Cisco 500-430 Cisco AppDynamics Professional Implementer(CAPI) Exam Practice Test

 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

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.

According to the Cisco AppDynamics Professional Implementer (CAPI) documents, the two valid ways to confirm that the upgraded Java Agent is running successfully are:

• Verify that the node within the Controller UI indicates the app agent is reporting. (B) This is a valid way because the Controller UI is a web-based application that allows users to monitor and manage the performance of the applications, tiers, nodes, and other entities that are instrumented by the AppDynamics agents. The Controller UI displays the status of the nodes within each tier, and indicates whether the app agent is reporting or not. If the app agent is reporting, the node icon is green and shows the agent version. If the app agent is not reporting, the node icon is gray and shows the last time the agent reported. The user can also hover over the node icon to see more details, such as the agent type, the agent version,the agent runtime directory, and the agent properties file. The user can verify that the upgraded Java Agent is running successfully by checking that the node icon is green and shows the latest agent version12.
• Verify the Java Agent Version metric for that node in the Metric Browser. © This is a valid way because the Metric Browser is a feature of the Controller UI that allows users to view and analyze the metrics collected by the AppDynamics agents. The Metric Browser displays the metrics in a hierarchical tree structure, where each node represents a metric category, a metric name, or a metric value. The user can expand or collapse the nodes, and select or deselect the metrics to view them in a chart. The user can also apply filters, time ranges, baselines, and other options to customize the chart. The user can verify that the upgraded Java Agent is running successfully by navigating to the Java Agent Version metric for that node in the Metric Browser. The Java Agent Version metric shows the version number of the Java Agent that is running on the node. The user can compare the metric value with the expected agent version, and check that the metric is updated after the upgrade34.

The incorrect options are:

• Verify that the application log contains a message indicating success. (A) This is not a valid way because the application log does not contain any message indicating the success of the Java Agent upgrade. The application log is a file that records the events and messages that occur in the application server, such as the startup, shutdown, errors, warnings, and debug information. The application log does not record the events and messages that occur in the Java Agent, such as the installation, upgrade, configuration, or reporting. The Java Agent has its own log file, which is located in the /logs directory, and which contains the messages indicating the success or failure of the Java Agent upgrade .
• Verify that the Java Agent log contains a message indicating the agent started successfully. (D) This is not a valid way because the Java Agent log does not contain any message indicating the agent started successfully after the upgrade. The Java Agent log is a file that records the events and messages that occur in the Java Agent, such as the installation, upgrade, configuration, or reporting. The Java Agent log contains a message indicating the agent started successfully when the application server is started, not when the Java Agent is upgraded. The Java Agent log does not contain any message indicating the success or failure of the Java Agent upgrade. The Java Agent log is located in the /logs directory, and the message indicating the agent started successfully is “Agent Startup Complete” .

References:

• 1: Tiers and Nodes - AppDynamics
• 2: Tier Dashboard - AppDynamics
• 3: Metric Browser - AppDynamics
• 4: Java Agent Metrics - AppDynamics
• [5]: Java Agent Logs - AppDynamics
• [6]: Troubleshoot the Java Agent - AppDynamics

The Events Service is the on-premises data storage facility for unstructured data generated by Application Analytics, Database Visibility, and End User Monitoring deployments. The Events Service can be deployed as a single node or a cluster of three or more nodes, depending on the data volume and availability requirements. The Controller and other Events Service clients connect to the Events Service to store and retrieve analytics data. Therefore, it is essential that the Controller is able to initiate communication with the Events Service cluster, using the Events Service API ports (default 9080/2081). The Events Service cluster does not need to initiate communication with the Controller, as it only responds to the requests from the clients. The Events Service API ports can be reconfigured from the default values, if needed, by modifying the conf/events-service-api-store.properties file on each node. However, the clients must also be updated with the new port values. It is also recommended to use a load balancer or a virtual IP address in front of the Events Service cluster, to provide a single endpoint for the clients and to enable load balancing and failover among the nodes. References: Events Service Deployment, Install the Events Service on Linux, and Install the Events Service on Windows in the AppDynamics documentation.

