What is APM? Application performance monitoring - Dynatrace

The Dynatrace software intelligence platform provides all-in-one advanced observability for APM use cases that serve business, operations, ... Platform SupportedTechnologies InfrastructureMonitoring Applications&Microservices ApplicationSecurity DigitalExperience BusinessAnalytics CloudAutomation Solutions AWS Azure Google Kubernetes OpenShift ServiceNow VMwareTanzu U.S.Government Resources CustomerStories ProductNews Blog Demos Webinars Podcasts Services&Support DynatraceONE ACEServices BusinessInsights DynatraceUniversity SupportCenter Documentation DynatraceCommunity Pricing About Newsroom Careers Partners Leadership InvestorRelations ESG Events Locations Contact SaaSlogin Freetrial Search Home Inthisblogpost WhatisAPM? WhatdoesAPMstandfor? WhybusinessesneedAPM WhatdoesAPMdo?APMcorefeatures WhatarethebenefitsofAPM? Whycloud-nativeapplicationsmakeAPMchallenging APMtoolsvs.APMplatforms APM’smanyforms AdvantagesofanadvancedAPMplatform LeadingvendorsintheAPMmarket DeliveranexceptionaluserexperiencewithAPM Shareblogpost Applicationperformancemonitoring(APM)formodern,cloud-nativeenvironmentsextendsobservabilitybeyondsystemavailabilityandserviceperformanceandresponsetimes.Automaticandintelligentobservabilityhelpsorganizationsimproveuserexperiencesatthescaleofmoderncomputing. WhatisAPM? Applicationperformancemonitoring(APM)isthepracticeoftrackingkeysoftwareapplicationperformancemetricsusingmonitoringsoftwareandtelemetrydata.PractitionersuseAPMtoensuresystemavailability,optimizeserviceperformanceandresponsetimes,andimproveuserexperiences. Mobileapps,websites,andbusinessapplicationsaretypicalusecasesformonitoring.However,withtoday’shighlyconnecteddigitalworld,monitoringusecasesexpandtotheservices,processes,hosts,logs,networks,andend-usersthataccesstheseapplications—includingacompany’scustomersandemployees. WhatdoesAPMstandfor? APMcanbereferredtoas: Applicationperformancemonitoring Applicationperformancemanagement Applicationmonitoring Applicationperformance Performancemonitoring Thefocusofapplicationperformancemonitoringisonspecificmetricsandmeasurements;applicationperformancemanagementisthewiderdisciplineofdevelopingandmanaginganapplicationperformancestrategy.Allthesetermsrefertorelatedtechnologyandpractices. WhybusinessesneedAPM Everyday,customersuseappstoshop,streamTVshowsandmovies,connecttosocialmedia,managefinances,andwork.Intheageofworkingfromhome,customersrelymorethaneverontheseappstoconducttheirdailylives.Whenanappcrashes,isslowtoload,ordoesn’tloadatall,usersbecomefrustrated,whichcancausethebusinesstosufferbranddamageorloserevenue.Whenaninternalbusinessapplicationbeginstofalter,thecompanymayalsoseereducedemployeeproductivity. However,digitalteamsoftenfinditdifficulttofindtherootcauseofanapplicationperformanceproblem.Causescanrunthegamut—fromcodingerrorstodatabaseslowdownstohostingornetworkperformanceissues.Evenaconflictwiththeoperatingsystemorthespecificdevicebeingusedtoaccesstheappcandegradeanapplication’sperformance. Modernapplicationssuchasmobileapps,websites,andbusinessappsmayseemsimpleonthesurface,buttheyareactuallyhighlycomplex.Millionsoflinesofcodecomprisetheseapps,andtheyincludehundredsofinterconnecteddigitalservicesandopen-sourcesolutions,andrunincontainerizedenvironmentshostedacrossmultiplecloudservices. DigitalteamsuseAPMtoolstoviewandaddressthemanyvariablesthatcanimpactanapplication’sperformance.Withoutthesetools,teamsstruggletoresolvethenumerousproblemsthatcanarise—raisingthelikelihoodofcustomersbecomingfrustratedbythepoorexperienceandabandoningtheappaltogether. WhatdoesAPMdo?APMcorefeatures