WPM glossary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Action | A single event within a step, such as clicking a mouse, entering text, or pressing the Enter key. Multiple actions can be included in a single step, and a group of steps makes a sequence. |
| Authentication binding | When a client certificate is selected during a recorded sequence, the Web Transaction Recorder saves the name, issuer, and other identifying data about the certificate in the recording as an authentication binding. The certificate itself is not stored. |
| Managed transaction | A transaction that is assigned to a location and actively reporting statistics to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console. Managed and unmanaged transactions count against your WPM license. |
| SEUM | Synthetic End User Monitor (SEUM) was the original product name for WPM. |
| SolarWinds Platform server |
The primary server used by the SolarWinds Platform Web Console and SolarWinds Platform products. |
| SolarWinds Platform Web Console | The web interface where you interact with SolarWinds Platform products. In addition to displaying WPM data and reviewing events, you can use the SolarWinds Platform Web Console to deploy the Web Transaction Recorder and the SolarWinds WPM Player Playback service to remote systems, schedule transactions to play at regular intervals, or configure thresholds for alerts. |
| Pingdom |
SolarWinds Pingdom is a subscription-based, SaaS application that provides synthetic monitoring and Real User Monitoring (RUM) to provide insights into the behaviors and experiences of actual end users. You can use WPM recordings as Transaction Checks in Pingdom. Not using Pingdom yet? Click here to start a free trial. |
| Recording | A series of navigational steps and actions that are captured as a recording. After you assign a recording to a transaction location for playback, it becomes a transaction monitor. Recordings do not count against your license, but managed and unmanaged transactions do. |
| SolarWinds WPM Playback Player service |
Also called the WPM Player, this service is installed on the SolarWinds Platform server, Additional Polling Engines (optionally), and any remote systems where it was deployed.
If your environment includes SolarWinds SAM, you can use the SolarWinds Web Performance Monitor (WPM).apm template to monitor this service, as well as the SolarWinds WPM Playback Proxy service, described next. |
| SolarWindsWPM Playback Proxy service |
This service is installed on the SolarWinds Platform server and Additional Polling Engines, if applicable.
|
| Transaction | A transaction is a recorded sequence of web browser steps assigned to a specific location. |
| Transaction location | After creating a transaction, designate where the transaction plays, which can be the SolarWinds Platform server or a remote system where a WPM Player was deployed. Transaction locations are sometimes referred to as "player locations" or "playback locations." |
| Transaction step | A step is a collection of actions within a recorded transaction. For example, the actions required to navigate to a specific URL make up one transaction step. |
| Unmanaged Transaction |
An unmanaged transaction is a WPM transaction currently assigned to a specific location, but purposely set as inactive so it does not report statistics to the SolarWinds Platform Web Console. See Stop and start WPM transaction monitoring. When a transaction is unmanaged, historical data is retained and the transaction counts against your WPM license. |
| Web Transaction Recorder |
A program, accessible from the Windows Start menu, that captures web browser steps as you perform them to mimic typical steps performed by end users, such as mouse clicks, text input, and authentication. After recording a transaction, you can schedule it to run at regular intervals on systems that host the SolarWinds WPM Player Playback service, also known as WPM Players.
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| Webview | The area of a web page that can be captured in a recording, and then later tracked during playback. See Track click coordinates with X, Y Capture Mode. |
| WPM Browser |
A process used by the WPM Player service to run transactions and track playback statistics. It is related to the following files:
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| WPM Player |
A remote system that hosts the SolarWinds WPM Playback Player service to run recorded transactions at scheduled intervals. For details, see Deploy WPM Players to remote systems. You may also see WPM Players referred to as "transaction locations" or "playback locations" because they're created when recorded transactions are assigned to specific locations. |
| WPM Player service account |
When the WPM Player Playback service plays transactions at scheduled intervals, it uses a different WPM worker process to perform each step in a transaction. Each worker process requires a WPM Player service account that provides permission to perform a transaction step. By default, the WPM Player on the SolarWinds Platform server includes two WPM Player service accounts, and WPM Players deployed to remote systems include seven accounts. You can add up to 15 WPM Player service accounts; however, SolarWinds recommends using seven accounts during playback. The limit of accounts on a player depends on the power of the host system (CPU, RAM, and so on). More than seven accounts can consume too much CPU and RAM, resulting in poor performance. |
| WPM worker process |
WPM worker processes rely on specific WPM Player service accounts. These service accounts provide the necessary permissions for the proper functioning of WPM worker processes. Each transaction performed by the WPM Player involves multiple steps. For playback of recorded transactions, individual WPM worker processes execute these steps, gathering data during playback. To ensure proper segregation and control, each process has its own unique WPM Player service account. This is crucial for effective permission and access management during concurrent execution of distinct transaction steps. |