Quest Application Performance Monitoring Implementation Methodology 02-03-11 1
Contents Contents... 2 Objectives... 3 Quest APM Implementation Phases... 4 Phase I: Business Requirements Assessment... 4 Business Value Assessment... 4 Phase II: Implementation... 4 Architecture Assessment Workshop... 5 Solution Implementation and Training... 5 Phase III: Post-Implementation Adoption... 8 Architecture Assessment Workshop... 9 Architecture Assessment Workshop Description... 9 Architecture Assessment Workshop Agenda... 9 Recommended Implementation Sequence... 11 Base APM Implementation... 11 Production Environment Deployment and Configuration... 11 Advanced APM Expansion... 11 Test/QA Environment Deployment and Configuration... 11 Production Environment Deployment and Configuration... 12 APM Virtual Project Team... 13 Foglight Administrators... 14 APM Domain Specialists... 14 Tier 1 Production Support... 14 Tier 2 Production Support... 14 APM Users or Operators... 14 2
Objectives The Quest Application Performance Monitoring (APM) Implementation Methodology is designed to facilitate successful deployments of Quest Software s Foglight solution for Application Performance Monitoring. Foglight significantly lowers the cost of monitoring applications and helps ensure that your application service delivery meets business and end user needs. Foglight provides a correlated, 360 degree view of your applications from end user to database and from service levels to infrastructure to source the root cause of every incident impacting your business and to fix them quickly. Foglight can help you: Lower the operational cost of managing applications Mitigate risk of downtime Improve compliance with application SLAs Reduce incident counts and mean-time-to-resolution (MTTR) of incidents Provide visibility for IT and the business This document is a guide created by the Quest Professional Services Organization to help customers and partners successfully implement the Foglight solution. The main advantages of using the Quest APM Implementation Methodology include: Driving customer success: we help you plan, execute, monitor and control your project from the initial deployment and beyond Leveraging our core expertise: by utilizing our expertise and proven best practices you minimize the risk of your Foglight implementation, and create a consistent, repeatable approach for application incident management Scaling from small and medium to enterprise-level: start small and go from tens to thousands of users incrementally Working with your implementation timeline and budget: we will build an implementation package that works for you from planning your architecture and teaching you how to fish to providing a turn-key solution and post-implementation services for your Foglight environment. 3
Quest APM Implementation Phases The Quest APM Implementation Methodology has three main phases, Business Requirements Assessment Phase, Implementation Phase and Post-Implementation Adoption Phase. Phase I: Business Requirements Assessment In this phase, we capture your business objectives, as well as functional and technical requirements and design a feature map showing how these requirements are met by the Foglight solution. We specify use cases, roles and responsibilities and breakdown the project scope into a list of evaluation activities. We define what the solution needs to accomplish, both in terms of features and non-functional attributes (performance, usability, etc.). We also provide you with an accurate representation of the implementation scope, duration and initial architecture layout a well as initial sizing recommendations. The key document used for gathering the initial sizing information and environmental constraints is the Environment Equipment List. This phase is lead jointly by Quest PreSales and APM Services teams and an Architect proposes a high level architecture design that you are invited to review and approve. Business Value Assessment For enterprise-wide APM or other significantly large/complex scope initiatives, we conduct a Business Value Assessment during the business requirements assessment phase. The Business Value Assessment for APM identifies and documents business challenges and maps them to the best of breed technology solutions from Quest and other monitoring solution vendors, to offer a pragmatic practical way of building a foundation for improving application performance and end-user experience leveraging the investments you have already made. The assessment is led by a Business Value Services Solutions Architect and the output of this session is a Business Value Assessment Document that provides a detailed roadmap for an APM implementation on an enterprise-wide scale. Phase II: Implementation The implementation phase includes two main sub-phases, the Architecture Assessment Workshop and Solution Implementation and Training. 4