To upgrade an EUM Server that is currently in production, the administrator should follow these steps:

• Stop the EUM Server before the upgrade. This ensures that the EUM Server does not process any incoming data from the EUM agents during the upgrade process. The administrator can use the eum.sh or eum.bat script to stop the EUM Server gracefully1.
• Run the new installer on the EUM host machine. The installer will detect the existing EUM Server installation and prompt the administrator to upgrade it to the latest version. The installer will also migrate the EUM data from the old version to the new version, if needed. The administrator should follow the instructions on the installer wizard to complete the upgrade2.

The other options are not necessary or correct for upgrading the EUM Server. The administrator does not need to stop or upgrade the EUM agents, as they are compatible with the new version of the EUM Server. The administrator does not need to update the EUM Server access key, as it remains the same after the upgrade. The administrator does not need to install MySQL, as it is bundled with the EUM Server installation package2. References: Upgrade the Production EUM Server and Start and Stop the EUM Server in the AppDynamics documentation.

The Health Rule REST API allows you to create, configure, update, and delete health rules for multiple applications simultaneously. To use this API, you need to specify the application in the URL string. You can use either the application ID or the application name for this purpose. The application ID is a unique numeric identifier for each application in the Controller. The application name is the display name of the application in the AppDynamics UI. You cannot use the application alias, GUID, or REGEX for the Health Rule REST API. References: Health Rule API and Retrieve All Business Applications in the AppDynamics documentation.

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

The Machine Agent REST API allows you to create custom events that can be used for various purposes in AppDynamics. Some of the reasons you would create custom events using this API are12:

• To create an event to track application deployment. You can use the API to send a custom event that marks the start and end of an application deployment process. This can help you monitor the impact of the deployment on the application performance and availability, as well as correlate any issues or anomalies with the deployment event.
• To create an event to be displayed along with Time Series data in a custom dashboard. You can use the API to send a custom event that contains any relevant information or context that you want to display in a custom dashboard. For example, you can send a custom event that contains the details of a configuration change, a maintenance window, a business transaction, or a user action. You can then use the custom dashboard to visualize the custom event data along with the Time Series data for the metrics you are interested in.
• To create an event to be used to trigger a health rule violation. You can use the API to send a custom event that contains a metric value that you want to use as a condition for a health rule. For example, you can send a custom event that contains the CPU utilization of a machine, and then create a health rule that evaluates the CPU utilization metric and triggers a violation if it exceeds a certain threshold. You can then use the health rule violation to generate alerts, notifications, or remediation actions. References: Machine Agent HTTP Listener, Create Custom Events

According to the Cisco AppDynamics Professional Implementer (CAPI) documents, the two methods that are available to define JVM options for an AppDynamics Controller so that the JVM options are retained across upgrades of the Controller are:

• Use the modifyJvmOptions utility provided by AppDynamics. (A) This is a valid method because the modifyJvmOptions utility is a script that allows you to add, remove, or list the JVM options for the Controller without manually editing any files. The utility also validates the syntax and format of the JVM options and creates a backup of the original configuration. The utility is located in the /bin directory and can be run on Linux or Windows platforms. The utility updates the /appserver/glassfish/domains/domain1/config/domain.xml file with the specified JVM options, which are preserved during the Controller upgrade12.
• Define JVM options on the Controller Settings page of the Enterprise Console. (B) This is a valid method because the Controller Settings page of the Enterprise Console is a graphical user interface that allows you to configure various settings for the Controller, including the JVM options. The Enterprise Console is a web-based application that provides a centralized way to manage the AppDynamics platform components, such as the Controller, the Events Service, and the EUM Server. The Enterprise Console also handles the Controller upgrade process and preserves the JVM options that are defined on the Controller Settings page34.

