Product Update, August 2021 (v21.8.0)

[Claudia.Landivar]

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In August, we released the 21.8.0 Controller and Enterprise Console as well as key product enhancements and agent updates. We also resolved a series of issues associated with the previous release.

*Revised 9/15/21

Table of Contents

• Feature Enhancements
• Heads Up - What Else You Should Know
• Beta Programs
• Resolved Issues
• Get Started
• Ask a Question

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What highlights should I know about?

These release highlights include the newest features and capabilities this month, at a glance. In the grid below, we’ve flagged who within your organization may be most interested or impacted for each enhancement. 

Category	Enhancement	User and Performance Analyst	Admin and Implementer	Developer
Full-stack Observability	AppDynamics Mobile App	✓	✓
	Experience Journey Map*	✓	✓
Agent Updates	iOS Agent	✓	✓
	Node.js Agent	✓	✓
	Xamarin Agent	✓	✓
	Python Agent*	✓	✓
	.NET Agent*	✓	✓
System Administration Updates	Updated user creations and password policies		✓

Full-stack Observability

AppDynamics Mobile App

On August 10th, we launched a reimagined AppDynamics mobile app which powers more efficient and effective incident resolution on the go. You can now:

• Track mission-critical data and metrics at a glance on the customizable Home screen.
• Focus on the events that matter most to you via our configurable Events Feed.
• Contextualize issues and understand their impact system-wide using relationship-based navigation.
• Pinpoint root causes swiftly thanks to our artificial intelligence (AI)-based Automated Transaction Diagnostics (ATD) capability.
• Respond seamlessly to links received on the mobile device from text, email, or 3rd party integrations such as PagerDuty, Slack, and ServiceNow.

Hear highlights of what's new directly from the product manager in this month’s blog post. See AppDynamics Mobile App in the documentation. And download the mobile app at the  App Store, or Google Play (or scan the QR code):

Experience Journey Map*

We have expanded filtering capabilities to include region and city, furthering your context for specific flows and events. See our documentation to learn more about experience journey mapping.

Agent Updates

iOS Agent 21.8.0 (Released August 9, 2021) has replaced NSURLConnection with NSURLSession to send beacon data to the collector, allowing you to maintain connectivity whether or not the application is in focus. 

Node.js Agent 21.8.0 (Released August 4, 2021) has removed support for Java proxy and Node.js versions 8 and 10.

The latest Xamarin Agent (Released August 12, 2021) includes:

• When instrumenting a Xamarin application, you must add the NuGet package Xamarin.Forms. See Instrument Xamarin Applications.
• Use Xamarin.Forms to add page tracking, which allows you to see how users interact with your application in a session timeline. See Customize the Xamarin Instrumentation.

The updated .NET Agent* (Released August 27, 2021) now includes:

• Support for SQL Data Collector on Linux (known issues: SQL parameters may be shown twice, non-string parameters are shown as empty in Analytics UI)

• Docker image for latest tag was updated. See Upgrade the .NET Agent for Linux instructions.

Python Agent 21.8.0* now includes support for Alpine Linux (Released August 30, 2021)

System Admin Updates

We released an enhancement that improves how administrators create users, and also updates our password policies. These changes are meant to improve security while laying the groundwork for new capabilities that will be rolled out in the near future. Check out the Changes to User Creation and Password Policy FAQ for details.  (Staged release started February 22, 2021)

To view all technical documentation associated with this month’s releases,
please visit Product Announcements, Alerts, and Hot Fixes in our documentation portal. 

To Table of Contents  |  To Resource List

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Heads up - What else you should know 

• ^NEW On October 18, 2021, we will be implementing synthetics monitoring behavioral changes for Internet Explorer (IE) 11 and Firefox, and deprecating support for Chrome versions 64 and 83 browsers. This change is part of an effort to bring our synthetics monitoring to a single browser architecture, allowing us to innovate faster and provide more value-added capabilities to better support our customer needs. Read our Knowledge Base article Changes to synthetic monitoring browsers for more information, including instructions and Support resources to avoid any disruption to your services.
  
  
• Check out the Kudos to you, April - June '21 post! In this series, we celebrate member participation in the Community with recaps of the most recent new content, accepted solutions, and the kind of engagement that enhances the Community. (July 1, 2021)
  
  
• AppDynamics' technical certification recipients can now access official digital badges. Each badge consists of an image and metadata that are uniquely linked to the individual and the specific certification. Shared at-will on resumes, social media, email, and more, this credential grants viewers immediate access to validated information, including its issuance by Cisco and AppDynamics. For more information, see Introducing our new AppDynamics technical certification badges in the AppD University Group Hub. (June 17, 2021)
  
  
• Check out the usability updates on our Zendesk form, used to open Support Engineering tickets. Geared toward your ease of use, the form flows in a more usable and intuitive sequence. See AppDynamics Support is simplifying ticket filing requirements for details. (May 3, 2021)
  
  
• We invite you to our Share a tip space, where the AppD community can exchange peer-to-peer advice. Find those small adjustments that make a big difference, and add your own insights too.

To Table of Contents  |  To Resource List

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Share your feedback! Participate in a Beta today

We’re currently running the following Beta program and looking for your feedback:

• Submit feedback on the Dash Studio through the in-product feedback button, or in Community here.

To Table of Contents  |  To Resource List

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Resolved Issues

The following key issue was resolved this month. To see a complete listing of this month's resolved issues, see Resolved Issues by Month.

• Metric Query Service: Metric expressions do not work for database metrics  (MQS-1264)
• Node.js Agent: Fix packaging of the standalone Node.js builds (NODEJS-544)

To Table of Contents  |  To Resource List

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Get Started

PLEASE NOTE: customers are advised to check backward compatibility
in the Agent and Controller Compatibility documentation. 

• Download Essential Components (Agents, Enterprise Console, Controller (on-prem), 
  Events Service, EUM Components)
• Download Additional Components (SDKs, Plugins, etc.)
• How do I get started upgrading my AppDynamics components for any release?
• Product Announcements, Alerts, and Hot Fixes
• Extensions
• License Entitlements and Restrictions

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Need more assistance?
Ask a question in the Latest Release forum.

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