APMhasrapidlyexpandedtoencompassabroadrangeoftechnologiesandusecases.AccordingtoGartner,“Applicationperformancemonitoringisasuiteofmonitoringsoftwarecomprisingdigitalexperiencemonitoring(DEM),applicationdiscovery,tracinganddiagnostics,andpurpose-builtartificialintelligenceforIToperations.” TheGartnerMagicQuadrantforApplicationPerformanceMonitoring,aleadingindustryreportonAPM,providesacleardefinitionofAPM’scorecapabilitiesastheyhavematured.ThesecapabilitiessetthebarformodernAPMsolutions. Automaticdiscoveryandmappingofapplicationanditsinfrastructurecomponentstomaintainreal-timeawarenessindynamicenvironments End-to-endobservabilityofanapplication’scompleteHTTP/Stransactionalbehaviortounderstandtheeffectonbusinessoutcomesanduserexperience Mobileanddesktopapplicationmonitoringonmobileanddesktopbrowserstotrackuserexperienceacrossplatforms Root-causeandimpactanalysisofapplicationperformanceproblemsandbusinessoutcomesforfaster,morereliableincidentresolution Integrationandautomationwithservicemanagementtoolsandthird-partysourcestokeeppacewithanexpandingandevolvinginfrastructure BusinessKPIsanduserjourneyanalysis(forexample,logintocheckout)tooptimizeuserexperiencesandprovidetransparencyintohowchangesimpactKPIs Endpointmonitoringtounderstandhowmobileapplicationsimpactendpointdevicesandidentifyissueswiththosedevices Virtualdesktopinfrastructure(VDI)monitoringtomaximizetheproductivityofemployeesusingVDI Thesecapabilitiesextendintomanyareas.Hereareafewofthemostcommonones: APImonitoringtounderstandhowapplicationperformanceisimpactedbythirdpartyservices Applicationarchitecturetogaininsightsintohowapplicationarchitecturechangesimpactperformanceanduserexperience Servicemonitoringtounderstandhowindividualservicesinteractandtheirimpactonoverallapplicationperformance Containermonitoringtohelpunderstandthecontextandperformanceimpactofindividualcontainers End-userexperiencemonitoringtohelpyouunderstandhowchangestoapplicationsaffectyourendusers WhatarethebenefitsofAPM? Becauseitgivesbusinessesincreasedvisibilityandintelligenceintotheperformanceofapplicationsandtheirdependencies,APMdeliversanimpressiveandexpandinglistoftechnicalandbusinessbenefits. Technicalbenefits Business,operations,application,anddevelopmentteamscanexpecttoenjoyanumberofpracticalbenefitsfromadoptingAPMpracticesandtools,suchas: Increasedapplicationstabilityanduptime Reducednumberofperformanceincidents Fasterresolutionofperformanceproblems Fasterandhigher-qualitysoftwarereleases Improvedinfrastructureutilization Concretebusinessbenefits ThoseintheboardroomhavejustasmuchtogainfromadoptingAPMsolutionsasthoseonthefrontlinesofDevOpsefforts.Businessbenefitsinclude: Improveddeveloperandoperationalproductivity Increasedtimespentoninnovation Betteruserexperiences Increasingrevenue Reducedoperationalcosts Increasingconversionrates Softbusinessbenefits Long-timeAPMusersalsoreportthatAPMhasgiventheirorganizationssomeunexpectedbutimpactfuladvantages. Mostprominentamongthesepositivesistheabilitytocollaboratemoreeasily.ThenewinsightsandreliableintelligenceaffordedbyagoodAPMsolutionenablesteamsacrosstheorganizationtobemoreconfident.Inturn,thissinglesourceofreliableintelligenceallpartiescanagreeonhelpsapplication,operationsanddevelopmentteamstoalignfasterandeasierwhenproblemsariseandtoworktogethermoreeffectively.Moreeffectivecollaborationhelpsteamsresolveproblemsfaster,whichcanmakefrustratingwarroomsathingofthepast. Asaresult,leadersseeincreasedjobsatisfactionamongtheirteammembers,leadingtohigherstaffretention. Whycloud-nativeapplicationsmakeAPMchallenging