Thick Client Monitoring using SaaS Managed

[emily_mcalister]

Hi,

I am posting this question to see if anyone has had any experience monitoring thick client applications with the Dynatrace SaaS One Agent?

Ideally, the OneAgent would sit on the central server and monitor those processes which then connect t othe client workstations. I assume that putting a OneAgent on a workstation wouldn't be ideal due to the extra noise detected from other processes (but I guess this is feasible depending on number of user workstations to cover). In the case where an agent is only deployed to cover the central server, how would you go about retrieving UEM statistics? Is this possible?

With the communication between the thick clients and the central server, what communication protocols are supported for automated inter-tier communication and code snippet/purepath detection which is all stitched together? Is it only HTTP or are there more? Or would we simply see all the client traffic as entry points and nothing else?

As a note for discussion, would AppMon be better suited to monitoring thick client applications? Of course there is some dependency on the application architecture and technology being used, but wanted to generate some discussion to work out the best strategy for monitoring thick clients out of the two tools.

Thanks for your help!

Emily McAlister

[Joe_Hoffman · Accepted solution]

Emily,

Dynatrace can definitely be used to monitor Thick Client apps. I actually have an ongoing POC where an important part of the scope is getting visibility into several Thick Client apps which run on employees desktops.

As for supported protocols, of course WebService calls would be automatically detected and stitched together. If you wanted to monitor just the backend, no desktop agent would be required, but then you're missing out on an important part of the transaction. RUM does not work in this situation as the client is not a browser rendering javascript thru HTML. But you can easily define custom entry points to start measuring the transaction from just about anyplace in the code, even on the desktop rich client app.

Lots in play regarding this topic. Feel free to reach out to me directly via email and we can chat in more detail.

Joe Hoffman

[AlexanderSommer · Accepted solution]

In addition to Joe's answer, we are also working on an SDK which can be used to bring real user monitoring metrics for user actions and especially user session to NON browser or mobile applications. At the moment this feature called "OpenKit for real user monitoring" is in early access mode but will be available as public beta very soon. The main goal is to see the user journey for all your applications and devices from the browser over mobile to rich clients, car applications or even to something like a traditional shop if the user is registered and the customer identifier is used at the cash register.

[Julius_Loman]

@Alexander S.

How can I apply for early access for mentioned "OpenKit for real user monitoring" ?

[emily_mcalister]

Thanks for your response Alex - do you have any idea re time frame for public beta? Or is there a way I can EAP access?

[rb0c70091]

Did this ever get released ?

[Julius_Loman]

@Ray B. just recently - see https://www.dynatrace.com/blog/digital-touchpoint-monitoring-openkit/