The incorrect options are:

• Pass JVM options to the Controller via java -javaagent:“options jar”. © This is not a valid method because the java -javaagent option is used to specify the path to the AppDynamics agent jar file, not the JVM options for the Controller. The agent jar file is used to instrumentthe Java applications that are monitored by the AppDynamics platform, not the Controller itself. The agent jar file also contains the agent configuration properties, such as the Controller host, port, account name, access key, and application name. Passing JVM options to the Controller via this option will not have any effect on the Controller performance or behavior5.
• Use the controller.sh script provided by AppDynamics. (D) This is not a valid method because the controller.sh script is used to start, stop, or restart the Controller, not to define the JVM options for the Controller. The controller.sh script is located in the /bin directory and can be run on Linux platforms. The controller.sh script does not accept any arguments or parameters for the JVM options, and does not update any configuration files with the JVM options. Using this script to define the JVM options for the Controller will not have any effect on the Controller performance or behavior6.
• Define JVM options manually in the domain. xmi file. (E) This is not a valid method because the domain. xmi file is not a configuration file for the JVM options for the Controller, but a configuration file for the WebSphere Application Server. The WebSphere Application Server is a Java EE application server that can be used to host the Java applications that are monitored by the AppDynamics platform, not the Controller itself. The domain. xmi file contains the settings for the WebSphere Application Server, such as the server name, port, security, data sources, and class loaders. Defining JVM options manually in this file will not have any effect on the Controller performance or behavior, and may cause errors or conflicts with the WebSphere Application Server configuration7.

References:

• 1: Modify JVM Options for the Controller - AppDynamics
• 2: Release Upgrade Checklist for Controllers - AppDynamics
• 3: Configure the Controller Using the Enterprise Console - AppDynamics
• 4: Upgrade the Controller Using the Enterprise Console - AppDynamics
• 5: Install the Java Agent - AppDynamics
• 6: Start and Stop the Controller - AppDynamics
• 7: Configuring the WebSphere Application Server - IBM

In a split-host configuration, where the EUM Server and Controller are on separate hosts, the EUM Server requires access to the Controller primary HTTP(s) port. This is because the EUM Server needs to communicate with the Controller API server to send data and receive configuration information. The default primary HTTP port for the Controller is 8090 and the default primary HTTPS port is 81811. The dedicated EUM HTTP(s) ports are used by the EUM agents to send data to the EUM Server, not by the EUM Server to access the Controller2. The GlassFish administration port is used to access the Controller Admin Console, not by the EUM Server3. The Controller database port is used by the Controller to connect to the MySQL database, not by the EUM Server4. References: Controller Port Settings, Configure the Port for the EUM Agent, Access the Administration Console, Controller System Requirements

According to the Cisco AppDynamics Professional Implementer (CAPI) documents, the two symptoms that occur if an AppDynamics Controller is not scaled correctly are:

• The Controller’s metric reporting is 7 to 10 minutes behind the current time. (D) This is a valid symptom because the AppDynamics Controller collects, processes, and stores metrics from the agents that monitor the applications, tiers, nodes, and other entities. If the Controller is not scaled correctly, it may not have enough resources, such as CPU, memory,disk space, or network bandwidth, to handle the incoming metrics data. This may result in a backlog of metrics data that causes the Controller to lag behind the current time. The Controller’s metric reporting delay can affect the accuracy and timeliness of the performance analysis and troubleshooting12.
• The Controller UI performs slowly. (E) This is a valid symptom because the AppDynamics Controller UI is a web-based application that allows users to access, visualize, and interact with the performance data and configuration settings of the AppDynamics platform. If the Controller is not scaled correctly, it may not have enough resources, such as CPU, memory, disk space, or network bandwidth, to serve the UI requests. This may result in a slow or unresponsive UI that affects the user experience and productivity12.

The incorrect options are:

• Snapshots are not available after 2 weeks. (A) This is not a valid symptom because the AppDynamics Controller does not store snapshots for more than 2 weeks by default. Snapshots are detailed records of the execution context and call graphs of the business transactions that are monitored by the AppDynamics platform. Snapshots are useful for diagnosing performance issues and errors, but they also consume a lot of disk space. The AppDynamics Controller automatically purges the snapshots that are older than 2 weeks, unless the retention policy is changed by the user. The availability of snapshots is not affected by the Controller scaling, unless the disk space is exhausted34.
• Health rule violations occur more frequently. (B) This is not a valid symptom because the AppDynamics Controller does not cause health rule violations to occur more frequently. Health rule violations are triggered when the performance or availability metrics of the monitored entities exceed the thresholds that are defined by the user. Health rule violations indicate the presence of performance issues or errors in the monitored applications, tiers, nodes, or other entities, not in the Controller itself. The frequency of health rule violations is not affected by the Controller scaling, unless the Controller fails to collect or process the metrics data5 .
• The average response times of tiers are higher than normal. © This is not a valid symptom because the AppDynamics Controller does not affect the average response times of tiers. The average response time of a tier is the average time that the tier takes to process the incoming requests from the business transactions that are monitored by the AppDynamics platform. The average response time of a tier is influenced by the performance and behavior of the application code, the infrastructure, the dependencies, and the workload of the tier, not by the Controller itself. The average response time of a tier is not affected by the Controller scaling, unless the Controller fails to collect or process the metrics data .

