Managing Agents Flashcards
Agent-Controller Connection
- The connection between the agent and Controller is a one-way connection initiated by the agent
Information needed to connect to the controller
- Controller host
- Controller port
- Account name
- Global Account name
- Account access key
- SSL enabled
Agent-Controller Communication Intervals
NB initiate connections to the Controller independently
- The agent configuration channel queries the Controller for any new configuration changes, and downloads these changes when available, every 60 seconds.
- The agent metric channel posts all new periodic metrics, including JMX, Windows performance counters, and business transaction metrics to the Controller every 60 seconds.
- If there are new business transactions that have not been seen before by the agent, they are posted to the Controller for registration every 10 seconds.
- If the agent has collected any new snapshots or events, they are posted to the Controller every 20 seconds.
When planning agent installation consider:
- Agent/controller compatibility
- Network consideration
- Access requirements
- Agent license consideration
Agent installation: Access required
- User access
- Authority to restart the application
- Access log files
- View and configure licences
Options to secure Controller - Agent connection
- HTTPS
- Encrypting agent credentials
- Preventing sensitive data collection
Agent log file use case
Understand why:
- Agent won’t start
- No metrics appear in the controller
- Specific Business Transaction is not appearing
- Other agent configuration and application instrumentation issues
NB can zip and submit the entire log files to AppDynamics support for troubleshooting assistance
Apache agents by installation type
- Java Agent
- .Net Agent
- Node.js Agent
- PHP Agent
- Python Agent
- Serverless APM for AWS Lambda
- Apache Web Server Agent
- C/C++ SDK
- Go Language Agent
- IBM Integration Bus Agent
- Ruby Agent
See agent properties:
Tiers&Nodes => Select node => view details => top navbar select agents => Agents
Agent Info on the Node Tab => subtabs
- App Server Agents
- Machine Agent
- Agent diagnostic stats (i.e. metrics uploaded)
Agent Info: App Server Agent
- Properties
- Metadata
- Agent operations (request agent log files)
- Agent logging session (Start agent logging session)
Request agent log files options
- All logs in the directory
- Output from a specific logger a a set level for a fixed duration
- Thread Dump samples (either number to collect - 1 to 50) or collection interval (min 500 ms)
Logging levels
- All
- Debug
- Info
- Warn
- Error
- Fatal
- Trace
Default agent install directory
/opt/sysmgmt/AppDynamics/Machine_Agent
Controller and UI
- central repository and analytics engine where all performance data is stored, baselined and analysed
App Agents how work
automatically inject instrumentation in application byte code at runtime
Machine agent gathers information
on operating system, such as:
- CPU activity
- memory usage
- disk reads and writes
- JVM metrics
- CLR metrics
When upgrading the agent to a newer major version than the Controller what should the Performance Analyst do?
Upgrade the Controller first, then the agent
Delete App Agent
delete the agent and associated data but not the metrics
Agent version compatibility between tiers
Oldest agents shell be on an originating tier
