HTTP Request parameters of web application extraction

[srinirand]

Hi all,

 As part of custom appdynamics extension to monitor a web application, we would like to extract the HTTP Request parameters (all of them) and do some processing on them. We were hoping to do this as an extension, but are lost on how to inspect the HTTPRequest submitted by the user.

We thought HTTP Data Collectors do not fit our use case as we do not wish a few of the HTTP request, rather we need all of them.

Kindly suggest or point us to any sample code you may have.

[srinirand]

Any pointers?

[Peter.Holditch]

The APM part of the AppDynamics platform is focussed around collecting information concerning outlyer transactions to enable deep-dive troubleshooting of non-functional issues, and is this not suited to providing you with the parameters of every single request.

The Business iQ part, on the other hand, facilitiates real time business intelligence based on having the business data available for every Business Transaction, so given a use case where you want access to the parameters of each request, Business iQ is the way to go.

Take a look here for more detail.

[srinirand]

Thank you very much for the response @pholditch.

Is it possible to extend or customize the Business IQ part ..esp HTTP Request Data Collector?

We would like to HTTP Request Data and selectively send them to the controller - kindly help us on how this can be achieved.

[Peter.Holditch]

I am not sure what you mean by "extend the Business iQ part"...

Once a data collector is configured for analytics, all the data it collects from every transaction is sent to the controller.

From there, you can use ADQL to query it either via the UI, or programatically using the REST API.

Does that enable what you need?  If not, can you elaborate on what you are trying to achieve?

[srinirand]

We are trying to selectively send some of the http parameter values back to
controller and have logic around this. Hence would like to customise or
extend the part so that we could achieve this.

[srinirand]

Sorry that I was lost in my exploration that did not revisit this thread.

In more detail, we wish to write some generic validations for our entire suite of applications (not specific to one application) on the input from end users. Data Collectors is what we are looking for - but we cannot configure as there are many applications. So we wish to extend the agent (App Agent or Machine Agent) to inspect the HTTP Request for this purpose.

Looking for guidance on the approach to follow to achieve this:

1. Should we be looking to customize the app agent or machine agent for this?

2. Can we use the SDK API??

https://github.com/qldong/java-sdk/tree/master/application-agent-api

[Peter.Holditch]

What would you want to happen in your application if one of your validations failed?

[srinirand]

We would want those to be reported back to the controller and then we could allow configuration of alerts based on the reported custom attributes.

[Peter.Holditch]

This should be possible using our analytics product.  Can you give an example of a concrete use-case you want to implement?  If so, I can try and point out the right set of platform features to use to achieve it.