500-425 Sample Questions Answers

According to the Transaction Thresholds document1, you can set static thresholds for individual business transactions by selecting Individual Transaction Thresholds from the Business Transaction Configuration window. You can then specify the values for Slow, Very Slow, and Stall thresholds for each business transaction. This way, you can customize the thresholds according to the SLA and the expected performance of the long-running transactions. Setting the default thresholds or adjusting the health rules would affect all the business transactions, not just the long-running ones. Therefore, the correct answer is C. References:

• Transaction Thresholds

Server performance data is the information that AppDynamics collects and reports about the health and availability of the servers that host your applications and their components. Server performance data includes metrics such as CPU utilization, memory usage, disk I/O, network traffic, and so on. You can use server performance data to monitor and troubleshoot the performance issues of your servers and applications.

According to the Server Visibility - AppDynamics, the following two reasons are important for the engineer to view and analyze server performance data at this time:

• Visualizing application performance during normal operations helps identify when the application performance is abnormal: This means that by comparing the current server performance data with the historical or baseline data, you can detect any anomalies or deviations that may indicate a potential problem or degradation of your application performance. For example, you can use the Server Dashboard to see the current and historical trends of the server metrics, and use the Anomaly Detection feature to identify any outliers or unusual patterns.
• Graphs and charts collected at this time are useful for showing application owners the stability of their application: This means that by using the graphical and visual representations of the server performance data, you can communicate and demonstrate the reliability and efficiency of your application to the stakeholders and customers. For example, you can use the Server Health Report to generate a summary of the server health status, availability, and performance over a specified time period, and share it with the application owners.

Therefore, A (Visualizing application performance during normal operations helps identify when the application performance is abnormal) and B (Graphs and charts collected at this time are useful for showing application owners the stability of their application) are two important reasons for the engineer to view and analyze server performance data at this time. References:

• Server Visibility - AppDynamics
• Cisco AppDynamics Associate Administrator Certification
• Server Monitoring - AppDynamics

To manage Controller security settings, you would need to grant the Security Administrator role to an existing user. The Security Administrator role is a built-in role that allows the user to access and modify the security settings of the Controller, such as encryption, certificates, authentication, authorization, and audit1. The Security Administrator role also inherits the permissions of the Credentials Administrator role, which allows the user to manage the credentials for the Controller and the agents2. The other roles listed do not have the permission to manage Controller security settings. The Administrator role can perform most administrative tasks, but not security-related ones2. The Analytics Administrator role can manage the analytics platform and data, but not theController security3. The Account Owner role can manage the account settings and licenses, but not the Controller security4

https://docs.appdynamics.com/appd/21.x/21.1/en/application-monitoring/install-app-server-agents/agent-to-controller-connections

The default length of time events can be viewed with full detail before being purged is 7 days, unless archived. Events are records of significant occurrences in the monitored environment, such as errors, exceptions, policy violations, health rule violations, and more. You can view the events in the Controller UI under Events > All Events. You can also archive the events to retain them for longer periods or export them to external systems1 References: 1: Events

According to the Upgrade the Java Agent document1, one of the reasons to upgrade AppDynamics agents is to resolve agent issues, such as bugs, performance problems, or compatibility issues withthe Controller or the monitored application. Another reason to upgrade AppDynamics agents is to take advantage of new features, such as enhanced metrics, dashboards, alerts, or integrations, that are introduced in newer agent versions. Therefore, the correct answer is A and D. Database issues and application upgrade are not directly related to the agent upgrade, unless they affect the agent functionality or compatibility. References:

• Upgrade the Java Agent

Business Transaction metrics are the key performance indicators that measure the health and performance of your applications. They include metrics such as average response time, calls per minute, errors per minute, and so on. You can use various types of performance degradation analysis to identify and troubleshoot the root causes of performance issues using Business Transaction metrics.

According to the Troubleshoot Business Transactions - AppDynamics, the following types of performance degradation analysis are used with Business Transaction metrics:

• Correlation Analysis: This type of analysis helps you to find the correlation between different metrics and events that may affect the performance of your Business Transactions. For example, you can use the correlation analysis to see how the response time of a Business Transaction is related to the CPU utilization of a node, or how the error rate of a Business Transaction is related to the number of slow database calls.
• Remote Services Analysis: This type of analysis helps you to understand how the performance of your Business Transactions is impacted by the calls to remote services, such as databases, web services, message queues, and so on. For example, you can use the remote services analysis to see the response time, call count, error count, and wait time of each remote service call, and drill down to the details of each call.
• Compare Releases: This type of analysis helps you to compare the performance of your Business Transactions across different releases of your application. For example, you can use the compare releases analysis to see how the response time, error rate, and throughput of your Business Transactions have changed after a new deployment, and identify any performance regressions or improvements.

