This page provides an overview of application permissions in AppDynamics. Application permissions follow an inheritance model with three levels listed in order from highest (default) to lowest (tier-specific):

  • Default permissions
  • Application-wide permissions
  • Tier-specific permissions

By default, each level inherits from the one above it, unless you customize permissions at a lower level. This mechanism enables you to grant access to groups or users for specific business applications in the Tenant UI.

Customized permissions at a specific level override more general permissions at another level. That is, tier-specific permissions take precedence over application-specific permissions, and application-specific permissions override default permissions. Not all permissions can be customized at the tier-level. 

You can set application permissions for custom roles from the Applications tab in the Tenant Administration UI. You can also assign the Can Create Applications permission to a custom role. See Create and Manage Custom Roles.

Create Default Permissions

All new applications inherit default permissions.

Configure Default Application Permissions

  1. Log in to the Tenant Administration UI and select Roles.
  2. Add a new role or select a custom role.
  3. Click Can Create Applications to grant the role permission.
  4. Under Default Permissions, select the default permissions for this role: View, Edit, or Delete.
    1. To give all permissions to all applications, click Edit
    2. To specify permissions for specific application configurations for all applications, deselect Edit, and then click Edit (None)
    3. In the Edit Permissions panel, select specific permissions.
    4. Click Delete to grant permissions to delete any application. To grant permission to delete a specific application, customize the permission at the application level. See Application and Tier Level Permissions.
  5. Click OK then click Save.

Customize Application Permissions

To customize business application-level permissions:

  1. Set the Permissions dropdown to Custom
  2. Select View and then Edit (None)
    You can also grant permission to delete a specific application.

To customize permissions at the tier level,

  1. Click Add to add tiers or select an existing tier.
  2. Select Edit.
  3. Select the individual permissions for the specific tier.
  4. Click OK then click Save.

Overlapping Role Permissions Examples

Within specific and default permissions, granting a specific permission takes precedence over denying the same permission elsewhere. For example, if a user is assigned two roles and one grants a permission and the second role denies it, the user will have permissions for the activity.

These examples show how overlapping permissions of different roles interact. The examples enable view, edit, and delete permissions to applications for two Groups. The last column shows the resulting permissions for a specific user with roles that are assigned to each group. 

Group 1Group 2

Default Permissions
(view, edit delete all applications)
Explicit permissions
(view, edit delete application-1)
Default Permissions
(view, edit delete all applications)
Explicit permissions
(view, edit delete application-1)
ANoneYesYesNone
BYesNoneYesYes
CYesNoneNoneNon
  • Result for example A: User has view, edit, and delete permissions to all applications, including application-1.
  • Result for example B: User has view, edit, and delete permissions to all applications, including application-1.
  • Result for example C: User has view, edit, and delete permissions to all applications, excluding application-1.

General Permissions

PermissionActivities EnabledMore Information
Can Create ApplicationsCreate business, browser, and mobile applications. Also controls the Archive Snapshot action.Business Applications
View, Edit, and Delete permissions for new applications can be set as part of the default permissions for a custom role

View, edit, or delete business applications (and the tiers and nodes), browser, and mobile applications.

Setting default delete permissions allows the user to delete all three artifacts from the application model. 

Business Applications

Tiers and Nodes

Application and Tier Permissions

You can grant the following permissions as specified. Permissions that you can customize at the tier level are indicated in the Description of Activities Enabled column. Asterisks (*) in the permissions table indicate permissions that are considered sensitive for security and data privacy purposes. Carefully consider the security and data privacy policies of your organization before granting these permissions.

PermissionDescription of Activities EnabledMore Information
Configure Transaction Detection*

Create, edit, or delete transaction detection - can be at the tier level.

Transaction Detection Rules

Configure Backend Detection

Create, edit, or delete backends - can be at the tier level.

Backend Detection Rules

Configure Error Detection

Create, edit, or delete error detection.

Error Detection
Configure Diagnostic Data Collectors*

Create, edit, or delete diagnostic data collectors.

Data Collectors
Configure Call Graph Settings
  • Edit call graph settings (no SQL)
  • Turn on or off capture raw SQL (call graph and SQL bind must both be on)
Call Graph Settings
Configure JMX

Create, edit, or delete JMX metrics.

Configure JMX Metrics from MBeans
Configure Memory Monitoring

Configure which custom classes are tracked by Object Instance Tracking.

To enable or disable Object Instance Tracking, you need the Configure Agent Properties permission.

Object Instance Tracking for Java

Configure EUM (for Browser RUM)

See End User Monitoring Permissions.

Configure the Controller UI for Browser RUM

Configure EUM (for Mobile RUM)

See End User Monitoring Permissions.

Configure the Controller UI for Mobile RUM 

Configure Information Points*

Create, edit, or delete information points.

Information Points

Configure Health Rules

Create, edit, or delete health rules.

Configure Health Rules
Configure Actions

Create, edit, or delete actions on agent properties UI.

Create, edit, or delete email digests.


Alert and Respond

Actions

Email Digests

Configure Policies

Create, edit, or delete policies.

Configure Policies

Configure Business Transactions

Organize Business Transactions including:

  • Group Business Transactions
  • Exclude/un-exclude Business Transactions
  • Delete Business Transactions
  • Enable Business Transaction lockdown
  • Rename Business Transactions

Configure Business Transaction thresholds.

Configure snapshot settings.

Set as a background task.

Configure data collectors.

Enable End User Monitoring.

Enable analytics for business transactions.

Enable or disable GUID injection.

Organize Business Transactions

Transaction Thresholds

Transaction Snapshots

Monitor Background Tasks

Data Collectors

Set Up and Access Browser RUM

Collect Transaction Analytics Data

Business Transaction and Log Correlation

Configure Baselines

Create, edit, or delete baselines.

Dynamic Baselines

Configure SQL Bind Variables*

Turn on or off capture raw SQL (also requires Configure Call Graph Settings).

Call Graph Settings

Configure Agent Properties

Create, edit, or delete agent configuration (can be at the tier level).

Enable or disable automatic leak detection (can be at the tier level).

Enable or disable object instance tracking (can be at the tier level).

Enable or disable custom memory structure (can be at the tier level).

App Agent Node Properties

Object Instance Tracking for Java

Custom Memory Structures for Java

Agent Advanced Operation

Reset agent from the node dashboard.

Request agent thread dumps.

Request agent debug logs.

Manage App Agents

Diagnostic Actions

Request Agent Log Files

Set JMX MBean Attributes and Invoke Operations

Edit MBean attributes or invoke actions on operations.

Monitor JMX

Configure Service Endpoints

Create, edit, or delete service endpoints.

Service Endpoint Detection

Configure Monitoring Level (Production/Deployment)

Switch between production and development mode.

Development Level Monitoring

Configure 'My Dashboards' for Tiers and Nodes

Create, edit or delete custom dashboards (can be at the tier level).

Create and Manage Custom Dashboards and Templates

Custom Dashboards

Create EventsCreate, edit, or delete events.Alert and Respond API
Start Diagnostic Sessions

Start a diagnostic session.

Diagnostic Sessions

View Sensitive Data*In combination with the Configure Transaction Detection permission, enables the use of Live Preview and Business Transaction Discovery features to stream live data from your application.Custom Match Rule Live Preview