Calculating the average execution time for multi-tier web requests

With components existing at many different layers to provide varying functionalities, web applications are no longer as straightforward as they once were. Understanding the execution time for a web request across the entire application stack, rather than at a single layer, can be extremely beneficial in correctly articulating the average time that requests take to execute in their entirety. This can lead to identification of issues in relation to increasing website response times.

In this recipe, you will write a Splunk search to calculate the average execution time of a web request that traverses not only the website access logs but also application logs. You will then graphically display this value on a dashboard using the single value visualization.

Getting ready

To step through this recipe, you will need a running Splunk Enterprise server, with the sample data loaded from Chapter 1, Play Time – Getting Data In. You should...