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Enterprise Synthetic transition frequently asked questions

Public DCRUM
Enterprise Synthetic transition frequently asked
questions
January 8, 2019

Table of contents

Product offerings
What is being announced
Dynatrace announces an intent to end the Enterprise Synthetic Monitoring support December 31,
2019 . We also announce that we’d like to help our customers transition to Dynatrace Synthetic
offering or other alternatives that may be needed.

Is Dynatrace Synthetic a new version of the ESM, a direct replacement


of the ESM?
No.

Although Dynatrace Synthetic serves many of the same use cases as ESM, it does not address all
ESM use cases. At the same time, Dynatrace Synthetic extends into serving different use cases that
ESM didn’t address well in the past.

Read on for more details on what ESM capabilities will be covered by Dynatrace Synthetic and what
will require alternative approaches.

Is Dynatrace Synthetic the right solution for every ESM customer?


It is the best solution, though it won’t cover all use cases that the ESM has been covering.

For the web application synthetic monitoring - it is the best solution, for both transaction
monitoring and web app availability (autochecks)

For the application availability checks - it is the right solution.

For the non-web GUI apps (Windows GUI applications), customers will have to look for
alternatives to drive the tests, while Dynatrace API enables integration of the 3rd-party
monitoring data into the Dynatrace Managed or SaaS portal.

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Enterprise Synthetic transition frequently asked questions

Why should ESM customers migrate to Dynatrace Synthetic?


Dynatrace Synthetic is a result of the Dynatrace product portfolio modernization. Redefined
approach to synthetic monitoring focuses on ease of use, measurement precision and close
integration with digital experience monitoring required by the modern applications.

Set out for the future: built for the modern applications, seamlessly covering on-premises
and cloud-native apps, with a single, continuous infrastructure for reporting and scripting

Totally integrated: Dynatrace Synthetic is embedded into the Dynatrace platform and does
not require multiple systems integration with separate controllers and reporting platforms

Works equally as an on-premises Managed instance or as a SaaS hosted platform.

Web-scale: parallel test runs, inherently secure agents, with greatly simplified solution
architecture and manageability

Simplified web application monitoring setup with click-through recorder for web applications
– lower the knowledge barriers to adopt synthetic monitoring

Greatly enhanced precision: Dynatrace Synthetic web application monitoring reaches deep
into the web app execution on the browser to delivery precise clues on performance
degradations

Open to 3rd-party solution integrations: with the modern and rich Dynatrace Synthetic API,
any 3rd-party synthetic monitoring solutions are now easy to integrate where non-web, OS-
specfic apps have to be synthetically tested

How can I try out and start with Dynatrace Synthetic?


Use the Dynatrace SaaS Free Trial to experience all features of Dynatrace Synthetic. For more see
Dynatrace Synthetic introduction for ESM stakeholders page

Product support and migration


How long does the Enterprise Synthetic remain supported?
Until the EOL date, December 31 2019, ESM remains fully supported.

Please note that ESM 12.4 support ended June 30, 2018, so in order to stay supported until the EOL
data customers have to upgrade to ESM 12.5.

When would I be able to migrate and how?


See ESM transition roadmap and migration paths

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Enterprise Synthetic transition frequently asked questions

How would my ESM licenses be converted to Dynatrace Synthetic?


For those applications and transactions that Dynatrace Synthetic covers out of the box, we will
make sure you can monitor the same applications and transactions with Dynatrace Synthetic that
you monitored with ESM, in the same quantity and frequency.

For those applications/transactions that would require 3rd-party solution integration - Dynatrace
integration APIs licensing policies will apply.

How to start migration planning?


Get in contact with your Dynatrace Customer Success Manager (CSM) or Account Manager to
discuss how to approach migration. One certain step would be to build an inventory of
transactions currently monitored with ESM and map them to possible Dynatrace Synthetic
alternatives or verify that they will require 3rd-party monitoring tools. Dynatrace Expert Services
engagement can help with this.

Will it be possible to migrate dashboards from ESM (i.e. the CAS DMI)
to Dynatrace Synthetic?
No. Dynatrace Synthetic uses different reporting and data management stack. Migration of the
dashboards is not possible.

However, DC RUM (NAM) reporting is aligned with Dynatrace from the visual perspective, so for the
transition period it is possible to run both old and new reporting views side-by-side and let users
have access to the old data in the "frozen" CAS instance.

Will it be possible to migrate monitoring data from ESM (i.e. the CAS)
to Dynatrace Synthetic?
No. Dynatrace Synthetic uses different reporting and data management stack and data migration is
not possible.

However, DC RUM (NAM) reporting is aligned with Dynatrace from the visual perspective, so for the
transition period it is possible to run both old and new reporting views side-by-side and let users
have access to the old data in the "frozen" CAS instance.

Can I migrate ESM transaction scripts to Dynatrace?


There is no direct script migration path. Dynatrace Expert Services can help with setting Dynatrace
up to monitor those ESM-monitored applications that Dynatrace Synthetic can cover.

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Enterprise Synthetic transition frequently asked questions

Can I script Windows GUI app transactions with Dynatrace Synthetic


(Citrix, SAP GUI, etc.)?
No. Dynatrace Synthetic can replay web browser transactions (using Chrome) and perform HTTP
checks (web API checks).

If you need to drive Windows GUI transactions, we can help with integrating 3rd-party synthetic
measurements into Dynatrace, but transactions will have to be driven by the 3rd-party tool. See
Third-party synthetic monitoring alternative for ESM - when to use it and what to expect for more
information.

Dynatrace partners can help with such hybrid synthetic monitoring deployments.

Can I script an equivalent of the ESM's autochecks for non-web, non-


HTTP applications (like e.g. FTP, SQL)?
See ESM and Dynatrace Synthetic feature Comparison.

ESM and Dynatrace run and name transactions differently. What are
those differences?
Dynatrace Synthetic uses different terminology than Enterprise Synthetic because it takes different
approach to synthetic measurements, with more focus on web-enabled applications. Following
table summarizes key differences:

  ESM Dynatrace Synthetic

Web transaction Transaction Browser clickpath

Browser monitor (when single-step action is monitored)

Web transaction steps (individual steps of a N/A Clickpath actions within a Browser clickpath
tested user journey)

GUI transaction Transaction N/A

Availability check Autocheck HTTP monitor (for web applications, web APIs)

In late 2019, we plan to add open monitor (name TBD) for


OS script-based checks

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Enterprise Synthetic transition frequently asked questions

How do Dynatrace Synthetic features compare to the ESM?


Dynatrace Synthetic is the availability, web transaction and API testing capability of the new
Dynatrace offering. It is natively integrated with the Dynatrace SaaS and Managed platform and
uses Dynatrace deep dive insight, powerful performance analytics and superior visualization
technologies.

Following comparison summarizes, on a high level, differences and similarities between Dynatrace
Synthetic and ESM.

  ESM Dynatrace Synthetic

Web transaction (page Yes, Internet Explorer, VBA Yes, Chrome, visual recording
load, browser actions) scripting required

Web transaction steps ( No Yes, each clickpath action measured


individual steps of a
tested user journey)

Web browser device N/A Chrome, desktop


and user agent
Supports IE only Dynatrace SaaS also supports Apple iPhone/iPad and
simulation
Android user-agents

Web services API N/A Test a sequence of browser-less machine-macine


checks interaction steps including necessary authentication and
Requires full VBA and/or OS
transaction scripting message handling

GUI transactions Windows, VBA scripting N/A. 3rd-party tool integrations possible. See Third-party
(Windows UI actions) synthetic monitoring alternative for ESM - when to use it
and what to expect for more information.

Citrix end user screen Yes. N/A.


transactions
OCR and Image recognition N/A. 3rd-party tool integrations possible. See Third-party
functions of the VBA scripting. synthetic monitoring alternative for ESM - when to use it
Transactions, screen coordinate and what to expect for more information.
clicking

Transaction Optional screen captures, if Browser clickpath screen captures for every step.
measurement analysis scripted to do so.
Detailed W3C timing of the whole web transaction load,
Optional network packet captures including all elements and 3rd-party content
for transactions.

No detailed web page load


analysis.

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Enterprise Synthetic transition frequently asked questions

  ESM Dynatrace Synthetic

Availability checks ( Yes Yes, Web/HTTP availability checks


autochecks)
Other checks planned (ping, trace route etc., also any
operating system tests)

Transaction scripting VBA scripts Visual (Chrome recorder)

3rd-party scripting (PowerShell) Web API tests

3rd-party simple scripting (OS level scripts - planned )

Reporting and alerting DC RUM Central Analysis Server Dynatrace, Managed (on-premises) or SaaS (cloud-hosted)
(CAS), on premises only

Alert delay Delayed by 1-2 reporting intervals Immediate

Agents on private Yes Yes


network

Agents on the Internet No (requires separate Dynatrace Yes


Advanced Synthetic product)

Scalability Single threaded transactions only, Multithreaded transaction execution.


one transaction execution at a time
per agent.

Security Open desktop required Closed desktop runs, fully secured agent access.

Personally Identifiable Optionally encrypted PII GDPR compliance


Information (PII) information in transaction scripts
masking

Agent and script health Reporting on agent/transaction Planned


management health

Agent operating system Windows Linux

Information ESM Dynatrace Synthetic


delivery
capabilities

Performance Based on DC RUM’s DMI reporting Comprehensive Dynatrace dashboards with


dashboards engine straightforward report customizations

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Enterprise Synthetic transition frequently asked questions

  ESM Dynatrace Synthetic

Long-term reporting DC RUM’s CAS general DMI reports Dynatrace reports, tailored for Synthetic

3rd-party data Import to the agent manager via Powerful, flexible, simple and open REST API
integration custom XML file submission
Export via REST API
Export via DMI scheduled reports
or REST API

Alerting Fixed thresholds Fixed thresholds

Alert delivery SNMP, mail, OS script trigger SNMP, mail, DevOps tools integrations

Alert suppression Not directly available, some Available


calendar workarounds exist (OS script-based
alerts)

Selective data purge Possible, requires configuration UI Planned


/masking command line operations

- dates/features marked are subject to change

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Enterprise Synthetic transition frequently asked questions

Please direct questions about your Dynatrace product or comments on this document to:

Dynatrace Customer Support


https://community.dynatrace.com/community/display/SUPPORT

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Document exported by Wesley Lisboa on 08-Jan-2019 17:20 UTC.

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