500-430 Cisco AppDynamics Professional Implementer(CAPI) Questions and Answers

Before installing an AppDynamics Controller on Linux, you need to perform some preparatory tasks to ensure the system meets the requirements and the installation runs smoothly. Two of these tasks are:

• Install libaio on the host machine if it does not already have it installed. This library facilitates asynchronous I/O operations on the system, which are required by the Controller. You can use the package manager of your Linux distribution to install libaio, such as yum or apt-get. For example, on CentOS, you can run yum install libaio1.
• Verify that you have enough temporary (tmp) space available on the system, at least 1 GB. The Controller installation uses the tmp space to extract and install the software components. You can check the tmp space by running df -h /tmp2. If the tmp space is insufficient, you can either free up some space by deleting unnecessary files, or specify a different temporary directory for the installation by passing the -Djava.io.tmpdir parameter to the installer3.

Other preparatory tasks include verifying the user account permissions, configuring the virus scanners, installing the netstat network utility, and setting the file descriptor limit2. References: Prepare Linux for the Controller, Install the Controller on Linux, and [Controller System Requirements] in the AppDynamics documentation.

The Database Agent collects hardware metrics from a Windows database server using PowerShell1. PowerShell is a scripting language and a command-line shell that allows the Database Agent to execute commands and access Windows Performance Counters on the target host12. The Database Agent uses PowerShell to collect metrics such as CPU, memory, disk, and network utilization from the Windows database server1. To enable hardware monitoring for a Windows database server, the Database Agent requires the following permissions1:

• The user that runs the Database Agent must have permission to execute PowerShell scripts on the local machine.
• The user that runs the Database Agent or the Collector Service user (if using Windows Authentication) must have permission to establish a WMI connection to the target host and collect Windows Performance Counters. References: Required Monitored Host Permissions, PowerShell Overview

According to the Cisco AppDynamics Professional Implementer (CAPI) documents, the minimum recommended number of nodes for a redundant Events Service is three ©. The Events Service is a distributed database that stores and processes the analytics data collected by the AppDynamics platform. The Events Service cluster consists of multiple nodes that share the data load and provide fault tolerance and high availability. The minimum number of nodes for a functional Events Service cluster is one, but this is not recommended for production environments, as it does not provide any redundancy or resilience. The minimum number of nodes for a redundant Events Service cluster is three, as this allows the cluster to tolerate the failure of one node without losing any data or availability. The recommended number of nodes for a redundant Events Service cluster is five or more, as this provides better performance and scalability12.

The incorrect options are:

• 1 (A): This is not a valid option because a single-node Events Service cluster does not provide any redundancy or resilience. If the node fails, the cluster becomes unavailable and the data is lost. A single-node Events Service cluster is only suitable for testing or development purposes, not for production environments12.
• 2 (B): This is not a valid option because a two-node Events Service cluster does not provide sufficient redundancy or resilience. If one node fails, the cluster becomes unstable and may lose data or availability. A two-node Events Service cluster is not recommended for production environments12.
• 4 (D): This is not a valid option because a four-node Events Service cluster is not optimal for redundancy or resilience. A four-node Events Service cluster has an even number of nodes, which may cause a split-brain scenario, where the cluster is divided into two equal partitions that cannot communicate with each other. This may result in data inconsistency or unavailability. A four-node Events Service cluster can be improved by adding a fifth node to avoid the split-brain scenario12.

References:

• 1: Events Service Deployment - AppDynamics
• 2: Events Service Requirements - AppDynamics

In a hybrid deployment of AppDynamics, where the AppDynamics Controller and Events Service are installed on-premises and the EUM Server is hosted in AppDynamics’ SaaS cloud, the data that is unavailable is the analytics metrics for End-User Monitoring data sets. This is because the analytics metrics require the Events Service to store and process the unstructured data generated by the EUM agents. However, in a hybrid deployment, the EUM Server and the Events Service are not connected, and the EUM Server does not send the EUM data to the Events Service. Therefore, the analytics metrics for EUM data sets, such as browser records, mobile snapshots, network requests, and custom events, are not available in the Controller UI or the Analytics UI1. The other data, such as resource loading times, session information, and browser snapshots, are available in the EUM Server UI, as they are stored and displayed by the EUM Server itself2. References: Hybrid Deployment and EUM Data Sets in the AppDynamics documentation.

