500-425 Practice Exam Questions with Answers Cisco AppDynamics Associate Administrator (CAAA) Certification

To create a user group in AppDynamics, you need to go to Settings > Administration > Groups. A user group is a collection of users who share the same roles and privileges. You can use user groups to manage user access and permissions more easily. You can add, edit, delete, or duplicate user groups from the Groups tab on the Administration page.

According to the Manage Users and Groups - AppDynamics, the following steps are required to create a user group:

• Click the Add button on the Groups tab.
• Enter a name and description for the group.
• Select one or more roles for the group from the Available Roles list. You can also create a new role by clicking the Add Role button.
• Click Save.

Therefore, D (Settings > Administration > Groups) is the correct answer. References:

• Manage Users and Groups - AppDynamics
• Cisco AppDynamics Associate Administrator Certification
• User Management - AppDynamics

Database Visibility provides metrics on the performance of your database and helps troubleshoot performance-related issues. Database Visibility consists of four main components: Database Agent, Collector, Controller, and Events Service (on-premises only). The Database Agent is a standalone Java program that collects performance metrics about your database instances and database servers. The Collector is the process that runs within the Database Agent to collect performance metrics about your database instances and database servers. The Controller is the central interface where you can see all your database instances and database server performance metrics. The Events Service stores high volumes of metric data.

According to the Overview of Database Visibility, the following types of information are sent to the Controller:

• Database-level metrics, such as the number of queries processed and other database statistics
• Names and attributes of all sessions, clients, queries, and other objects on the monitored system

The following types of information are sent to the Events Service:

• Time that each query spends at each wait state
• Individual query statistics for databases that support it
• Information about individual execution plans in databases that support it

Therefore, B (Average Number of Slow Connections) and C (Top Leaked Connections) are two stats that are available in Database Visibility. References:

• Cisco AppDynamics Associate Administrator Certification
• Overview of Database Visibility - AppDynamics
• Database Visibility - AppDynamics

The main benefit of defining Database Collectors is that you can see which applications are calling a database and how they impact the database performance. Database Collectors enable the Database Agent to collect data from your database instances and database servers, such as metrics, queries, sessions, wait states, and more1 You can also link a database on the application flow maps to a database instance monitored by Database Visibility, which allows you to see the correlation between the application and the database2 References: 1: Add Database Collectors 2: [Link a Database on the Application Flow Map to a Database Instance Monitored by Database Visibility]

To find the information that shows the current application, tier, and node that the agent currently reports to, you can go to View my settings > AppDynamics Agents section in the Controller UI. This section shows you the list of agents that are connected to the Controller, along with their status, version, application, tier, and node names. You can also filter the list by agent type, status, or application1 References: 1: AppDynamics Agents

Capacity planning is the process of estimating and allocating the resources needed to meet the current and future demands of an application. For a regionally partitioned application, where different users and organizations are assigned to different databases based on their location, capacity planning requires that the administrator monitors the number of users and orgs mapped to each database and ensures that they do not exceed the available resources.

According to the AppDynamics Analytics - AppDynamics, one way to meet this requirement is to schedule an analytics query to check and report on the result periodically. An analytics query is a SQL-like query that allows you to analyze and visualize the data collected by AppDynamics, such as business transactions, logs, metrics, events, and custom data. You can use analytics queries to create dashboards, widgets, reports, and alerts that provide insights into the performance and behavior of your applications and their components.

To schedule an analytics query to check and report on the number of users and orgs mapped to a database, the administrator can follow these steps:

• Go to Analytics > Search.
• Select the data source that contains the user and org information, such as Business Transactions, Logs, or Custom Data.
• Enter the query that counts the number of users and orgs for each database, such as SELECT database, COUNT(DISTINCT user), COUNT(DISTINCT org) FROM data_source GROUP BY database.
• Click the Save button and enter a name and description for the query.
• Click the Schedule button and select the frequency, time range, and recipients for the query execution and report delivery.
• Click Save.

