the WPM Player configuration file for more information.

WPM alerts

An alert is an automated notification determined by preset conditions that a network event has occurred. For WPM, alerts can be added for any object in your environment, including transactions, transaction locations, and transaction steps. See Configure WPM alerts to learn how to create, view, and modify alerts.

FIPS 140-2 support

It is important to note that WPM is not fully FIPS compliant as some of its components are based on the Chromium engine. Both the WPM Player and Recorder installers inform you that they are not fully FIPS compliant and will require acknowledgment that you understand this before proceeding with the installation. If FIPS compliance is critical to your business, see the Install or Upgrade WPM for guidance on how to proceed.