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Recording Settings

Recording settings control how Load Tester groups and filters HTTP traffic during a recording session. The defaults work for most recordings. You only need this page if you want to filter specific domains or adjust how transactions are grouped into pages.

Proxies and TLS in v7.0

v7.0 captures HTTP traffic through the Chrome extension's debugger API, not through a proxy. Corporate proxies, NTLM authentication, and SSL/SNI handling are now Chrome's responsibility. Configure them in Chrome (or your OS network settings) the way you would for normal browsing, and Load Tester will see whatever Chrome sees.

When to Adjust Recording Settings

You typically only need to change settings when:

  • ✅ Filtering unwanted domains during recording (analytics, ads, CDN noise)
  • ✅ Page grouping looks wrong (AJAX requests appearing as separate pages)

Recording a standard website without these concerns? Skip to Your First Recording and use the defaults.

Domain Blocking (Transaction Filtering)

Block unwanted hostnames or URLs from being recorded: analytics, ads, third-party content you don't want in your test case.

When to Use Domain Blocking

Block domains during recording when:

  • ✅ Testing specific functionality and want to exclude unrelated traffic
  • ✅ Reducing recording size by filtering out analytics (Google Analytics, tracking pixels)
  • ✅ Focusing on API calls and excluding static CDN content

In practice, it's often easier to purge unwanted transactions after recording using the test case configuration wizard. Domain blocking during recording is rarely necessary anymore.

Configuring Domain Blocking

  1. Window → Preferences → Web Performance → Recording → *Transaction Blocking
  2. Block by host:
  3. Click Add Host
  4. Enter hostname: google-analytics.com
  5. Use subdomain wildcard: .example.com blocks all *.example.com
  6. Block by URL:
  7. Click Add URL
  8. Enter full URL: https://cdn.example.com/tracking.js
  9. Click OK

Blocked transactions will be omitted from future recordings.

Post-Recording Filtering is Easier

Instead of blocking during recording, consider using the Strip Static Resources feature after recording: right-click the test case → Configure → Strip Static Resources. This removes CSS, JavaScript, images, and fonts, leaving only HTML and API calls.

Page Grouping Algorithms

During recording, Load Tester groups HTTP transactions into logical "pages." Two algorithms are available, and the right choice depends on your application.

Referrer Analysis (Default)

How it works: Uses the Referer HTTP header to determine which transactions are pages and which are resources (images, CSS, JS) belonging to those pages.

Use when:

  • ✅ Testing traditional multi-page web applications
  • ✅ Application uses standard HTTP referrer headers
  • ✅ Want pages grouped by navigation flow

Activity Monitoring

How it works: Uses timing to group transactions. When HTTP activity stops for a threshold period (default: 2 seconds), the page is considered "done."

Use when:

  • ✅ Testing AJAX-heavy single-page applications (SPAs)
  • ✅ Application uses asynchronous HTTP requests
  • ✅ Referrer-based grouping produces illogical page boundaries

To switch algorithms:

  1. Window → Preferences → Web Performance → *Recording
  2. Page Grouping: Select Activity Monitoring
  3. Activity Threshold: Adjust milliseconds of inactivity (default: 2000ms)
  4. Click OK

When in Doubt, Use Referrer Analysis

Referrer analysis works well for most applications. Only switch to activity monitoring if your page grouping looks wrong, typically when AJAX requests appear as separate pages instead of grouped with the page that triggered them.

SPAs: Use Force Page Break

Neither algorithm draws clean page boundaries in a single-page application where the URL doesn't change between "pages." For SPAs, drive page boundaries by hand using the Force Page Break button on the Recording Control dialog. See The Recording Control Dialog.

Recording Settings Quick Reference

Setting Default When to Change
Domain Blocking None Want to filter specific domains (post-recording is easier)
Page Grouping Referrer Analysis AJAX/SPA apps (switch to Activity Monitoring)

Troubleshooting Recording Settings

Problem: Pages Grouped Illogically

Symptoms: AJAX requests appear as separate pages instead of belonging to the page that triggered them.

Solution: Switch to Activity Monitoring page grouping:

  1. Preferences → Recording → Page Grouping: Activity Monitoring
  2. Adjust activity threshold if needed (default: 2000ms)

Problem: Recording is Very Slow

Symptoms: Recording takes much longer than normal browsing.

Possible causes:

  1. Network latency: Corporate network or VPN adding delay
  2. Chrome extension overhead: Recording via debugger API adds slight performance overhead, usually negligible but more noticeable on heavy pages
  3. Chrome throttling: If you previously enabled DevTools network throttling in Chrome, it persists across sessions. Check DevTools → Network → "No throttling"

Next Steps

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