500-420 Exam Dumps - Cisco AppDynamics Associate Performance Analyst

Development Level Monitoring in AppDynamics is designed for use in a lower volume, non-production environment. For a default configuration, Development Level Monitoring will get automatically disabled if the monitored environment exceeds a threshold, typically a maximum of 1000 calls per minute, and the Maximum heap utilization percentage goes above 95%. These thresholds are in place to prevent excessive overhead in a production environment where such detailed monitoring could impact performance.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Agent Configuration: Provides information on configuration settings for monitoring levels, including when Development Level Monitoring is automatically disabled due to exceeding thresholds.

The "Application Health Report" is a built-in scheduled report in AppDynamics that includes vital metrics such as load, response time, and error graphs. This report provides a comprehensive overview of the application's health and performance, making it an essential tool for Performance Analysts to regularly review and share with stakeholders to ensure the application meets performance standards and user expectations.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Reporting: Covers the types of reports available within AppDynamics, including the Application Health Report, detailing its contents and how to schedule and customize it.
• AppDynamics documentation on Application Performance Management: Provides an overview of key performance indicators and metrics critical for assessing application health, many of which are included in the Application Health Report.

To confirm if a memory leak is occurring, one should refer to the Tiers and Nodes section of the AppDynamics Controller UI, navigate to the Memory tab, and observe the Heap Utilization over time in relation to the Heap's Current Usage (MB) versus the Maximum (MB) allocated. Consistent growth in heap utilization or an upward trend that does not decrement even after garbage collection indicates a potential memory leak.References:AppDynamics documentation on Memory Leak Detection and Heap Analysis.

To determine if a given Java class is visible in AppDynamics, the "Preview Business transactions" feature in a Business Transaction Discovery Session can be used. This feature allows users to validate and preview the detection of business transactions, which includes ensuring that specific Java classes and methods are being correctly identified and monitored by AppDynamics.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Business Transaction Detection: Explains how to conduct a Business Transaction Discovery Session and use the preview feature to validate the visibility and detection of business transactions, including specific Java classes.

If a Business Transaction stops being displayed on the Business Transaction Dashboard after continuous load, it could be due to the deletion of the Business Transaction Custom Match Rule. Custom Match Rules in AppDynamics are used to define custom business transactions based on specific criteria. If such a rule is deleted, transactions that were previously identified and displayed based on that rule may no longer be recognized as distinct business transactions, leading to their disappearance from the dashboard.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Business Transactions: Provides insights on configuring and managing business transactions, including the use of custom match rules.

A split exit point in AppDynamics is identified using static application values. Static values provide a consistent and predictable way to categorize exit points, making it easier to aggregate and analyze similar types of interactions with external services or components.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Exit Points: Provides insights into how exit points are defined and identified within AppDynamics, including the use of static values for split exit points.

To streamline the monitoring process and enhance the relevance of collected data, AppDynamics allows Performance Analysts to exclude certain Java classes and methods from instrumentation. This is done through the "Configuration > Instrumentation > Call Graph Settings" menu, where irrelevant packages and classes can be specified for exclusion. This approach prevents the AppDynamics agent from tracking unnecessary or irrelevant methods, thus reducing overhead and focusing on the most critical aspects of application performance.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Call Graph Settings: This section details how to configure call graph settings, including the exclusion of specific classes and methods from instrumentation, to optimize performance monitoring.

Information Points in AppDynamics are custom metrics that track specific data within your applications, such as method invocations or the value of method arguments. These metrics can be utilized in various features of AppDynamics, most notably in "Alerting" and "Custom Dashboards." Alerting allows you to set up notifications based on the thresholds set for Information Points, ensuring that teams are promptly informed about significant changes or anomalies. Custom Dashboards enable the visualization of Information Points metrics alongside other key performance indicators, providing a comprehensive view of application health and performance tailored to specific needs.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Information Points: Explains how to create and use Information Points to monitor specific business-relevant metrics.
• AppDynamics documentation on Alerting: Details the process of setting up health rules and alerts based on various metrics, including those from Information Points.
• AppDynamics documentation on Custom Dashboards: Guides on how to create dashboards that incorporate a wide range of metrics, including Information Points, for customized monitoring.

