Selenium Synthetics Setup

Setting up Selenium Synthetics to run with LogicMonitor involves installing the Selenium GRID where a LogicMonitor Collector can access it, and then updating the Collector with information about the Selenium GRID. This enables you to add a Selenium Synthetics Webcheck in your LogicMonitor portal for ingesting Synthetics data to LogicMonitor.

General Requirements

To set up Selenium Synthetics with LogicMonitor, you need the following:

• Selenium GRID 4
  See Selenium’s Selenium Grid 4 documentation for more information.
• LogicMonitor Collector 34.100 or later

Selenium GRID Installation

The Selenium GRID is a smart proxy server that can execute Selenium Synthetics checks. It can operate as a standalone Hub or as a Hub with smaller Nodes to allow tests to run in parallel. During installation, you can specify the browser or environment you want to use for certain tests, and specify how large you would like each Node to be. You can install the Selenium GRID using the following methods:

• Method 1: Install the Selenium GRID in a container

• Method 2: Install the Selenium GRID locally

Method 1: Installing the Selenium GRID in a Container

You can install the Selenium GRID in Docker or Kubernetes. 

You can install the Selenium GRID in a Docker container using the following pre-configured images available from the provider:

• Selenium GRID Hub Image
• Selenium GRID Node Image
• Standalone Chrome Image

For more information about installing the Selenium GRID in Kubernetes, see Selenium on Kubernetes from Kubernetes.

Alternatively, you can manually create a container and install Selenium GRID by creating a Hub with Nodes. The following example procedure demonstrates how to install Selenium GRID in a Docker container:

1. Create a Docker network using the following command:

$ docker network create grid

2. Use the following command to start a Selenium Hub:

$ docker run -d -p 4442-4444:4442-4444 --net grid --name selenium-hub selenium/hub:latest

3. Use the following command to start a Chrome Node using the environment variables:

$ docker run -d --net grid --name selenium-chrome -e SE_EVENT_BUS_HOST=selenium-hub  -e SE_EVENT_BUS_PUBLISH_PORT=4442 -e SE_EVENT_BUS_SUBSCRIBE_PORT=4443 selenium/node-chrome:4.0.0

4. Use the following command to start an Edge Node:

$ docker run -d --net grid --name selenium-edge -e SE_EVENT_BUS_HOST=selenium-hub  -e SE_EVENT_BUS_PUBLISH_PORT=4442 -e SE_EVENT_BUS_SUBSCRIBE_PORT=4443 selenium/node-edge:93.0-edgedriver-93.0-grid-4.0.0

Optional Docker Configurations

You can use the following configuration options when setting up Selenium Grid as a Standalone through Docker. You can configure these options as environment variables when starting the Docker container. Some configuration options, like SE_NODE_MAX_SESSIONS and SE_NODE_SESSION_TIMEOUT, are given default values by the Docker container, and must be specifically overridden. Other configuration options can be added by altering the SE_OPTS environment variable, which is a catch-all for configuration options that do not have default values.

If you make configuration changes to your Docker container, you must restart the container by identifying the container ID and executing a start command similar to the following:

#find the container id’s (not running)

$ docker ps -a

CONTAINER ID   IMAGE                                                                         COMMAND                  CREATED       STATUS                       PORTS                                                           NAMES

75bca4385216   selenium/node-edge:93.0-edgedriver-93.0-grid-4.0.0-rc-1-prerelease-20210823   "/opt/bin/entry_poin…"   10 days ago   Exited (255) 6 minutes ago   5900/tcp                                                        selenium-edge

77615a7ada1c   selenium/node-chrome:4.0                                                    "/opt/bin/entry_poin…"   10 days ago   Exited (255) 6 minutes ago   5900/tcp                                                        selenium-chrome

b838fe090610   selenium/hub:4.0                                   "/opt/bin/entry_poin…"   10 days ago   Exited (255) 6 minutes ago   0.0.0.0:4442-4444->4442-4444/tcp, :::4442-4444->4442-4444/tcp   selenium-hub

#start the containers

$ docker start 75bca4385216 77615a7ada1c b838fe090610

75bca4385216

77615a7ada1c

b838fe090610

#now they’re running

$ docker ps

CONTAINER ID   IMAGE                                                                         COMMAND                  CREATED       STATUS          PORTS                                                           NAMES

75bca4385216   selenium/node-edge:93.0-edgedriver-93.0-grid-4.0.0-rc-1-prerelease-20210823   "/opt/bin/entry_poin…"   10 days ago   Up 14 seconds   5900/tcp                                                        selenium-edge

77615a7ada1c   selenium/node-chrome:4.0                                                    "/opt/bin/entry_poin…"   10 days ago   Up 13 seconds   5900/tcp                                                        selenium-chrome

b838fe090610   selenium/hub:4.0 "/opt/bin/entry_poin…"   10 days ago   Up 9 seconds    0.0.0.0:4442-4444->4442-4444/tcp, :::4442-4444->4442-4444/tcp   selenium-hub

Method 2: Installing the Selenium GRID Locally

You can install the Selenium GRID (both Hub and Node included) as a standalone installation, or you can install the Hub and Nodes as a separate installation.

Requirements

To install the Selenium GRID locally, you need the following:

• Selenium Server Standalone package jar
  This includes the Selenium Hub, WebDriver, and RC needed to run the GRID.
• Java installed and added to the environment variables
• The browser installed that you want to test
• The appropriate drivers for the test browser downloaded and added to PATH

Standalone Installation

To install the Selenium GRID as a standalone, execute the following command to start the Selenium GRID:

java -jar selenium-server-<version>.jar standalone

When Selenium starts, it provides the URI for accessing the GRID. Navigate to the URI in the browser to view the Selenium console and the available hubs and nodes.

Separate Installation

To install the Selenium server Hub, execute the following command:

java -jar selenium-server-<version>.jar hub

To start a Node associated with the Hub, execute the following command:

java -jar selenium-server-<version>.jar node --hub http://<hub-ip>:<port number>

Updating the LogicMonitor Collector for Synthetics

The LogicMonitor Collector uses the agent.conf configuration file and its assigned properties in setup. For a Collector to run Selenium Synthetics checks, the URL where the Collector is able to access the grid must be provided as a property before it is selectable in the LogicMonitor portal to assign a Selenium Synthetics Webcheck.

1. Navigate to the Collector that has access to the Selenium GRID in Settings > Collectors, and select the Manage icon.
2. From the Support dropdown menu, select “Collector Configuration”.

3. Toggle the Edit agent.conf manually switch, and add the Selenium GRID URL to the synthetics.selenium.environment.grid.url property.

4. Click Save and Restart.

The Collector restarts with the Selenium Synthetics Webcheck assigned to it.

Downloading the SIDE file

You can download the SIDE file used for your Synthetics Web Check.

1. In LogicMonitor, navigate to Resources > select Synthetics resource.
2. Select (Manage Resource Options) . 
3. Select Download SIDE file.