EventhoughthebenefitsofAPMarewellestablished,theriseofcloud-nativeapplicationshasmadeitmorechallengingtodowell.Forexample,cloud-nativeappsgeneratefargreaterquantitiesoftelemetrydatabecausetheyaremadeupofamyriadmicroservicesthatdynamicallyspinupandspindowninthebackground.Eachofthesemicroservicesexistsforaveryshortperiodandgeneratesitsowntelemetrydata,addingtotheoverallsignalnoise.Whenthishappens,itbecomesmoredifficulttofindthemostimportanteventstakingplacewithinyourapplicationinfrastructure. Cloud-nativeappsalsoproducemanykindsofdata.Telemetrydatafromaserverlessenvironmentisquitedifferentfromadatabaseoravirtualmachine(VM),forexample,butabusinessstillneedstonormalizeandcentrallymanagealltheinformationasitcomesin.Thevelocityatwhichthisdataiscreatedisanotherproblem.Whenacloud-nativeappincludesmanysmallermicroservices,datacomesinatamuchfasterratethanwithamonolithicapplication.AllthesefactorshaveaddednewchallengesthatmaketraditionalAPMmoredifficultinacloud-nativeapplicationenvironment. APMtoolsvs.APMplatforms Withthedelugeoftelemetrydatathatcomeswithcloud-nativeappscomesaprofusionofperformancemonitoringtools. OrganizationscantakeoneoftwoapproacheswhenpickingAPMtools.Bydefaultorbydesign,differentteamsmaydeployacombinationofpointsolutions—specializedmonitoringtoolsthatcapturetheindividualcomponentsoftheirapplicationenvironment.Or,theymaychooseasingleplatformthatmorefullyencompassesthemanylayersandusecaseswithintheapplicationenvironment.Pointsolutionscanposebenefitsatalocallevelandchallengesatamacrolevel,whileaplatformapproachembracesamodernvisionofAPMthatdemonstratesclearadvantagesatthelocalandmacrolevels. Benefitsofpointsolutions Pointsolutionsarespecializedtomonitorspecificcomponentsandprovideadvantagesforthosespecificusecases.Forexample,somecompaniesuseGrafanatoconsolidatetheirmetricsvisualizationsinasingledashboardwhileothersuseJaegerforitsdistributedtracingcapabilitiestogainbetterobservabilityintotheirsystemsandtroubleshootperformanceissues.Boththesetoolsarehighlyspecializedfortheenvironmentstheyareappliedto. Teamsfocusedonsolvingaspecific,specializedissue,suchasimplementingaservicemeshtohelpmanageorchestrationintheirKubernetesenvironment,turntopointsolutionsbecausetheyarecosteffectiveandeasytoimplement. Challengesofpointsolutions Pointsolutionsonlyprovidealimitedviewofacompany’sapplicationarchitecture.Thislimitedvisibilitymakesithardertoidentifyrootcausesofapplicationperformanceissues,resultinginlongerdowntimeswhenproblemsarise.Further,theyonlyprovideasingleviewoftheapplicationarchitecture,oftenmissingthe“causeandeffect”ofperformanceproblems—forexample,increasedCPUusagecausedbyamicroservicefailure.Thismayresultinunnecessarytroubleshootingexercisesandfinger-pointing,nottomentionwastedtimeandmoney. Becausethescopeofthesesolutionsislimitedbytheirnature,theyalsotendtocreatesilosinwhichteamscandisagreeonservice-levelobjectives(SLOs)andmetrics.Thissiloeffectcanleadtomoreinefficiencyandblameasteamsrelyonseparatetoolsanddifferentinformation. AdvantagesofaplatformapproachtoAPM