Architecture Assessment Workshop In this phase, a PSO Architect works with your team to verify the implementation scope that has been discussed during the PreSales cycle so that the Foglight Management Server and Appliances configuration and sizing could be appropriately determined. We also discover any additional environmental constraints and operational requirements that may have impact on the implementation configuration and/or approach. The key document used for gathering and further validating the sizing information and environmental constraints is the Environment Equipment List. The output of this session is the Architecture Specification Document. Please see the section Architecture Assessment Workshop to understand the roles in a customer organization that need to be involved in various phases of the Architecture Assessment Workshop as well as to review the Architecture Assessment Workshop Agenda. Solution Implementation and Training Whether you are looking to implement APM for one application or a hundred, a typical implementation is structured to minimize time to value for your APM solution. The goal is to establish a base APM monitoring capability as soon as possible to provide visibility into the applications performance from the end user perspective as well as from the infrastructure perspective to all project stakeholders early on, one to two weeks into the implementation. Then, with the stakeholders enabled to view the basic monitoring KPIs in the main application monitoring dashboard, the implementation proceeds with additional application tiers gradually covered and added to this dashboard, until the entire application stack is implemented. A typical implementation therefore includes two major milestones, a Base APM Implementation milestone and an Advanced APM Expansion milestone. Base APM Implementation typically includes End User monitoring and basic host monitoring configured into extensible application models. We will configure a Service Operations Console (SOC) dashboard or another single pane of glass dashboard of your choice at the end of the Base APM Implementation. Figure 1 illustrates a typical SOC dashboard delivered to you at this point. The dashboard is presented to all the project stakeholders at the Base APM Implementation Milestone meeting. 5
Figure 1: Services Operations Console Dashboard Presented at Base APM Implementation Milestone Meeting Advanced APM Expansion includes the entire application stack, from the end user to the application tier, to the database, to the infrastructure. Base APM Implementation typically covers the Production Environment only, while the Advanced APM Expansion begins in the Test/QA environment and then covers Production. Figure 2 illustrates a typical SOC dashboard delivered to you at the end of the Advanced APM Expansion and presented to all the project stakeholders at the Advanced APM Expansion Milestone meeting. 6
Figure 2: Services Operations Console Dashboard Presented at Advanced APM Expansion Milestone Meeting Please refer to the section Recommended Implementation Sequence for a sample Work Breakdown Structure of an implementation. Your APM Services Architect will work with your Project Manager to provide a tailored implementation sequence and a Project Plan that fits your needs. We will also develop a training plan that addresses your needs. Quest Professional Services provides virtual training classes that are structured to provide relevant material to both end users referred to as Foglight Operators and to advanced users referred to as Foglight Administrators. Foglight Education Services Catalog provides outlines of all the training offerings currently available. Quest APM Professional Services offers packaged Services Offerings including Quickstarts that are designed to minimize time to value for your APM implementation, while offering a transparently priced and flexible solution that covers all implementation phases. 7
Phase III: Post-Implementation Adoption After your Foglight rollout is complete, we provide maintenance checkpoints to assist with periodic cleanup, performance tuning and collection tuning as needed to facilitate successful ongoing regular usage of your APM solution. We also advise about upcoming Foglight releases and help plan your associated system upgrades. In addition, Quest provides various post-implementation service offerings designed to promote adoption of the Quest APM solution within your organization. Specifically, we offer Remote Administration Services, Performance Management Expert Services, and other customized Staff Augmentation Services. The Remote Administration Services offering is designed to provide Foglight customers with a simple, cost-effective way to manage, maintain and enhance their Foglight solution on a daily basis without the need to hire additional Foglight administration resources or re-allocate existing personnel resources whose talents are needed on other projects. With this offering, Quest provides a Remote Foglight Administrator (RFA) whose primary focus is to remotely manage and maintain the customer s Foglight environment. The RFA engages with Quest Support as needed to ensure smooth, incident-free operation of the Foglight Management Server, database and monitoring agents as well as providing regular reports on the state of the environment to all stakeholders. The RFA remotely logs in to the customer s Foglight Management Server for a pre-defined number of hours per day or per week to manage, configure, tune