 According to the Cisco AppDynamics Professional Implementer (CAPI) documents, the method to import an existing keypair to manage the Controller SSL certificate without using the Enterprise Console UI is to add the keypair to the keystore.jks using a third-party tool (A). The keystore.jks file is the default keystore for the Controller that contains the private keys and certificates for the secure communication on port 8181. If the administrator already has a custom keypair that is signed by a third-party Certificate Authority (CA) or an internal CA, they can use a third-party tool, such as KeyStore Explorer or OpenSSL, to import the keypair into the keystore.jks file. The administrator should also import the root or intermediate certificates of the CA into the cacerts.jks file, which is the default truststore for the Controller. The administrator should use the keytool utility, which is bundled with the Controller installation, to import the certificates into the cacerts.jks file. The administrator should also update the password for the keystore.jks and cacerts.jks files, and restart the Controller to apply the changes12.

The incorrect options are:

• Re-run the Controller installer and specify the new keypair. (B) This is not a valid method because the Controller installer does not allow the administrator to specify a custom keypair for the Controller SSL certificate. The Controller installer only allows the administrator to specify the Controller host name, port, account name, access key, and database settings. The Controller installer does not modify the keystore.jks or cacerts.jks files, and does not import any custom keypair or certificate into the Controller keystore or truststore3.
• Upload a new keystore.jks file through the Controller UI. © This is not a valid method because the Controller UI does not provide any feature to upload a new keystore.jks file for the Controller SSL certificate. The Controller UI only allows the administrator to view and edit the Controller settings, such as the license, the security, the email, the analytics, and the EUM. The Controller UI does not access or modify the keystore.jks or cacerts.jks files, and does not import any custom keypair or certificate into the Controller keystore or truststore4.
• Upload the keypair from within the Controller UI. (D) This is not a valid method because the Controller UI does not provide any feature to upload a custom keypair for the Controller SSL certificate. The Controller UI only allows the administrator to view and edit the Controller settings, such as the license, the security, the email, the analytics, and the EUM. The Controller UI does not access or modify the keystore.jks or cacerts.jks files, and does not import any custom keypair or certificate into the Controller keystore or truststore4.

References:

• 1: Controller SSL and Certificates - AppDynamics
• 2: How do I resolve SSL certificate validation errors in the .NET Agent? - AppDynamics
• 3: Install the Controller - AppDynamics
• 4: Controller Settings - AppDynamics

According to the Cisco AppDynamics Professional Implementer (CAPI) documents, the two reasons for the missing correlated server-side snapshots are:

• Server has set the HttpOnly flag on all cookies. (A) This is a valid reason because the HttpOnly flag is a security feature that prevents client-side scripts from accessing the cookies. However, the AppDynamics JavaScript Agent relies on the cookies to correlate the browser snapshots with the server-side snapshots. The JavaScript Agent injects a cookie named _appdyn_browser into the browser requests, which contains the correlation information. If the server sets the HttpOnly flag on all cookies, including the _appdyn_browser cookie, the JavaScript Agent cannot read or modify the cookie, and the correlation fails. To enable the correlation, the server should not set the HttpOnly flag on the _appdyn_browser cookie12.
• Server-side application is not instrumented with server agent. (E) This is a valid reason because the server-side snapshots are collected by the AppDynamics app agents that instrument the application servers. The app agents monitor the business transactions that are executed by the server-side application, and capture the execution context, call graphs, errors, and metrics. If the server-side application is not instrumented with the app agent, the server-side snapshots are not available, and the correlation fails. To enable the correlation, the server-side application should be instrumented with the app agent that is compatible with the application server and the Controller34.

