This article describes the available types of Kentik's Synthetics monitoring tests, which fall into three categories: Routing, Network, and Application.
Note: For instructions on how to configure Kentik Synthetics tests, see the Test Settings Reference.
Routing Tests
A BGP routing test monitors route announcements for potential hijacking. The following routing test is available:
BGP Monitor: Based on user-specified sets of tested prefixes and "allowed" ASNs, this test checks whether any prefix is originating from a non-allowed AS, which would possibly indicate route hijacking. If so, the route announcement that includes the hijack will be shown as a critical event in the Incident Log and as an Invalid Origin event (indicated with a red bar in the timeline) on the Test Results page for the test. The BGP Monitor test also allows you to configure upstream leak detection for any listed ASNs.
Tip: Kentik’s Synthetics also reports BGP announcements and withdrawals (see BGP Route Viewer) which, while not based on synthetic testing, enables you to correlate issues revealed by synthetic testing at the network (ping, trace) and web layers (HTTP, page load) with issues at the routing layer (BGP).
Network Tests
Network tests monitor network connectivity performance between public or private Kentik agents, external servers, or specific test targets (e.g., ASN, CDN, Country, Region, or City). Kentik will automatically configure all of the required testing based on your from and to settings.
Network tests fall into the following sub-categories:
Agent-to-Agent
Test connectivity between public or private Kentik agents.
Agent-to-Agent: Measure connectivity from one or more chosen agents to an individual agent.
Network Mesh: Measure bidirectional connectivity between agents in sites within your organization's infrastructure (private agents) and/or in Kentik's worldwide network of global agents (hosted and in public cloud).
Agent-to-Server
Test connectivity between Kentik agents and external servers.
Server IP Address: Measure connectivity from one or more chosen agents toward an individual IP address.
Server Hostname: Measure connectivity from one or more chosen agents toward an individual hostname.
Network Grid: Run ping and trace tests from selected private or global agents towards targeted IP addresses, which may be entered in a comma-separated list or added in bulk from a
.txtor.csvfile.
Autonomous Tests
Performance monitoring guided by actual traffic patterns on your network. Kentik analyzes your flow records along with correlated network traffic data (SNMP, BGP, GeoIP, etc.). You choose a test type, and Kentik intelligently selects the IPs to test toward (typically the IPs your traffic is using most) to efficiently apply your test credits.
ASN: Test between one or more agents and a set of autonomously selected IPs in the specified AS.
CDN: Test between one or more agents and a set of autonomously selected IPs associated with a specified CDN (see CDN Attribution Dimensions).
Country: Test between one or more agents and a set of autonomously selected IPs in a specified Country.
Region: Test between one or more agents and a set of autonomously selected IPs in a specified Region.
City: Test between one or more agents and a set of autonomously selected IPs in a specified City.
Application Tests
Application tests allow you to monitor reachability and performance for DNS servers, URLs, and HTTP resources. Application tests fall into the following sub-categories:
DNS Tests
Test reachability and performance to DNS servers.
DNS Server Monitor: Test the performance of one or more DNS servers associated with a hostname, showing the resolution time and the resulting IP address.
DNS Server Grid: Test a hostname lookup simultaneously on multiple user-specified DNS servers, showing the resulting IP addresses and the resolution times. This enables you to quickly identify servers that are non-performant.
HTTP Tests
Test reachability and performance to web resources.
HTTP(S) or API: Test a specified web server's response to an HTTP GET request, or an API endpoint to any HTTP Request Method. It shows the status code, the average time to last byte, and the response size (which enables you to spot anomalies in the amount of data returned). You can also optionally run ping tests towards the resolved IP address.
Page Load: Test a full browser page load using Headless Chromium run by Kentik app agents. It shows the status code and the times for performance indicators such as navigation, domain lookup, connect, and response.
Transaction: Test a "transaction," which is a series of actions running in Headless Chromium that are driven by a custom Google Puppeteer script. Results include the health status and total transaction time for each agent you test from, alongside screenshots of specific scripted actions.