Splunk AppDynamics Reviews

Our use case depends on whether the client has revenue on their primary revenue-generating websites. For example, we previously implemented for Aviva Financial, and their primary revenue-generating website was their Aviva website. They primarily do home, medical, motor, and car insurance and use this solution to download insurance quotes. This solution is also used to monitor the end-user activity, website speed, product details and quotes.

We use the solution for end-user performance monitoring to monitor customers' browsers, like Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer. So we're able to get details, and each transaction gets monitored, and the information gets captured and presented to management.

The management observes the end-user activity, which helps get quotes signed and monitor the payment system gateways.

It has a lot of features, and it provides a lot of data, so it helps businesses identify their user base, business parameters and key business metrics.

The solution is very scalable, and you can get the performance data from the end users. So it provides a proper way to analyze data from different regions. Most of the users download the data, which helps them understand the business strengths and monitor traffic from each region and maximum users.

A problem with App Dynamics is that they do not have robust documentation, making it difficult for start-up organizations who may need guidance. In addition, their documentation is complex and not easy to understand.

Another problem with AppDynamics is the agents of division. There is no central distribution system to update all the endpoints, so we need patch mechanism updates to do those activities. It is cumbersome, and it's not easy, so they lag in that area.

We have been using this solution for the past six months. It's a SaaS product only, and AppDynamics is according to the agent version. It is on cloud.

The initial setup was very easy. Deployment depends on how many applications you need to monitor. Initial data collection can take up to two to three weeks. Then, like any end-user application, it will be implemented in a test environment. Once the test environment is a success, it moves to production, which takes one to two months.

The support and management team primarily have access to the data, and we collect the story at the back end. For example, we do this for Aviva, which has an approximately 300,000 user base. So the information on whoever visits Aviva's website is passed on to AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring.

They have licenses. Technically, AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring is a Cisco product. When using this application, we need to install the agents on each server, and there is a transaction cost. End-user monitoring requires purchasing millions of transaction licenses, but infrastructure monitoring costs are based on the agent. So everything is licensed, and it's a costly solution.

I rate this solution a seven out of ten. We decided to use this solution because they are market leaders. Appdynamics and Dynatrace are the main application performance monitoring solutions and have been for the last five to six years.

I would recommend this solution. First, you need to analyze multiple tools in the market based on your requirements. For example, if you need an enterprise monitoring system, go for AppDynamics or Dynatrace, but if you have fewer applications, you can choose other end-user monitoring solutions like Site24x7.

I am the coordinator of the implementation of AppDynamics in our customers' companies. 

The most valuable feature of AppDynamics is that we can see all query times. If a particular query is taking too much time, we can alert it. 

For example, for a particular transaction, if it is related to the database we know that the slowness is coming from the database and can see the relevant details. In the application flow map, we are able to see that the flow is going to the database and how much time it is taking. We can understand if the database is responsible for the slowness or not. This also enables us to create a ticket.

AppDyanmics requires better technical people to support the solution. It is not as simple as just implementing and walking away. You need someone to maintain the solution. The day-to-day activities should be less complicated so that anyone can manage them. The administration should not be an overhead.

Our organization has been working with AppDynamics for more than six months.

AppDynamics Database Monitoring is stable.

The solution is scalable.

Customer service and support are okay. They are willing to help and were able to solve our concerns. However, some of the issues we raised took a long time to get the solution. Some issues took several months to resolve. 

The initial setup of AppDynamics Database Monitoring is neither easy nor complex. Our database server is set up on-premise, so we needed to configure a few parameters. Once the database agent part is complete, then it is easy. We just needed to add the database one by one. 

We worked very closely with AppDyanmics through the implementation. They helped us with the configuration. By working with them, we didn't face many technical glitches.

The entire implementation, not only for the database, took three months.

The license for AppDynamics is procured by our customers.

Prior to implementing AppDynamics, we did evaluate New Relic and Instana. 

If you are talking only from the database perspective, I would recommend AppDyanmics Database. It is very helpful because it gives you more insight. 

Overall, I would rate AppDynamics Database Monitoring a seven out of 10.

Because AppDynamics sells this as end-to-end visibility, there are no use cases in the databases. Use case applied to AppDynamics Brower Real-User Monitoring can be applied here as well. If the user experiences latency on its request, it's most likely because the database is effectively queuing the request. The same scenarios can apply.

The performance of AppDynamics Database Monitoring is good, I have not had any complaints.

AppDynamics Database Monitoring is straightforward, there is not a lot to it, it either monitors or it doesn't.

One of the key features that are missing is the ability to manage users centrally, which is a real pain when it does not happen. That is a feature that their main competitor has had for quite some time. I'm surprised they don't have it already.

