Test Settings Reference

This article describes the available configuration tabs and settings when adding, copying, or editing a Synthetics test in the Kentik portal.

Notes:

• Only Admin users can manage Synthetics tests in the Kentik portal.

• The number of available tabs and fields vary depending on test type.

Test Settings Page

The settings for an individual Synthetics test are consolidated on a page with tabs that you navigate when adding or editing a test on Kentik’s Tests page.

Monthly Credits Usage Estimate

Below the tabs, a Monthly Credits Usage Estimate shows how your organization’s test credits usage is currently being impacted by this test:

• This Test: The number of credits this test is using (current month).

• Remaining: The number of available credits (current month) while this test is active.

• Credits/min: The number of credits this test uses per minute.

• Agent/Target Counts: The number of targets and agents used for this test.

Tip: The page’s Test Preview button allow you to validate your settings and see the impact this test will have on future test credit consumption.

Test Management Controls

The following test management control elements are available on the Test Settings page:

• Test Type: The type of test (see Test Types Reference).

• Info (icon): Click to get an explanation of how this test type works (when available).

• Cancel (button): Click to exit without saving changes (requires confirmation).

• Pause/Resume (buttons, existing tests only): Pauses or resumes testing related to this test.

• Preview (button): Opens the Test Preview for the test, or if editing a BGP test, the BGP Route Viewer.

  TIP: Opening a Test Preview deactivates the Preview button on the Test Settings page. To run the preview again, do so from the Test Preview page.

• Create Test (button, new tests only): Click to save the configuration and start the test, which adds it to the Tests page.

• Save (button, existing tests only): Click to save changes to the test.

  Note: The Preview and Save buttons are active only when the current settings are sufficient to create a test.

• Delete (button, existing tests only): Click to permanently remove the test from your organization's collection of tests.

Test Settings Tabs

The following tabs are available when adding, copying, or editing a Synthetics test in the Kentik portal.

Test Information Tab

The Test Information tab includes the general identification settings for the test. Every test requires that you enter a name.

• Name (required): The test name that appears in the Kentik portal.

• Description: Notes or comments that will appear when you hover over the Notes icon in the top right corner of a Test Results Page.

• Labels: Displays a lozenge for each selected label to apply to the test.

  • To select a label: Click the field and choose the label from the searchable dropdown.

  • To remove a label: Click the X at the right of that label's lozenge.

• Add Label: A link to open a dialog where you can add a new label.

  Note: A new label is not applied automatically to the test; you must apply it via the Labels field dropdown.

Target and Agents Tab

The Target and Agents tab includes settings for a test’s target and source agents.

Specify Test Target

The test type determines which target fields are included:

• Target Agent: Controls for selecting the agent to test toward (Agent-to-Agent only).

• Target IP Addresses: Enter a comma-separated list of IP address(es) to target.

• Target Hostname: Enter a hostname to target.

• ASN, CSN, Country, Region, or City to Target: Used for Autonomous Tests.

• URL or IP Address to Target: Enter the URL/IP to be the target of the selected HTTP request.

General Target and Agent Settings

• Agent(s) to Test From: Controls for selecting agents from which to run the test.

• IP Version: Choose the version of IP addresses targeted by the test: IPv4 only, IPv6 only, or both (v4 + v6).

• Test Bidirectionally: Enables/disables testing in both directions when testing between agents.

• Use Agent Private IPs: Enables/disables private IPs for mesh testing between your private agents to find a more direct path.

• DNS Server IP(s) to Query / Hostname to Look Up: For DNS tests.

• DNSSEC Validation: Enables/disables validation of the authenticity of each signing entity in the chain.

• Method: Choose the method of HTTP request (GET, HEAD, PATCH, POST, or PUT).

• Enable Ping and Traceroute Testing: When On (default), enables timeline charts for latency/packet loss/jitter and traceroute results.

• Puppeteer script: A textbox for Transaction test scripts.

Scheduling Tab

The Scheduling tab controls how often your Synthetics test runs and collects data.

• Test Frequency / DNS Lookup Frequency: The interval at which the test should be run. The type of the test determines which intervals are available and whether the field is required.

Intervals by Test Type

Notes:

• BGP Monitor tests don’t have this setting.

• The default Test Frequency interval is 5 minutes for Page Load tests, 30 minutes for Transaction tests, and one minute for all other tests.

• All probes for each subtest will be sent at the start of the test interval.

BGP Monitoring Tab

The BGP Monitoring tab is enabled by default for BGP Monitor tests and for some Application Tests (Page Load and HTTP(S) or API).

• Prefixes to Monitor: Enter a comma-separated list of up to 10 prefixes.

• Include more specific prefixes: Automatically discover and monitor more specific prefixes within the listed prefixes (only available for /15 or narrower).

