NimBUS for End to End (ETE) Response Time Monitoring

Summary:
The solution monitors end-to-end (ETE) application response times from an end-users perspective. Additionally, the solution monitors response times for directory services, web services, email services, database services and network services. Response time data is analyzed and displayed in graphical alarm consoles, performance reports and SLA reports.

Download our End to End Monitoring Solution Overview Whitepaper

Increased visibility of application response times from an end-users perspective can drive predictable and measurable business productivity. The NimBUS solution provides insights necessary to ensure that every end-user experience with internal business applications and external business services is positive, productive and repeated.

Primary Features:

• Customized response time monitoring for business-unique applications and web-based services
• Packaged solutions for technology focused response time monitoring
• SLA-based performance monitoring to ensure end-user response time compliance

Additional Features:

• Performance and quality of service reporting for pre-emptive trend analysis
• Realtime alarm dashboards ensure immediate attention is given to degrading response time conditions
• Packaged response time monitoring solutions are available for the following servers and services:
  • Application
  • Web
  • Email
  • Directory
  • Databases
  • Networks
• Supports response time monitoring for the following end-user transaction types:
  • Client/Server
  • Terminal Server
  • Mainframe
  • Web-based
• Strategic monitoring deployment provides multiple points of end-user experience perspective

End-to-end response time data collection - NimBUS robots and probes

By deploying NimBUS robots and probes on remote machines, it becomes possible to collect response time data by simulating application services and end-user transactions from various points of presence throughout the enterprise.

Examples of packaged application-service response time probes include DNS, LDAP, RDBMS, HTTP, and SMTP/POP. In addition to packaged probes, virtually any type of end-user transaction can be recorded and transformed into custom, end-user simulation probes. Supported end-user transaction types include web-based, client/server, terminal server and even mainframe. The customized probes can be configured to start and stop timers in line with each and every transaction performed by the end-user. The customized NimBUS response time probes will monitor, alert and report on each end-user transaction and or the total end-to-end application response time.

NimBUS Response time probes - strategic deployment for optimal customer experience visibility

The NimBUS solution has extremely flexible deployment options to ensure response time monitoring is being performed to and from multiple strategic end points - this deployment flexibility will allow response time visibility to be obtained from practically any desired point of perspective.

Unlike other market offerings, which only support centralized response time monitoring from a management server, the NimBUS solution, with its lightweight response time monitoring probes, can be deployed strategically throughout the business infrastructure.

NimBUS Response time Alarm Dashboards

NimBUS for ETE monitoring solution displays all response time alerts in the NimBUS Alarm Manager dashboards. Alarm dashboards are extremely flexible to allow for developing views that suit personal and business preferences. The examples below depict an email response time alarm dashboard and a web response dashboard.

NimBUS Performance and Quality of Service response time reporting

NimBUS provides two reporting mechanisms out-of-the-box. Both are HTML-based and are made available to anyone with a browser and proper access to the URL:

Quality of Service Reports (QoS) provides historical reporting of any metric collected by the end-to-end response time probes. QoS reports show historical response time performance or availability data over a number of periods. The periods are: last 24 hours, last week, last month, prior weeks, prior months, and prior quarters.

NimBUS SLA-based response time monitoring and reporting

Service Level Reporting (SLA) provides a graphical and text-based representation of response time performance contrasted against service level commitments. They are both historical -- showing compliance during prior periods, and forward-looking -- showing the likelihood of achieving response time compliance during the current measurement period. SLA periods may be defined in day, week, or month increments. The SLA engine can generate alerts when trends suggest that end-to-end response time commitments will not be met given the failures that have already occurred during the current SLA measurement period.

NimBUS response time monitoring solutions

Nimsoft offers a comprehensive end-to-end response time monitoring solution to match practically any end-user monitoring requirement. The solution includes packaged and customized offerings.

Custom response time monitoring for business-unique applications and web-services

The NimBUS solution supports response time monitoring for business-unique, simple to complex, end-to-end application configurations. While end-to-end application environments may consist of common, commercially accessible, software and hardware components, the collective whole represents a unique chain of application interdependencies. The NimBUS solution is uniquely positioned to quickly adapt and monitor response times for practically any application environment.

Packaged response time monitoring solutions for standard application infrastructure components

In addition to supporting customized response time monitoring, the NimBUS solution provides out-of-the-box response time monitoring packages for a wide variety of application-enabling technologies and services. Out-of-the-box solutions are available for directory services, email services, web-services, network services and more.

Outlined below are NimBUS response time solutions for business applications, web services, email, directory services, databases and networks.

Application Response Time Monitoring

The NimBUS response time monitoring solution provides simple and sophisticated application response time monitoring. The solution includes connectivity response time monitoring for application servers and application service ports. The solution also includes monitoring for more complex, multi-phased business applications - it will record, playback and monitor the response times for each phase of a multi-phase, multi-transaction application. For end-user response time monitoring the following transaction interfaces are supported: client/server, terminal server, mainframe and web.

Web-based Services Response Time Monitoring

The NimBUS response time monitoring solution provides comprehensive response time monitoring for web-based applications and business services. The solution includes response time monitoring for web-server network connectivity, web page load time (and correct page content), and multi-phased web-based applications.

Figure below: NimBUS end-to-end response time (rt) measurements may be taken large-grain or fine-grain; overall monitoring from start to finish, or monitoring and measurement of each phase of the overall interaction with the end-user. Phases might include: Login, data query, data load, and logoff.

Email Response Time Monitoring

The NimBUS solution monitors and verifies email 'send' and 'receive' functions. It monitors outgoing mail delivery, incoming mail receipt and total round trip (email send/receive) response times. All email status and response time data is analyzed and displayed in graphical alarm consoles, performance reports and SLA reports. Out-of-the-box packaged email response time solutions are available for: SMTP/POP, IMAP, Exchange & Lotus Notes.

Directory Services Response Monitoring

The NimBUS solution monitors popular directory services for accessibility and lookup response times. Out-of-the-box packaged response time solutions are available for: WINS, DNS, DHCP & LDAP

Database Response Time Monitoring

The NimBUS solution monitors database transaction rates, and database query response times for read and write operations - degrading response times may indicate degrading end-user productivity. Out-of-the-box packaged response time solutions are available for: Oracle, Sybase, Informix, DB2 & MS SQL

Network Response Time Monitoring

The NimBUS solution includes connectivity and response time monitoring for network devices such as routers, switches, servers, applications, printers and practically any other network device. The solution uses the ping command (ICMP ECHO) to verify network connectivity between designated hosts.

If you would like to request a free trial of NimBUS, please click here. For free white papers or additional information click here.