Synthetic Monitoring Tool for Proactive Application Performance Monitoring

Monitor application availability and user experience proactively with synthetic transaction monitoring, web simulations, and logon performance testing.

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Why Synthetic Monitoring
is Critical for Application Performance

End-user satisfaction and productivity are the ultimate measures of application performance. By continuously monitoring the end-user experience, IT managers can be alerted to times when users experience poor performance, slowdowns, or outages.

Many modern applications have built-in instrumentation to track and report key performance metrics. This passive monitoring approach is not effective when users are not actively using the applications or when instrumentation is not available (for example, legacy applications and custom applications). Therefore, a Synthetic monitoring approach is needed to actively and continuously test business transactions and preemptively identify problems.

eG Enterprise: Synthetic Monitoring Tool
eG Enterprise: Synthetic Monitoring Tool

What is synthetic monitoring?
Synthetic monitoring uses software robots to actively simulate user transactions to IT applications and measure their availability and responsiveness. Continuous simulation helps detect application availability and response time problems proactively and allows administrators to correct them before users notice.

Key Capabilities of eG Enterprise
Synthetic Monitoring

eG Enterprise includes a wide range of synthetic monitoring capabilities that cater to a number of use cases:

Four Approaches to Synthetic Monitoring
  • Protocol simulation: This is ideal for simple simulation of protocol requests (HTTP, SMTP, ICA, SQL etc.) to target systems and applications, and observing their responses.
  • Web app simulation: To support multiple step transactions that include form fills, mouse clicks, etc., eG Enterprise includes a web app transaction recording and replay tool.
  • Purpose-built logon simulators: eG Enterprise embeds purpose-built simulators for digital workspace environments (Citrix, Omnissa Horizon, Amazon WorkSpaces, etc.) that simulate user logons without the need for a separate recording step.
  • Full, client session simulation: Ideal for simulating multi-step transactions to any type of application - thin client or thick client, this uses a simulation engine that works based on optical character recognition technology.

In all cases, application and transaction availability and response times are the key metrics of interest.

We have no more frustrations because now we know where the problem is, and the root cause of issues is detected in minutes. With the eG Enterprise performance monitoring suite we deliver a robust and reliable environment that guarantees maximum uptime and user satisfaction.

Wilfried Landsheer Director, Systemat Digital Hub

Types of Synthetic Monitoring
Supported by eG Enterprise

Protocol-Level Synthetic Monitoring

This is the simplest simulation approach. It simulates requests to target systems and applications by simulating requests using different common protocols (HTTP, SMTP, FTP, SQL, ICA, etc). Depending on the target, protocol simulation can be used to test individual tiers of an infrastructure or to check end-to-end performance. By design, protocol simulation works for single-step transactions only.

  • Proactively tests and provides a breakdown of response time to identify where the bottleneck lies.
  • Track performance over time and identify time periods when performance deteriorates.
  • Simulate performance from multiple locations to get a holistic view.
Synthetic Monitoring test screen

Web Application Transaction Monitoring

This is a tool for synthetic monitoring of any type of web applications. To support multi-step transactions, a recording engine tracks all mouse clicks and form fills, and creates a script that can be replayed 24x7. The record and replay engine are based on the popular Selenium driver and screenshots are captured whenever a transaction fails.

  • Emulate real user interactions to website from multiple locations and record website availability and end-to-end response times.
  • Identify which transaction(s) of a web application/website interaction are causing slowdowns, and provide instantaneous alerts on service outages and slowdowns.
  • Facilitate root-cause diagnosis and infrastructure optimization through correlation with other network, server, and application performance indicators.
  • Offers a reliable way of automating routine service health checks.

Find out more about Web App Simulation 


Digital Workspace & VDI Logon Simulation

The eG Enterprise Logon Simulator is a purpose-built synthetic performance monitoring solution that provides complete visibility to proactively detect and troubleshoot logon issues for Citrix, Omnissa Horizon, and Amazon WorkSpaces environments.

  • Test from multiple endpoints across global and remote locations and compare performance.
  • Support multiple applications per user for logon simulation.
  • Support multiple users from the same endpoint for logon simulation.
  • Identify the cause of slow logon by obtaining a breakdown of every step of the logon process - web access, authentication, application enumeration, desktop launch, etc.

