Developers looking for better visibility into the lifecycles of their Microsoft and .NET applications might want to check out dynaTrace 3.2, new software from dynaTrace, an application performance management vendor. dynaTrace updated its flagship product to provide complete performance management coverage for the Microsoft application stack, enabling developers to monitor, diagnose, and prevent performance issues in software development, test and production. ?Our new software gives developers a deep, granular look into what they are creating, from the browser to the application and into the development environment — without changing the nature of their software or adding much code ?weight,?? says Eric Senunas, dynaTrace?s senior director of marketing and communications. ?Essentially, what we?ve done with dynaTrace 3.2 is we?ve taken our general support for Microsoft and .NET applications and given it an out-of-the-box quality that delivers immediate value.? Some customers have seen dramatic improvements in application performance management after implementing the dynaTrace technology, he says. As an example, Senunas cites the experience of customer ATS Automation Tooling Systems, a factory automation solution provider that went from having no insight into the performance of its mission-critical Microsoft SharePoint Server-based application to complete visibility in a matter of hours. ATS was running into serious SharePoint performance issues that were threatening to delay the rollout of a critical application. Key product enhancements in DynaTrace 3.2 are stronger support for: Microsoft applications such as SharePoint Server and Dynamics CRM; Microsoft infrastructure components, including BizTalk Server, IIS, and SQL Server; and, Microsoft application lifecycle management tools, notably Visual Studio 2010 and Systems Center Operations Manager. Also new are dynaTrace Deployment FastPacks, designed to enable developers to rapidly deploy the dynaTrace APM system and capture and view detailed performance information from existing Microsoft SharePoint Server, Dynamics CRM, BizTalk Server and .NET Framework-based applications. The FastPacks consist of application instrumentation templates, monitoring plug-ins, pre-built dashboards, and deployment best practice guides, says Senunas.
Deeper Integration
The latest version of dynaTrace deepens dynaTrace?s existing integration into Visual Studio, adds Senunas. A plug-in for the upcoming Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 enables testers and developers to eliminate multiple test runs by rapidly isolating and diagnosing performance issues at code-level, he says.This breaks down the silos between test and development, Senunas adds, noting that the plug-in enables testers to trace the execution path of each transaction across distributed and heterogeneous applications — and send problem transactions to development for resolution. ?Many traditional APM tools treat Microsoft applications as an afterthought,? says Senunas. ?We have created a purpose-built agent for the .NET platform that enables dynaTrace to trace all transactions in depth, across Java and .NET, and in the most complex, high-traffic applications.?He explains that the agents installed on Java, .NET and SharePoint servers communicate with a central server — enabling dynaTrace to follow transactions through every stage of development, and provide an entire path for troubleshooting and performance analysis. Available now, dynaTrace 3.2 costs $10,000 on the low end for a perpetual license that comes with maintenance and support. The company also offers a free version of the product, dynaTrace Ajax Edition, which let developers see application performance from the browser while giving them a taste of the complete product.
