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To monitor Java applications in the Controller, you need to install the AppDynamics Java Agent on each server that hosts applications to be monitored. You can use the AppDynamics Agent Installer to streamline the deployment of the Java Agent. The Agent Installer simplifies the agent installation process.

If you downloaded the agent from the AppDynamics Downloads Center, see Install the Java Agent.

Before You Begin

  1. Verify support for your application environment at Java Supported Environments.
  2. Confirm you have access to a compatible controller. See Agent and Controller Compatibility.
  3. Confirm the connection settings to the Controller where your agent will report data:
    • If you use a SaaS Controller, AppDynamics sent you the Controller hostname in your Welcome Email. Use port 443 for HTTPS or port 80 for HTTP.
    • If you use an on-premises Controller, you supplied hostname and port at install time.
  4. Verify you have access to the machine where the application runs as a user account with privileges to install the agent software and restart the application.
  5. Verify that the machine where the application runs can connect to the Controller. Proxies or firewalls on the network between the agent and Controller may require additional configuration. 

Install the Agent

To install the agent using the Agent Download Wizard in the Controller UI: 

  1. Log in to the Controller UI and access the Getting Started Wizard for Java. 

  2. Follow the steps in the wizard to configure and download the agent. The agent guides you through some preliminary configuration steps.

  3. As an administrator on the machine running your Java application, unzip the AppServerAgent.zip file.
    For example, on Linux unzip the agent to home/appdynamics. This is the <agent_home> directory.

    unzip AppServerAgent.zip -d /opt/appdynamics/appagent
    CODE

  4. Add the Java Agent binary to the application process, typically by passing the agent JAR file as a startup argument to the application. For information by framework and application type, see Agent Installation by Java Framework. 

When completed, you can restart your application and view data reported by the agent in the Controller UI.  From there, you can install more agents or begin monitoring your application environment. 

Tier and Node Naming in the Java Getting Started Wizard

Each monitored JVM must have a unique combination of tier and node name in AppDynamics. Naming the components in the wizard varies between the self-service trial edition of AppDynamics and the non-trial edition:  

  • For the self-service Pro Trial edition of AppDynamics Pro, the wizard names the application and tier for you using the format described in the following section. You can always change the names later.
  • For a non-trial edition, you name the application and tier in the wizard, while the wizard generates the node name.

For self-service trials of AppDynamics Pro, the getting started wizard uses the following naming scheme to identify agents: 

  • Node name: <app_server_type>@<hostname>:<port> 
    For example: JBoss@appserver1.example.com:8080
  • Tier name: MyTier
  • Application name: MyApp

The port number in the node name ensures that each node has a unique name if there is more than one app server on the same machine.

If the application server listens on multiple ports, the node name uses the lowest of the port numbers. Notice that the lowest port number may not be the primary port for the host. For instance, if a server listens for client requests at 8080 but listens for shutdown requests on port 8005, the node will be named with the 8005 port. 

The Controller identifies distinct tiers based on traffic flow between nodes. All tiers belong to a single business application, MyApp.