: Set up an Autonomous DEM Application Test
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Set up an Autonomous DEM Application Test

Table of Contents

Set up an
Autonomous DEM
Application Test

Learn how to start running
Autonomous DEM
synthetic testing on your
Prisma Access
endpoints so that you can collect digital experience metrics to help you isolate and resolve performance issues.
Where Can I Use This?
What Do I Need?
  • Prisma Access (Managed by Strata Cloud Manager)
  • Prisma Access (Managed by Panorama)
  • Strata Cloud Manager
  • Prisma Access
    license
  • ADEM Observability
    license
  • Mobile Users license
  • Remote Networks license
After you’ve surveyed the applications running on your network and determined which applications you want to monitor, you can create app tests and decide whether you want to run the test only for Mobile Users or only for Remote Sites or for both.
ADEM agents can effectively run tests and collect performance metrics. Synthetic tests allow ADEM to baseline end-to-end user experience regardless of whether users access an application.
When creating synthetic tests, you have the option to enable the test on an individual Mobile User or on a Mobile User group or both. You can enable application tests for user groups that are already part of Prisma Access Configuration, for example, Global Protect configuration or security policies. The tests that you enable on a user group will run on all devices that belong to every single user in that group. You cannot select only certain devices on which to run the test. If a user is removed from a user group, the tests will automatically stop running on the user’s devices. When new users are added to a group, the tests will automatically be run on the new user’s device(s). Keep in mind that it may take up to 6 hours to automatically update users that are added/removed from groups. However if an application test is modified or created, changes made to user group are automatically reflected. The test results can be filtered by individual Mobile Users or Mobile User groups (only groups currently in test configuration). You must create at least one application test in order for data to be displayed on the
Monitor
Applications
page.
As you create app tests, keep in mind that every target is a test. So, if you have a group of targets under one test name, each target will be counted as one test. Each remote site based on your device has its own capacity. This is the recommended number of tests based on the Prisma SD-WAN ION formfactor. Also, the same test target can be set in multiple app tests at a time. For example, www.google.com can be set as a target in AppTest A as well as in AppTest B. Be aware that every URL, target, domain, or IP that appears as a test target in any app, regardless of whether it appears in one app only or in multiple apps, it will be considered as one test count.
Web and path tests will be enabled by default for pre-defined tests. When creating tests for Zoom and Teams applications, be sure to set Split Tunnel to true and do not run the path tests.
In order to run synthetic tests—to SaaS applications or applications in your data center through
Prisma Access
, Secure Fabric, via split tunneling - you must have security policy rules that allow the synthetic test traffic over ICMP, TCP, HTTPS, and optionally HTTP (depending on how you configure your app tests).
To create an app test:
  1. Go to
    Monitor
    Applications
    .
  2. In the
    Prisma Access
    Applications table widget, click
    Manage Tests
    .
  3. On the Application Tests page, click
    Add Application Test
    .
  4. Name
    the new app test.
  5. You have the option to run application tests only for Mobile Users or only for Remote Sites or for both. Select Mobile Users and Remote Sites you want to monitor in
    Source
    section.
    • Mobile Users:
      Define the Source Users that you want to run this app test. By default, all licensed ADEM users are assigned to run the test. If you want to limit this app test to specific users, click
      Mobile Users
      under
      Source
      and select
      Custom
      and click in the
      Search Mobile Users and Groups
      text box, then select the users and/or groups you want to run the test.
    • Remote Networks:
      Select the remote site. By default, all remote site licenses are selected. You can also choose to run the tests on all remote sites or only particular remote sites. Define Advanced Options as needed. By default ADEM sets the Network Test Options and Web Test Options based on the applications you selected. However, you can customize these options if needed in your environment.
  6. Identify the application you want to test as the
    Target
    . If you selected an application from the applications list, the application name is automatically populated. Otherwise, begin typing the Application name to see a list of applications from which to select. If you don’t see the application you want to create a test for, you can create a custom application in your
    Prisma Access