• Origin Hijack Detection: Select ASNs for route announcement and withdrawal monitoring.

• Check RPKI: When On, ASNs not explicitly listed but that are RPKI-valid will be treated as valid.

• Upstream Leak Detection: Enter the ASNs that you expect to be upstream of originating ASNs.

Advanced Settings Tabs

The tabs listed under Advanced Settings enable you to customize features that are otherwise set by default, giving you finer control over the details of how a test is conducted.

Flow-Based Targeting

The Flow-Based Targeting tab is available only for Autonomous tests, and includes the following:

• Top Source or Destination: Choose from the dropdown whether the tested IPs of the entity to test toward (see Target and Agents) are the top source IPs or top destination IPs (default).

• Target: Select from the dropdown whether Kentik will test toward IPs within the target entity that are either sending traffic to your AS (Source of inbound traffic) or receiving traffic from your AS (Destination of outbound traffic; default).

• Max Number of Providers to Track: Use the slider to set the maximum number of providers to track autonomously (see Provider Classification).

• Max Number of IP Targets to Track: Use the slider to set the maximum number of IPs toward which Kentik should create subtests for this test. The actual number of subtests will depend on the number of IPs that meet the qualifications determined by other settings; this setting caps that number (and the consumption of test credits).

• Frequency to Scan for New Targets: Choose from the dropdown the interval at which your organization's flow data will be evaluated by Kentik to identify new targets (IP addresses). The default is “Every 12 hours”.

  Note: This setting does not affect test frequency.

HTTP Settings Tab

The HTTP Settings tab is available only for HTTP(S) or API, Page Load, and Transaction tests.

• HTTP Timeout: Enter the duration in ms for Kentik to wait for a response (Default: 5000 ms for HTTP/API, 20000 ms for Page Load).

• Ignore TLS Errors: Determines whether the test will ignore errors related to Transport Layer Security (e.g., expired certificates).

• Configure Request: Specify headers, parameters, and body (HTTP/API) or CSS selectors (Page Load) for the HTTP request.

  • Headers: Specify key/value pairs for HTTP request headers.

  • Params: Specify key/value pairs for the query string.

  • Body: Set the payload (format options: none, x-www-form-urlencoded, or raw).

  • CSS Selectors: Specify CSS selectors to check for in the HTML of the tested web page.

Ping and Traceroute Tab

Settings on the Ping and Traceroute tab are available for all Network tests, as well as HTTP tests (except Transaction).

Ping Options

• Number of Probes per Ping: The number of individual packets sent per ping (default is 5).

• Overall Ping Timeout: Duration in ms to wait for the full ping test to complete (default is 3000).

• Inter-Probe Delay: Delay in ms between consecutive ping probes.

• Protocol: UDP-ICMP, UDP-ECHO, ICMP, or TCP (Global Agents must be set to a protocol other than TCP).

• DSCP: Choose the Differentiated Services Code Point value to test classes of services.

Trace Options

• Number of Probes per Hop: Number of packets sent for each router in the path (default is 3).

• Overall Trace Timeout: Duration in ms to wait for the traceroute to complete (default is 22500).

• Max Number of Hops (Max TTL): Maximum number of hops to trace (default is 30).

DNS Settings Tab

The DNS Settings tab is available only for tests in the DNS category.

• Target Port: Enter the port on the DNS server being tested (default is 53).

• DNS Record Type: Choose the record type that the test will request from the server (e.g., A, AAAA, MX, CNAME).

Health Settings Tab

The Health tab’s settings dictate how Synthetics evaluates the health of the test and triggers alerts.

• Thresholds: Set Warning and/or Critical boundaries for metrics like Ping Latency, Ping Jitter, Ping Packet Loss, HTTP Latency, and BGP Reachability.

• Expected Responses: Specify key/value pairs for the headers required for Kentik to consider the response healthy.

• Valid HTTP / DNS Codes: Select the status codes Kentik will consider normal. If none are specified, all codes above 400 result in a critical status.

• Allowed DNS Results: Specify the IPs Kentik should consider healthy when found in the test's DNS results.

• Include Test Timeouts and Failures: Turn the switch On to receive notifications when the test fails to receive a response entirely (e.g., test times out, or a TLS Cert Validation prevents the test from getting valid data).

Health Options by Test Type

Alerting and Notifications Tab

Configure under what conditions you are alerted to test failures.

• Alerting Conditions: Set how many times an unhealthy status incident must occur within a specific duration before an alert triggers (e.g., 3 times within 5 minutes).

• Notification Channels: Select the organization channels (e.g., email, Slack) where alerts will be sent.

• Alert Suppressions: Mute alert notifications for a specified period (e.g., during scheduled maintenance).