For monitoring application performance: I worked for a company which concentrates on application performance consulting service. Cisco AppDynamics was one of the tools used.
Helps to quickly triage problems. Its cost can be improved.
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
- Quickly triaging problems: Before using the APM tool, I had no adequate information about the application's detail.
- APM tool provides comprehensive information about several elements like performance, errors, and resources.
What is most valuable?
Stack information: I use this function to explain the problem to customers most of the time.
What needs improvement?
Its cost: Most of the customers do not have enough budget to deploy the APM agent to their whole applications.
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For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Application Development Mansger at Garmin
Our developers use it to do performance analysis functions by functions.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is the ability for developers to do performance analysis functions by functions, be able to understand response time, and be able to improve code when they need to.
How has it helped my organization?
I can’t really discuss organizational improvements, yet. We're still at the early adoption stage with AppDynamics.
What needs improvement?
The big feature that I would love to see is the ability to extract all the data automatically into some type of a data repository, big data lake, or something where we can do even deeper analysis of the data that AppDynamics gives us.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
So far, stability and scalability have been really good. We haven't had any scalability or stability problems.
How is customer service and technical support?
We have opened very, very few tickets; low numbers. We've been satisfied with technical support.
How was the initial setup?
Initial setup has been pretty straightforward.
What other advice do I have?
Get your developers trained as soon as possible. They're going to be the ones who need to utilize it.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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January 2025
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Senior Performance Consultant at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
AppDynamics Excels In Terms Of Implementation & much more effective in terms of business insights
What is most valuable?
- Unified Monitoring
- Application Performance Management
- End User Monitoring
- Infrastructure Visibility
- Application Analytics Business Insights: real-time insights into IT operations, customer experience and business outcome.
- Business to Transform your application performance monitoring into business results.
What needs improvement?
- Full-stack network monitoring in terms of m, switches, (Third-party tool integration should be enabled).
- be m jitter, retransmission, retransmission timeouts, delays, Window size or other network issues.
- Solution should be enabled to integrate with a storage monitoring platform.
- SAP applications full-stack monitoring.
For how long have I used the solution?
Three to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Did not have any issue with Stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Did not have any scalability issues.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service:
Customer service is good and prompt.
Technical Support:
Technical support is good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used Dynatrace Ruxit, New Relic APM solutions. We did not switch to Appdynamics, still we are using other Application Performance Management solutions. It depends on the customer requirement and APM fit for the application.
Dynatrace Ruxit-
* One Agent solution to support multiple technology and platforms.
* More technology and platform support
* displays All the problems at one place.
Limitation-
* Dashboard customization is limited and cannot create more executive dashboards. It does not connect the dots between application performance and business outcome.
* Its infrastructure auto discovery is not much more effective compare to AppD.
NewRelic-
Limitation
* Only have SaaS model
* Multi platform or technology support is limited.
* Infrastructure Auto discovery is not effective.
* it does not have any open API's to customize the operation like to integrate JIRA
How was the initial setup?
Agent configuration/deployment is straightforward. We can have enterprise deployments being monitored
What about the implementation team?
We implemented through an In-house team.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Yes, Riverbed, Dynatrace Ruxit, NewRelic
What other advice do I have?
is more effective in terms of business insights- Connect the dots between application performance and business outcomes with custom dashboards.
Get visibility into the business impact of customer experience quality
Breaks the Silos and create the common language IT and the business.
Can see business results in real-time
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Technical Account Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Companies maintaining strict compliance such as PCI can use it since it has a completely web-based interface and there is no client.
Pros and Cons
- "After we implemented this solution, we can easily determine the root cause of issues."
- "In the current version of AppDynamics, there is a correlated section, where we can see all servers’ performance along with application performance, but network performance is missing."
What is our primary use case?
It is an excellent product for application performance monitoring.
How has it helped my organization?
No visibility from application code-level failures: It used to take a lot of effort, but after we implemented this solution, we can easily determine the root cause of issues.
What is most valuable?
Code-level deep dive analysis and automated application flow service models: Companies maintaining strict compliance such as PCI, etc., can easily use AppDynamics without any restrictions, because it has a completely web-based interface and there is no client.
Use of BCI (Byte Code Instrumentation) is also a key feature that helps AppDynamics to fetch maximum information via Java agents without consuming a lot resources on the application servers.
