Browser Usage Analytics Test

This indicates how often should the test be executed.

The host for which the test is to be configured.

The port at which the host server listens.

Specify the port number of the SQL server that hosts the SharePoint Logging database.

If the SQL server that hosts the SharePoint Logging database is instance-based, then provide the instance name here. If not, then set this to none.

If the SQL server hosting the SharePoint Logging database is SSL-enabled, then set this flag to Yes. If not, set it to No.

In some Windows networks, NTLM (NT LAN Manager) may be enabled. NTLM is a suite of Microsoft security protocols that provides authentication, integrity, and confidentiality to users. NTLM version 2 (“NTLMv2”) was concocted to address the security issues present in NTLM. By default, the Isntlmv2 flag is set to No, indicating that NTLMv2 is not enabled by default on the SQL server that hosts the SharePoint Logging database. Set this flag to Yes if NTLMv2 is enabled on that SQL server.

Specify the fully qualified name of the domain in which the Microsoft SQL server hosting the SharePoint Logging database operates. For instance, your specification can be: SharePoint.eginnovations.com

Specify the name of Microsoft SQL server that hosts the SharePoint Logging database to be accessed by this test.

Specify the name of the SharePoint Logging database that this test should access.

Specify the credentials of a user who has the db_datareader access to the SharePoint Logging database configured, in the Database User Name and Database Password text boxes. Then, confirm the password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box.

This test reports the count of slow page views and also pinpoints the pages that are slow. To determine whether/not a page is slow, this test uses the Slow Transaction Cutoff parameter. By default, this parameter is set to 4000 millisecs (i.e., 4 seconds). This means that, if a page takes more than 4 seconds to load, this test will consider that page as a slow page by default. You can increase or decrease this Slow Transaction Cutoff according to what is ‘slow’ and what is ‘normal’ in your environment.

Note:

The default value of this parameter is the same as the default Maximum threshold setting of the Avg page load time measure – i.e., both are set to 4000 millisecs by default. While the former helps eG to distinguish between slow and healthy page views for the purpose of providing detailed diagnosis, the latter tells eG when to generate an alarm on Avg page load time. For best results, it is recommended that both these settings are configured with the same value at all times. Therefore, if you change the value of one of these configurations, then make sure you update the value of the other as well. For instance, if the Slow Transaction Cutoff is changed to 6000 millisecs, change the Maximum Threshold of the Avg page load time measure to 6000 millisecs as well.

By default, this flag is set to No. This means, by default, eG will monitor only those browsers that SharePoint can recognize. If users use browsers that SharePoint cannot recognize, then, usage analytics of such browsers will be grouped under the Unknown browser type in the SharePoint Logging database. If you want to view metrics related to the Unknown browser type as well, then set this flag to Yes. In this case, Unknown will be displayed as an additional descriptor of this test.

By default, this test does not track requests to the following URL patterns: *.js,*.css,*.jpeg,*.jpg,*.png,*.asmx,*.ashx,*.svc,*.dlll. If required, you can remove one/more patterns from this default list, so that such patterns are monitored, or can append more patterns to this list in order to exclude them from monitoring. For instance, to additionally ignore URLs that end with .gif and .bmp when monitoring, you need to alter the default specification as follows: *.js,*.css,*.jpeg,*.jpg,*.png,*.asmx,*.ashx,*.svc,*.dlll,*.gif,*.bmp 

By default, this test ignores all requests to AjaxDelta pages. This is why, the Ignore AjaxDelta Pages is set to Yes by default. If you want the test to track requests to the AjaxDelta pages as well, set this flag to No.

Typically, farm-level metrics - eg., metrics on farm status, site collections, usage analytics - will not vary from one SharePoint server in the farm to another. If these metrics are collected and stored in the eG database for each monitored server in the SharePoint farm, it is bound to unnecessarily consume space in the database and increase processing overheads. To avoid this, farm-level metrics collection is by default switched off for the member servers in the SharePoint farm, and enabled only if the server being monitored is provisioned as the Central Administration site. Accordingly, this parameter is set to If Central Administration by default. This default setting ensures that farm-level metrics are collected from and stored in the database for only a single SharePoint server in the farm.  

If you want to completely switch-off farm-level metrics collection for a SharePoint farm, then set this parameter to No.

Some high-security environments may not allow an eG agent to be deployed on the Central Administration site. Administrators of such environments may however require farm-level insights into status and performance. To provide these insights for such environments, you can optionally enable farm-level metrics collection from any monitored member server in the farm, even if that server is not provisioned as the Central Administration site. For this, set this parameter to Yes when configuring this test for that member server. 

If the Fetch Farm Measures flag of these tests is set to No or to If Central Administration Site, then this test should be configured with the credentials of a user with the following privileges:

• The user should be part of the SharePoint Farm Administrators group. To know how to add a user to this group, refer to Adding a User to a Farm Administrators Group.
• The user should have shell admin access to all databases in SharePoint. To know how to grant such an access to a user, refer to Granting a User Shell Admin Access to All SharePoint Databases.

• The user should have full control access to each web application that needs to be monitored on the SharePoint server. To know how to grant such an access to a user, refer to Granting a User Full Control Access to Web Applications on Microsoft SharePoint.
• The user should have read and execute access to the eG agent install directory. To know how to grant this access to a user, refer to Granting a User Read and Execute Permissions to the eG Agent Install Directory.

On the other hand, if the Fetch Farm Measures flag of these tests is set to Yes, then the user configured for the tests not only requires the four privileges discussed above, but should also be part of the following groups on the eG agent host:

• Administrators

• WSS_ADMIN_WPG

• IIS_USRS

• Performance Monitor Users

• WSS_WPG

• Users

It is recommended that you create a special user for this purpose and assign the aforesaid privileges to him/her. Once such a user is created, specify the domain to which that user belongs in the Domain text box, and then, enter the credentials of the user in the Domain User and Password text boxes. To confirm the password, retype it in the Confirm Password text box.

Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD frequency.