The incorrect options are:

• Correlated server-side snapshots work only for .NET Applications. (B) This is not a valid reason because the correlated server-side snapshots work for any application server that is instrumented with the AppDynamics app agent, not only for .NET applications. The AppDynamics platform supports various application servers, such as Java, .NET, PHP, Node.js, Python, and C/C++. The app agents collect the server-side snapshots for the business transactions that are executed by the application server, regardless of the programming language or framework34.
• Correlated snapshots are visible only if the injection mechanism is Automatic. © This is not a valid reason because the correlated snapshots are visible regardless of the injection mechanism. The injection mechanism refers to the way the AppDynamics JavaScript Agent is inserted into the web pages. There are two injection mechanisms: Automatic and Manual. The Automatic injection mechanism uses the app agent to inject the JavaScript Agent into the web pages that are served by the application server. The Manual injection mechanism requires the user to manually insert the JavaScript Agent into the web pages. Both injection mechanisms support the correlation of the browser snapshots and the server-side snapshots, as long as the JavaScript Agent and the app agent are configured correctly .
• Correlated snapshots are visible only if browser is Chrome. (D) This is not a valid reason because the correlated snapshots are visible regardless of the browser. The AppDynamics JavaScript Agent supports various browsers, such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Internet Explorer. The JavaScript Agent collects the browser snapshots for the web pages that are loaded by the browser, and correlates them with the server-side snapshots, regardless of the browser type or version .
• Correlated server-side snapshots are visible only if Java version is 1.7+. (F) This is not a valid reason because the correlated server-side snapshots are visible regardless of the Java version. The AppDynamics Java Agent supports various Java versions, such as 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, and 11. The Java Agent collects the server-side snapshots for the business transactions that are executed by the Java application server, and correlates them with the browser snapshots, regardless of the Java version or vendor .

References:

• 1: Browser Snapshots - AppDynamics
• 2: Troubleshoot Browser RUM - AppDynamics
• 3: Transaction Snapshots - AppDynamics
• 4: Supported Environments and Versions - AppDynamics
• [5]: Browser Real User Monitoring - AppDynamics
• [6]: Set Up and Configure Web EUM - AppDynamics
• [7]: Browser Support - AppDynamics
• [8]: Java Agent - AppDynamics
• [9]: Java Supported Environments - AppDynamics

A custom action is a type of Alert and Respond action that allows you to integrate AppDynamics notifications with your own alerting or ticketing system. You can create a custom action by writing an executable script and an XML file that describe how to pass information from AppDynamics to your system. A custom action can be triggered by a policy based on a health rule violation or an event. A custom action is available only on an on-premises Controller, because it requires access to the Controller file system and the ability to execute scripts on the Controller host machine. For a SaaS Controller, you can use HTTP request templates instead of custom actions to integrate with external systems. References: Build a Custom Action, Alert and Respond, Actions, Custom Actions

According to the Cisco AppDynamics Professional Implementer (CAPI) documents, when updating the Database Agent, you need to follow these steps12:

• Stop the agent as described for your specific installation in Start and Stop the Database Agent.
• Make a copy of the existing agent directory, . Backing up allows you to revert to the previous agent installation if you need to. You can also copy over the controller-info.xml configuration file to the new installation to ensure the agent configuration is maintained.
• Install the Database Agent as described for your specific installation in Administer the Database Agent.
• Copy the \conf\controller-info.xml file to the new installation directory, \conf. To ensure the agent configuration is maintained, copy the \conf\controller-info.xml file to the new installation directory, \conf.
• Start the new agent. See Start and Stop the Database Agent.
• Verify the Database Agent Installation. See Verify the Database Agent Installation.

