Comparing Catchpoint Metrics to other common tools

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Overview

The metric names for performance analysis vary from one tool to another. Each of the tools calculates similarly-named metrics differently, and it is important to know how metrics generated by other tools can be compared to Catchpoint metrics.

Comparison

These tables provides a list of metrics used by common tools - SpeedCurve, DynaTrace, and SOASTA - each with its corresponding Catchpoint-equivalent metrics based on the mapping of Catchpoint metrics to W3C's metrics.

SpeedCurve Definition Catchpoint Equivalent
Backend The time from the start of the initial navigation until the first byte of the base HTML page is received by the browser (after following redirects). Redirect + Time To First Byte(TTFB)
Start Render The Start Render time is measured as the time from the start of the initial navigation until the first non-white content is painted to the browser display. Render Start
Visually Complete The time at which all the content has finished rendered and nothing changed in the viewport after that point as the page continued loading. The user should see a full screen of content. Visually Complete (Real User)
Page Load/Load Time The time from the start of the initial navigation until the beginning of the window load event. Document Complete
Fully Loaded The time from the start of the initial navigation until there was 2 seconds of no network activity after Document Complete. Webpage Response
SpeedIndex The Speed Index is a calculated metric rather than a point in time that represents how quickly the page rendered the user-visible content. Speed Index
DynaTrace Definition Catchpoint Equivalent
Availability The percentage of tests conducted during a specific period of time that completed successfully. % Availability
Connect time The time that it takes to connect to a Web server across a network. Connect
Connections The number of TCP links between the IP address received by the DNS lookup and the hosts. #Connections
Content Time A network component, the time required to receive the content of a page or page component starting with the receipt of the first content and ending with the last packet received. Load
DNS Time A network component, the time it takes to translate the host name into the IP address – often an outsourced service. DNS
Failed Objects The agent connected to the server that the object allegedly resides on but was unable to download it; the agent could not find the server because the DNS lookup failed. #Content Load Errors
Failed Tests The total number of tests during the time period that did not complete successfully. A test is considered “failed” when a step within the test fails. #Test Errors
First Byte Time A network component, the time it takes to receive the first byte of the page HTML, graphic object or other web component after the TCP connection is completed. Overloaded web servers often have a long first byte time. Wait
KB Total number of kilobytes downloaded from the initial request until the last connection closes. Total Downloaded Bytes
Response Time The time From when a user clicks on a link to the time when the last content is downloaded. This includes the time to collect all objects on all steps of the test, including 3rd party content form off-site servers, graphics, frames, and redirection. Webpage Response
SSL Time The time it takes a client to send a request to connect to the server, the server to send the signed certificate, and the client to make a handshake with the server. SSL
SOASTA Definition Catchpoint Equivalent
Response Time The complete amount of time spent establishing the connection, sending the request, and receiving and processing the response. Response
Bytes Received The total number of bytes received from the remote server, including the status line, the headers, the body, and all separating whitespace. Total Downloaded Bytes
Connection Establish Time The amount of time spent establishing the HTTP connection, including the SSL handshake (if any) and DNS lookup. DNS + SSL + Connect
Send Time The total amount of time spent sending the request content to the server. Send
Receive Time The total amount of time spent receiving and processing the response content from the server. Load