Our project is a logistic domain. DX passes all the infrastructure components which are managed by the Broadcom team. We are just deploying the different kinds of application versions, e.g. related to .NET, WebLogic, and other application agents.
We are also monitoring the infrastructure agents in Windows, Linux, and Unix which are combined into one infrastructure agent. We also do monitoring whenever the agent doesn't have the package that is supported through the infrastructure agent, e.g. Kubernetes from the Broadcom DX Application Performance Management perspective.
What's most valuable about this solution is that it completely monitors code-level visibility. We benefit from this as we're able to capture any performance issues from an application, then raise and forward those issues to the applicable team more quickly.
The occurrence of CPU spikes and memory issues is an area for improvement in Broadcom DX Application Performance Management. To avoid these, we turn on the conservation settings, but it would be best if Broadcom can rectify those issues.
The period of time that passes before they fix issues should be shortened. They should not wait for the next release to fix issues raised by their users.
I'm been working with APM tools for four and a half years. I'm working with AppDynamics and Broadcom DX Application Performance Management.
I've worked with Broadcom DX Application Performance Management within the last 12 months.
This solution is scalable.
The technical support for this solution is good. I'm rating it a four out of five, with one being the worst and five being the best.
The initial setup for Broadcom DX Application Performance Management was straightforward. We used a straightforward technical documentation for building and adding the agent.
This solution was implemented in-house. I did it myself just by following the documentation.
I evaluated AppDynamics, Dynatrace, and the IBM Tivoli Monitoring Tool.
Currently, I'm using AppDynamics and CA APM. It's Broadcom DX Application Performance Management which is similar to AppDynamics and Dynatrace, but I'm currently using AppDynamics. It's for application performance management.
I was involved in the integration of this solution and moving from the lower version: CA APM which was version 10.7, to the new version 20.2 which is now Broadcom DX Application Performance Management.
Out of all the APM tools I've worked with, I prefer Broadcom DX Application Performance Management the most, followed by AppDynamics.
We're using the Enterprise license for this solution.
What I'd like to tell people who are looking into using this solution is that sometimes when we raise issues and open tickets with them, they'll say that the issue will be resolved in the next release. We have to wait for the next release before they are able to solve the issues, instead of solving them more quickly. It is their tool so they should be able to give the right solutions faster. They should not keep saying that the issue will be resolved in the next release. We've experienced this a few times.
I can't think of additional features I'd like to see in the next release of this solution as it is similar to other APM tools. AppDynamics and Dynatrace are the best solutions in the market, because they have better tools than what Broadcom DX Application Performance Management offers. Their market growth is also very good.
I'm scoring Broadcom DX Application Performance Management a seven out of ten.
If the application team requires me to deploy something which I have not deployed myself in the past, e.g. one I have no experience deploying, I can look at tool documentations and learn how to build it. I'll then build it and improve myself at the same time, the way I worked on multiple application agents. I'll build and give them to application teams. This is why I'm rating myself a seven out of ten.
We had almost the exact same experience with this vendor product with two deviations, but overall a solid APM capability.
RE: Proactive use - Agreed, it is difficult to dial-in alert thresholds to fire far enough ahead of impacts to avoid. We carry out similar post-incident reviews to tune/create alerts, but we also have many other tools to leverage in detecting symptomatic issues that can lead us to look deeper with APM. Our bigest challenge with CA APM was the price point; we simply couldn't instrument the many inter-related applications which can cascade impacting issues.
RE: Support - We had less problems with the Introscope agents and APM infrastructure than we did with CEM & ADA, and we called CA's 800# and opened tickets regularly. Two answers were given in 90+% of our support requests - Buy Professional Services for an onsite CA rep to address, and after review this will be addressed in the next GA release of xxx CA product.
I was also constistently disappointed in actual data integration between CA products as compared to white-paper & sales statements on how well integrated the tools are. Putting a CA logo on an acquired product does not equal integration. We needed all APM tools to share data both in real-time consoles and in historical reporting. A single APM console/report with data from all CA products was not possible.