I use DT for identifying performance bottlenecks on the DB, mid-tier and front-end, which is built on .Net platform.
The performance testing is executed using the LR tool, where the DT headers are added. Once the test is completed with the filter criteria in dashboard, we are able to segregate the transactions having slow response time and root cause.
For one of the trading applications, we were able to identify the slow performance query which was resulting in overall performance degradation of the GUI. The Query involved multiple joins and clause which when executed by multiple users slowed the overall DB response time. From the DB Chart in DT and DB Dashboard, we were able to arrange the Query within the SP against slow response time/execution time. Analysis resulted in optimizing the query resulting in improved performance.
The dashboard customization based on the performance metric requirement is one of the most exciting features in DT. I am able to customize my dashboard based on the test requirement and it helps me to focus on the area that really needs close monitoring.
I would suggest to have more rich client features on Appmon as soon as possible. I agree most of the things can be done using Appmon, but users (like us) are bit hesitant to use Appmon compared to the Client.
One to three years.