What needs improvement?
In the current version of AppDynamics, there is a correlated section, where we can see all servers’ performance along with application performance, but network performance is missing. Including network monitoring would provide an end-to-end correlated view of all factors in a single console view.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not encountered any stability issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have not encountered any scalability issues.
How are customer service and technical support?
Technical support is excellent.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
How was the initial setup?
Initial setup was straightforward. Just install the agent; it will discover all of the relationships and communicate with each and every component of the running application.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated almost all other similar products, as per the Gartner report. AppDynamics is the best fit as an Application Performance Management solution.
What other advice do I have?
Just go for it.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Gateway Systems Administrator with 51-200 employees
It's been helping us to quickly pinpoint specific application problems, especially related to memory and slow queries.
What is most valuable?
Viewing JVM performance and the business transactions for latency and SLA.
How has it helped my organization?
It helps us to quickly pinpoint specific application problems related to memory and slow queries.
What needs improvement?
Yes, the custom dashboard. Making custom dashboards is really tedious. I wish there was just a drag and drop to slap things together quickly.
For how long have I used the solution?
1 year
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
No. I've had some bugs where machines stop behaving correctly with the agents but a lot of it had to do with the fact that I had them joined under one product name and then I had changed the machine or put in a different one. A lot of these issues were probably self inflicted and not due to AppDynamics. Deployment has been pretty smooth.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
None at all.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
For what I'm doing it's been perfectly scalable to what I need.
How are customer service and technical support?
Customer Service: Good. Initially with the sales engineer, we spoke about training but what ended up happened was that I needed to negotiate the price (which was fine) but what I missed was some of the hands on training. It's a complex product, and I could benefit from an online video, etc. because I didn't going through the formal training to learn the app. Some scenario driven walk thru's would be very helpful.Technical Support: It's been good. What I've needed to do is send them a whole pile of logs. It can be a pain digging them up but I understand why they need them to troubleshoot. You can't troubleshoot without them. I gather the logs, send them all on the ticket and I haven't had a problem with their response.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We weren't previously using another APM solution. We were only using a very basic Java profiler beforehand.
How was the initial setup?
I was on my own, but it was fine. AppDynamics walked me through a few things because I had the free version installed on a different system and then we upgraded. They walked me through to make sure I had it set up correctly the first time. Deployment was easy.
What was our ROI?
With AppDynamics I'm really barely scratching surface with what it can do. I don't have any SLA metric configured or alerting. What I'm trying to do with AppDynamics is use it in such as way that it's a pulse on my app.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
AppDynamics was the only product I evaluated in a production setting. All my previous APM use was in a development environment.
What other advice do I have?
AppDynamics does exactly what it says it can do. It's well readable and easy to navigate. Configuration and changing things around is easy enough.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Regional Director (CEER) at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Easy to gain visibility, effective root cause discovery, and highly scalable
Pros and Cons
- "It is easy to gain visibility into complex environments with AppDynamics. It has the ability to combine operation information of the environment and business information with strong business IQ support."
- "The solution could improve by covering more technologies. For example, it does support .NET Core applications. However, it could be a bit better."
What is our primary use case?
We are using AppDynamics for application management.
What is most valuable?
It is easy to gain visibility into complex environments with AppDynamics. It has the ability to combine operation information of the environment and business information with strong business IQ support.
The solution makes it easy to find the root cause of the problems and provided the visualization of data. It is really simple, useful, and intuitive.
It enables integration with other systems very easily. It can monitor applications of different technologies as well as manage log files.
It has a lot of capabilities and the solution features function well overall.
What needs improvement?
The solution could improve by covering more technologies. For example, it does support .NET Core applications. However, it could be a bit better. Additionally, there are some outdated technologies which are not covered out of the box with this solution, such as C++ which is old technology. They can be monitored but it takes a bit more effort. They have done a decent job but they could improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used AppDynamics for approximately seven years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is highly scalable. You can go from a small deployment into tens of thousands of nodes to monitor an application.
How are customer service and technical support?
We provide support for this solution. We are the biggest AppDynamics partner in Europe, we have approximately 60 experts.
We work closely with research and development. They are quite quick and flexible when it comes to helping and supporting. We are quite satisfied. When we come from the field directly, we do not need months or weeks to fix issues that we have found or to implement new features. They have been excellent.
