AppDynamics is ending support for Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI). The feature will not work once customers upgrade their Controllers > 21.1. See Support Advisory: Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) End of Life (EOL) Notice.

This page describes how to troubleshoot applications using the Cisco APIC integration. The AppDynamics Network Dashboard displays a network-layer view of the monitored application. Based on the runtime state of the application, AppDynamics automatically fetches the faults and connection issues and displays them in the network dashboard:

Network Dashboard

Faults display at the tier level. The number of faults displayed indicates an aggregate of faults occurring at all EPGs within the tier. You can view the number of faults at a given point of time in the Network Dashboard.

A connection is the set of all traffic for an application that has the same Source IP, Destination IP, Destination Port, and Protocol. AppDynamics detects if there is an issue in the traffic flow and indicates the connection issue on the network dashboard.

You can initiate a diagnosis to determine the exact location of the connection issue within the network by cross-launching the connection in Cisco APIC Controller.

Set Custom Permission to Cross-Launch Cisco APIC Controller

To include permission to cross-launch Cisco APIC Controller:

  1. Log in to the Controller UI as an Administrator or Account Owner.
  2. Click the gear icon () > Administration.
  3. Click the Roles tab.
  4. Click + Create. 
  5. Specify a Name and a Description for the newly created role.
  6. Customize the business application level permission according to these guidelines:
    1. On the Applications tab, click Can Create Applications.
    2. Under Default Permissions, select View, Edit, and Delete.
    3. Click + Add to add a new custom permission and click Done. 
      The custom permission is added.
    4. Select Custom from the Permissions menu for the application (replacing the value of Inherited).
    5. Click Edit(All) and ensure that Start Cisco ACI trouble shooting is selected.
    6. Click OK.
      Create Role

Customize Permissions to Cross-Launch a Connection Issue in Cisco APIC Controller

As an AppDynamics administrator, you can now customize the permissions for various roles to include permission to cross-launch a connection issue in the Cisco APIC Controller. See Set Custom Permission to Cross-Launch Cisco APIC Controller.

Launch Affected Connection in Cisco APIC

After collecting the connection issue information, you can cross-launch the connection in the Cisco APIC Controller.

  1. Click on the affected connection on the Network flow Map.
  2. Click the Connections tab.
  3. Select the connection you want to troubleshoot.
  4. Right-click on the selection and select Troubleshoot (Cisco APIC).

    Affected Connection Screen

  5. Enter your Cisco APIC login credentials. After the initial entry, your credentials will be cached. The connection opens in the Cisco APIC Controller with the correct contracts (Visibility & Troubleshooting wizard) and the right set of endpoints.

    If you are using the Cisco ACI Release 4.0, you need not enter the login credentials. The authentication happens automatically. You must enter the login credentials only if you are using a lower version of the Cisco ACI. 

  6. Troubleshoot the issue in Cisco APIC.