    environment using Panorama or the Cloud Management App. Once you have created the custom application and successfully committed, you will see your app under the
    Applications
    dropdown menu on the
    Add Application Test
    page in ADEM.
    The tests get a priority assigned to them in the order that they were created. For example, the first test you create gets a priority order 1. The next test you create gets priority order 2 and so on. The tests are pushed to the mobile users and remote site according to the priority they are assigned. If the remote site devices have available capacity for the test, the test will be enabled. Otherwise, the remote site gets moved to the
    Excluded Remote Sites
    for the test.
    Even though the tests are assigned to both Mobile Users and Remote Sites, the priority in which the tests are pushed to the device is important particularly to the remote sites, since each device in a remote site is capable of running a different number of tests depending on the device size. So, if you have created a test, for example Test A which has a priority of 8, and attached it to multiple remote sites all of which can run Test A, if one of those sites, for example San Jose, has reached its limit on how many tests it can run, Test A will not be pushed to the site. That remote site (San Jose) will get moved under the
    Excluded Remote Sites
    column in the
    Application Tests
    table on the
    Application Tests
    page. But if you absolutely must run the Test A, you can change the priority of Test A from 8 to a higher location in the table, for example to the top of the list by clicking on the dots to the left of the check box and dragging and dropping it to the top of the list. Alternatively, you can select its check box and click the up arrow at the bottom of the page. You will see its priority change only after you click
    Save
    . Now Test A will get a higher priority and will be pushed to the San Jose remote site before the remaining tests that follow Test A in the table. This would mean though that the San Jose remote site will now be excluded in the configuration push from some other lower priority test (lower priority compared to Test A) that is pushed to it.
    For a list of devices and the maximum number of tests they are capable of running, refer to the table in Get Started for Remote Networks.
  7. Set the
    Advanced Options
    :
    The options that you select in the
    Advanced Options
    section determine what you see in the
    Path Visualization
    widget. If the application has been configured in GlobalProtect to be split tunneled, select the
    Split Tunnel
    option in the
    Network Test Options
    section. To view the split tunneled traffic in the
    Path Visualization
    widget, enable the
    Enable per hop performance metrics
    option under the
    Path Visualization
    section.
    Under
    Path Visualization
    , TCP or ICMP can be selected as the protocol for traceroute. Here is an example of TCP vs ICMP based traceroutes. Results for TCP and ICMP traceroutes can vary, but sometimes they can be the same. In general, TCP-based traceroutes can provide less unresponsive nodes.
    Here is an example of the
    Path Visualization
    widget for split tunneled applications. This is an example of when the
    Split Tunnel
    option under
    Network Test Options
    is selected along with the
    Enable per hop performance metrics
    option under
    Path Visualization
    .
    Network Test Options
    - measures end-to-end availability, latency, jitter, and packet loss
    Field
    Description
    Protocol
    Protocol to be used for network tests. It is set to TCP and cannot be changed.
    Port
    Set to port 443 which is the port that the TCP protocol uses.
    Split Tunnel
    Select this check box if your application is split tunneled.
    If you select the
    Split Tunnel
    option along with selecting the
    Enable per hop performance metrics
    option under
    Path Visualization
    you will not be given the option to select a
    Protocol
    under
    Path Visualization
    . When you select
    Split Tunnel
    , the protocol for split tunnel applications will be chosen based on the operating system where the endpoint agent resides. The Windows agent will run TCP-based traceroute for split tunnel applications, hence the
    Protocol
    under
    Path Visualization
    defaults to TCP on Windows. The MacOS agents will run ICMP-based traceroutes for split tunneled applications hence the Protocol defaults to ICMP on MacOS.
    Selecting the
    Split Tunnel
    option along with selecting the
    Enable per hop performance metrics
    option under
    Path Visualization
    shows per-hop network paths for split tunneled applications in the Path Visualization widget.
    Web Test Options
    Selection
    Description
    Enable HTTP/HTTPS testing
    When enabled the test uses HTTP/HTTPS to collect application performance metrics. You must clear the checkbox for non- web-based applications, such as SMB, to collect network performance metrics only.
