Stay One Step Ahead with Synthetic API tests
What is Synthetic Monitoring and Synthetic API Tests?
When working with software, ensuring the reliability and performance of your applications is important. Enter synthetic monitoring and synthetic API tests – two tools that can save you from unexpected headaches when it comes to your application. In this blog, I'll delve into what synthetic monitoring and synthetic API tests are, explore their benefits, and highlight some of the tools that are popular at the moment.
Synthetic Monitoring: Imagine having a virtual user continuously interact with your application in production. Creating real life requests and mirroring real-world scenarios. That's precisely what synthetic monitoring does.
Synthetic API Tests: Specifically within the realm of APIs, synthetic API tests are a must. These tests entail sending simulated user requests or complete user workflows into your production environment to validate that everything operates as expected. They typically run automatically at short intervals, say every 1-2 minutes, to provide real-time insights into your API's health. You can run assertions on the response code, response body and anything else needed to verify your endpoint is behaving as expected.
The Benefits of Synthetic API Tests
1. Early Issue Detection: Synthetic API tests enable you to uncover potential problems with your applications before your users do. By proactively simulating user requests in a production environment, you can identify and resolve issues quickly and with less disruption for your users.
2. Third-Party Dependency Testing: If your APIs rely on third-party services or dependencies, synthetic API tests become invaluable. They continuously validate that these dependencies function correctly in production. In the event of a third-party incident causing downtime, you'll be alerted promptly.
3. Sanity Testing in Low User Activity Periods: If your application has time of reduced user activity, an issue could exist in production and not get detected until user traffic increases enough for your usual alerting to kick in. At which point, let's face it, it’s usually too late. Synthetic API tests can continue to diligently monitor your services even while you have low user activity. They ensure that your APIs remain in top form, ready to handle user interactions without any hiccups when traffic spikes.
4. Uptime and Availability Metrics: This will add to the essential uptime and availability metrics related to your APIs, offering deep insights into your service's performance.
Tools for Synthetic API Testing
To benefit from synthetic APi tests, you'll need the right tooling. Here are a few popular options:
1. Postman: Postman is a versatile API testing tool that allows you to create and run synthetic API tests easily.
2. DataDog: DataDog offers a robust synthetic monitoring platform that excels at continuous testing and alerting. It provides valuable insights into your APIs' performance, helping you stay ahead of potential issues.
3. AWS Canaries: Amazon Web Services (AWS) Canaries is a cloud-based synthetic monitoring service. It enables you to create and run tests for your APIs, ensuring their availability and functionality on the AWS infrastructure.
Synthetic monitoring and synthetic API tests help you stay one step ahead, whether you have third-party dependencies, experience low user activity periods, or just want to ensure the reliability of your services. By proactively identifying and addressing issues, you can provide a seamless user experience and maintain your application's reputation. By proactively identifying and addressing issues, you can provide a seamless user experience and maintain your application's reputation. Explore the tools mentioned here and choose the one that best fits your needs to stay one step ahead with synthetic monitoring of your APIs.