I believe they need to increase their level of visibility in the infrastructure, particularly in the infrastructure monitoring section, which currently lacks visibility.

The license model is a bit complex. They should make it a little bit easier, which I believe they will do in the next quarter, or in the next two quarters. I also dislike it because it is based on CPU, which will increase the cost of deployment and licensing. They currently have a complex model and charge on a per-node basis. They plan to change this in the future to make it less complicated, but it will be more expensive because it will be done on a CPU basis rather than a node basis. And this is not good. I deducted one point for that.

We have been providing AppDynamics Database Monitoring for six years.

It is deployed both on the cloud, and on-premises.

The stability of AppDynamics Database Monitoring is fine.

The initial setup is straightforward.

The time it takes to deploy an agent varies depending on the customer and the application, but it can take up to 15 minutes.

The licensing scheme is very complex. They need to make it easier.

AppDynamics is a good tool that offers excellent out-of-the-box dashboards and application topology. Even for their competitors, their current technology is unrivaled in these two areas. 

I would rate AppDynamics Database Monitoring an eight out of ten.

We use AppDynamics Database Monitoring to identify high spikes in critical data, which helps us better understand when applications stop responding or are not responding well.

The solution can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud.

Data monitoring is the most valuable feature.

The price of the solution has room for improvement.

I would like the solution to be more customizable to meet our client's requirements.

I have been using AppDynamics Database Monitoring for two years.

I give the stability of AppDynamics Database Monitoring an eight out of ten.

I give the scalability of AppDynamics Database Monitoring a nine out of ten.

The technical support is excellent.

Positive

The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment takes two weeks and requires one architect and one developer.

We implement the solution for our clients.

The pricing is average. I give the price a five out of ten.

The license is paid on an annual basis.

I give AppDynamics Database Monitoring a ten out of ten.

We require five people to maintain the solution.

AppDynamics Database Monitoring only requires users to have a basic understanding of databases.

I use it to solve issues that my clients encounter, such as application slowness. It helps me identify whether the issue is related to the database, server, or CPU memory management.

Moreover, I use it to find solutions and provide recommendations to my colleagues.

This solution not only provides answers but also provides sensor data. This allows us to quickly resolve issues that developers may take a long time to solve. In essence, it helps us address problems at an early stage. Moreover, it is especially useful in production servers where real users encounter numerous issues.

There are numerous issues that arise during peak times, and AppDynamics makes it easy for us to identify the problem areas and determine the appropriate resolutions. This is how it helps us find solutions effectively.

Regarding improvements, I believe the dashboard could be more optimized. Although it claims to be optimized, I think it should be even more convenient, especially for advanced users. 

Additionally, the documentation can be a bit challenging. It would be beneficial if the documentation provided clear solutions for every problem. In my opinion, the documentation could be improved.

I worked with AppDynamics for around three to four months. I have been working directly with it for the past year.

I use the latest version. 

It is stable, but the only downside is the licensing part. Other than that, it's a reliable product with no major issues.

It is highly scalable. There are no additional limitations in terms of scalability.

In my company, we have around 50 to 100 clients using this tool. Although it can be a bit expensive, it is still being used extensively to solve various problems.

It's straightforward, not too complex. However, it requires proper learning to effectively use it.

The deployment process typically takes around one to two hours, depending on the system. Once the setup is complete, we can proceed with the implementation process.

First, there's a need for basic knowledge of OS, especially for Windows and .NET. Additionally, understanding concepts like Dynatrace and AppDynamics, their functioning, and architecture is crucial. These are the key methods involved in the deployment process. If it's a cloud solution, then AWS or Azure are the recommended options. If it's on-premises, then using either Linux or Windows is ideal.

For deployment, we need to focus on event configuration, which involves learning about network events and configuration. Once we understand this, we can proceed with the deployment setup. There is no frequent deployment. In case the deployment is not satisfactory, we may need to learn about Linux and Windows concepts.

I have seen some ROI. 

It is an expensive solution. It's on a yearly basis. We need to pay for it annually.

I have used Dynatrace. The main difference between the two is that AppDynamics utilizes different data mechanisms, while Dynatrace uses a unified agent approach. This simplifies the complexity of Dynatrace, providing more visibility and root cause analysis. In terms of benefits, AppDynamics is more scalable than analytics.

Overall, I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

We use AppDynamics for monitoring purposes to check up on CPU health and application health status.

AppDynamics is used to monitor the health of our applications. If any application is down and linked up with AppDynamics, we can see it on the AppDynamics console. We can identify when a specific process went slow and the exact issue. Additionally, if there is any high CPU utilization or other issues, we can figure it out using AppDynamics.

