Service unavailability detection with browser extension

[fstekelenburg]

As it appears, the Browser Extension does not detect issues of a monitored service, before the pages are loaded and the extension has been able to inject the RUM javascript onto the page.

So a (5xx) service outage like a Service Unavailable error (HTTP Error 503, is seen by the users, but not detected nor reported by the extension.

I am wondering if it would be a feasible RFE to let the extension register the interaction with the URL at activating until the actual page is loaded, and report back possible service outage back to the platform.

Somewhat related to this topic: Solved: Re: Can we capture Browser Failed Error in Browser Extension ? - Dynatrace Community

[JamesKitson · Accepted solution]

Real User Monitoring (RUM) data is collected by the JavaScript agent that is placed in the web page. The browser extension is just a way of getting the JS agent into the page, but if the web page never loads (e.g., a 500 error with non html) there is no environment for the JS and so it can not run and nothing can be collected. The extension isn't designed or intended to do any of the reporting itself.

If there is a 'friendly' error page then the JS can be injected and data returned.

I would say you would be looking to catch issues such as this server side in 500s showing up on the frontend services or through synthetic monitoring.