When it comes to Application Performance Monitoring (APM), once the basic principles have been established, one of the first concrete steps is probably to move in a specific direction. At present, the Dynatrace APM solution can be considered one of the most comprehensive and highly regarded. It is also certified by Gartner, with a stable position in the industry leaders quadrant for several years now. According to Statista research based on Datanyze data, it has a market share of 19.25%, seven points more than its closest competitor.
This excellent result is due to the fact that Dynatrace has a different and unique approach on the market. Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and above all, the use of a single agent capable of working on multiple levels and on various platforms, represent a change of pace compared to traditional solutions, which are often complicated and more difficult to manage.
The crux of the matter is the greater complexity brought about by digital transformation. Until a few years ago, it might have been conceivable to set up dedicated agents for each measurement, but today, the proliferation of hybrid cloud platforms, microservices, and the need to speed up decision-making processes make every second gained in analysis and related interventions crucial.
Furthermore, it is no longer sufficient to offer users straightforward and simple procedures to complete. It is essential to consider every detail. The tolerated differences in response times for a form are now in the order of seconds, and it matters little whether the cause is an internal application or a third-party service. The result will still be the risk of missing opportunities.
Dynatrace APM: monitoring that makes a difference
The goal of Dynatrace APM is precisely this: to start from a global view, without necessarily delving into details, from which to obtain timely responses, able to indicate in advance where to intervene; if possible, even before a problem occurs, recognizing its symptoms.
These capabilities have also been recognized by Ovum, whose Market Radar, Cloud-native Application Performance Management report acknowledges the solution’s ability to differentiate itself as the only one capable of covering between 80% and 100% of all functionalities.
For example, it is relatively easy to predict the peak in requests to an e-commerce site on days such as Black Friday and organize accordingly, even with external services, starting with the payment procedure. It is more difficult, however, to anticipate what happened at the beginning of the pandemic, with a series of sudden and unpredictable requests, compounded by the additional difficulty of finding the resources needed to keep the situation under control.
It is therefore useful to understand how to get the most out of Dynatrace APM, rather than simply integrating it and using it according to a standard configuration. Even before predicting traffic spikes, the goal is to identify the point at which an IT resource is at risk of crashing abnormally.
Looking for weak points
A useful first step is always to perform a stress test. To avoid repercussions on services, this should be done in a simulated and separate environment if possible. However, if you want to test your systems in real scenarios at all costs, you can take advantage of times when demand is minimal, thus reducing any possible impact. Once the breaking point has been determined, you can move on to automated analysis to identify the components responsible for a potential malfunction and understand the reason for it.
Teamwork is important, both within development teams and by involving maintenance managers and users themselves. This allows you to identify corrections more quickly, apply them, and test them. Otherwise, there is a risk of remedying one problem while causing others.
However, there is no need to rush to finish the job. Tackling and solving one problem at a time will lead to better results than the temptation to manage all complex, interdependent processes at once. In practice, it will be like removing a part from a large engine, servicing it, and putting it back in place only after giving it all the attention necessary to ensure that it works.
Ultimately, the purpose of using a solution such as Dynatrace APM should be to identify and understand the causes of slowdowns in systems and services and prevent the situation from recurring. Achieving this goal also means being able to devote internal resources to tasks that are more profitable for the company. For this reason, when adopting the solution, it is also important to consider the possibility of relying on expert consultants. In-depth knowledge of the solution and possible scenarios will certainly help you get the most out of your investment.