Therefore, A (Correlation Analysis), B (Remote Services Analysis), and E (Compare Releases) are three types of performance degradation analysis that are used with Business Transaction metrics. References:

• Troubleshoot Business Transactions - AppDynamics
• Business Transaction - AppDynamics
• Cisco AppDynamics Associate Performance Analyst Certification

To examine the Java App agent logs on a host without login access, you can use the Controller UI to request the agent logs. This feature allows you to download the agent logs from the Controller UI without having to access the host machine. You can specify the log level, the time range, and the file size limit for the logs12 References: 1: Request Agent Logs 2: Java Agent Logging

Two types of information that can be shared without an AppDynamics login are Flow Map and Custom Dashboards. Flow Map is a graphical representation of the application topology, showing the interactions between the tiers, nodes, backends, and remote services. CustomDashboards are user-defined views of the application performance data, metrics, and events. You can share these types of information by generating a shareable link from the Controller UI, which can be accessed by anyone who has the link, without requiring a login12 References: 1: Share a Flow Map 2: Share a Custom Dashboard

Remote Services metrics are the metrics that show the performance and behavior of the external systems that an application interacts with, such as web services, databases, message queues, etc. An AppDynamics administrator can use two locations to view Remote Services metrics: the Tier Dashboard and the Exit Point Metrics. The Tier Dashboard shows the flow map of a tier and its downstream dependencies, including the remote services that the tier calls. The administrator can click on any remote service node on the flow map to see the metrics such as average response time, calls per minute, errors per minute, etc. The Exit Point Metrics show the metrics for all the exit points (remote service calls) of an application, grouped by type, such as HTTP, JDBC, JMS, etc. The administrator can drill down to see the metrics for each exit point, such as the backend name, the tier name, the business transaction name, etc.

According to the Widgets document1, there are various types of widgets that can be used to create visual representations of data in custom dashboards and war rooms. Some of the widget types are:

• Flow Map: A flow map widget displays the flow of traffic between different entities, such as applications, tiers, nodes, backends, and so on. You can customize the flow map to show different metrics, filters, and drill-down options.
• iFrame: An iFrame widget allows you to embed an external web page or another dashboard within a custom dashboard. You can specify the URL, height, and width of the iFrame widget.
• Health List: A health list widget displays the health status of different entities, such as applications, tiers, nodes, business transactions, and so on. You can customize the health list to show different metrics, filters, and drill-down options.

Therefore, the correct answer is A, B, and C. Snapshot and Funnel Analysts are not widget types, but features or tools that can be accessed from other widgets or dashboards. References:

• Widgets

According to the Time Range Comparisons document1, you can use the Compare Time Range feature in Dash Studio to compare two time periods on a widget. However, this feature also means that the widget may not use the global time range set for the entire dashboard by default. Instead, the widget may use its own time range (denoted as T1) and a second time range (denoted as T2) for comparison. Therefore, if the customer changes the time range using the time picker, the data on the widget may not change accordingly, unless they also update the widget’s time range settings. Tofix this problem, the customer can either disable the Compare Time Range feature or adjust the widget’s time range to match the global time range. References:

• Time Range Comparisons

According to the Cisco AppDynamics Associate Administrator Certification document1, one of the topics covered in the exam is “Monitor agent performance and connectivity”. To do this, you need to ensure that the application agent can communicate with the controller, which may require SSL configuration if the controller is using SSL2. You also need to check that there are enough licenses available on the controller for the application agent to register and report data3. If the agent is using the wrong application name or does not have enough memory, it may not start at all or may crash, which are different problems from not being able to connect to the controller. References:

• Cisco AppDynamics Associate Administrator Certification
• Configure SSL for the Controller and the App Server Agent
• License Rules and Restrictions

Percentile metrics are a way to measure the distribution of response times for a Business Transaction. They show the value below which a certain percentage of measurements fall. For example, the 50th percentile metric shows the median response time, and the 99th percentile metric shows the worst-case response time for 99% of the transactions. To enable percentile metrics, you need to go to Configuration > Slow Transaction Thresholds and indicate 5 whole numbers between 1 and 99 as Percentiles to Collect. You can then view the percentile metrics in the Metric Browser under Business Transaction Performance > Business Transactions > > > Percentiles.

https://docs.appdynamics.com/display/PRO45X/Percentile+Metrics

According to the Actions document1, there are four types of standard controller actions that are available to be created: Notification, Diagnostic, Remediation, and JIRA. Each type of action has different subtypes that perform specific tasks. For example, the Notification type includes Email, SMS, and HTTP Request subtypes, while the Diagnostic type includes Thread Dump, Heap Dump, and Diagnostic Session subtypes. Therefore, the correct answer is D and E, as Email and Thread Dump are subtypes of standard controller actions. Resolve, Close Incident, and Undeploy are not standard controller actions, but they may be custom actions that are created by the user or the administrator. References:

• Actions

When creating a Health Rule condition, you can use baselines instead of defining a specific threshold for some metrics. Baselines are the dynamic values that represent the normal or expected behavior of a metric, based on the historical data collected by the AppDynamics Cognition Engine. Using baselines can help you account for the variations and seasonality of your application performance, and avoid false positives or negatives. You can use baselines for metrics that have a non-zero average value and a meaningful deviation, such as the overall average response time of a business transaction or an expression containing multiple metrics. You cannot use baselines for metrics that have a zero average value or a negligible deviation, such as the Business Transaction errors per minute or the calls per millisecond.https://www.appdynamics.com/product/how-it-works/application-performance-baseline

https://developer.cisco.com/docs/appdynamics/health-rules/