AppDynamics monitor

This topic explains how to use the AppDynamics monitor. This monitor provides information on the availability and performance of software applications and the impact on user experience measured by AppDynamics SaaS, a cloud-based APM tool, and AppDynamics, the on-premises model.

In this topic:

Set up the AppDynamics monitor

This task describes how to set up the AppDynamics monitor. You can authenticate using a password or access token to the monitored AppDynamics server.

1. Prerequisites

   Below is a list of prerequisites that are required to use this monitor:

   • You need to use a supported version of AppDynamics. For details, see the Integration with non-OpenText products section of the Support Matrix.

   • Since AppDynamics has solutions for on-premises or on the cloud, if you use a corporate proxy on your network, you need to set up a web proxy to collect data from it. To do this, on the LoadRunner Enterprise server, open the PCWEB\Web.config file in a text editor, and add the following under the configuration > system.net section of the file:

     <system.net>
       <defaultProxy enabled="true">
        <proxy proxyaddress="http://<PROXY_ADDRESS>:<PORT>" bypassonlocal="True" />
       </defaultProxy>
     </system.net>

2. Select a resources folder.

   Select a resources folder for the monitor profile in the resources tree, or create a new folder as follows:

   1. In the top banner, click the module name or the dropdown arrow and select Assets > Monitors.

   2. Click the New Folder button and enter a name for the monitor resources folder.

3. Create a monitor profile.

   1. Click the New Monitor Profile button , and make sure Monitor Profile is selected.

   2. Enter a name and optional description for the monitor profile, and click Save. An empty monitor profile is added to the selected resources folder.

   3. Select the monitor profile you just added and click the Add Monitor button .

   4. In the Monitor Type Selection tab, select the AppDynamics monitor type and click Next.

   5. In the Monitor Definition tab, enter the name or IP address of the AppDynamics server whose resources you want to monitor in the Server box. For a list of the supported formats, see the Support Matrix.

   6. Select the method for authenticating the monitored AppDynamics server and enter the required details:

      Password

      Enter the user name and password required to connect to the monitored AppDynamics server. Note: If in AppDynamics you are using an account name other than the default account (Customer1), you need to add the account name after the user name in the format: Username@accountname

      Token (Available in versions 24.3 and later)

      Enter the access token required to connect to the monitored AppDynamics server in the Token box. If you want to use a global access token that is shared across all monitored AppDynamics servers: Prerequisite. Add and/or update the system token for the monitor type using the LoadRunner Enterprise REST API. For details, see Add or update monitor system tokens in the LoadRunner Enterprise Administration REST API guide. Select Use system token. Note: The Use system token option is only available provided a system token exists for the monitor type and has been added to the system.

   7. Enter the port number of the AppDynamics server. The default port is 8090 for HTTP and 8181 for HTTPS.

   8. Select Use HTTPS if you are using a secure HTTP connection.

      Note: With some AppDynamics configurations, you might need to install TLS (SSL) certificates on your AppDynamics server for it to work correctly. Refer to the product documentation for more details.

   9. Select the application that you want to monitor from the Application box.

   10. Click Get Counters to display a list of available metrics and counters per metric from the selected AppDynamics application. You can get all types of metrics including application, user experience, database, and server metrics.

       Select the measurements that you want to monitor, and then click to add the counters to the Selected Counters table.

       Note: Log details are available in Debug mode only. "Connection with AppDynamics" in logs is an 'Info' entry rather than 'Debug'.

       For detailed information on the performance measurements that AppDynamics can monitor, refer to the AppDynamics documentation.

   11. Click Save. The monitor details are displayed in the Monitors tab for the selected monitor profile.

4. Associate the monitor with your test.

   For details, see Step 3: Associate monitors with your test.

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Configure additional AppDynamics monitor settings

You can make additional changes to the monitor’s behavior (on a per-machine basis) by editing the following settings in the AppDynamicsConfiguration.xml file (located in the <LRE_host_installdir>\dat\monitors directory):

• HttpTimeout. Defines the timeout period, in milliseconds, for the HttpWebRequests. The default value is 15000.

• MetricPollInterval. Defines the polling rate, in seconds, of the AppDynamics Controller. The default value is 60.

• ValidateServerCertificate. Defines whether the TLS (SSL) certificates on the host machine should be validated when using HTTPS. The default value is 0 for ease of use and broader compatibility. If you want stricter security control, change this value to 1. This requires you to install the AppDynamics certificates on the host machine.

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Notes and limitations

The following are notes and limitations for the AppDynamics monitor:

Delay displaying data

AppDynamics measurements appear in the LoadRunner Enterprise Run screen after a short delay. This is due to the way AppDynamics reports timestamps back to Controller, which are a few minutes behind the current time on the AppDynamics Controller machine. When the test is started, the first timestamp and data-point reported are a couple of minutes old. As a result, it takes a few minutes of running before the Controller receives data-points that have timestamps which are valid for the test in progress.

No graphs displayed

When the selected counters in AppDynamics do not contain any data, the AppDynamics graphs might not appear in LoadRunner Enterprise. Resolution: Check the AppDynamics dashboard to confirm whether the counters you selected contain data.

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See also:

• Monitors