Therefore, A (Schedule an analytics query to check and report on the result periodically) is the correct answer. References:

• AppDynamics Analytics - AppDynamics
• Cisco AppDynamics Associate Administrator Certification
• Analytics Queries - AppDynamics

The default length of time events can be viewed with full detail before being purged is 7 days, unless archived. Events are records of significant occurrences in the monitored environment, such as errors, exceptions, policy violations, health rule violations, and more. You can view the events in the Controller UI under Events > All Events. You can also archive the events to retain them for longer periods or export them to external systems1 References: 1: Events

Snapshots are the detailed records of the execution of a business transaction, including the call stack, the exit points, the errors, and the metrics. To locate snapshots showing slow database response, you can use the following methods:

• Go to the list of snapshots and apply a filter based on slow database response: You can access the list of snapshots from the Business Transaction Dashboard or the Tier Dashboard. You can then apply a filter to show only the snapshots that have a slow database response time, which is the time spent by the business transaction in calling the database. You can specify the minimum and maximum values for the slow database response time, or use the predefined options such as slower than 1 second, slower than 5 seconds, etc. You can also combine this filter with other filters, such as time range, business transaction name, tier name, node name, etc. to narrow down the results1.
• From the flow map, right-click the database icon and select view snapshots: You can access the flow map from the Application Dashboard, the Business Transaction Dashboard, or the Tier Dashboard. The flow map shows the graphical representation of the flow of the business transactions, including the tiers, the nodes, the backends, and the remote services. You can right-click on any database icon on the flow map and select view snapshots to see the list of snapshots that have called that database. You can then sort or filter the snapshots by the database response time column to find the slowest ones2.

The other options are not valid methods to locate snapshots showing slow database response. Going to the dashboard for the database and selecting slowest database calls will show the metrics and the flow map for the database, but not the snapshots. Going to the list of snapshots and selecting analyze for a group of snapshots will show the summary and the comparison of the selected snapshots, but not the database response time.

https://community.appdynamics.com/t5/Share-a-tip/Snapshots-and-identifying-intermittent-issues/td-p/42896

To manage Controller security settings, you would need to grant the Security Administrator role to an existing user. The Security Administrator role is a built-in role that allows the user to access and modify the security settings of the Controller, such as encryption, certificates, authentication, authorization, and audit1. The Security Administrator role also inherits the permissions of the Credentials Administrator role, which allows the user to manage the credentials for the Controller and the agents2. The other roles listed do not have the permission to manage Controller security settings. The Administrator role can perform most administrative tasks, but not security-related ones2. The Analytics Administrator role can manage the analytics platform and data, but not theController security3. The Account Owner role can manage the account settings and licenses, but not the Controller security4

https://docs.appdynamics.com/appd/21.x/21.1/en/application-monitoring/install-app-server-agents/agent-to-controller-connections

Business Transaction metrics are the key performance indicators that measure the health and performance of your applications. They include metrics such as average response time, calls per minute, errors per minute, and so on. You can use various types of performance degradation analysis to identify and troubleshoot the root causes of performance issues using Business Transaction metrics.

According to the Troubleshoot Business Transactions - AppDynamics, the following types of performance degradation analysis are used with Business Transaction metrics:

• Correlation Analysis: This type of analysis helps you to find the correlation between different metrics and events that may affect the performance of your Business Transactions. For example, you can use the correlation analysis to see how the response time of a Business Transaction is related to the CPU utilization of a node, or how the error rate of a Business Transaction is related to the number of slow database calls.
• Remote Services Analysis: This type of analysis helps you to understand how the performance of your Business Transactions is impacted by the calls to remote services, such as databases, web services, message queues, and so on. For example, you can use the remote services analysis to see the response time, call count, error count, and wait time of each remote service call, and drill down to the details of each call.
• Compare Releases: This type of analysis helps you to compare the performance of your Business Transactions across different releases of your application. For example, you can use the compare releases analysis to see how the response time, error rate, and throughput of your Business Transactions have changed after a new deployment, and identify any performance regressions or improvements.

Therefore, A (Correlation Analysis), B (Remote Services Analysis), and E (Compare Releases) are three types of performance degradation analysis that are used with Business Transaction metrics. References:

• Troubleshoot Business Transactions - AppDynamics
• Business Transaction - AppDynamics
• Cisco AppDynamics Associate Performance Analyst Certification

When troubleshooting an application using AppDynamics, the fastest way to narrow down a code problem with a specific business transaction is to follow this order:

• Review Application Dashboard: This is the first step to get an overview of the health and performance of your application and its components. You can see the key metrics, such as response time, throughput, error rate, and load, for each tier, node, and business transaction. You can also see the health rule violations, events, and alerts that indicate any issues or anomalies in your application.
• Check transaction scorecard: This is the second step to drill down to the details of a specific business transaction that you want to troubleshoot. You can see the transaction scorecard by clicking on the business transaction name on the application dashboard. The transaction scorecard shows the metrics, such as average response time, calls per minute, errors per minute, and slow calls, for the selected business transaction. You can also see the breakdown of the response time by tier, node, and remote service, and the distribution of the response time by percentile.
• Check transaction snapshots for problems: This is the third step to identify the root cause of the code problem for the selected business transaction. You can see the transaction snapshots by clicking on the View Snapshots button on the transaction scorecard. Transaction snapshots are the detailed records of the execution of a business transaction, including the call graph, the exit calls, the errors, the exceptions, the logs, the HTTP parameters, the cookies, the session attributes, and the custom data. You can use the transaction snapshots to analyze the code execution, the database queries, the web service calls, the message queues, the errors, and the exceptions that affect the performance of the business transaction.