    Ignore SSL warnings and errors
    Select this option to make sure that an application test does not fail due to SSL warnings and errors such as the ones caused due to certificate trust issues.
    Override the default HTTP/HTTPS port
    Select this box if you want to override the standard ports for HTTP/HTTPS.
    Protocol
    Select the protocol to use (HTTP or HTTPS) when running end-to-end tests. This option affects the port used (80 for HTTP and 443 for HTTPS).
    Path
    Optional. A custom path that will be appended to the target during the end-to-end test and allows clients to test different paths on the same server, for example, www.someserver.com/some/path.
    Headers
    Optional. Custom HTTP headers that are sent as part of the HTTP/S request to a given target for end-to-end tests.
    Path Visualization
    - measures per hop network paths with TCP/ICMP
    Field
    Description
    Enable per hop performance metrics
    This check box is enabled by default. When enabled it displays per-hop network paths for split tunneled applications in the
    Path Visualization
    widget.
    If you select the
    Split Tunnel
    option in the
    Network Options
    section, along with selecting the
    Enable per hop performance metrics
    option, you will not be given the option to select a
    Protocol
    . When you select
    Split Tunnel
    , the protocol for split tunnel applications will be chosen based on the operating system where the endpoint agent resides. The Windows agent will run TCP-based traceroute for split tunnel applications, hence the
    Protocol
    under
    Path Visualization
    defaults to TCP on Windows. The MacOS agents will run ICMP-based traceroutes for split tunneled applications hence the Protocol defaults to ICMP on MacOS.
    Protocol
    For non
    Split Tunnel
    applications, you have the option to select TCP or ICMP protocol. ICMP is selected as the default protocol. If TCP is selected and the VPN gateway is not responding to the TCP based traceroute and path visualization returns minimal data, please verify the security configurations implemented for your device or select ICMP based traceroute instead.
    If your security policy is set to 'application-default' under 'Service/URL Category' or 'APPLICATION / SERVICE', your traffic may be getting dropped causing traceroute to not run successfully. Update this field to 'any' so that any port can be used.
    If you select the
    Split Tunnel
    option in the
    Network Options
    section, along with selecting the
    Enable per hop performance metrics
    option, you will not be given the option to select a
    Protocol
    . When you select
    Split Tunnel
    , the protocol for split tunnel applications will be chosen based on the operating system where the endpoint agent resides. The Windows agent will run TCP-based traceroute for split tunnel applications, hence the
    Protocol
    under
    Path Visualization
    defaults to TCP on Windows. The MacOS agents will run ICMP-based traceroutes for split tunneled applications hence the Protocol defaults to ICMP on MacOS.
    Mobile Users Test Options
    Enabling end-to-end Application Experience monitoring when mobile users are in Trusted Networks will consume additional session connections per Mobile User and per application on Remote Site devices.
    Selection
    Description
    End-to-end Application Experience monitoring from Trusted Networks (in Office)
    Select this option if you are in a trusted network environment.
    End-to-end Application Experience monitoring from Untrusted Networks when VPN is disabled
    Select this option if you are in an untrusted network environment such as using a public network with your VPN is disabled.
    Remote Sites Test Options
    Enable Application Experience monitoring on active and backup paths
    Select this option to run synthetic tests on both active and backup paths configured in the Prisma SD-WAN path policy.
    Enable Application Experience monitoring on active paths only
    Select this option if you want to monitor active paths only for the applications.
  8. After you create the tests, you can view a summary of all the tests created in the
    Application Tests
    table.
The next time the selected users and remote sites connect to
Prisma Access
they will receive the new app test settings and begin running the tests. After the app tests start running, the ADEM service collects sample data from all assigned users every five minutes.

Edit an Existing Application Test

To edit an app test, do the following:
  1. Go to
    Monitor
    Applications
    Manage Tests
    .
  2. Click the
    Application Test Name
    that you want to edit.
  3. Edit the application test.
    Select the check box to the left of the test to
    Delete
    ,
    Enable
    , or
    Disable
    a test. Once you disable a test, that test will not be executed any more until you enable it again.
  4. Click
    Save
    .
    The test starts running.

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