When a Performance Analyst modifies an existing health rule that is already in a state of critical violation, the event that is typically triggered is "Health Rule Violation Continues - Critical." This event indicates that, despite the modification, the health rule is still being violated at a critical level. The system recognizes that the conditions for the health rule violation are still being met and continues to alert accordingly.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Health Rules and Events: Explains the different types of health rule events and the conditions under which they are triggered.

In Cisco AppDynamics, the transaction threshold configurations are typically found under the "Overview" tab. This is where you can view the health rule violations and performance baselines that are associated with transaction snapshots, which can include the configured transaction thresholds. These thresholds set the acceptable performance limits for transactions, and when these limits are exceeded, it may trigger health rule violations that are visible on the Overview tab.

References:

• AppDynamics Documentation on Transaction Snapshots
• AppDynamics Documentation on Health Rule Violations

When creating Information Points in AppDynamics, wildcards can be utilized to select multiple methods or classes, thereby broadening the scope of data collection. This feature is particularly useful for monitoring similar operations across different components of an application, enabling a more efficient and scalable approach to gathering custom metrics.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Information Points: Elaborates on the process of setting up Information Points, including the use of wildcards to capture metrics from multiple methods or classes.

The "Method Invocation Data Collector" is specifically designed to capture code-level data such as method arguments, variables, and return values. This type of data collector enables deep visibility into the execution of methods within transactions, providing valuable insights into the application's behavior and performance. This detailed level of monitoring is essential for diagnosing complex issues and understanding the inner workings of business transactions.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Data Collectors: Details the types of data collectors available, including Method Invocation Data Collectors, and how they can be used to capture detailed code-level data.

Information Points in AppDynamics are designed to collect custom metrics that are specific to the business or code aspects of an application. They can capture Business Metric Data, which pertains to the performance metrics that directly impact business processes, and Code Metric Data, which relates to the performance of specific methods or segments of code within the application. This allows for targeted monitoring and analysis of areas significant to the business's objectives and technical performance.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Information Points: Provides details on how to set up Information Points to collect custom business and code metrics for in-depth performance analysis.

Controller-level custom dashboards in AppDynamics have the flexibility to provide views that aggregate and compare data from different applications on the same Controller, as well as offer a customized view of applications, servers, and database performance data. This capability enables a holistic view of the IT environment, facilitating cross-application insights and the ability to correlate performance across different layers of the technology stack. Such dashboards are invaluable for understanding overarching trends, pinpointing systemic issues, and driving informed decision-making across multiple applications and infrastructure components.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Custom Dashboards: Provides detailed instructions on creating and customizing dashboards at the Controller level, including the aggregation and comparison of data from various sources.
• AppDynamics documentation on Controller UI: Explains the functionalities available within the Controller UI, including the creation of comprehensive dashboards that encompass application, server, and database metrics.

The permission to enable snapshot archiving in AppDynamics typically falls under advanced operational capabilities, such as those categorized under "Agent Advanced Operation." This permission allows users to archive transaction snapshots for long-term storage and analysis, which is essential for historical performance analysis and auditing purposes.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Role-Based Access Control: Explains the different permissions and roles within AppDynamics, including those related to advanced agent operations and snapshot archiving.

When drilling down into a JDBC exit call for an Oracle backend, AppDynamics provides detailed information about the call. The data points include:

• Query type, which can indicate whether it's a SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement.
• Statement type, which describes the nature of the SQL statement being executed.
• Originating node, which identifies the node from which the JDBC call originated.

These data points help in understanding the nature and source of database operations, which can be critical for performance analysis and troubleshooting.

References:

• AppDynamics documentation on Database Monitoring: