App Parameters

App Parameters is a helpful feature that monitors important metrics in your application. With App Parameters, you can monitor the:

• Size,  numeric value, or frequency of a variable.
• Size or frequency of an operation in an application.

Let's say a simple web request involves an API call, a database (DB) operation, and a cache hit; a single request can invoke multiple resources, and multiple users can invoke multiple requests at once. In these instances, you can figure out how often the API was called, as well as the number of times the DB operation took place during a particular time interval. This helps you assess if the CPU or memory is being overloaded and how this is affecting your app performance for the given time interval. 

With real-world applications, the App Parameters feature comes in handy when monitoring the frequency of hits to DB calls, service calls, or user-defined framework calls. Based on the report in App Parameters, you can troubleshoot performance degradation caused by an overload of hits.  

Get started with App Parameters:

• Operations involved
• Installation instructions for .NET applications
• Installation instructions for Java applications
• View App Parameters

Operations involved:

1. Sum 

• The sum of all values passed in a specific interval for a parameter.

2.Average

• The average value passed in a specific interval for a parameter.

Every parameter will be sent with the below metrics to track its frequency:

Sum:

1.Param Name:

• The parameter name provided by the user in the application.

2.Total Value:

• The aggregated value for the corresponding parameter on a particular interval.

Average:

1.Param Name:

• The parameter name provided by the user in the application.

2.Total Value:

• The aggregated value for the corresponding parameter during a particular interval.

3.Minimum Value:

• The minimum value captured in that particular interval.

4.Maximum Value:

• The maximum value captured in that particular interval.

5.Total Count:

• The total number of hits.

App Parameter APIs are available for .NET and Java agents. Follow the instructions below to get started.

For .NET applications:

1. Install the APM Insight .NET agent.
2. Add the DotNetAgent.Api.dll found in the installation path as a reference to your application.
3. Add this code snippet wherever required:

Sum: 
Sum of values passed in a specific interval for a parameter. If the sum is an empty value, it will be incremented by 1. 

DotNetAgent.Api.CustomTracker.Increment("keyName"); 
DotNetAgent.Api.CustomTracker.Increment("keyName", value); 

Average: 
Average of values passed for a parameter in a specific interval.

DotNetAgent.Api.CustomTracker.Average("keyName", value);

Example: 

public ActionResult Register() 

{ 

   DateTime st = DateTime.Now; 

   double myKeyValue = Convert.ToDouble(Request.QueryString["mykey"]);

   //parameter "register" will be incremented by 1 and sent as SUM 

      DotNetAgent.Api.CustomTracker.Increment("register");

  //parameter "mykey" will be incremented by myKeyValue and sent as SUM 

       DotNetAgent.Api.CustomTracker.Increment("mykey", myKeyValue);

        double myKeyAvgValue = GetAverageValue(); 

        //parameter "myavgkey" will be incremented by value and sent as AVG 

        DotNetAgent.Api.CustomTracker.Average("myavgkey", myKeyAvgValue); 

       return View(); 

}

4. Publish the application to start tracking the parameters.

For Java applications:

1. Install the APM Insight Java agent
2. Ensure you meet the prerequisites. Bundle the API jar found in your application build path (apminsight-javaagent-api.jar). The preferred location is WEB-INF/lib.
3. Add the code snippet below wherever required.