Find out more about Logon Simulation 


Full Client Session Simulation for Thin & Thick Applications

For simulating thick clients or thin clients, eG Enterprise uses a recording and playback engine that relies on optical character recognition (OCR) technology. The recording phase creates a script that includes which mouse clicks or keystroke actions are performed, which area of the display needs to be checked for the validity of the response, etc.

  • Test any type of application, from any location.
  • Collect factual metrics about session performance and user experience, and identify issues proactively.
  • Playback from different global or remote endpoints to compare performance locations.
  • Establish benchmarks for session performance - which can then be used as baselines to compare against real user monitoring metrics.

Find out more about Client Session Simulation 

Synthetic Monitoring Session Simulation

synthetic-monitoring-requirements

Benefits of Synthetic Transaction Monitoring

eG Enterprise synthetic transaction monitoring helps answer critical performance questions, such as:

  • Are the critical business applications available to handle user requests?
  • What is the total response time for a typical user access to a business-critical service?
  • Which of the transactions of a service is slow or failing?
  • Are there specific times of day when the slowdown occurs?
  • How does the performance vary depending on the geographic location from which the user is connecting?
Synthetic Monitoring Performance screen

Use Cases of Synthetic Monitoring Across IT Environments

eG Innovations synthetic monitoring is used to proactively test application performance and availability across diverse IT environments.

  • Application availability monitoring: Continuously checks if critical apps and services are up and functioning.
  • Transaction monitoring: Simulates user journeys like login, checkout, and form submissions.
  • Cloud and hybrid validation: Tests performance across on-premises, cloud, and multi-cloud environments.
  • Release and pre-production testing: Detects issues introduced by new deployments or updates.
  • SLA and uptime tracking: Measures service reliability from an end-user perspective.

Why Choose eG Enterprise for Synthetic Monitoring

With over 25 years experience, eG Innovations offers robust and proven synthetic monitoring that offers:

  • End-to-end visibility: Combines synthetic monitoring with full-stack observability across apps, infrastructure, and networks.
  • Proactive issue detection: Identifies failures and performance issues before they impact real users.
  • Hybrid and multi-cloud support: Monitors across on-premises, AWS, Azure, GCP, and other environments.
  • Faster root cause analysis: Correlates synthetic tests with Real User Monitoring (RUM) data to quickly isolate issues.
  • Improved user experience: Validates real-world user journeys to ensure consistent application performance.

Business Impact: Faster Detection, Better UX & SLA Compliance

The business benefits of eG Enterprise’s synthetic monitoring capabilities include:

  • Faster issue detection: Identifies performance and availability problems early using proactive synthetic monitoring.
  • Reduced downtime: Minimizes service disruptions by detecting issues before they affect end users.
  • Better user experience (UX): Ensures critical user journeys like login and transactions perform consistently.
  • Improved SLA compliance: Helps organizations meet uptime and performance commitments with continuous validation.
  • Lower operational costs: Reduces MTTR by speeding up root cause analysis and troubleshooting efforts.

Simulation Support for Environments Integrated with IdP/SSO and 2FA

eG Enterprise monitors the simulated environments that are integrated with multiple Identity Providers (IdPs) and are enabled with 2FA/MFA support. The following table explains in detail the support matrix for various synthetic monitoring capabilities offered:

