This page describes how to monitor Windows hardware resources with the .NET Machine Agent. The AppDynamics .NET Agent includes an embedded .NET Machine Agent that runs as part of the AppDynamics.Agent.Coordinator service. The .NET Machine Agent regularly gathers system performance data metrics such as:

  • CPU activity
  • Memory usage
  • Disk reads and writes
  • Network traffic
  • Percent free disk space and megabytes free

You can view Windows Hardware Resource metrics in the Metric Browser. When IIS is installed on the machine, the .NET Machine Agent also reports IIS, ASP.NET, and ASP.NET Application metrics. See Monitor IIS. The .NET Machine Agent also reports CLR metrics, which are based on performance counters. See Monitor CLRs.

For applications running on the Windows Azure platform, AppDynamics disables these hardware resource monitoring and machine agent features:

  • CLR crash reporting
  • Machine snapshots
  • Performance counter metrics

Manage the .NET Machine Agent

You can manage the .NET Machine Agent in the Controller under Settings > AppDynamics Agents on the Machine Agents tab.

  • To enable or disable all the machine agents, including the Machine Agent, for a business application, click Enable Agents or Disable Agents.

  • To enable or disable an individual .NET Machine Agent, right-click the agent and click Enable Selected Machine Agent or Disable Selected Machine Agent. 

    Disabled agents maintain a 'heartbeat' connection to the Controller so you can enable it again. The agent persists its enabled/disabled state even after a restarted.


  • To reset a .NET Machine Agent, right-click the agent and click Reset Selected Machine Agent. The reset operation purges all existing metrics for the agent. The agent restarts and begins gathering metrics again. 

Machine Agent Tier

Immediately after you install and configure the .NET Agent, the .NET Machine Agent registers with the Controller and starts reporting performance data.

Frequently the machine agent metrics reach the Controller before the app agent has had time to instrument and register IIS applications, Windows services, or standalone applications. If there are no application tiers, then the machine agent registers as the Machine Agent tier.

Once the app agent begins reporting metrics for configured application tiers, the .NET Machine Agent reports to the application tiers and stops sending data to the Machine Agent tier. If you do not instrument any IIS applications, Windows services, or standalone applications on the server, the .NET Machine Agent always reports to the Machine Agent tier.

If you install the Machine Agent, a Java application, in a .NET environment, then you can add custom monitors and extensions such as the HTTP listener. See Configure the .NET Machine Agent.