Splunk AppDynamics Reviews

AppDynamics has been decommissioned over time for the newer cloud-native apps, and we have been using more apps. We primarily use a Google native holistic monitoring tool for tracing, capturing, log aggregation, annual infrastructure, and server monitoring. As our applications get modernized over time, we reassess our need to have various monitoring tools. To some extent, cloud-native tools solve a lot of these problems. When we are on-premises, we solve these problems with AppDynamics but things are being done differently in the industry now, and many of these problems are being solved with cloud databases.

We have been using this solution for five to six years. We have a hybrid model, and in the past, we tried to take these tools to cloud, but it was not well suited for our use cases. We were slowly and gradually trying to eliminate legacy items used on-premises.

It is a stable solution, but nothing is a hundred percent perfect, and there is always room for improvement.

We have a hosted application set up concerning the AppDynamics controller, and we don't have any scalability issues. We never even moved to the SAS-based model for AppDynamics, and we have our own hosted environment.

Setting up the monitoring agents was straightforward, and there was no hassle. I don't believe it requires a lot of maintenance.

I am not privy to details around the software product pricing, but if I compare AppDynamics Server Monitoring with JVM-based applications, it is a pretty good tool. Even compared to legacy apps such as .NET and ASP.net, AppDynamics is the right choice.

I rate this solution a seven out of ten. However, we currently lack distributed tracing, and we want to implement it going forward.

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.

We use it for performance and transaction trace monitoring. We use it for .Net and the JVM-related work. We look at all the heat maps and the Garbage Collection to see if there are any failures. 

It gives me the ability to trace logs between transactions, for example, a DB transaction or JVM transaction from one hub to the other. I can easily find out where the problem is or where the bottleneck of the issues lies. 

The overall performance of this solution could be improved. The hot-hot infrastructure features could also be improved. If one goes down, the other should pick up automatically. When we patch one data center, the other primary or secondary center needs to be manually started. We need to do a manual sync between the database and the AppDynamics applications.

I have been using this solution for four years. 

This is a stable solution. The only drawback is that it is not a cluster environment and it doesn't have hot-hot features.

This is a scalable solution but we would like more options to hold more licenses. Right now we have 30,000 agents using this solution.

The technical support for this solution is good.

Positive

Before AppDynamics we used a product called BlueStripe that was acquired by Microsoft. 

The initial setup of this solution is straightforward. The deployment is also straightforward because we used some of the provisioning tools to package the software and distribute it. Creating dashboards and fine-tuning JVMs took some time. 

This solution has really helped us to improve some of the performance of the JVMs at an early point in coding.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten. 

I use the solution in my company for application performance monitoring.

The most valuable features of the solution are diagnostic sessions and alerts. The diagnostic features and ability to create custom dashboards are the key features of the tool.

The integration ability of AppDynamics with other performance testing tools is an area with shortcomings where improvements are required.

I have been using AppDynamics for two to three years.

It is a stable solution.

My company has purchased a scalable version of the product.

I have experience with the solution's technical support. The solution's technical support is fine and responsive. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

Positive

The product's initial setup phase was difficult. There is a need for those involved in the setup process to go through the proper documentation and training available from AppDynamics.

I rate the product's initial setup phase a four on a scale of one to ten, where one is the difficult setup process, and ten is the easy setup phase.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

The product's deployment phase is taken care of by our company's DevOps team.

The tool is expensive.

My company chose AppDynamics over other products in the market since we found it to be the most compatible tool with the products we used in our organization.

The product's installation process is a bit difficult. Users need to thoroughly understand the documentation and take care of the setup phase to be able to use certain features offered by the tool, which, technically, is something that users should be able to use. Generating heap dump for Java usage and Java application monitoring are areas that can be pretty difficult with the product.

I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

The solution is used for observability, AIOps, monitoring microservices, SAP monitoring, and application performance monitoring.

AppDynamics is predominantly marketed and sold as an APM solution. Customers use it for both database and application monitoring. I have not seen a customer buying AppDynamics only for database monitoring. The product is good at database monitoring, availability and performance monitoring. I have always used it as a holistic product.

The product requires high maintenance. We need a dedicated resource to manage it because the solution manages a complex environment.

I’ve been using the solution as a system integrator for eight years.

