Create or edit a synthetic monitor to test the availability and performance of your HTTP endpoints before your customers discover issues.

Before you begin

  • A configuration item (CI) for the endpoint you want to test.
  • If you're testing private endpoints or want to run the monitors from your environment, one or more locations must be created to host the monitor. To create a location, see Create synthetic monitoring locations.

Role required: sn_sow_synthetics.synthetics_editor or sn_sow_synthetics.synthetics_admin

Procedure

  1. Navigate to All > Service Operations Workspace and select the synthetic monitoring icon (Synthetic monitoring).
  2. On the Overview page, either create a synthetic monitor or edit an existing one.
    • To create a synthetic monitor, select New.
    • To edit an existing one, select the link for the monitor you want to edit and then select the Details tab.
  3. On the form, fill in the fields.
    1. In the Monitor details section, enter a unique name for the monitor and a description.
    2. In the HTTP settings section, fill in the fields.
      Table 1. HTTP settings section
      Field Description
      HTTP method HTTP method that you want to monitor for the endpoint.
      HTTP endpoint CI CI for the endpoint that you want the monitor to test.

      If the endpoint doesn't exist, choose Manage HTTP endpoints in CMDB to create a new CI.
      Related service CI Application service CI related to the HTTP endpoint. The entered value is used to create or update the CI relationship between the HTTP endpoint and the application service.
      Support group Group who is notified and assigned alerts when this monitor fails.
      Query parameters String of query parameters to include in the request URL.
      Note: The string shouldn't include the leading question mark. For example, use id=xyz&customer=myco instead of ?id=xyz&customer=myco.
      Credentials Credential needed if the endpoint requires authentication.

      OAuth, Basic Auth, and API keys are supported.
      Headers Key-value pairs for the HTTP request headers. You can add multiple pairs.
      Body Text that is used if the API expects a message body, such as a JSON snippet.
    3. In the Locations section, select one or more locations.
      • To run this monitor's test from your ServiceNow instance, select Current Instance.
        Note: When running tests from the platform, only six tests can be run every minute for performance reasons.

        The endpoint for the monitor must be publicly available.

      • Choose any of the locations you previously created.
      • Choose Create new location to create a new location.
      For more information on how to create a location, see Create synthetic monitoring locations.
    4. In the Assertion section, define a successful test by selecting one or more criteria, an operator, and a value.
      Note: Multiple criteria are joined with an AND phrase, so the test must pass all criteria to be successful.
      Criteria type Description of success
      Status code Endpoint returns the given status code.
      Response time (in ms) Endpoint response time is less than the given value.
      Response body Endpoint sends a string value in the response body that matches the selected operator and given value.
    5. In the Frequency section, enter the number of minutes between each test run.
    6. (Optional) To have an alert sent through Event Management when a test fails:
      • In the Alert settings section, activate the toggle switch.
      • Select an alert severity for a test failure.
  4. Select Save.

Result

The Overview page for the synthetic monitor displays the results of the tests that the monitor runs. See Identifying system issues with synthetic monitoring for more information.