Enterprise Synthetic integration with Dynatrace

[kalle_lahtinen]

Hi,

I'm aware that ServiceTrace is the recommended synthetic solution for integrating fat/rich client monitors with Dynatrace. But in case there are only a few less critical use cases and it would be desireable to avoid license costs both towards ServiceTrace and Dynatrace (custom metrics)... I was thinking, would it maybe work if the ESM Agents posted their test results directly to the EXT Synthetic API?

https://www.dynatrace.com/support/help/extend-dynatrace/dynatrace-api/environment-api/synthetic/exte...

In this case, since we're not interested in using CAS for viewing the data, we could basically have an installation with one Agent Manager used for scheduling the agents, and an X amount of ESM Agents. All the data would then be visible at Dynatrace (Managed). Comments? Would this type of setup even work, i.e. Agent Manager and Agents but no CAS?

[carol_ott · Accepted solution]

Thanks for this post, Kalle. You can certainly run ESM Agent Manager and Agents with no CAS. You will just need another reporting and alerting method. But, as you know, support for ESM is about to end December 31, 2019. It may be best for you to open a support ticket for your questions.

[kalle_lahtinen]

Thanks Carol! Yep when we eventually get a bit further with this, we'll for sure discuss the technical side with support. And of course the licensing is something that needs to be handled, despite the upcoming EOL. At this point I just wanted to kind of think out loud and get some feedback whether an idea like this would work in general 🙂

[carol_ott]

Kalle, we may want to discuss this off-line. I think your email has changed; how could I reach you? Anyway, I do not understand why you want to consider this since the EOL is looming.

[Krzysztof_Ziemi]

Kalle,

Regardless of your motivation, please keep in mind that ESM won't be supported beyond end of yer 2019. Also, just to make things clear, let me also say that on Dynatrace lab side we don't plan to develop a connector that would send ESM data to Dynatrace.

Having said that, we will keep fingers crossed if you wanted to develop such connector and we can provide some help where we can, via Support. Namely:

• there is an API on ESM side that exposes ESM measurements from Agent Manager. You may use it to get data for Dynatrace without CAS
• Dynatrace Synthetic has an ingestion API and 3rd-party data ingested this way is available through built-in reports
• you will have to build the connector yourself, our Support will help with ESM API documentation. Dynatrace API is extensively documented online
• there will be limitations, e.g. Dynatrace data ingestion doesn't support access to screenshots captured on error, data model is different etc, but base features will be reflected properly
• metric consumption by ingested data on Dynatrace side will occur, so your Dynatrace licensing plan has to take it into account

On the ESM side, once the product support ends, there are no obstacles to acquire an open license if you want. But EOL is EOL, there will be no support from Dynatrace side available after Dec 31.

So long story short, this approach may work in an interim, between now and complete migration to Dynatrace Synthetic and/or any 3rd-party tools you may need.

Best regards.

[kalle_lahtinen]

Hi,

Thanks again for the comments Carol & Kris. I do fully understand that ESM won't be supported in 2020 - on the other hand, I have enough experience with the product to be somewhat confident that I can make it work with a stable and small setup without issues. So I'm talking about a very small scope, just filling the gaps where Dynatrace OneAgent + Synthetic can't see currently - e.g. SAP GUI, Citrix VDI experience, rich clients connecting to a SaaS or 3rd party vendor service... There are some use cases.

Yep I need to build the integration between ESM and Dynatrace, but I suppose that applies to other 3rd party tools as well. Correct, no screenshots, but the availability + performance results would still be visible, and we could define alerts based on them. The screenshots can be saved locally on the agent side anyway, so they will be there for reference - even though it would be nicer to have them directly in the user interface, of course.

[carol_ott]

Well, Kalle, your confidence is well founded; you are more than capable. The problem, of course, would be potential currency issues. Maybe you can stop updates on the Agents and even the Agent Manager.

And, you know that the screenshots are saved in the Agent Manager's data folder; they can be retrieved more easily there. The Network Packet Analysis reports are also stored in the Agent Manager's folders.

Good luck! And thanks for being such a good customer!

[sylvian_lam1]

Hi Kalle,

I'd like to do the same thing with my ESM env, would you mind share how you achieve that? Feed data into Dynatrace ? Much appreciated.

Wish you a good day.

Thanks.

Sylvian

[camille_gindre]

Hi @Kalle L.

Did you get any information on the ESM API or did you managed to setup this integration ?

I'm facing the same use case with Citrix VDI, SAP GUI and Fat Clients so I'm trying to gather ESM API documentation but didn't received any information yet.

Thanks a lot for your help,

Camille

[kalle_lahtinen]

Hi,

My need for this is related to an upcoming RFP which still hasn't landed, so I haven't yet had the concrete requirements list in front of me which I'd need in order to decide whether or not I'd like to go with the ESM approach. When I wrote that earlier question, I just wanted to know on a high level whether that sort of idea is even feasible.

Since then, Dynatrace has presented new RUM monitoring for SAP and Citrix (as part of Dynatrace/OneAgent). So when I do come back to this, I would probably also evaluate how well the new RUM features would match the needs.

[carol_ott]

Hi. There is no external documentation on the ESM side. However, we suggest you use the data through the CAS/NAM and use the [DMI Public REST API|https://www.dynatrace.com/support/doc/nam/using-rest-based-web-services/?_ga=2.113122884.1970168457.1575297932-1649496939.1502451131].

Thanks!