| Over the last 15 years, IT systems management has | | | | needs to be customized to the specific business |
| successfully developed silo-specific tools that resolve | | | | needs. Service level agreements (SLAs), latency |
| up to 90% of the problems experienced in main frame | | | | requirement and other information critical to efficient |
| and distributed systems. Unfortunately, this still leaves a | | | | and government compliant operations should be easy |
| 10% barrier that only a few business transaction | | | | to enter. A wizard interface is recommended. It is also |
| management products are addressing effectively. This | | | | important the BTM tools is designed to monitor every |
| 10% is the cause of considerable stealth waste. | | | | single transaction, no matter where it originates within |
| A system that is managed by separate application | | | | the datacenter. You want to know that once the |
| monitoring tools can show that each application is | | | | button is clicked, everything will be recorded. |
| 100% available. The first warning that the 10% problem | | | | This feature is the first step to visibility. Fortunately, |
| has occurred is the arrival of help tickets at the | | | | achieving this visibility does not mean that you have to |
| service desk. So why don't these separate monitors | | | | trade existing applications for new one. The key |
| give a true picture of the IT system? | | | | component is finding a BTM tool with the power to |
| The primary problem with silo monitoring is the failure | | | | monitor the functioning of multiple technology products |
| of the separate applications to communicate with each | | | | such as.NET, Java, middleware and CICS, or |
| other. They may be functioning internally as designed | | | | home-grown applications. It is possible to "raise the IQ |
| but aren't interacting between each other as planned. | | | | of your existing investments". |
| Or the silo monitoring solutions in place are just looking | | | | The complex event processing engine is the second |
| at infrastructure: network, web servers, application | | | | step to visibility, for this is the part that interprets the |
| servers, and databases - but, not the applications that | | | | data collected. The CEP design is key to collecting the |
| traverse them. In addition there is at least one "blind | | | | information that eliminates that last 10% barrier to |
| spot" for every transaction where visibility is | | | | consistent predictive rather than reactive application |
| unavailable. | | | | performance management. Look for a CEP that |
| Business Transaction Management Deep dive | | | | collects data across both internal and external tiers. |
| discovery across applications, middleware and | | | | One that gathers both transactional and operational |
| transactions is the process in application performance | | | | data will give you not only the "what and when" but |
| management that eliminates the blind spots. BTM tools | | | | the "why" of any problems that arise. Also look for a |
| that include these processes scan for interactions | | | | CEP engine that is capable of scanning high volumes |
| between the "node types" and upload them into a | | | | of events and metrics as your business scales. In |
| special data center within a complex event processing | | | | addition, it should have grid capabilities to provide both |
| (CEP) engine. It is the CEP capability of a BTM tool | | | | fault tolerance and linear scalability. |
| that gives it power to predict problems and administer | | | | Also look for business transaction monitoring solution |
| policy or governance. | | | | that allows you to program it to distribute warnings |
| Deep-dive monitoring scans each action from | | | | when system abnormal conditions are detected. Also |
| end-to-end. From the first click of a user's button, to | | | | look for user-friendly dashboards upon which to view |
| the completion of the transaction, the business | | | | and elicit information. Solid experience within the BTM |
| transaction monitoring tool traces the transaction | | | | industry and a reputation for providing superior support |
| through each tier, whether main frame or distributed. | | | | are also important considerations when choosing a |
| When something stops working, the BTM software | | | | BTM product. |
| provides the necessary visibility to identify where in the | | | | You can learn more about business transaction |
| IT process things went wrong. And the CEP tool | | | | management by viewing a video on the subject, |
| identifies the problem before it impacts users. | | | | prepared by Nastel Technologies, a leader in BTM |
| How to Evaluate a Business Transaction Monitoring | | | | technology for over 15 years. |
| Solution In order to provide optimum value, a BTM tool | | | | |