It is very helpful as we can also make custom alerts in our system for specific issues like high CPU utilization or application downtime. We can even customize the alerts to be sent to a particular email domain for automatic notification, so there's no need to monitor it 24/7.

The monitoring feature is very useful. If you have multiple applications and systems with high CPU utilization or other issues, you don't need to monitor them individually. With AppDynamics, you can get all the information from the dashboard. It's very convenient.

There is room for improvement in the customer support team because finding a solution consumes a lot of time. When there's any issue, we need to reach out to the AppDynamic support team to get some idea of what the issue is. If anything is out of scope, we need to escalate the availability. It can be more dynamic because we need to go to the support portal to raise an incident, and it's time-consuming. Also, the resolution time takes longer than expected. If there were live support from AppDynamic's point of view, it would be really helpful.

I have been using this solution for the last three months. I am using the latest version.

AppDynamics is a stable solution.

It is a scalable solution. We have some support guys, admin guys, and other people using AppDynamics. In our organization, we have around 15 members using it.

The initial setup is not that complex. It is easy. I would give it a four out of ten. The deployment took two to three days.

An in-house team did the deployment.

I used some other tools, like Sterling Integrator, for EDI solutions.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.

My clients use AppDynamics for monitoring the performance and behavior of applications, as well as detecting any signs of potential overload. It also allows them to identify when certain applications are not functioning as expected. Essentially, its primary purpose is to monitor and evaluate the behavior and performance of applications.

AppDynamics is aiding us with achieving full stack availability, which entails obtaining a comprehensive or holistic overview of the application's performance, sales, and behavior. In essence, the purpose of full stack availability is to provide a complete picture of what is happening with the application.

The most valuable feature of AppDynamics is Proactive Monitoring and Alerting.

The price of the solution could improve.

I have been using AppDynamics for approximately six years.

The solution is stable.

I rate the stability of AppDynamics a nine out of ten.

The scalability of AppDynamics is good.

I rate the scalability of AppDynamics an eight out of ten.

The support from the vendor is good.

I rate the support of AppDynamics a nine out of ten.

Positive

AppDynamics is what I would consider an enterprise-level solution. This means that it's a solution that is intended for use by larger organizations, while small or medium-sized businesses may find it difficult to afford. The number of agents required will also impact the pricing, and smaller companies may only be able to afford a limited number of agents. Essentially, the cost of the solution is not within the reach of every organization, and only some may be able to afford it.

My advice to others is this solution is fantastic if your business can afford it. It will help boost your business and IT.

I rate AppDynamics an eight out of ten.

From the perspective of the customer experience, the solution has been quite helpful for our company. Positive comments have been given, and no clients have opted out of our services for any reason. This has given us the option to think about including more agents in the remedy. Also, the capability that alerts users in advance of potential problems has improved the effectiveness of our IT employees. Despite hiring more employees, we haven't had any client abandonment, which proves that the solution is of the highest caliber and performing remarkably well. Also, it has helped us monitor apps more efficiently and fix any problems before they have an impact on end users.

We use AppDynamics to monitor application performance.

I like how the AppDynamics dashboard portrays the information flows. When a task is executed, various flows between different applications and databases happen in the background. The dashboard is intuitive and helps visualize the connections, the directions of the flow, and the information related to these specific sessions. 

AppDynamics is agent-based, so some customers are reluctant to install the agents in all their production environments. It would be helpful if they had an agentless version. It covers applications on the server, but the solution is weak on the network side. The agent is not deployed on the network components, so it cannot provide complete information about issues on the network layer.

I have used AppDynamics for about a year.

I rate AppDynamics six out of 10 for stability. The agent sometimes stops working when users perform upgrades on the application side. We have to restart it. 

I rate AppDynamics seven out of 10 for scalability. I haven't had any difficulty receiving information on the main controller and propagating it on the dashboard. It also has a high-availability option. 

I rate AppDynamics support nine out of 10. 

Positive

SolarWinds monitors the applications, but it only provides information within the system and does not tell you about information flows. 

We can roll it out in a week if everything goes smoothly. However, we sometimes have compatibility issues with the agent. If the agent is not working correctly and providing the information, we might need to develop a customized agent or get one from the user community. 

The customers are happy, and we hear positive feedback from the users. It helps the application team and the developers by providing an excellent tool for troubleshooting performance problems. 

I rate AppDynamics seven out of 10 for affordability. AppDynamics is an expensive solution. The price depends on the size of your environment. It's about $500,000 for a large enterprise. 

I rate AppDynamics eight out of 10. It's on the high end of the Gartner quadrant, but it's lacking some features.