How to Capture a Network Trace

Software as a service (SaaS) applications, like SpringCM are so powerful because almost all the heavy lifting happens on the back-end, and the user only needs to interact with the web interface on the front end.  For this reason, it is critical that the network connection between the front-end (web browser) and the back-end (SpringCM’s data centers) are always healthy.

In some cases, when network issues arise, a SpringCM support representative will ask you to capture a network trace to help diagnose the issue. This article will explain how to capture a HTTP Archive (HAR) file in Google Chrome.

Note: All browsers can capture a network trace file, but this article will only describe the process in Google Chrome.

Capture a HAR file with Google Chrome

Note:  Ensure that you are able to reproduce the issue before performing the following steps

1. Open Google Chrome
2. Open the Developer Tools pane from the top menu bar
   

   View > Developer > Developer Tools

3. A pane will either open on the same page, or within a separate window.
4. From this pane, select the “Network” tab.
   
   
5. Notice in the screenshot above that the red “record” icon in the top left is selected to indicate  that network activity is being recorded. You will want to make sure this is red before reproducing the issue.
6. To avoid capturing more data than you need, you can use the clear  icon to erase the existing logs before capturing the issue.
7. After you finish recording the issue, you will want to Right Click anywhere within the list of captured data and select “Save as HAR with Content”
8. You can attach the saved file to your support ticket so that we can help isolate the problem!

Tips from Support

• We’ve recorded a quick video on YouTube demonstrating the above steps.