FAQ about browser monitoring

1. Why are asterisks (*) displayed in the name of some monitored pages or APIs?

The multi-dimensional page statistics of Application Real-Time Monitoring Service (ARMS) browser monitoring is based on the exact URL of the page opened. The asterisks (*) contained in the name of the monitored pages or APIs are not a part of a page URL. They indicate the result of URL generalization. In other words, a name that contains asterisks is not a specific URL, but a group of similar URLs.

How the URL generalization works

• Problem: "Variables" make it difficult to monitor or analyze similar URLs with slight differences.
• Objective: Group similar URLs by replacing "variables" with asterisks (*).
• Solution: With our own URL generalization algorithm, we group similar URLs to decrease the number of URLs, while keeping as much semantic information as possible. This is done in two steps:
  • Aggregation: Aggregate similar URLs into one group.
  • "Variable" identification: Extract the "variables" from the URLs in the same group, and replace them with asterisks (*).

The following figure show the process:

2. Why is the page view list different from the page speed list?

This is because your application is a single-page application (SPA), and the SPA auto-resolution is enabled. In the SPA application scenario, the page view and page speed are measured as follows:

• Page view: When a hashchange event is triggered, the page view is automatically reported to record the page view of the page corresponding to the hash value. Therefore, when checking the page view list of an SPA application, you can see the exact page view of the hash pages.
• Page speed: When the hash value changes for an SPA application, the page speed doesn’t change. Therefore, the page speed is not recorded on the basis of hash values, which avoids unnecessary reports while clearly reflects the page performance.