Get Started with AppDynamics SaaS

Follow these steps to get started with AppDynamics.

Expert Advice

Deploying APM in the Enterprise... the Path of the Rock Star

By Jim Hirschauer

If you are reading a PDF of this document, use your Help Center login to access the documentation at http://docs.appdynamics.com.

Get Your SaaS Account Information from AppDynamics

After signing up for AppDynamics SaaS, you receive a Welcome email containing important account information, including the Account Owner login. Save this information.

Design Your AppDynamics Deployment

Learn about Business Transaction Monitoring and identify which critical business transactions you want to monitor.
Learn about AppDynamics End User Experience and decide whether you want to use this feature.
Learn about how to map your application components to the AppDynamics business application, tier, and node model. See Logical Model and Name Business Applications, Tiers, and Nodes.
Based on the model, plan how you will specify AppDynamics application, tier, and node names during installation.
Decide whether you want to monitor client-side usage with AppDynamics End User Experience.
For Java environments, decide whether you want to use object instance tracking.

Download and Install the AppDynamics App and Machine Agents

Download the AppDynamics application agents from the Download Center. AppDynamics app agents collect data from your application servers and other monitored systems and report to the Controller. Select the agents that are appropriate for your environment:

App Agent for Java
App Agent for .NET
App Agent for PHP
App Agent for Node.js
Standalone Machine Agent
See Download AppDynamics Software.

Follow the instructions to install the AppDynamics Agents.

Download and Install the AppDynamics Web and Mobile Agents

Install the client-side agents in your mobile applications and web pages. See instructions for mobile and web.

SaaS Login Credentials

SaaS Controller login credentials are included in the welcome email from AppDynamics.

To add additional login accounts contact the AppDynamics Support Team.

The SaaS Controller login is an Account Administrator credential. The Account Administrator can create other users for the account. See Account Administrator.

Connecting Agents to Your SaaS Controller Service

For agents to successfully connect to the Controller, configure the Controller host and port information using either the controller-info.xml file or the system properties of your JVM startup script.

To use HTTPS communication, enable SSL by setting the <controller-ssl-enabled> agent configuration property to "True". For details see App Agent for Java Configuration Properties, App Agent for .NET Configuration Properties, App Agent for PHP Proxy Configuration Properties and Machine Agent Configuration Properties.

The default ports for the SaaS Controller service are:
- Port 80 for HTTP
- Port 443 for HTTPS

If you need to specifically open up the communication ports (80 or 443) for the AppDynamics SaaS Controller IP address please request the IPs from the AppDynamics Support Team.

Access the AppDynamics UI from a Browser

Once you have installed the agents, launch your web browser and connect to the AppDynamics User Interface (UI). For SaaS, the URL includes the account name from the Welcome email:

http://<account-name>.saas.appdynamics.com/controller

When using SSL, use port 443 or https to access the Controller.

Review the Dashboards and Flow Maps

AppDynamics automatically discovers the Business Transactions in your application environment. Browse the Application Dashboard and see the Flow Maps to visualize your application. You can resize and move icons around on the flow maps.

Review Defaults and Configure Business Transactions, if Needed

The default configurations may need to be further customized for your environment. For example, AppDynamics may have discovered transactions that you want to group together or even exclude, because you want to concentrate on the most important transactions. There may be business transactions that are not yet discovered for which you need to configure detection rules. See:

Review Defaults and Configure Client-Side Monitoring, if Needed

End User Experience Monitoring (EUM) provides performance information from the point of view of the client, whether that client is a web browser or a mobile native application. See:

Review Defaults and Configure Databases and Remote Services, if Needed

AppDynamics automatically discovers "backends" such as databases, message queues, etc. by following calls in the Java or .NET code. Look at the databases and remote services dashboards to make sure all necessary backends are revealed. If needed, configure how backends are detected.

Review Default Heath Rules and Set Up Policies

AppDynamics provides default Health Rules that define performance parameters for business transactions, such as the conditions that indicate a slow transaction, or when too much memory is being used. You can adjust the thresholds that define when a health rule is violated, create new health rules, and set up policies to specify actions to automate when health rules are violated.

Review Default Error Detection

AppDynamics detects errors and exceptions. You can review and, if needed, modify the error detection rules. For example, some errors you may want to ignore.

Explore Additional Data and Metric Features

Explore these features to gain more insight into application performance:

Configure Advanced Features

Additional features you may want to use include:

Start Monitoring and Troubleshooting

Start getting the benefits of AppDynamics! See:

Questions?

For questions about using AppDynamics contact the AppDynamics Support Team.