BecauseAPMhasitsrootsintheeraofmonolithicapplicationsbeforetheriseofmicroservices,open-sourcetechnologies,andcloud-nativeenvironments,someindustryobservershavearguedthatAPMplatformslacktheinnovationanddeep-divecapabilitiesrequiredtokeepupwithbespokepointsolutions.ThismaybetrueformanytraditionalAPMplatforms. However,aplatformthatispurpose-builtforcloud-nativeenvironmentsandusesasimple,automateddeploymentmodel,likeDynatrace,canofferbroadtechnologicalcoverageacrossthefullstack,includingthosebespokepointsolutions.Byleveraging“agentless”datacapture(forapplicationusecasesthatcannotsupportanagent-baseddeploymentmodel)andAPIstoingestdata,acloud-nativeplatformlikeDynatracecanbroadenitscoveragetotheentirehybrid-multicloudnetwork.Thisbroad-spectrumobservabilityprovidesamacro-levelviewacrossmultipleenvironmentstoprovidecontinuousdiscovery,andtheapplicationsthatrunonthem,andproactiveanomalydetectionprioritizedbybusinessimpact. CrucialcapabilitiesofamodernAPMplatformincludeAIandcontinuousautomation.Withtheexplosionofobservabilitydata,aplatformneedstoautomaticallyprocessbillionsofdependenciesinreal-time,continuouslymonitorthefullstackforsystemdegradationandperformanceanomaliesanddeliverpreciseanswerswithroot-causedetermination. APM’smanyforms APMmonitoringcomesinmanyflavors,includinginfrastructuremonitoring,networkmonitoring,databasemonitoring,logmonitoring,containermonitoring,cloudmonitoring,syntheticmonitoring,andend-usermonitoring,amongothers.Companiesoftenrundozensofindividualmonitoringtoolsatonce,especiallywhenthey’reholdingontolegacyapplicationsandmanagingthemusingthetoolstheyfindmostfamiliar.Althoughthismayseemliketheeasiestapproachatfirstglance,itfrequentlycreatesproblemsinthelongrun.AsingleAPMsolutionthatdeliversfull-stackobservabilitycanmakemonitoringalltheseusecaseseasyandmorereliable. Full-stackmonitoring Asapplicationinfrastructuresexpandtoencompassbothon-premisesandmulticloudenvironments,organizationsincreasinglyunderstandthatonlyafull-stackmonitoringapproachcandelivercomprehensivevisibilityintotherootcausesofissues,wherevertheyoriginate.Full-stackmonitoringallowsyoutomonitoryourentireinfrastructurefromendtoendinjustthisway—encompassingeverythingfrominfrastructurehealthtoapplicationperformanceandeventheend-userexperience.Withthisvisibility,youcanseeallthesecomponentsandunderstandtheinterdependenciesbetweenthem,gettingfasteranswerstoallyourquestions. AdvantagesofanadvancedAPMplatform TheDynatracesoftwareintelligenceplatformprovidesall-in-oneadvancedobservabilityforAPMusecasesthatservebusiness,operations,application.AIassistanceenablesteamstoautomateoperations,releasesoftwarefaster,anddeliverbetterbusinessoutcomes.WiththeDavis®AIengineatitscore,Dynatraceprovidespreciseanswerstocomplexquestionsinrealtime. Advancedcloudobservability Withthescale,diversefunctionality,anddynamicnatureofcloudplatformssuchasAWS,Azure,andGCP,APMsolutionsneedtojustworkwithoutconfigurationormodeltraining.Dynatraceprovidescompleteobservabilityout-of-the-boxfordynamiccloudenvironments,atscaleandincontext.Itincludesperformancemetrics,logs,traces,entityrelationships,anduserexperienceandbehaviordata,anddatafromthelatestopensource-standards,includingOpenTelemetry,allinasingleplatform,automatically,withnoconfigurationrequired. Continuousautomation Tryingtomanuallymaintain,configure,script,andsourcedatainacloud-nativeenvironmentisbeyondhumancapabilities,whichmeansorganizationsmustcontinuouslyautomatethesetaskstoensureproperapplicationperformance.Dynatraceenablesautomationthroughautomaticdeployment,configuration,discovery,topology,performance,andupdates.Davis®doesn’tneedtolearnbecauseitalreadyknows,andiscontinuouslyandautomaticallyobserving,analyzing,providinganswers,andprioritizingwhatmatters. AIassistance