and maintain Foglight within the customer s environment. The Performance Management Expert Services offering is designed to assist customers with APM solution adoption. Through this offering, customers can obtain expert advice on various aspects of the Quest APM Solution provided on demand, when they need it. Examples of optional activities available via this service offering include customization assistance, expansion assistance, and organizational alignment assistance to help customers ease into organizational changes that are often required for institutionalized adoption of APM. Specifically for organizational alignment assistance, we review the customer s organizational structure, business units, groups and divisions, and their responsibilities and help map that structure to Foglight s groups and roles, recommending best-practice staff role definitions, adjustments and additions as needed. We review out-of-the-box and custom dashboards created during the main implementation cycle and map them to groups and roles; we also identify any additional dashboards that need to be designed. We optionally plan and support the customer in promoting Quest s APM solution internally by delivering demos and presentations to various customer stakeholders as needed. Finally, a performance management expert can iteratively configure, tune and customize Foglight to ensure maximum ease-of-use to better facilitate adoption. In addition to the pre-packaged Remote Administration Services and Performance Management Expert Services, we offer other customized Staff Augmentation Services that can vary in duration from several weeks to several months. 8
Architecture Assessment Workshop Architecture Assessment Workshop Description The purpose of the Architecture Assessment Session is for Quest to verify the monitoring scope that has been discussed during the sales cycle so that the Foglight Management Server and Appliances configuration and sizing could be appropriately determined. We also discover any additional environmental constraints and operational requirements that may have impact on the implementation configuration and/or approach. The output of this session is the Architecture Specification Document. With the above objectives, it is important to secure a half an hour to one-hour conversation with representatives from each of the following areas, so that the Quest Architect can review and verify the information gathered and also obtain further details on requirements as needed. 1. Project Sponsor to represent management and to provide high-level objectives and constraints 2. Project Manager to act as the main contact for all project related discussions 3. Systems Admin to provide server info, such as OS platforms and release versions, to formulate OS monitoring requirements, and to provide system access if needed 4. Database Admin to provide database related info, access, and monitoring requirements 5. Network Admin to provide network connectivity info and firewall modifications if needed 6. Application Admin to provide application specifics in configuration, access, and requirements 7. Operations to provide First Level Support operations requirements 8. Integrations Team to provide integration related requirements and access 9. General Foglight Users to provide requirements on end user use cases 10. Foglight Admin this will be a new role in the Customer organization. This role should participate in all discussions and all phases of the implementation. Customer provided application environment Visio diagrams, spreadsheets, and/or logical network diagrams significantly help expedite this process and should be forwarded to the Quest Architect before the Architecture Assessment Workshop. Architecture Assessment Workshop Agenda Introduction and Architecture Specification Overview (All Customer Stakeholders) Specification Purpose (Deployment Team, Operations Team, Business Team) o Customer Business Objectives o Ongoing Management Objectives o Customer environment Data center/geo locations Environments Prod, Test, DR, etc. OS platforms/versions Applications/ERP/servers Database 9
Virtualization Network Monitored Systems Scope (Deployment Team, Operations Team) o Review POC/PreSales cycle Activities o Customer Systems Management Strategy and Organization o Customer Logical Target Systems Design Managed Infrastructure Sizing Estimations (Deployment Team) o Complete Environment Equipment List if Necessary Monitored Systems Data Workflow (Deployment Team, Operations Team) o o Staff and Roles End User Specifications Foglight Experience Monitor Foglight Experience Viewer Foglight Transaction Recorder/Advanced (FTR/FTR-A) o Dashboards and Data Usability SOC Dashboards Geo Dashboards Other Executive/Role-based Dashboards Monitoring Customizations (Operations and Business Teams) o Custom Dashboards o Custom Agents o Foglight Experience Monitor Filtering, Application Groupings and Services o Foglight Experience Viewer Hit Filters Transaction Filters and Analysis Repository System Backup and Restore (IT and Deployment Team) Third Party Integration Requirements, if applicable Deployment Plan (Deployment Team) Recommended Approach (Deployment Team) o o o Walk through high-level deployment process Base APM Implementation Plan Advanced APM Expansion Plan 10