References:

• 1: Controller System Requirements - AppDynamics
• 2: Controller Sizing Guidelines - AppDynamics
• 3: Transaction Snapshots - AppDynamics
• 4: Configure Data Retention - AppDynamics
• 5: Health Rules - AppDynamics

According to the Cisco AppDynamics Professional Implementer (CAPI) documents, the recommended way to add capacity to the Events Service cluster is to add nodes running on machines with identical hardware matching the existing nodes12. This will increase the data storage, replication, and redundancy of the cluster, as well as the processing power for queries. The Events Service cluster is horizontally scalable, so nodes can be added as your data storage requirements grow32. The Events Service must run on dedicated machines with identical directory structures, user account profiles, and hardware profiles1. For heap space allocation, AppDynamics recommends allocating half of the available RAM to the Events Service process, with a minimum of 7 GB up to 31 GB1. Solid-state drives (SSD) can significantly outperform hard disk drives (HDD), and are therefore recommended for production deployments1.

The incorrect options are:

• Add a new Events Service cluster to share the load. (A) This is not recommended because it will create additional complexity and overhead for managing multiple clusters and routing data and queries to the appropriate cluster. It will also require more license units to enable analytics on multiple clusters.
• Add more storage to the master nodes of the cluster. © This is not recommended because it will not increase the data replication and redundancy of the cluster, nor the processing power for queries. It will also create an imbalance in the cluster, as the master nodes will have more storage than the worker nodes, which may affect the performance and stability of the cluster.
• Add more storage to as many of the existing nodes as possible. (D) This is not recommended because it will not increase the data replication and redundancy of the cluster, nor the processing power for queries. It will also create an imbalance in the cluster, as some nodes will have more storage than others, which may affect the performance and stability of the cluster.

References:

• 1: Cisco AppDynamics Professional Implementer (500-430)
• 2: Events Service Requirements - AppDynamics
• 3: Events Service Deployment - AppDynamics
• 4: Events Service Deployment - AppDynamics

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 EUM agent is a special agent that runs in web, mobile, or IoT applications and collects metrics on the end user experience. The EUM agent communicates with the EUM Collector, which is a component that verifies, aggregates, and packages the raw metrics sent by the EUM agent12. The EUM Collector can be either a SaaS service provided by AppDynamics or an on-premises server installed by the customer12. The EUM Collector then sends the processed metrics to the AppDynamics Controller and the Events Service for storage, analysis, and visualization12. References: Overview of End User Monitoring, EUM Data

To prepare a Linux environment for the installation of an AppDynamics Controller with a Large performance profile, which is suitable for monitoring up to 1000 agents, you need to perform the following steps:

• 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 the open file descriptor limit on the system. The file descriptor limit determines how many files a process can open at a time. The Controller requires a high file descriptor limit to handle the large number of connections and transactions. AppDynamics recommends setting the file descriptor limit to at least 65535 for the user account that runs the Controller. You can check the current file descriptor limit by running ulimit -n and modify it by editing the /etc/security/limits.conf file2.
• Verify the process limit on the system. The process limit determines how many processes a user can run at a time. The Controller requires a high process limit to handle the large number of threads and subprocesses. AppDynamics recommends setting the process limit to at least 65535 for the user account that runs the Controller. You can check the current process limit by running ulimit -u and modify it by editing the /etc/security/limits.conf file2.

Other steps that are not required but recommended for the Controller installation are verifying the user account permissions, configuring the virus scanners, installing the netstat network utility, and setting the NUMA configuration2. You do not need to install MySQL or Java separately, as they are included in the Controller installation package3. References: Prepare Linux for the Controller, Install the Controller on Linux, and Controller System Requirements in the AppDynamics documentation.