Splunk AppDynamics Reviews

We are monitoring lots of different databases with AppDynamics Database Monitoring, such as Couchbase, SAP HANA, DB2, Oracle, MySQL, MongoDB, and Postgres. 

In Turkey, most companies push their workers to work with the on-prem side because the government regulation is very strict. So 97% of my customers are working on the on-prem side, although we have three accounts working with the SaaS solution.

The most profitable benefit of this solution is that it reduces the mean time to resolution, which is very important for solving extraordinary problems. With AppDynamics Database Monitoring, problems are easy to understand and pinpoint, significantly reducing operational costs.

The most beneficial feature is the ability to correlate different metrics from the core APM to the database. You can fully see lots of different views of the pages. You can also measure each database query historically and see the reaction of your business transactions on the database side. 

AppDynamics Database Monitoring provides a single view of the problem and helps identify the guilty database query, which is unique compared to other solutions.

Based on my experience, some databases like Couchbase, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB require a little bit of enhancement as they are newer and not as widely used as other databases. The limitations are often due to the vendors not supplying all the profiling features to AppDynamics.

I guess we have been using it for more than 11 years.

I can give the stability of the solution a ten out of ten. It is very stable.

The scalability of the solution is also ten out of ten.

Customer service and support are good. The quality has been affected recently due to the company's acquisition by Splunk, causing some workers to leave and new ones to join. Hence, I would rate it an eight out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup is very straightforward and takes only two or three minutes to install a collector on an independent computer. After installation, you can use the collector on up to a hundred different database instances. No other installation is needed.

With the mean time to resolution reduction provided by AppDynamics Database Monitoring, it greatly reduces operational costs, thus offering a good ROI.

The price is not cheap, however, considering the benefits and the price ratio, I would rate it nine out of ten.

This is really a unique solution. If you want to monitor both the application and database sides, there is no other solution like this in the market. Most products offer only database solutions, yet AppDynamics combines both APM and independent database monitoring.

We use it to monitor the end-user responses of Oracle and Microsoft SQL. We still use OEM for deep dives.

The product provides visibility to the end-users who didn’t have visibility before.

Visibility to the end-users is a valuable feature.

The solution must improve security and setup. It runs off its own box now. The metrics could be standardized. It should add more databases.

I have been using the solution since 2016.

I rate the tool’s stability a seven out of ten.

I rate the tool’s scalability a six out of ten. We run quite a few servers.

I have used a lot of database monitoring products like OEM and SolarWinds SQL Sentry. We chose AppDynamics Database Monitoring because we bought APM.

The tool is deployed on the cloud, but we put an agent on-premise. The initial setup is straightforward. There are some complexities if we want additional features like automatic password rotation. We needed five people to deploy the product. It requires maintenance. There's not a great way to know when it's not reporting. We have to figure it out. It does not have a good alarm system to notify us when it stops.

We have seen a return on investment.

The price is okay.

We’re planning to replace the solution. It is a good tool. Overall, I rate the solution a six out of ten.

When compared to its major competitor, Dynatrace, AppDynamics stands out by providing dynamic learning capabilities for infrastructure and server metrics. Unlike Dynatrace, AppDynamics enables dynamic baselining for all server metrics, such as CPU and memory. This allows customers to establish patterns, like CPU trends every Wednesday from 9 to 11 AM, and set dynamic baselines accordingly. With this feature, alerts can be triggered based on deviations from the dynamic baseline rules. This capability is distinctive, as other APM solutions and monitoring tools lack dynamic baselining options for infrastructure visibility.    

If we consider the implementation of alternative solutions, such as Dynatrace, there is a notable difference in the approach to agent-based service monitoring. For instance, Dynatrace employs a single-agent solution, which can pose security concerns. When installing Dynatrace, granting the agent ld pro payload rights is a requirement. In contrast, our solution ensures a more secure approach by not requiring root and administration access. While we currently utilize an agent-based solution, there may be a shift in the next one or two years, possibly with the adoption of Open Telemetry. It's anticipated that many APM vendors, including Dynatrace, may alter their structure or strategy for implementation. However, as of now, the trend is towards an increasing number of implementations daily.

I have been using AppDynamics Server Monitoring recently.

It is very stable and I would rate it 9 out of 10. 

It is very scalable and I would rate it 10 out of 10.

It's very easy.It takes couple of minutes only.

It's true; it's not an inexpensive solution. Dynatrace and AppDynamics are consistently on the pricier side. However, when comparing with other solutions like Datadog or New Relic, it becomes apparent that they are significantly more affordable. The pricing may seem high at the list or discounted level, but what truly matters is the business value assessment. After completing this assessment, customers often recognize the value proposition and find the cost justified.

In all honesty, APM solutions, including AppDynamics, tend to be expensive, and they may have fewer features compared to other legacy monitoring solutions. I typically advise against using AppDynamics or similar APM solutions solely for server monitoring due to their cost and potential limitations. To maximize usefulness, it's crucial to complement these solutions with other monitoring tools and features.