Recommended Implementation Sequence Quest recommends the following APM Implementation Sequence that includes a Base APM Implementation followed by Advanced APM Expansion. This approach provides the most rapid time to value, with significant success milestones early in the overall project at the completion of the Base APM Implementation that are then expanded on with the subsequent Advanced APM Expansion. Base APM Implementation Production Environment Deployment and Configuration 1. Foglight Management Server and Foglight Database Repository Deployment and Configuration 2. Real User Experience Deployment and Configuration for All Applications a. FxM Deployment and Configuration b. FxV Deployment and Configuration 3. Synthetic User Experience Deployment and Configuration for All Applications a. FTR/A Deployment and Configuration 4. OS/System Deployment and Configuration for All Applications a. Windows Deployment and Configuration b. Linux/Unix Deployment and Configuration c. VMware and Hyper-V Deployment and Configuration 5. Service Level Management Dashboard Configuration for All Applications 6. Base APM Implementation Milestone Meeting for All Project Stakeholders Advanced APM Expansion Test/QA Environment Deployment and Configuration 1. Test/QA Foglight Management Server and Foglight Database Repository Deployment and Configuration (if applicable) 2. Database Tier Deployment and Configuration a. Oracle Deployment and Configuration b. SQL Server Deployment and Configuration c. DB2 Deployment and Configuration d. Sybase Deployment and Configuration 3. Application Tier Deployment and Configuration a. Java Deployment and Configuration b. Net Deployment and Configuration c. ERPs Deployment and Configuration d. AD and Exchange Deployment and Configuration 4. Integration with Third Party Monitoring Systems Deployment and Configuration 5. Service Level Management and Role-Based Dashboards Deployment and Configuration a. Service Level Management Dashboards Advanced Configuration 11
b. Other Executive/Role-based Dashboards Deployment and Configuration (please review Foglight Dashboard Catalog) 6. Post Implementation Review a. Verification of completeness and correctness of deployment and configuration b. Obtaining and reviewing user feedback c. Tuning rules, system alerts and thresholds settings to better meet user requirements as identified from the user feedback d. Evaluation of Lessons Learned and adjusting the roll-out, deployment and configuration plan for the Production Environment as needed Production Environment Deployment and Configuration 1. Database Tier Deployment and Configuration a. Oracle Deployment and Configuration b. SQL Server Deployment and Configuration c. DB2 Deployment and Configuration d. Sybase Deployment and Configuration 2. Application Tier Deployment and Configuration a. Java Deployment and Configuration b. Net Deployment and Configuration c. ERPs Deployment and Configuration d. AD and Exchange Deployment and Configuration 3. Advanced Real User Experience Deployment and Configuration a. Data Analytics Deployment and Configuration 4. Integration with Third Party Monitoring Systems Deployment and Configuration 5. Service Level Management and Role-Based Dashboards Deployment and Configuration a. Service Level Dashboards Advanced Configuration b. Other Executive/Role-based Dashboards Deployment and Configuration (please review Foglight Dashboard Catalog) 6. Post Implementation Review a. Verification of completeness and correctness of deployment and configuration b. Obtaining and reviewing user feedback c. Tuning rules, system alerts and thresholds settings to better meet user requirements as identified from the user feedback d. Evaluation of Lessons Learned 7. Advanced APM Expansion Milestone Meeting for All Project Stakeholders Please also refer to a Sample Project Plan. 12
APM Virtual Project Team To effectively implement, use, manage, and maintain the Quest APM solution, we recommend the creation of an APM Virtual Project Team (APM VPT) at the start of an APM implementation project. This team includes one primary Foglight Administrator and one APM Domain Specialist from each of the core administrative domains to be implemented, such as Application Administration, Database Administration, System Administration (OS/Systems), Network Administration, NOC administration, etc. The following diagram illustrates this concept. Figure 1. APM Virtual Project Team - Key Roles and Responsibilities APM VPT will closely work with Quest APM Professional Services to ensure success of the APM implementation project and subsequent solution adoption. Upon the completion of the implementation project, the APM VPT will ensure successful ongoing usage, management, and maintenance of the Quest APM solution. APM VPT includes the following roles: 13
