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AppDynamics Review

Agents have low CPU overhead compared to other agent-based products we have tried

What is our primary use case?

Monitor 1000's of .NET, Java, Node.js, and Go applications using an auto-discovering agent-based tool.

How has it helped my organization?

We have cut our MTTR by half just by deploying agents. It significantly reduced the amount of time that we spend building synthetic monitors. To the point, we rarely have to build any monitors unless it is a vendor app or appliance we can't access to install an agent on.  

What is most valuable?

  • Autodiscovery of application topology, based on real user traffic
  • Baselining of every single metric that you throw at it.
  • Easy to use API
  • Customizable extensions
  • Facilitates business, dev and ops communication
  • Agents have low CPU overhead compared to other agent-based products we have tried.

What needs improvement?

The GUI can be overwhelming at first to a novice Dev or Ops support person, and the possible root causes of an issue do not bubble up to the first screen you see.  We usually walk everyone through a few simple steps: 

  1. Click here to see errors and exceptions.
  2. Click here to see what is causing response time problems.
  3. Click here to view the timeframe of a past issue.
  4. Click here to drill down into the root cause at the method level snapshot.   

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Very rarely. Solid performance on our controllers.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

None. The SaaS team worked with us on our rollout and expansion, making sure our controller is tuned for the metric and event loads.

How are customer service and technical support?

  • Great SaaS support, performance and uptime
  • Responsive support team
  • Responsive extension Dev team

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The previous tool was:

  • Clunky
  • Had difficulty in configuring alerting.
  • Did not use baselines.
  • Required hard thresholds for each metric.
  • Had a Java-based GUI, performed poorly.
  • Nobody wanted to use it.

How was the initial setup?

There is currently no automated agent management/upgrades for every agent type (currently the Universal Agent supports Java, expanding to .NET and machine agents in the future). So, if you do not have a solid automation tool already in use, deploying agents can be time consuming.   

What about the implementation team?

We had an in-house team of two people, and a vendor team assisting. The team was a mix of beginner to expert, and it worked out great.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Dynatrace and HPE Diagnostics.

What other advice do I have?

RUM, synthetics, mobile, network, and browser analytics make this a well-rounded tool.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Highlights
Pros
Autodiscovery of application topology, based on real user traffic.
Cons
The GUI can be overwhelming at first to a novice Dev or Ops support person, and the possible root causes of an issue do not bubble up to the first screen you see.
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