Vendor Deployment Simulation Capability/Component Gateway Support Identity Provider (IdP) / SSO Integrated Support Static 2FA Support Dynamic 2FA Support
Citrix Citrix On-Premises Citrix Logon Simulator Citrix StoreFront, Citrix Gateway (NetScaler) AD, Microsoft Entra ID, ADFS, OKTA, F5, DUO Passcode from Citrix Gateway (NetScaler)
Passcode from F5
Native OTP(TOTP) from Citrix Gateway (NetScaler)
OATH software tokens (TOTP) from Microsoft Entra ID
Citrix Citrix Cloud Citrix Logon Simulator Citrix Cloud Gateway AD, Citrix Gateway (NetScaler), Microsoft Entra ID, ADFS, OKTA, F5, DUO Passcode from Citrix Gateway (NetScaler)
Passcode from F5
Native OTP (TOTP) from Citrix Cloud Gateway
Native OTP (TOTP) from Citrix Gateway (NetScaler)
OATH software tokens (TOTP) from Microsoft Entra ID
Omnissa Omnissa Horizon On-Premises Omnissa Horizon Logon Simulator Horizon Connection Server, Unified Access Gateway (UAG) AD Passcode from Horizon Connection Server/UAG Not Applicable
Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop Microsoft AVD Logon Simulator AVD Web Client Microsoft Entra ID, AD, OKTA Not Applicable OATH software tokens (TOTP) from Microsoft Entra ID
Amazon AWS WorkSpaces AWS WorkSpaces Logon Simulator Amazon WorkSpaces Web Access (Web Client) AD, AWS Managed Microsoft AD Not Applicable Not Applicable
Amazon AWS AppStream AWS AppStream Logon Simulator AppStream Web Browser Access (Web Client) AppStream User Pools, AWS IAM Identity Center (AD), OKTA Not Applicable Not Applicable
Microsoft Microsoft Exchange On-Premises (Outlook Web App/OWP) Microsoft Exchange Logon Simulator Outlook on the web/Outlook Web App (OWP) client AD Not Applicable Not Applicable
Microsoft Microsoft Exchange Online (Office365 - Outlook) Microsoft Exchange Logon Simulator Microsoft 365 Web Access Microsoft Entra ID, AD Not Applicable Not Applicable
Web Applications / HTML-5 Applications / Native Applications started from browser (Citrix Workspace App, etc.) Web App Simulation Can record and playback all web application gateways Can record and playback all IdP & SSO steps Any static token/passcode TOTP based passcode (out of the box) Can record and playback custom script (.py, .bat, etc.) to generate dynamic token/passcode
Native / Non-Web Applications - Full Session Simulation Universal Simulation Not Applicable Can record and playback all IdP & SSO steps Any static token/passcode Can record and playback custom script (.py, .bat, etc.) to generate dynamic token/passcode

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
about Synthetic Monitoring

Synthetic monitoring uses software robots to actively simulate user transactions to IT applications and measure their availability and responsiveness. Continuous simulation helps detect application availability and response time problems proactively and allows administrators to correct them before real users encounter issues.

Synthetic transaction monitoring works by using automated scripts (often called “synthetic tests” or “robots”) to simulate real user actions across an application. These scripts repeatedly perform key workflows such as logging in, searching, adding items to a cart, or submitting forms to check whether the system behaves correctly.

Each transaction is executed at regular intervals from different geographic locations or network conditions. The system measures response times, availability, and error rates at every step of the journey. If any step fails or performs poorly, the monitoring tool records the issue and triggers an alert.

This approach helps IT teams detect problems proactively, validate application performance, and identify failures in specific components like APIs, servers, or databases before real users are impacted.

Real User Monitoring (RUM) and Synthetic Monitoring both measure application performance, but they do it in fundamentally different ways.

RUM collects data from actual users as they interact with an application in real time. It captures real-world conditions such as device type, browser, location, network speed, and user behavior. This makes it ideal for understanding actual user experience and identifying issues that affect real traffic.

Synthetic monitoring, on the other hand, uses automated scripts to simulate user actions on a schedule. It proactively tests application availability and performance by running predefined journeys, even when no real users are active.

In short, RUM shows what real users are experiencing, while synthetic monitoring shows whether key functions are working correctly at any given moment. Learn more: Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) - Synthetic vs Real User Monitoring.

Synthetic monitoring improves application uptime by continuously running automated tests that simulate real user journeys and check critical services like logins, pages, and APIs. This helps detect downtime, slow performance, or failures before real users are affected.

It also identifies issues across different regions and dependencies, allowing faster response to outages. By validating performance after updates or changes, synthetic monitoring reduces the risk of release-related failures.

Overall, it enables proactive detection and faster remediation, helping maintain higher application availability and more consistent uptime.

Yes. eG Enterprise offers a purpose-built logon simulator for the synthetic monitoring of Citrix logons. A free community edition of the Citrix Logon Simulator is also available, see: Citrix Logon Simulator - Free Logon Simulator | eG Innovations.

Yes. eG Enterprise offers a full range of synthetic monitoring features from logon simulators to full-session multi-app workflow simulators. To protect your systems we offer a range of options for implementing MFA and SSO-workflows when using synthetic monitoring for the digital workspace technologies supported by eG Enterprise.


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  • Works on cloud environments, hybrid cloud setups and on-premises deployments
  • Deploy eG Enterprise using our SaaS platform or on-premises
  • Suitable for monitoring cloud applications, digital workspaces and IT infrastructures
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