Foglight Administrators We recommend designation of both a Primary and a Secondary Foglight Administrator for the Quest APM solution. These individuals will typically have other administrative responsibilities as well such as Tier 1 Production Support (i.e. NOC administrator, etc) or Tier 2 Production Support and domain administration (i.e. DBA, Application Administrator, etc). It is important to note that while system, network or database administration skills are sufficient prerequisites for administrators of most traditional infrastructure monitors, the most successful Foglight APM customers assign at least one Foglight Administrator with strong structured programming and architecture skills (i.e. Java,.Net, SOA). APM Domain Specialists APM Domain Specialists are responsible for Foglight administrative functions within a given domain, such as setting alert thresholds, defining rules, etc. In larger organizations multiple administrators may be assigned this responsibility within a given domain. Quest recommends the following APM Domain Specialists categorization: Tier 1 Production Support 1. APM Domain Specialist Application Owner (someone responsible for holistic production support for at least one monitored production application) 2. APM Domain Specialist User Experience Admin (typically a network or equivalent level administrator, who will serve as the primary administrator and domain expert for the Quest End User Management appliances and transaction recorders) 3. APM Domain Specialist - SysAdmin (Windows) 4. APM Domain Specialist - SysAdmin (Unix/Linux) 5. APM Domain Specialist - NOC/Helpdesk admin Tier 2 Production Support 1. APM Domain Specialist - App Admin (typically separate for WLS, WAS, JBOSS, OAS,.Net, ERP, etc) 2. APM Domain Specialist - DBA (typically separate for Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, etc) 3. APM Domain Specialist - Network Admin 4. APM Domain Specialist Other APM Users or Operators APM Users or Operators are individuals using Foglight in their regular work activities to manage their respective domain or applications and business services across the domain stack. These individuals are not responsible for administration of the APM Solution in any capacity, domain specific or otherwise. These users fall into the same categories as defined for the APM Domain Specialists described above. 14
2011 Quest Software, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This document contains proprietary information protected by copyright. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording for any purpose without the written permission of Quest Software, Inc. ( Quest ). The information in this document is provided in connection with Quest products. No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual property right is granted by this document or in connection with the sale of Quest products. EXCEPT AS SET FORTH IN QUEST'S TERMS AND CONDITIONS AS SPECIFIED IN THE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR THIS PRODUCT, QUEST ASSUMES NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER AND DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTY RELATING TO ITS PRODUCTS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL QUEST BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION OR LOSS OF INFORMATION) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS DOCUMENT, EVEN IF QUEST HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. Quest makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this document and reserves the right to make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time without notice. Quest does not make any commitment to update the information contained in this document. If you have any questions regarding your potential use of this material, contact: Quest Software World Headquarters LEGAL Dept 5 Polaris Way Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 www.quest.com email: legal@quest.com Refer to our Web site for regional and international office information. Trademarks Quest, Quest Software, the Quest Software logo, AccessManager, ActiveRoles, Aelita, Akonix, AppAssure, Benchmark Factory, Big Brother, BridgeAccess, BridgeAutoEscalate, BridgeSearch, BridgeTrak, BusinessInsight, ChangeAuditor, ChangeManager, Defender, DeployDirector, Desktop Authority, DirectoryAnalyzer, DirectoryTroubleshooter, DS Analyzer, DS Expert, Foglight, GPOADmin, Help Desk Authority, Imceda, IntelliProfile, InTrust, Invirtus, itoken, I/Watch, JClass, Jint, JProbe, LeccoTech, LiteSpeed, LiveReorg, LogADmin, MessageStats, Monosphere, MultSess, NBSpool, NetBase, NetControl, Npulse, NetPro, PassGo, PerformaSure, Point,Click,Done!, PowerGUI, Quest Central, Quest vtoolkit, Quest vworkspace, ReportADmin, RestoreADmin, ScriptLogic, Security Lifecycle Map, SelfServiceADmin, SharePlex, Sitraka, SmartAlarm, Spotlight, SQL Navigator, SQL Watch, SQLab, Stat, StealthCollect, Storage Horizon, Tag and Follow, Toad, T.O.A.D., Toad World, vautomator, vcontrol, vconverter, vfoglight, voptimizer, vranger, Vintela, Virtual DBA, VizionCore, Vizioncore vautomation Suite, Vizioncore vbackup, Vizioncore vessentials, Vizioncore vmigrator, Vizioncore vreplicator, WebDefender, Webthority, Xaffire, and XRT are trademarks and registered trademarks of Quest Software, Inc in the United States of America and other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks used in this guide are property of their respective owners. Updated August 2011 15