Application Redirect Chains, Revealed: ADEM Synthetic Tests Now Show Every Redirect

[JayGolf]

 

When an application is slow, which url-redirect is the problem?

Most modern applications don't load in a single step. Before the browser reaches the final page, the request travels through a chain of url- redirects: HTTP to HTTPS, primary domain to a regional instance, CDN edge to origin. Each url- redirect adds latency to the user's experience, and any one of them can be where the delay lives.

ADEM synthetic tests already give IT a clear read on application experience from the user's vantage point, from a site’s vantage point, or from a Cloud hosted ADEM agents. With ADEM Redirects, now that visibility extends into the request path itself. Every 3xx redirect in the chain is captured as its own measurable event, from any of those vantage points, with DNS, TCP, SSL, server response (TTFB), and download time (TTLB) recorded for each hop.

ADEM now provides experience incorporating redirects 

• The full journey, hop by hop. A user says the application is slow. Instead of a single score for the final URL, you get a step-by-step view of everything that happened along the way, so a slow CDN edge or a sluggish DNS lookup on an intermediate domain stands out on its own line.
• Faster root cause. You can point to the exact hop and the exact phase (DNS, TCP, SSL, server, or download) that consumed the time, and take that straight to the right team.
• Scores that match what users feel. Experience scoring now builds on Time to Last Byte, so the score reflects when content actually finishes delivering, not just when the server starts responding.

Deep-dive Metrics. Faster Troubleshooting. Meet the Redirects Tab.

A new Redirects tab in Application Performance Metrics surfaces the full chain with summary metrics:

Metric	What It Shows
Total Redirect Time	Aggregated TTLB across all intermediate 3xx hops
Redirect Hops	Number of redirects in the chain
Total DNS Time	Aggregated DNS resolution across all hops
Total TCP Time	Aggregated TCP handshake time
Total SSL Time	Aggregated TLS negotiation time
Total Server Response	Aggregated TTFB across hops
Total Page Load	Aggregated download time

Below the summary, a sequential waterfall shows each redirect with URL, status code (301, 302, 200), and color-coded timing bars for DNS, TCP, SSL, Server, and Download. Hover over any segment for duration in milliseconds and percentage of total hop time.

Example: A Slow Regional Redirect

Your synthetic test to company.service-now.com shows 5 seconds total. The waterfall reveals:

- Hop 1: company.app.com → 301 HTTPS redirect (60ms)

- Hop 2: https://company.app2.com → 302 to regional instance (3,200ms)

- Hop 3: https://company.app2.eu (Regional instance) → 200 OK (1,400ms)

Total Redirect Time: 3,260ms. The regional redirect is the bottleneck, likely a routing or load balancer issue. IT escalates with evidence.

Redirect visibility across ADEM Now Includes

1. Topology integration - The topology view now includes a url redirect icon for user to app, site to app, or cloud location to app. Hover to see the full URL chain without switching tabs. If the chain loops (URL A → B → A), ADEM terminates the test and flags it as "Loop Detected" in the waterfall.

2. TTLB scoring everywhere - All synthetic tests now score on TTLB, measuring the full journey from initial request to final byte. This applies to every synthetic test, with or without redirects.

Read the Tech Docs  to learn more about redirect chain visibility.