To enable the Database Agent to collect data, you must add and configure a Database Collector for each database that you want to monitor. The Database Collector is the process that runs within the Database Agent to collect performance metrics about your database instances and database servers.

Required Database Permissions

You must have the required permissions to monitor your databases. See Database Visibility Supported Environments. 

AppDynamics Permissions

To add, edit, and create collectors, users need a role with the proper permissions:

  • Can Create Collectors
  • Can Edit All Collectors
  • Can Delete All Collectors

See Database Permissions.

Add a Database Collector

When you create a Database Collector, the password is encrypted and saved in the database. When the password is saved, you cannot retrieve the saved password. AppDynamics uses the secure-credential-store-api internal library to encrypt passwords and the PKCS5 encryption algorithm.

  1. Click the Configuration tab in the left panel menu.
  2. Click the Collectors option.
  3. In the Collectors panel, click Add ( + ). 
  4. Complete each field of the Create New Collector dialog 

  5. If you want to add a sub-collector to be monitored, click Advanced >> +Add sub-collector to enter host and port details. 

    Sub-collectors are applicable only to relational database types.

  6. Click OK. Your database administrator can provide you with the necessary details.

After you have added a collector, you can configure the collector for your database. You can also link a database on the application flow maps to a database instance monitored by Database Visibility.

Hardware Monitoring

For information on the fields to complete in order for the Database Agent to monitor the server hardware in addition to the database, see Configure the Database Agent to Monitor Server Hardware. 

Verify Collector Setup

Once the Collector is up and running, in just a short time you can start viewing the historical activity data. 

The Collector configuration window now has a collector icon you can click to edit the details of the collector if required. The Collector will also appear in the list of Databases shown in the left navigation menu. It might take a few minutes before the Collector and its metrics are reported.

From the left navigation menu, click Databases to see a high-level view of the activity of all the configured Collectors.

Click the name of the database to see more details of the metrics AppDynamics Database Monitoring has captured.

For information on using and interpreting the Collector windows, see Monitor Databases and Database Servers.

Edit a Database Collector

From the Collectors panel, you can edit any of the details of the collector except the type of database platform to monitor.

For more information on collector fields, see the collector configuration page for your database.

Delete a Database Collector

From the Collectors panel, you can delete a database Collector.

Export Database Collector Data

From the Collectors panel, you can click on Actions > Export Data to generate a CSV file containing the following data for each collector:

  • Collector name
  • Host name
  • Port number
  • Username
  • Database type
  • Agent name

View Database Agent Properties and Logs

You can view the database agent properties along with the agent logs and thread dumps by accessing Agent Dashboard. These logs are required for debugging and troubleshooting the issues.

To access Agent Dashboard, click the agent name under Agent Name on the Collectors page. 

Agent Dashboard

You can click Request Agent Log files to either download logs from a specific logger by setting a specific log level for a specific duration or download all logs. 

You can click Request Agent Thread Dumps to download the required number of thread dumps.

See Agent Log Files and Request Agent Log Files.

Troubleshooting Collector Problems

Collectors that have not been configured correctly, or that cannot connect to the database for any reason, will show an error on the Databases overview page and individual database dashboards. Hovering over the error icon displays the potential reason for the error.

If your Collector isn't reporting any metrics after a few minutes, and you know the database is up and running with activity, check the Events panel. Agent Diagnostic Events can appear if the password is incorrect or communication errors have occurred. The message summaries on the Events panel can help you diagnose and troubleshoot Collector problems.

Check the collector configuration to ensure all the values you entered are correct.

Ensure that your Database Agent has network connection to the databases you want to monitor along with the required permissions. See Database Monitoring Requirements and Supported Environments.