New Relic APM is Quick and Easy!!!
Updated May 28, 2019

New Relic APM is Quick and Easy!!!

Jayson E. Conry | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

New Relic for Web Apps

Overall Satisfaction with New Relic

New Relic APM is currently being used as a consolidation tool. As our organization is shifting focus into the cloud, utilization of native SaaS is of specific value. We had initially started by monitoring our external websites and have now begun expanding into our internal sites as well as mobile applications. This gives us a better understanding of end-user customer experience and quickly allows us to improve customer experience.
  • Ease of configuration makes it quick to apply and begin receiving and reviewing of data.
  • Dashboarding is intuitive and easy to understand.
  • The depth of data collected allows for more details application development.
  • From an end user stand point only seeing the "Top" isn't as helpful as it could be if multiple sources are associated to the same JVM.
  • From an administrative standpoint, the inability to take default dashboards and dissect them within insights makes it less intuitive to recreate for other processes.
  • New Relic APM provides detailed analysis on browser monitoring for websites which makes it easier to determine what geographical locations, as well as platforms' performance, can be worked on.
  • Click/Add of dashboards do custom pages is fast and easy for someone to look at the specific details that are important to their specific requirements.
Unfortunately as a whole, they have not as we have certain options that we cannot use due to the sensitivity of the data we have that cannot be touched via SaaS solutions.

that said, there are certain DevOps teams that have been able to use the tool to test out processes that were then able to be traced as they were able to scrub sensitive data.
N/A as we are not currently looking to lift and shift our on-prem into the cloud at this time.
To some respect they have but the in some cases, we are not as we have PHI/PII data that cannot be processed on SaaS products. That said, those teams that were able to, used the data that New Relic was able to provide to allow them to prove certain aspects of the apps we are building and use that data as the foundational backbone for all app development going forward.
Pricing was the primary factor. The cost associated with New Relic works better within a budget line than either of their competitors.
Step transactions and Web URL sequence monitoring is more difficult than it could be. Having a recorder process would take this tool to the next level. That said, the console is so easy to use that there is hardly any training required to access data you need to find or view.

New Relic Feature Ratings

Using New Relic

350 - Devops, DB, Web Support Team and NOC
3 - Someone who has a full grasp of the installation and configuration of the agents as well as basic knowledge of SQL query language.
  • Ability to trace transactions issues to their source
  • Ability to validated end user experience
  • ability to quickly build and maintain Dashboards
  • Mostly through the usage of the Transaction Traces we have been able to reduce the time it takes to track down issues
  • Creation of geo set dashboards by allowing users to filter based on City, State and Country locations.
  • LOGS!!! Must be able to view event data via logs
There are other options out there that may have come out that are similar to what we are currently doing and we will need to POC those to determine if New Relic is still the right fit.

Evaluating New Relic and Competitors

Yes - 1. CA APM -- outdated APM tool that had steep learning curve to use. NR was far easier and cheapier alternative
2. Site 24x7 -- duplicate monitoring options, so we consolidated all old monitors to NR.
3. ApplicationsManager -- duplicate monitoring options, so we consolidated all old monitors to NR.
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
Being a not for profit organization, price was the biggest concern in selecting our new tool set. The fact that NR could do everything we needed and at a fraction of the cost of the other tools we reviewed, it was a no-brainer!
I wouldn't!!! there really isn't anything we are missing other than a log monitoring option at this time.

New Relic Implementation

Just to make sure you have a firm grasp of the applications and where they live. sometimes you may find you are installing agents unnecessarily. That can be the biggest thing to learn prior to getting started with implemenation. Beyond that, it really is easy peasy!!!
Yes - we started in our lower environments to test out and once validation was completed, we pushed rapidly into Prod.
Change management was minimal - N/A it wasn't a consideration nor our source of Change Management processes.
  • initially writing scripts for Synthetics took a bit to get used to.
  • Understanding of how the varying agents worked with outside processes.

New Relic Training

yes it is all self explanatory! Nothing is too difficult to understand with deployments.

Configuring New Relic

It really depends on the specific pieces you are using. APM and Infrastructure agents are all self-explanatory. NR Private Minion Containerized minion can be fiddly if you are not familiar with Docker so it does break the easy to use scenario for the rest of the NR implementation.
Just to start from lower environments first. Make sure you have sign-off from the app owners before moving forward as they may have issues that need to be supported before going into production.
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
No - we have not done any custom code

New Relic Support

There are times I feel that the initial support is lacking. And in some cases the automated responses of not hearing anything are annoying if the reason why there has been no movement is because we are still waiting to hear back from NR support. So, i think they should loose the automation as it can seem disingenuous.
ProsCons
Good followup
Problems get solved
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
None
Yes - we don't have time to wait for assistance in a critical issue.
Yes - Still waiting... not sure how much longer I need to wait before the grumbling begins...
We had an issue with data leakage in the beginning while testing an app in non-prod and it caused a panic. But New Relic was able to quickly and easily provide us with the information we needed to correct the ingest possible sensitive data!!!

Using New Relic

It really is so easy to use and if you are stuck, the how to video's are spot on!!!
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • Agent installation and configuration
  • Transaction traces are top notch!!! extremely easy for use to determine the underlying issues
  • DASHBOARDS!!!!
  • containerized Private Minions are still wonky to get installed in certain security levels
Yes - It works great... except in the cases of generic SSO settings.

New Relic Reliability

It's easy to scale. However, it isn't as easy to keep track of costs and who own's what/
we have never had any down time issues!!!
there are times where browser cache will cause issues that require you to clear your browser before continuing.

Integrating New Relic

again, it's all self explanatory and all integrations are well thought out prior to being released.
  • Big Panda
  • Moogsoft
  • xMatters
none of these were too difficult to complete only required creating notifications with specific data included to make the connections work.
  • Office 365
always something that is being talked about. But not ETA's.
  • Single Signon
  • API (e.g. SOAP or REST)
make sure you know what you want before hand. and don't be freaked out. it's easy!!!

Relationship with New Relic

they were very attentive and willing to assist whenever we needed it.
Still great. but some questions took longer to get support on.
BAA we needed it to move forward. and after some haggling back and forth between legal teams, it was approved by both parties.
be honest can keep on top of it.