How was the initial setup?
I am more in the pre-sales department, I am not that technical, but I do understand and know the basics. The installation difficulty depends on a variety of factors. it can be simple. Out of the box, it is already quite simple. However, there are tons of specifics that you need to know, but it is not overly difficult for typical environments. The software can add another layer of difficulty. Overall the difficulty is dependant on the environment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
For those who appreciate the value and had issues with the visibility of the performance of their applications, then the pricing is good. For somebody who does not need it, it can be pricey, but overall, it is worth the money which it costs.
What other advice do I have?
I rate AppDynamics a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: reseller
Programmer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Gives the devs more visibility and ownership but Power User training was unhelpful
What is most valuable?
I'd say BTs, and being able to set health goals. Those probably would be the best. Second to that would be being able to monitor what's going on in real-time, this is going to make a big difference.
I think that previously we were more reactionary than proactive. I hope that this is what we can really get out of AppDynamics, the switch to a more proactive stance. Before anybody else knows what is going on, we will know, and we will be able to cut down our meantime to fixes going out, and to identifying them.
How has it helped my organization?
Looking at it from the standpoint of a developer, I see the biggest improvement being that it gives the developers more visibility and ownership, it really lets them see what is going on. I feel that this will lead the devs to make better code and better decisions. It will help them be more cognizant of resources, and other things.
What needs improvement?
I went through the Power User training, and it was kind of like drinking from a fire hose. As a dev, I would like to see something that is more tailored towards us, instead of having just a general quick Power User session.
I haven't been able to get the full benefit of AppDynamics yet because I haven't had any time to sit down and actually go through production.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have not seen any problems with the stability. It seems to be very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have not heard of any problems with the scalability.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have used the technical support and it was very good. We had a good response.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were not previously using a different solution. We decided to invest in AppDynamics because we wanted to move from being reactionary to being proactive, that's really what it comes down to. Instead of our customers calling us up and saying, "There is something going on," now we will know it before they do, and hopefully we will be resolving it before they even notice.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We are looking into also utilizing Database Monitoring. We're still checking that out.
What other advice do I have?
My criteria when choosing a vendor would be the reputation behind them, the product they bring to the table, and of course the pricing. I wasn't involved in selecting AppDynamics but I know that these criteria always play a role in everything.
I would recommend AppDynamics to my colleagues, because the solution works. It really comes down to whether or not the price point works for them.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
DB Admin at a leisure / travel company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Developers use the graphs to see what is happening in production.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is mainly the graphs that it puts together; the JVM, the heaps, the classes that get called, the number of calls from tiers to tiers.
How has it helped my organization?
I think the graphs are mainly used by developers to see what happens in production. We don't know; our workloads. We've been exposed to the internet. We don't know what's coming.
What needs improvement?
I would like, for example, to see something similar to a heap dump; exactly which objects are over there. I'm not sure it's possible or not. This is a challenge.
A friend compares it to JavaMelody, which I think gives them some of the features that they still want that application to be active. I think it's mainly about the number of threads, SQL executions and similar items, at a certain point in time when you look at them. That could be something.
Sometimes, it can be a little bit too crowded; all the screens. Once you put your dashboards together and you know exactly what you're looking for, it's OK. But if you're always trying to find new problems that you don't know about, maybe that's a little bit harder.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven’t had any stability or scalability issues; that's good.
How are customer service and technical support?
I haven’t had to use technical support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
It kind of came my way from the development team. We used to have Confio Ignite, which was pretty good for me. Then we dropped everything, and then at some point, we needed something new, and we came across AppDynamics.
In general, when I’m considering vendors to work with, I look for the quality of the product and the support. I don't want to be offered professional services every time I call in for an issue, because we are kind of self-reliant. Those are the two things I look for.
How was the initial setup?
Initially, I had the internal controller, which was a little bit more challenging, but then we switched to the cloud ones. It's just easier, I guess.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing this product, we did not evaluate other options.
What other advice do I have?
It's very easy. It's been easy. The dashboard that comes automatically, the mapping with all the services, the externals; those are all pretty good.
I do not use any other AppDynamics solution.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Nice article!! AppDynamics has been used a lot these days in monitoring JVM performance and still there are lot of improvements needed like custom dashboard.