Therefore, the correct statements are:

• The Database Agent must be stopped and restarted during the upgrade. (A)
• Controller-info.xml is the only file that needs to be migrated from the previous agent to the new agent. (D)

The incorrect statements are:

• If the agent is moved to a new location during the upgrade, the AppDynamics Controller must be reconfigured to reference the new location of the agent. (B) This is not true because the controller-info.xml file contains the information about the Controller host, port, account name, access key, and SSL settings. As long as this file is copied to the new agent location, the Controller does not need to be reconfigured.
• All data collectors created from the previous agent must be migrated to the new agent. © This is not true because the data collectors are configured on the Controller UI, not on the agent. The agent collects the metrics from the databases and sends them to the Controller. The data collectors do not need to be migrated to the new agent.
• After the Database Agent is upgraded, the AppDynamics Controller must be restarted. (E) This is not true because the Controller does not depend on the agent version. The agent and the Controller are compatible as long as they meet the Agent and Controller Compatibility requirements.

References:

• 1: Upgrade the Database Agent - AppDynamics
• 2: Release Upgrade Checklist for Database Agents - AppDynamics

As an AppDynamics Controller grows beyond supporting 500 agents, network throughput becomes more important. This is because the Controller needs to handle a large volume of data from the agents, as well as serve requests from the UI and API clients. Network throughput is the measure of how much data can be transferred over a network in a given time. A low network throughput can cause delays, errors, or timeouts in the communication between the Controller and the agents or clients. Therefore, it is recommended to monitor the network throughput of the Controller and ensure that it meets the minimum requirements for the expected load123. References: Controller System Requirements, Performance and Controller Sizing Guidelines, How to Run AppDynamics in Microsoft Azure

The default configuration of the Mobile SDK enables crash reports and network requests12. Crash reports capture and report any unhandled exceptions or signals that cause the app to terminate abnormally1. Network requests monitor the performance and errors of HTTP and HTTPS requests made by the app2. These features are enabled by default and do not require any additional code or configuration to work12. References: Crash Reports, Network Requests

The most important factor in determining sizing for AppDynamics Controller is the projected metric load per minute on the Controller. This is because the metric load represents the actual workload on the Controller, which depends on the nature of the application, the AppDynamics configuration, and the usage patterns. The number of agents, the type of agents, the number of administrators/end users, and the number of AppDynamics applications are only rough estimates that can vary greatly depending on the specific scenario. Therefore, it is recommended to test the performance of the system in a staging environment and verify the Controller sizing using the metric upload rate before deploying to production. References: Controller System Requirements, Performance and Controller sizing guidelines, How to Run AppDynamics in Microsoft Azure, Platform Requirements

The AppDynamics .NET Agent can instrument both 32-bit and 64-bit processes, as long as they are running on a supported .NET Framework version and operating system. The agent automatically detects the process architecture and loads the appropriate profiler DLL. You can also specify the process architecture manually in the agent configuration file1. The AppDynamics .NET Agent also supports instrumentation of multiple instances of the same application, such as Windows services or standalone applications. You can configure the agent to assign different tier and node names for each instance, based on the process name, process ID, or command line arguments. This allows you to monitor the performance and health of each instance separately2.

The other statements are false because:

• A. AppDynamics .NET Agent does support instrumenting processes running multiple App domains. The agent can monitor multiple App domains within a single process, as long as they are running the same .NET Framework version. The agent can also monitor multiple applications within a single App domain, by using the Standalone Applications element in the agent configuration file3.
• B. AppDynamics .NET Agent does not automatically discover all the Windows services to be instrumented. The agent automatically instruments IIS applications only. For Windows services or standalone applications, you need to manually configure the agent by editing the agent configuration file and adding the Windows Services or Standalone Applications element. You also need to provide the executable name, tier name, and node name for each service or application4.
• D. AppDynamics .NET Agent does not require that the Windows services are running under the “App.pool identity user” account. The agent can instrument Windows services running under any user account, as long as the account has sufficient permissions to load the agent profiler DLL and access the agent configuration and log files. The “App.pool identity user” account is only required for IIS applications that run in an application pool5.

References: .NET Agent Configuration Properties, Configure the .NET Agent for Windows Services and Standalone Applications, Instrument the DefaultDomain for Standalone Applications, Install the .NET Agent for Windows, Administer the .NET Agent