500-420 Questions and Answers

For an e-commerce application built using a microservices architecture, logically grouping Transaction Detection rules can be effectively achieved through "Use Transaction Group." This approach allows for the organization of business transactions into meaningful groups that reflect the application's structure and the interactionsbetween its microservices. By grouping transactions, it becomes easier to monitor, analyze, and troubleshoot the application as a whole and its individual components, enhancing the visibility and management of the application's performance.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Business Transactions: Provides insights on how to configure and manage business transactions, including grouping and monitoring strategies.
• AppDynamics documentation on Microservices Monitoring: Offers guidance on best practices for monitoring applications designed with microservices architecture, including transaction grouping.

To determine if a given Java class is visible in AppDynamics, the "Preview Business transactions" feature in a Business Transaction Discovery Session can be used. This feature allows users to validate and preview the detection of business transactions, which includes ensuring that specific Java classes and methods are being correctly identified and monitored by AppDynamics.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Business Transaction Detection: Explains how to conduct a Business Transaction Discovery Session and use the preview feature to validate the visibility and detection of business transactions, including specific Java classes.

AppDynamics imposes a limit on the number of Service Endpoints that can be registered per node to ensure manageable performance and overhead. The limit per node is set to 100 Service Endpoints, which is a balance between providing detailed monitoring and maintaining application performance.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Service Endpoints: https://docs.appdynamics.com/latest/en/application-monitoring/monitor-service-endpoints

The Business Transaction Discovery feature in AppDynamics allows users to identify new and potential business transactions directly within the Business Transaction Dashboard. This feature aids in the continuous monitoring and adaptation of the application's transaction tracking to changing business needs, ensuring comprehensive visibility. Users can also preview these identified transactions, assessing their relevance and impact on the application's performance before deciding to monitor them as official business transactions.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Business Transaction Monitoring: Discusses how to manage and monitor business transactions, including the discovery and preview of new or potential transactions.
• AppDynamics documentation on Business Transaction Dashboard: Explains the functionalities and features of the Business Transaction Dashboard, including transaction discovery.

In the Browser Real User Monitoring (RUM) Dashboard, the Usage Stats section provides insights into user demographics, including the types of browsers and devices they are using. This section would help the Performance Analyst understand which browsers and devices are affected during a specific time period when there has been an increase in the Business Transaction error rate.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Browser RUM: https://docs.appdynamics.com/21.6/en/end-user-monitoring/browser-monitoring/browser-real-user-monitoring

The Metric Explorer in AppDynamics allows Performance Analysts to define and visualize Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from a selection of metrics. By accessing the Transaction Analytics data set, analysts can create custom dashboards that focus on the metrics they've determined to be critical KPIs for their application's performance.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Metric Explorer:

To identify if automatic remediation actions have been taken for a health rule violation in AppDynamics, a Performance Analyst should expand the "Description" field of the health rule violation event. This section will provide details on the actions executed as part of the automatic remediation process. These details help analysts understand the steps taken by the system to mitigate the issue without manual intervention.References:AppDynamics documentation on Health Rule Violations and Automated Actions.

If an agent fails to register with the Controller, a Performance Analyst should check the network/firewall rules to ensure that the agent can communicate with the Controller over the network. Additionally, it is crucial to verify the free license count to confirm thatthere are available licenses for the agent to register. Insufficient licenses or network communication barriers can prevent successful agent registration.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Agent Registration: Describes the prerequisites and troubleshooting steps for agent registration with the Controller.
• AppDynamics documentation on Licensing: Provides details on how the licensing model works, including how to check for available licenses.

Controller-level and tier/node-level dashboards in AppDynamics are treated as separate entities. They are scoped differently, with controller-level dashboards providing a global view across the entire AppDynamics domain, and tier/node-level dashboards being specific to particular tiers or nodes within an application. Performance Analysts do not have the ability to cross-reference directly between these two sets of dashboards within the AppDynamics UI.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Dashboards: https://docs.appdynamics.com/latest/en/application-monitoring/custom-dashboards

When a Performance Analyst observes a significant decrease in an application's workload (calls/min), reviewing the "Top Business Transactions by Load" in the Application Dashboard can provide valuable insights. This feature allows the analyst to quickly identify which business transactions have experienced the most significant changes in load, potentially pinpointing the root cause of the overall workload decrease. It offers a focused view of the application's performance, highlighting areas that may require further investigation or immediate action.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Application Dashboard: Describes the features and capabilities of the Application Dashboard, including how to view and analyze the top business transactions by load.
• AppDynamics documentation on Business Transactions: Details the importance of monitoring business transactions and how they can be used to understand application performance trends.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as "CPU %Busy" and "Memory Used%" are critical for providing insights into server-level resource consumption. "CPU %Busy" indicates the percentage of time the CPU is actively working on processes, reflecting the server's processing workload. "Memory Used%" shows the proportion of memory utilized, indicating how much of the server's RAM is being consumed by applications and processes. These KPIs are essential for understanding and managing server performance and resource allocation.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Server Monitoring: Includes information on monitoring server-level metrics, including CPU and memory utilization, to assess resource consumption.

In environments where virtual machines are frequently created and destroyed, using the agent configuration properties-Dappdynamics.agent.reuse.nodeNameand-Dappdynamics.agent.reuse.nodeName.prefixcan be beneficial. These settings allow AppDynamics agents to reuse node names for newly created instances, facilitating consistent monitoring and tracking across dynamic environments. This approach helps maintain clarity in application topology and ensures that performance data remains coherent even as the underlying infrastructure changes.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Agent Configuration: Discusses advanced agent configuration options, including node name reuse, to accommodate dynamic environments such as those with frequently changing virtual machines.
• AppDynamics documentation on Infrastructure Monitoring: Offers insights into best practices for monitoring in dynamic and virtualized environments.

When creating a new database collector in AppDynamics, the essential pieces of information required include the "Database hostname/IP address," "Database Type," and "Port number." These details are crucial for establishing a connection to the database and ensuring accurate monitoring. The hostname/IP address identifies the server where the database is hosted, the Database Type specifies the database management system (e.g., MySQL, Oracle), and the Port number is necessary for network communication with the database server.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Database Visibility: This section explains how to set up database collectors, including the required information for successful configuration.

When configuring an Information Point in AppDynamics, you can add match conditions to refine what gets measured. Match conditions based on a regex applied to the method allow you to specify which methods to include based on a regular expression pattern. Matching based on the invoked object allows you to specify which objects' methods are included, filtering the data according to the object type or instance. These conditions help in pinpointing specific methods or objects for which you want to collect runtime information.References:AppDynamics documentation on Information Points and Match Conditions.