The tool is stable, but our clients are not using its features to the fullest due to a lack of knowledge of APM. The customers are not very clear on what features an APM product offers. Customers have a limited understanding of APM and its use cases.

The tool’s scalability is good. Our customers are enterprise-level businesses such as large hospitals, manufacturers, and banks.

Technical support is good. Support must provide faster responses for production-related issues.

Positive

We have used ManageEngine before. AppDynamics is better than the other products we have used. The tool provides a pretty good user experience. The dashboards are very well-defined. Business-related data is very well projected on the dashboards. The technical team also gets good information on their dashboards.

AppDynamics monitors pretty much all the applications, though the applications are built on various technologies. ManageEngine has a limitation. It cannot monitor various technologies. The most important factor is security. Security is very well defined in AppDynamics, whereas ManageEngine's security is not up to the mark.

The initial setup is neither easy nor very difficult. It requires specific knowledge of the infrastructure. When installing the product, we must be aware of how it will be configured at the database, application, and infrastructure levels. Earlier, the tool was deployed on-premises. Nowadays, customers are willing to deploy it on the cloud.

Typically, to install the product, we take help from infrastructure experts. We need to be aware of the infrastructure before installing the product. The deployment takes seven to ten days. We need one architect and two engineers to deploy the product. The number of resources required to maintain the solution depends on the environment. We need two resources for medium-sized environments, but we may need four to five resources for larger environments.

One of the main downsides to the solution is its cost. We pay a yearly licensing fee for the product. AppDynamics and Dynatrace have almost the same pricing. Compared to ManageEngine, AppDynamics is relatively higher in cost. For cloud-based solutions, users only pay for licenses if they opt for a subscription. However, for on-premises solutions, they must buy support separately.

The application layer in AppDynamics performs fairly well. However, network monitoring is not at an advanced level. It is mediocre.

People wanting to use the solution must not use it only for database monitoring. It should be used for end-to-end application performance monitoring. If someone has requirements involving applications, observability, and AIOps, they must consider the product. If they need only database monitoring, several other tools are available in the market that are lower in cost and offer a lot of capabilities.

When it comes to end-to-end monitoring, network monitoring also plays a crucial role. It is an area of improvement for AppDynamics. Network monitoring could be better. AppDynamics has acquired a product called ThousandEyes. How well the product grows in the network monitoring space is yet to be seen.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

AppDynamics Database Monitoring has multiple use cases, including long queries, database performance, and database query details, which we have shared with the operations team.

There are multiple uses related to performance. The first is the DB connection tool, in which we have shared the details related to application performance and DB performance enhancement. In most cases, they have checked their connection, sizing and acted accordingly. For the long query details, they have performed their queries, reduced the time, and enhanced their performance.

The features related to the application performance in AppDynamics Database Monitoring are the most valuable. AppDynamics Database Monitoring has corrected its application-level code and enhanced its application performance.

The application end of AppDynamics Database Monitoring needs to improve by checking which applications consume licenses. We are not getting any details from the AppDynamics Database Monitoring portal. AppDynamics Database Monitoring's agent details must be enhanced, so each agent needs to show what kind of technology is being used. I would like to have agent details from AppDynamics Database Monitoring.

We are not getting related information and agent details from AppDynamics Database Monitoring. For example, if we have one hundred APM licenses and have onboarded multiple applications, there are no details about which technology uses which kind of agent.

Other solutions have one agent that gathers information on all kinds of server components. However, with AppDynamics Database Monitoring, we don't have any universal solution related to application instrumentation, server performance, stats, server component stats, and service stats. We would like to have better server components.

I have been using AppDynamics Database Monitoring for more than seven years.

AppDynamics Database Monitoring has high stability. I rate AppDynamics Database Monitoring a ten out of ten for stability.

I rate AppDynamics Database Monitoring a ten out of ten for scalability. More than 1,500 people are using the solution in our organization.

AppDynamics Database Monitoring provides high-quality technical support.

Positive

Before AppDynamics Database Monitoring, we used a different solution. We switched to AppDynamics Database Monitoring for multiple reasons related to end user experience.

AppDynamics Database Monitoring’s initial setup needs to be made easier. I rate the solution’s initial setup a five out of ten.

We implemented AppDynamics Database Monitoring through an in-house team of three members. AppDynamics Database Monitoring’s deployment takes around five to six hours. We get the information from the end user related to their application architecture, and according to that information, we plan and perform the implementation.

