NimBUS for Real User Monitoring

For Application Performance & Service Level Management

Features:

• Real time end-user experience monitoring
• Business process monitoring
• Powerful Web application performance analytics
• Discovery and management of Web Services
• Service model context to assess business impacts
• Root cause analysis
• Non-intrusive network data capture
• SLA management based on real user performance
• Best practice tests of key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Configuration wizard for user sessions, apps and locations
• CNS performance breakdown by user, application, location
• Historical analysis of user sessions
• Statistical performance baselines
• Intelligent alerting thresholds
• Domain-based user access and reporting
• Real-time graphs and historical trends
• Automated standard and ad-hoc reporting (e.g. exception)
• Security protection (e.g. roles, encryption)

Image: RUM Deployment

Nimsoft Real User Monitoring (RUM) is for organizations moving from reactive to proactive management. Nimsoft RUM is the only solution that leverages a single architecture capable of monitoring the entire service delivery chain. Furthermore, any and all data collection can be leveraged by Nimsoft's field-proven, functionality-rich product.

Nimsoft makes quick deployments possible as it delivers valuable context to speed troubleshooting and low administration efforts for an IT organization already occupied with the workload of managing their complex business services.
                                                
Nimsoft takes a different, more effective approach by incorporating real-user monitoring metrics into a complete end-to-end view of the IT services hierarchy, including other Nimsoft measurements and performance data associated with any of IT's legacy infrastructure monitoring tools. This integration provides valuable supporting data that enables rapid root cause analysis and exploits the value of monitoring from the critical perspective of the end user. 

The example below shows monitoring of on-line life insurance transactions, indicating the usage rate (active page count) and errors occurring in the Web sessions supporting these transactions. 

With Nimsoft RUM, IT organizations can:

• Track service quality to all users.
• Automatically identify performance exceptions and issues
• Quickly pinpoint problems and determine the root-cause
• Analyze prior user sessions to determine source of slow-downs or failures
• Monitor Web Services (SOAP) performance
• Tune performance with rich data analysis.
• Identify potential security concerns.

While most management products are architected for bottom-up event management and built piecemeal, one technology domain at a time, Nimsoft takes an all-in-one, proactive, service-performance approach that provides IT with valuable, lasting flexibility. It manages from the top (user-experience perspective), across and down into all domains.

Improving service quality for all users

Nimsoft RUM monitors actual user sessions across different geographic locations, networks, applications and services including third parties'. Nimsoft RUM makes it possible to understand each and every user's service quality and generate truly predictive service level agreements (SLAs).  Only Nimsoft monitors real-time SLA compliance using real-user performance measurements and IT infrastructure availability and correlates SLA performance with problems that require priority correction before users are impacted.

Identify performance exceptions across all users

Image: User Experience in Service Context

Nimsoft provides immediate alerts for exception conditions, and does so with real-time monitoring of actual user experience relative to statistical baselines and multi-tier thresholds. Thanks to the power of the Nimsoft service model, performance issues are easily identified by location, named user, application or other logical structure, information that provides powerful context about where a problem lies and its relative importance in terms of service impact.

Nimsoft RUM also detects application errors by inspecting the contents of pages being returned to users.  A full range of tests is included with the RUM monitor to capture all aspects of real user performance.  The figure below shows the standard test templates available for drag-and-drop deployment in the Nimsoft service model.

With Nimsoft RUM, nearly 100 valuable and unique measurements have been added to the existing library of 2000 measurement choices. Unlike alternative RUM products, only Nimsoft includes performance measurements across all aspects of the service delivery chain, (not just Web applications), from the end-user to network, systems, servers, legacy applications and Web Services. 

Image: RUM Test Templates and Transaction Test Example

The RUM transaction Test example below illustrates the performance detail available from the standard test.  Each of the default metrics shown can be monitored or un-monitored depending upon the user’s need for KPI detail in troubleshooting and problem analysis.

Pinpoint problems

Nimsoft not only quickly identifies arising issues, but rapidly identifies them in context and pinpoints their sources. For instance, Nimsoft correlates page download times with network metrics such as packet re-transmissions, TCP connection timing and number of application turns. There is also component-level timings (e.g. elements of HTTP page) and the capability to delineate the approximate network and server components of transaction response time in context of the service quality. These facilitate an understanding of whether the data center is the cause of performance issues as well as which component is causing the degradation.

