In brief
Cisco's AppDynamics has added the Experience Journey Map, which uses artificial intelligence to show the infrastructure resources behind an application and pinpoint performance problems. It integrates with Intersight Workload Optimizer to adjust server capacity automatically, and Kubernetes management tools are coming to HyperFlex.
In an age that prizes user experience, some users will abandon a mobile app or web application if it responds even slightly slowly. Yet the IT infrastructure behind these applications is growing more complex, which makes improving the experience difficult for enterprises. AppDynamics, acquired by Cisco in earlier years, helps trace the root cause of problems. It has recently added the Experience Journey Map, which presents the infrastructure resources behind an application and can apply corrections automatically.
Chu Kam-to, Director of Systems Engineering for Hong Kong and Macau at Cisco, noted that public cloud, private cloud and multi-cloud hybrid environments all make it simpler for developers to access computing resources, but also make the infrastructure architecture more complex. This is especially so with the rise of microservices (Micro Services) in recent years: a simple click by a user in an application may involve forty or fifty microservices. "If all you know is that the application is responding slowly, it is very hard to trace the root cause."
AppDynamics specializes in application performance management (APM). It was originally set to go public in early 2017, but was acquired by Cisco in January of that year for US$3.7 billion. It is now an independent business unit within Cisco and is integrated with the parent company's related solutions.
The newly launched Experience Journey Map automatically displays the user experience journey within an application. For the whole operation of the application, from the front-end server that receives the user's command, to the cloud environment and the databases and servers in the back-end environment, it can identify the resources involved. Chu said the service uses artificial intelligence to identify the relevant computing resources. When application performance falls short of expectations, the map lets teams pinpoint the problem directly and fix it.
Application performance is often tied to infrastructure. AppDynamics is integrated with Cisco's Intersight Workload Optimizer, which monitors server workloads. This lets development teams and infrastructure teams share information about the whole architecture and gain insight into application performance. When AppDynamics detects that application performance is affected by infrastructure load, it can automatically adjust server capacity, helping the infrastructure team meet the application's needs in real time.
The company will also offer Kubernetes management tools on its HyperFlex hyperconverged infrastructure platform, which can automate routine tasks and make it easier for DevOps teams to innovate in multi-cloud environments. Chu said that, for example, a development team working in a Kubernetes container environment can hand the relevant application and configuration directly to the operations team to deploy on the infrastructure, avoiding deployment errors between different infrastructure architectures. Kubernetes on HyperFlex can also work with AppDynamics and Intersight for real-time monitoring, optimizing the entire application and infrastructure.
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