September 2018 Summaries

The latest Dynatrace release introduces several dashboard enhancements aimed at improving usability, especially in large environments. These updates include the ability to collaborate on shared dashboards, enhancing maintenance by allowing specific user edits and facilitating sharing with others, which is particularly useful for onboarding new team members. A new feature allows dashboards to be quickly published across an entire environment, and the improved dashboard overview now includes filters based on ownership, such as "All," "Mine," and "Shared with me." Additionally, the integration with management zones means dashboard content is automatically filtered according to selected zones, and the selected management zone and time frame are saved with the dashboard, ensuring the intended context is preserved. Users lacking permissions for specific management zones will see an empty dashboard until they select a permitted zone. Dynatrace encourages users to follow their community forum for updates and to provide feedback on these enhancements.

Dynatrace has introduced a significant update to its process group monitoring, enhancing control over "deep" monitoring of applications at the code and transaction levels with Dynatrace OneAgent. This update allows for automatic monitoring of process groups without requiring additional configuration, providing rapid value and simplifying the management of large-scale environments. However, not all processes are automatically subjected to deep monitoring, especially those involving .NET and Go, due to their widespread use in various applications. The update features a new system for implementing process group monitoring rules, enabling users to specify which processes should undergo deep monitoring, either through built-in or custom rules. These rules offer granular control over the monitoring process, allowing exceptions to the general policy and prioritizing significant processes in complex environments. The system also emphasizes the importance of rule order, which determines the precedence of monitoring actions. While built-in rules are provided by default to cover a broad range of applications, users can customize these settings to suit specific needs, ensuring efficient resource use and comprehensive monitoring coverage.

Microsoft Teams, a widely-used enterprise communication platform, can be integrated with Dynatrace to enhance team collaboration and incident management. This integration allows DevOps teams to receive real-time notifications about application, service, and infrastructure issues detected by Dynatrace within their Microsoft Teams channels. By setting up a custom integration that involves creating an Incoming Webhook in Teams and configuring problem notifications in Dynatrace, teams can efficiently discuss incidents, evaluate potential solutions, and keep track of problem states and severity. The process involves customizing a JSON payload to ensure problem details are effectively communicated, thereby facilitating seamless communication and swift resolution of critical issues.