I would rate it 9 out of 10.

We are using this solution because sometimes there is a technical requirement for a correlation between server assets and application assets. The end users are happy to use the solution for some applications related to .NET to get correct information.

We use the solution for business-critical applications as an application and server monitoring agent. The users use the solution to correct their application’s performance and clear hurdles in their applications.

The product provides a nice end-user experience. The users are happy to use the product for .NET applications. The users are happy with the real-time use cases.

I would like to see more information about utilization. The tool should provide information like the number of connections and processes utilized in real time.

I have been using this solution for the last four to five years.

The solution is perfectly stable. I rate the stability a ten out of ten. There is no need to do anything after the installation or configuration.

The product scales perfectly. I would rate the product’s stability a ten out of ten. We have four to five very critical applications related to revenue transactions used by more than 50 to 70 employees, including line management, domain leads, SMEs, L1, L2, and L3 employees. We use the solution once a month, depending on the requirement.

I have not found any issues in the last four to five years. It's a very smooth and easy setup. I have never got any errors or issues from the end user.

Positive

We have multiple solutions related to server monitoring. We have HPE and other tools as well. Compared to other tools, AppDynamics gives correct and good information related to the server. We switched to AppDynamics because we required a correlation between applications. That's why we use the same tool for the application and the server.

The product is very easy to set up. I rate the ease of setup a ten out of ten. The installation and configuration are very easy to learn.

It would take hardly half an hour to deploy the solution. It's a process that revolves around end-user requirements. First, I validate the details of the requirements shared by the end user. Then, I validate and deploy the solution according to their requirements. The deployment is done in-house. One person can handle the deployment.

We have also deployed SCOM. We decided to use AppDynamics because we required a real-time output during peak hours. We used Appdynamics to share the information with the users.

We have a very limited use case related to server monitoring. There is no need to refer to further addition. Every piece of information related to server monitoring is very concrete and crystal clear. We do not get any requests in any division from the end user related to the product. I do not have any issues with the configuration.

I would recommend the product because it provides real-time information. Other tools only provide information when there is a server issue. If the CPU reaches 80% while the threshold is set at 70%, they receive an alert. However, Appdynamics offers real-time monitoring and allows users to check their server utilization instantly. Other tools do not provide a consolidated UI to the end users.

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

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.

The tool provides more insights, but maybe if in the recommendation section, we can use some AI tool for the optimization of the database, then it would be helpful.

With AI, it would be good if the tool could help us with the database optimization part. If my company can get product support, it would be great since the tool has the ability to make predictions based on the database performance that something may be going wrong and notify us of the precautions to be taken.

I have been using AppDynamics Database Monitoring for two years.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

The tool is used by four to five people.

Whenever my company interacted with the solution's technical support or engineers, we had a better experience compared to the ones we had with other tools. I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

Positive

The product's initial setup phase is easy since a separate machine is required, and it is not directly installed on a database as it is a type of proxy. We collect the logs, which is a model that is pretty easy to handle.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

The solution can be deployed in a day or two.

Cost saving in terms of not an HR-based perspective, but I know that some performance improvements are there. The tool helps in overall cost optimization. Maybe we are not making decisions to increase the database and its resources. Once we know that there are some performance issues, then we can fine-tune the tool and save on the costs. The costs for my company have been reduced by 15 to 20 percent using the solution.

The tool is expensive. If one is expensive and ten is low price, I rate the product price as seven out of ten.

I know about two products. AppDynamics Transaction Analytics was already a part of AppDynamics solution when my company bought it with an enterprise-level licensing, so it provides some business analytics dashboards. The other product I use is not related to analytics, so I didn't use it much.

In terms of optimizing our company's data operations, the tool provides insights on whether there are any challenges in databases or if there is something related to queries, which is helpful. One can monitor the performance and see if there are any delays that occur in the databases when we are dealing with the queries, and it helps to find out what the issues are.

I don't know what the features of the tool are for performance analysis, but when any application generates codes to extract particular information from a database, it sometimes gets stuck on some queries. At the query level, monitoring and providing more insights are beneficial.

A scenario where the real-time monitoring aspect of AppDynamics was crucial for our team was when we were adding a new application and testing it with our production environment or in the UAT; the tool was helpful because we could fine-tune the application and optimize it. If there are certain issues, we can easily identify such issues with the tool, especially when adding a new application since the product helps a lot.

Speaking about how the alerting system in AppDynamics helps in preventing potential database issues, I can say that from my observation, if there is some problem at a certain point in time, we get alerts, but I am not sure if prevention to help us identify issues is available or not in the tool. It would be good if we can identify the issues before it affects our company. There are some slow performance areas that need to be identified.

My company often takes care of the maintenance of the tool. One engineer can maintain the tool.

I recommend the tool to others.

I rate the tool a nine 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.

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.