Therefore, A (Review Application Dashboard > Check transaction scorecard > Check Transactions snapshots for problems) is the correct answer. References:

• Cisco AppDynamics Associate Administrator Certification
• Troubleshoot Business Transactions - AppDynamics
• Business Transaction - AppDynamics
• Transaction Snapshots - AppDynamics

 The default auto-refresh interval for custom dashboards is 120 seconds. This means that the data displayed on the dashboard will be updated every two minutes. The auto-refresh interval can be configured by the dashboard owner or administrator from the dashboard settings. The auto-refresh interval can be set to any value between 15 and 300 seconds, or disabled altogether. The auto-refresh interval applies to all the widgets on the dashboard, unless a widget has its own refresh interval specified.https://docs.appdynamics.com/appd/23.x/latest/en/appdynamics-essentials/dashboards-and-reports/custom-dashboards/create-and-manage-custom-dashboards-and-templates

On a custom dashboard, a non-administrator user can view the following types of information:

• The company logo: A custom dashboard can display the company logo in the upper left corner of the dashboard. This can help to brand the dashboard and make it more recognizable for the intended audience. The logo can be configured by the dashboard owner or administrator from the dashboard settings1.
• The version of the AppDynamics Controller: A custom dashboard can display the version of the AppDynamics Controller in the upper right corner of the dashboard. This can help to identify the Controller that is hosting the dashboard and the features that are available. The version can be configured by the dashboard owner or administrator from the dashboard settings1.
• A Timeseries graph: A custom dashboard can display a Timeseries graph widget that shows the trend of a metric over time. This can help to visualize the performance and behavior of the application, server, or database that is being monitored. A Timeseries graph can be configured by the dashboard owner or administrator from the widget settings2.

A non-administrator user cannot view the following types of information on a custom dashboard:

• The current weather in Seattle: A custom dashboard cannot display the current weather in Seattle or any other location, as this is not a metric or data point that is reported by AppDynamics agents or the analytics platform. A custom dashboard can only display the data that is collected and stored by AppDynamics2.
• The number of AppDynamics licenses consumed: A custom dashboard cannot display the number of AppDynamics licenses consumed, as this is a Controller-level information that is only accessible by the Controller administrator. A custom dashboard can only display the data that is scoped by the dashboard owner’s permissions1 . https://docs.appdynamics.com/accounts/en/cisco-appdynamics-saas-deployment-user-management/manage-custom-roles-for-cisco-appdynamics/custom-dashboard-permissions

Health rules are the criteria that AppDynamics uses to evaluate the performance and availability of your applications and their components. Health rules can trigger alerts and actions when the conditions are violated or cleared. Events are the occurrences that AppDynamics records when something significant happens in your monitored environment, such as a health rule violation, a policy execution, a deployment, or a custom event.

According to the Health Rules - AppDynamics, the following two ways can help you see the current status of health rules and events of the business process:

• Set up a policy to send an email or text when a health rule status changes: This way, you can get notified in real time when a health rule condition is met or cleared, and take appropriate actions to resolve or prevent issues. You can configure policies to send emails, texts, or other notifications to specific recipients or groups, and include relevant information such as the health rule name, the affected entity, the severity level, and the time range.
• Create a dashboard with health and events widgets displayed: This way, you can visualize the health and performance of your applications and their components in a single view, and drill down to the details of each health rule or event. You can create custom dashboards with various widgets that show the health status, the event list, the event summary, the event correlation, and the event timeline of your applications and their components.

Therefore, A (Set up a policy to send an email or text when a health rule status changes) and D (Create a dashboard with health and events widgets displayed) are two ways that can help you see the current status of health rules and events of the business process. References:

• Cisco AppDynamics Associate Administrator Certification
• Health Rules - AppDynamics
• [Policies and Actions - AppDynamics]
• [Events - AppDynamics]
• [Custom Dashboards - AppDynamics]