AIassistanceempowersteamsbyreducingmanualorredundantwork,allowingthemtobemoreproductiveinareasofcriticalimportancetothebusiness.Here,too,Davis®providespreciseanswersforproactiveproblemresolutionandperformanceimprovementsinrealtime.CustomersreportthatDavis®automaticallymultipliesthepowerandeffectivenessoftheentireteam,superchargingtheorganization’sabilitytoquicklyresolveapplicationperformanceissues. Cross-teamcollaboration Dynatracewasbuiltforenterprise-scaledeployments.Withitseaseofuseandanunlimitednumberofusers,companiescaneliminatesilosandaccelerateteamwork.BecauseDynatracecombinesaunifieddataplatformwithadvancedanalyticstoprovideasinglesourceoftruthforbiz,ops,appanddevteams,theycangofasteranddeliverconsistentlybetterresultswithlessfriction. Userexperienceandbusinessanalytics Experienceandoutcomesmatter,whethertheapplicationismobileapp-to-user,IoTdevice-to-customers,orawebapplicationbehindthescenes.That’swhytheDynatraceplatformencompassestheedgedeviceandAPI.Withintelligenceintousersessions,includingRealUserMonitoringandSessionReplay,teamscanconnectuserexperiencestobusinessoutcomessuchasconversions,revenue,andKPIs.Withdata-backeddecisions,answersattheready,andreal-timevisibilityintobusinessKPIs,companiesconsistentlyandmoreefficientlydeliverbetterdigitalbusinessoutcomesacrossalltheirchannels. LeadingvendorsintheAPMmarket GartnernamesleadingvendorsintheAPMmarketinitsannualMagicQuadrantreport,givingAPMusersvaluableinsightintowhichsolutionsarebestsuitedtotheiruniqueneeds.Gartnerpositionseachvendorintovariousquadrantsonagraph,ratingthemaccordingtotheirleadershippositionwithinthemarketandtheircompletenessofvision. DynatracewasnamedaLeaderinGartner’s2021MagicQuadrantforAPMfortheeleventhconsecutivetime,positionedhighestandfurthestforbothAbilitytoExecuteandCompletenessofVision.Also,Dynatracealsorecentlyscoredhighestin4of5CriticalCapabilitiesusecasesinthe2021GartnerCriticalCapabilitiesforApplicationPerformanceMonitoringReport. Downloadreport! DeliveranexceptionaluserexperiencewithAPM Customersincreasinglydemandauserexperiencethatisassatisfyingasitisreliable.Effectiveapplicationperformancemonitoringthatgivesorganizationsgreaterinsightintounderlyingissuesiscentraltodeliveringonthisexpectation. AnAPMsolutionthatprovidesadvancedobservabilitythroughfull-stackmonitoringandenhancedroot-causeanalysisnowgivesorganizationsevengreaterinsightintoapplicationperformanceissues.Suchasolutionprovidesdigitalteamswiththefullsuiteofcapabilitiesneededtoresolvepriorityissuesfasterandmeetthegrowingcustomerdemandforastellaruserexperience. TolearnmoreabouthowDynatracedeliversexceptionaluserexperiencesthroughAPM,joinusforanon-demanddemo,TheSoftwareIntelligencePlatform.WanttoseehowDynatracedeliversAPMacrossthefullcloudstack?SeethedemoMonitoringmainframe,cloud,andmobileapps. Youmayalsolike Whatisdistributedtracingandwhydoesitmatter? September27,2021 JayLivens APMtoolsvs.APMplatform:What’sthedifference? September22,2021 JayLivens HowtoevaluatemodernAPMsolutions November8,2021 JayLivens Stayupdated RSSfeed Allupdates Blogposts Productnews Enteryouremailaddress: X Callingalldigitalgamechangers: WatcheverysessionfromDynatracePerformon-demandforfree. 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