Monitoring URLs with AppDynamics Machine Agent on Linux

[Abhi.Bajaj]

Guide to Monitoring URLs with Authentication Using Splunk AppDynamics and Python

Monitoring URLs are an important part of your FullStackMonitoring.

Splunk AppDynamics lets you monitor URLs with different authentication. In this article, we will create a simple URL with a username and password. Afterwards, we will monitor it using AppDynamics Machine Agent.

Create a Simple API with Python (Flask)

1. Install Flask:
   

   pip install flask​

2. Create the API: Save the following Python code to a file, e.g., basic_auth_api.py:
   

   from flask import Flask, request, jsonify
   from flask_httpauth import HTTPBasicAuth
   
   app = Flask(__name__)
   auth = HTTPBasicAuth()
   
   # Dummy users for authentication
   users = {
       "user1": "password123",
       "user2": "securepassword",
   }
   
   @auth.get_password
   def get_pw(username):
       return users.get(username)
   
   @app.route('/api/data', methods=['GET'])
   @auth.login_required
   def get_data():
       return jsonify({"message": f"Hello, {auth.username()}! Here is your data."})
   
   if __name__ == '__main__':
       app.run(debug=True, port=5000)

3. Run the API: Start the server by running:
   

   python basic_auth_api.py

4. Test the API: Use curl to access the API:
   

   curl -u user1:password123 http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/data

5. You should see a response like this:
   

   {
       "message": "Hello, user1! Here is your data."
   }​

   

Install Machine Agent

You can install the Machine agent as recommended here

Setup URL Monitoring Extension

1. Clone the Github Repo:
   

   git clone https://github.com/Appdynamics/url-monitoring-extension.git​
   cd url-monitoring-extension​

2. Download and install Apache Maven which is configured with Java 8 to build the extension artifact from the source.
   You can check the Java version used in Maven using command mvn -v or mvn --version.
   If your maven is using some other Java version then please download Java 8 for your platform and set JAVA_HOME parameter before starting maven. Run below in url-monitoring-extension directory
   

   mvn clean install

3. Go into the target directory and copy the UrlMonitor-2.2.1.zip, Afterwards unzip the content inside <MA-Home>/monitors/folder
   

   cd target/
   mv UrlMonitor-2.2.1.zip /opt/appdynamics/machine-agent/monitors
   unzip UrlMonitor-2.2.1.zip​

4. This will create an UrlMonitor directory inside the Monitors folder.

Monitor the URL

1. Inside the UrlMonitor folder, edit the config.yml file
2. Under sites, I have added:
   

   sites:
     - name:     AppDynamics
       url:      http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/data
       username: user1
       password: password123
       authType: BASIC​

3. Change:
   

   metricPrefix: "Custom Metrics|URL Monitor|"​

4. Now, All you need to do is Start your Machine Agent again.
5. Afterward, you can see this URL monitor in your AppDynamics Controller.

[Wayne.Jones II]

Thanks Abhi! I love the content and cookbook style of the documentation.