AppDynamics Database Monitoring does not require any maintenance. I highly recommend others to use AppDynamics Database Monitoring.

AppDynamics Database Monitoring's end-user experience is very good. The solution's tool navigation is very simple and clear-cut. Also, the error and exception detail AppDynamics Database Monitoring shared are crystal clear.

Overall, I rate AppDynamics Database Monitoring a ten out of ten.

We use AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring to monitor the performance of applications. We use the solution to see the errors, snapshots, and exceptions in the backend and front end of our applications. We also use AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring for frontend monitoring, end-user monitoring, checking the response time, and other frontend metrics. We also use the dashboard in AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring and also use the solution for sending error or issue alerts to our clients.

The best feature of AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring is that it lets you find errors in synthetic jobs ahead of the users. The solution shows you all front-end metrics. You can also see JavaScript errors and jQuery errors through AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring. You can also do a correlation between the front end and the backend, or from the user to the navigator, to the backend through the solution.

What could be improved in AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring is for the synthetic jobs or synthetic agents, in particular, you can't do a lot of tests with just one agent. You have to install a lot of agents if you want to do more tests, so this is an area for improvement in the solution.

Another area for improvement in AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring is that you're only able to see basic metrics in the absence of server or database visibility.

For the SaaS version of AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring, my team just downloaded then installed the extension in an application in Azure to see the application on the controller, so if this can be done in the on-premise version of the solution as well, without needing to install the agent on the machine, then it would make AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring better. Currently, the .NET agent consumes the CPU or memory and clients usually raise this issue with my team, so it would be good if the on-premises version doesn't require agent installation on the machine.

Another functionality I'd like to see in the next release of AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring is for it to receive updates from the file config without needing to reset IIS because right now when you do a modification in IIS, you have to restart IIS. When you add a service to the agent config, you have to restart IIS. For the product server, it's not possible to reset IIS after you make changes to the config file, so if this could be improved, then it would make AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring a better solution.

I have about two years of experience with AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring.

AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring is a stable solution.

AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring has good scalability.

Support for AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring is always available. My team does a lot of Webex with support. Whenever you have a problem with the solution, you can always contact support.

As a developer, I have no idea about the pricing for AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring. Another team is in charge of the licensing for the solution.

Currently, AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring is deployed on-premises, but my team is also testing its SaaS version.

My advice to anyone considering AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring is that it's a very important product because you can use it to troubleshoot and detect errors in your applications.

I'm rating AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring as ten out of ten.

We were using an ID integration, and we were monitoring and using the EPM, et cetera. AppDynamics is able to provide us with in-depth insight into the bottlenecks in the system.

It allows us to understand what is causing latency in the system. Using AppDynamics, we can drill down to the code on which the bottleneck is seen, and the developers can fix the issues, increasing the overall application's performance.

The tag and follow aspects are very good. Basically, how the transaction is moving through various servers. We can see everything via a dashboard, a visual dashboard, that can showcase transactions.

It's pretty stable.

We can scale the solution as needed. 

We'd like to see features that could support IBM's Integration Bus. AppDynamics is unable to provide the details for all the flows in the system transaction flow. That component needs work.

The initial setup is a bit complex.

It was quite expensive.

I've been using the solution for two years. 

We only really run into issues during the upgrade process. Other than that, it is stable and reliable. the performance is good, and there are no bugs or glitches. 

It's a scalable product. If a company wants to expand, it can do so. 

We have between 150 and 200 users right now. We do not have plans to increase usage. 

Technical support has been helpful in general. 

Positive

We were using DynaRisk. However, it did not meet the needs of our use cases. 

We found the initial setup to be a bit difficult. It's not perfectly straightforward. 

There are two or three people on hand that can handle deployment and maintenance tasks.

We handled the setup ourselves in-house. We did not need any outside assistance.

We have not really noted any ROI.

It's a very expensive product. Each of the licenses after this month for one server is around $9,000 or $10,000. Therefore, monitoring one server concerning analytics or server monitoring is pretty expensive.

Before beginning, a new user should take time to understand the product. They need to analyze a few options and see which best fits their use case and go with that. There are many on the market to look at, including DynaRisk and DataDog.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.