Administrating

Learn how to configure, customize, and maintain CA APM.

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As an administrator, you can set up your APM environment according to the needs of your organization. The administrative configurations enable APM to serve as an effective tool for managing your IT Support needs. The administrator manages the APM application-specific attributes of the organization and the users.1

Administrator Functions

The administrator undertakes two broad functions:

Initial Setup

Post Installation Configuration

By default, an administrator has access to the full suite of features in CA APM. An administrator can access all forms and records.

Initial Setup

First, the initial setup for the organization. This activity includes the following operations:

APM Component	Operation	Further Information
Enterprise Manager (EM)	Download, install, and deploy the Enterprise Manager (EM).	APM Installation Configure Enterprise Manager
Team Center/APM Command Center	Configure security for users and groups.	APM Security
Team Center	Manage access to specific parts of your APM environment.	Configure Universes
APM Command Center	Configure APM Command Center.	Configure CA APM Command Center
APM Command Center	Download and deploy agents and extensions. Note: Agents are often deployed by application or server teams that are in a different organizational group than the APM administrator. CA Services and partners can help with this operation.	Implementing Agents
Team Center/APM Command Center	Upgrade CA APM.	Upgrade CA APM

Post Installation Configuration

Further activities happen after APM has been installed, enabled, and configured. This function covers regular administrative updates and changes that depend on the changing needs of the organization. These activities include the following operations:

The configuration requirements of the organization determine the role of the administrator in the post installation activities. CA Services and partners can also help with this configuration.

APM Component	Operation	Further Information
Team Center/APM Command Center	Configure new properties to enable new functionalities.	Properties Files Reference
Team Center	Edit or modify attributes of existing components. Note: Application teams can help with this operation.	Shape How You Monitor Your Environment with Attribute Rules
Team Center	Analyze and investigate alerts against performance incidents that analysts reported. Note: Application teams can help with this operation.	Monitor Assisted Triage Problems and Anomalies
Team Center	Analyze and manage Experiences Cards in Team Center Note: CA Services and partners can help with this operation.	Configure Experience View
WebView	Configure alerts in WebView. Note: CA Services and partners can help with this operation.	Configure alerts in WebView
Customer Experience Manager (CEM)	Add new applications and transactions to be monitored. Note: CA Services and partners can help with this operation.	Transaction Definition

Administrator Task Calendar

After the APM application is in use, the administrator undertakes regular administrative updates and changes depending on the changing needs of the organization. This activity includes the following tasks:

Daily Tasks

APM Component	Task	Further Information
Team Center	Review incidents and alerts. Triage issues if appropriate using analysis tools.	Triage and Diagnose Problems
Team Center/Enterprise Manager	Check that the daily backup was complete. Use third party tools for backup that are based on internal procedures of your organization.	Manage the APM Database
APM Command Center	Check the agent logs for errors, for example, the Java Agent Logging Note: CA Services and partners can help with this task.	Java Agent Log
APM Command Center	Verify that the agents are reporting.	View Agent Status and Manage Agent Cards
Enterprise Manager	Monitor metric count and top responses per interval (RPI) metrics.	Transaction Metrics
Enterprise Manager	Monitor Enterprise Manager health metrics.	Top Five Supportability Metrics
Enterprise Manager/Transaction Impact Monitor (TIM)	Check the APM application logs for error messages Note: CA Services and partners can help with this task.	Common Error Messages with Resolution
Customer Experience Manager	Close resolved or old performance incidents in CEM.	Defining Incident-Related Settings

Ongoing Tasks (Weekly)

APM Component	Task	Further Information
Team Center	Refine Experience Cards and alerts from the identified incidents. Note: CA Services and partners can help with this task.	Monitor Performance Using Experience View
Team Center/Enterprise Manager	Save a copy of the APM configuration and backup to an off-site location.	Manage the APM Database
Team Center/WebView/Workstation	Review the APM audit log for unexpected or unauthorized changes.	Track Configuration Changes with Auditing
WebView	Test that the integration with notification systems is working correctly.	Create and Configure Notification Actions
Enterprise Manager	Review and set blackout periods for scheduled outages.	Work with Alert Downtime Schedules
Enterprise Manager	Check resource utilization (CPU and disk space) to validate that the Enterprise Managers have enough resources to function properly.	CA APM Sizing and Performance
Customer Experience Manager	Check that the email reports in CEM are being created and distributed.	Configure the Introscope Alerts Web Services Extension

Occasional Tasks (Monthly - Quarterly)

APM Component	Task	Further Information
All Components	Review upcoming application releases and schedule base-lining activities.	CA APM Release Notes
All Components	Review the APM architecture for performance, scalability, failover, geographic distribution, and other factors.	CA APM Sizing and Performance
All Components	Plan and deploy upgrades and patches of APM components.	Release Comparison
Team Center/Enterprise Manager	Test restoring backups.	Manage the APM Database
Team Center/WebView	Build, review, and expand the baseline for alerts and thresholds. Recommend changes to thresholds for approval by Application Owners as appropriate.	Monitor Application Stability Using Differential Analysis
Workstation	Report on trends in alert frequency and customer-critical transactions.	Working with report templates APMSQL Cookbook
Workstation	Create management elements and dashboards.	Create and Edit Dashboards
Workstation/WebView	Analyze alerts against reported performance incidents. Locate gaps and problems and recommend configuration enhancements	Create and Configure Simple Alerts in the Workstation Create and Configure Summary Alerts
Enterprise Manager	Perform an APM Cluster Performance Health Check.	CA APM Performance Monitoring Using Supportability Metrics

On-demand Tasks

APM Component	Task	Further Information
All Components	Design and install configuration enhancements. For more information, contact CA Services.
All Components	Provision user access to system.	APM Security
APM Command Center	Review impact of application architecture changes on monitoring.	Java Agent Performance Tuning Recommendations
WebView	Review transaction traces to identify poorly performing code.	Collect and Analyze Transaction Traces
Enterprise Manager/Customer Experience Manager	Configure Enterprise Manager, TIM, and APM Database components.	Configure Enterprise Manager CEM Configuration Install and Configure the APM Database
Customer Experience Manager	Add new transactions to be monitored.	Transaction Definition