AppDynamics plugin

Monitor key metrics from your AppDynamics environment.

How to add the AppDynamics plugin

Before you add the plugin

1. Log into your AppDynamics account.

2. Create a new API client see AppDynamics: Creating API Clients

3. Make a note of the API client name and client secret.

Adding the plugin

1. In SquaredUp browse to Settings > Plugins > Add plugin and search for the plugin.

2. Display Name:

   Enter a name for your plugin. This helps you to identify this plugin in the list of your plugins.

3. Account Name:

   Enter the name of your AppDynamics account.

   Note: You usually log in to your AppDynamics account with an account name and a user name. You need to use the account name, not the user name.

4. API Client Name:

   Enter the name of the API client you created.

5. API Client Secret:

   Enter the API client secret you created.

6. Leave the checkbox for Automatically create a workspace ticked, this will create a new workspace for this plugin containing out of the box dashboards and scopes.

7. Optionally, select whether you would like to restrict access to this plugin instance. By default, restricted access is set to off.

   Restrict access to this plugin?

   The term plugin here really means plugin instance. For example, a user may configure two instances of the AWS plugin, one for their development environment and one for production. In that case, each plugin instance has its own access control settings.

   By default, Restrict access to this plugin? is set to off. The plugin can be viewed, edited and administered by anyone. If you would like to control who has access to this plugin, switch Restrict access to this plugin? to on.

   Use the Restrict access to this plugin? dropdown to control who has access to the workspace:

   • By default, the user setting the permissions for the plugin will be given Full Control and the Everyone group will be given Link to workspace permissions.

   • Tailor access to the plugin, as required, by selecting individual users or user groups from the dropdown and giving them Link to workspace or Full Control permissions.

   • If the user is not available from the dropdown, you are able to invite them to the plugin by typing in their email address and then clicking Add. The new user will then receive an email inviting them to create an account on SquaredUp Cloud. Once the account has been created, they will gain access to the tenant.

   • At least one user or group must be given Full Control.

   • Admin users can edit the configuration, modify the Access Control List (ACL) and delete the plugin, regardless of the ACL chosen.

   Plugin access levels

   Access Level:

   Link to workspace	User can link the plugin to any workspace they have at least Editor permissions for. Data from the plugin can then be viewed by anyone with any access to the workspace. User can share the plugin data with anyone they want. User cannot configure the plugin in any way, or delete it.
   Full Control	User can change the plugin configuration, ACL, and delete the plugin.

   See Access control for more information.

8. Click Save.

Using the AppDynamics plugin

Data Streams

What is a data stream?

A data stream brings you data to answer a specific question like "What's the health state of the objects?", "What kind of alerts are coming from this plugin for my servers?", "What's the average memory usage of this app?"

The magic of data streams is that they standardize data from all the different shapes and formats your tools use into a straightforward tabular format. While creating a tile you can tweak data streams by grouping or aggregating specific columns. Depending on the kind of data, SquaredUp will automatically suggest how to visualize the result, for example as a table or line graph.

There are two types of data streams available for this plugin

• Data streams installed with the plugin

• Configurable data streams see Using Configurable data streams with the AppDynamics plugin

Using Configurable data streams with the AppDynamics plugin

What is a configurable data stream?

A configurable data stream allows you to easily create new data streams specific to your needs, by entering information into a form, such as metric names or queries. Configurable data streams have a + before the name, and once new data streams have been created they show in the normal list of data streams.

Any data streams you create can be edited from Settings > Data Streams.

Metric

This data stream calls the /controller/rest/applications/.../metric-data endpoint with a mostly pre-set metric path, and allows you to enter a custom metric name.

1. Scope to an AppDynamics item that supports metrics

2. Select + Metric from the data stream list

3. Enter a Display Name for the new data stream

4. Enter a Metric, for example: CPU|%Busy

   The majority of the metric path is pre-set based on the scoped item’s type. These pre-set paths are as follows, where {{metric}} is the metric provided in the configurable data stream:

   Object Type	Metric Path
   app	Overall Application Performance|{{metric}}
   appdynamics tier	Overall Application Performance|{{name}}|{{metric}}
   appdynamics node	Overall Application Performance|{{tierName}}|Individual Nodes|{{name}}|{{metric}}
   host	Application Infrastructure Performance|{{tierName}}|Individual Nodes|{{name}}|Hardware Resources|{{metric}}
   db	Databases|{{name}}|{{metric}}
   appdynamics eum app	End User Experience|{{metric}}