For Web application issues, deep-dive capabilities are available by right-clicking on a particular measurement to bring up the RUM Analyzer within context. For instance, if a slow page count crosses a threshold, right-click on the measurement and select RUM Analyzer. From there, the administrator is brought to the corresponding slow page count measurement with details on the slow page, the hits within the page and the details of the selected hit. This level of context and granularity in a single console has never been seen before, and Nimsoft is the first to bring it to market.

For those distributed application environments that use Web Services (e.g. SOAP -Simple Object Access Protocol and associated standard services), Nimsoft provides powerful extended monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities.

Web Services Monitoring and Troubleshooting

As an integrated component of our service management solution, Nimsoft provides the capability to look inside the Web Services “Black Box” to track and analyze performance of services not previously visible to IT managers.  Capabilities include:

• Protocol-level tracing - SOAP/HTTP(S), SOAP/JMS, etc. using Real User Monitoring (packet capture and traffic analysis)
• Dynamic discovery of web services within the RUM “Quickstart” configuration wizard.
• Integration of synthetic and RUM transaction tests in context of key applications within the SOA
• Pre-engineered test templates for RUM Web Services tests to speed deployment.
• Integration with Nimsoft Service Model provides the big picture of Web Services performance including:
• Average response
• Slow calls
• Throughput
• Load
• Errors
•  An associated RUM Analyzer wizard provides deep-dive analysis of Web Services performance including:
• Slow performing Web Services
• Drill-down to component-level Methods used by each Web Service
• Specific application and linked web services performance issues

An example enterprise service model and integrated Web Services tests are shown on the next page.

Image: Web Services Monitoring in an enterprise IT Environment

Source of data for high impact tuning efforts

Nimsoft RUM has obvious benefits for production operations, but it is also very useful for supporting ongoing efforts of refining and tuning applications. Nimsoft RUM creates a rich data source for performance analysis - e.g. slow users, slow regions, slow times of day, slowest web pages, etc. It also captures the real load profile and application performance signature so that development teams can effectively define test plans and reduce cycle times.

Complements synthetic transactions

Real-user monitoring is a critical component of service-level management, but it is not the only component necessary for true, proactive/service-level management. Synthetic or active monitoring is an essential capability that works to complement RUM. Synthetic monitoring proactively exercises business transactions in a repeatable and predictable manner whether or not users are on the system. It works to identify issues before they impact the business by identifying potential disruptions before users experience them. Nimsoft also includes other active testing such as database query and FTP request tests to exercise individual components and accelerate root cause determination.

Nimsoft Real User Monitoring Reports

Nimsoft includes a variety of analysis mechanisms, including real-time graphs with measurement overlays, point-and-click tabular reports, health history and Top N reports, live SLA summaries and pre-defined and ad hoc SQL reports. Out-of-the-box reports that are specific to Nimsoft RUM include:

•Exceptions (e.g. slowest pages, slowest locations, errors)
•Usage (e.g. top users, page downloads, most active locations)
•Application performance (e.g. page, server)
•Service performance (e.g. location, application, user)
•Diagnostics (e.g. cause of slow pages, URL parsing)

Image: Web Application Performance Analysis

All data is stored within an embedded database with a configurable storage length. Export facilities are included.  Example reports are shown below:

Image: Real User Transaction Performance

Images: Web Services Performance Report

Architecture and configuration

The Nimsoft RUM solution is deployed via an appliance for passive data capture, storage, and SQL reporting and deep-dive analysis. It includes a highly optimized, embedded database. Real-time performance data is communicated to the primary Nimsoft server side software residing on a separate system according to the parameters set. All administration is centralized and all performance data is available through Nimsoft consoles according to user-defined domains. Deep-dive drilldowns of individual sessions, pages and hits involve a simple right-click to access RUM Analyzer.

Setup is through the Nimsoft administrative console. It utilizes proven best-practices templates and drag-and-drop service modeling. Configuration of real-user tests is highly automated to speed deployment. Data collection and views include multiple security provisions including password protection, encryption as well as data omission such as credit card numbers.

Summary

Nimsoft RUM is part of Nimsoft's cohesive architecture that delivers performance data in context while providing a single point of control and notification. It is a powerful complement to proactive synthetic and infrastructure health monitoring. By capturing real-user sessions from all user locations in real time, Nimsoft helps IT to swiftly isolate the cause of performance problems.

Nimsoft provides excellent data for establishing and monitoring of SLAs based on actual performance levels users are encountering with their mix of usage patterns. It provides a breakthrough capability for IT management of complex Web Services environments.  It also captures a rich set of performance and usability data for feedback into the test and development process.

Ultimately Nimsoft provides you with a wise investment as Nimsoft RUM is an extensible platform for passive real-time analysis that will handle additional application types and protocols.