Here were some questions from the session:

Q1: Can you share some best practices for Synthetic Testing for app performance?

Solution

• Simplify as much as possible, and validate as you go
• Use global variables to scale and protect sensitive information
• Organize your tests with naming conventions and tags
• Understand your baseline, then alert on KPIs
• View results in context with the rest of your application health

Documentation:

• https://docs.splunk.com/observability/en/synthetics/test-config/rum-synth.html 
• https://docs.splunk.com/observability/en/synthetics/browser-test/browser-test-metrics.html#performan... 

Blog:

https://community.splunk.com/t5/Community-Blog/Mastering-Synthetic-Browser-Testing-Pro-Tips-to-Keep-...

Q2: What metrics do synthetic tests generate? I'd like to create a custom dashboard based off synthetics.

Solution: 

Solution

• Different metrics are generated for Browser, Uptime, and API tests.
• Transactions within Browser tests also generate a few metrics, so you can monitor and alert on unexpected changes across multiple steps or pages within a test.

Documentation:

• Browser test metrics
• Uptime test metrics
• API test metrics

Q3: What capabilities in O11y Cloud help me understand the actual experience of the users of my website?

Solution

• Real User Monitoring (RUM) focuses on how your end users experience your web or mobile application
• RUM provides visibility into errors and performance, and ties them to backend traces
• Support for browser and native Android & iOS apps
• Flexible instrumentation built on open source/open standards

Documentation:

• Intro to RUM
• RUM scenario library

*You can find the slide deck with all of the Q&A and the session recording on our #office-hours user Slack Channel.