PSM is going to end of lifecycle with current Architecture

[mvaatanen-2]

I just noticed interesting article in tech support (Article - CS328900,Update regarding state of PTC System Monitor (PSM) due to end-of-life of Dynatrace Appmon).

I am wondering how many is actually using PSM and any opinions about pure SaaS solution for application monitoring, which could mean that you have to open monitoring agent connections from your production server to SaaS cloud over the internet? 

[TomU]

PSM logs quite a bit of data.  I'm not super excited about sending that out over the internet...

[mvaatanen-2]

Me neither but something like that PTC product management is planning according referenced article in my first post. They are planning to make monitoring as SaaS service. Hopefully data collection and analysis is happening on the premises and if that is happening on the premises then I do not understand comment about admin/HW costs in the article. 

[STEVEG]

We have a separate server just for PSM.  My assumption is we will no longer need a server and therefore can just redirect the cost of the server to the service for SaaS.

[TomU]

A PSM server, especially if running on a VM, costs next to nothing to own and operate.  I'm fairly confident that any SAAS offering by PTC will cost much more per month/year than running a couple of VMs internally...

[STEVEG]

It is a VM but we have another company maintaining that and several others.  We do not own it.  There is definitely a cost to it.  We pay per the number of servers, RAM, processers, etc.  So it not not next to nothing for us.

[BenLoosli]

There are some users who have no external internet connections to send data out as SaaS monitoring would require.

[mvaatanen-2]

Exactly! That is the case also many of our customers, there is not possible or even allowed to open any kind of connection from Windchill production servers over the internet into other Cloud. It does not matter how secure connections could be done.

[dduncan]

Good morning,

I can add some color to the discussion here, but since we haven't finalized a contract with a vendor yet, many details you seek aren't final yet.  I assume you're on-premise Windchill customers on this thread, so here are points specific to our Windchill on-prem customers:

1. In 2012, PTC purchased a perpetual license of Dynatrace Appmon to distribute to our customers for qualifying products like Windchill.  Appmon is "Application Performance Management" (APM) software that runs on-premise.
2. Since then, the APM market has quickly progressed to SaaS, to the extent that the market leaders don't offer on-prem anymore, and many (like Dynatrace) are EOL'ing support for their previous on-prem versions.   
3. PTC would have preferred for Appmon to be supported longer, but it's not our choice, and the decision to EOL makes sense for Dynatrace.  If PTC has already distributed an Appmon license to you with Windchill, you may continue to use Appmon with your Windchill instance indefinitely.  It's your perpetual license that PTC shipped to you for that product.  However, Dynatrace won't support your calls through PTC (or directly) past March 2021.  Note that PTC doesn't ship Appmon, or configurations to it, effective with Windchill 12.x.
4. SaaS offers big advantages for these APM vendors and their main markets - more capability/automation for a good price and eliminates on-prem hosting/admin costs.  PTC recognizes that not all of our customers are authorized to use SaaS APM, so we're seeking a APM vendor that offers on-prem alternatives (however, note that selecting the on-prem option would continue to burden you with on-prem APM costs).
5. PTC's not looking to make a nickel off of the APM solution we select to support for our on-premise customers.  We plan to offer our product configurations to this APM vendor at no additional charge to you.   We also plan to refer direct subscription for you to the APM vendor and/or their recommended partners. (Disclaimer:  while unlikely, until we have a final contract, these plans are subject to change).  Naturally, to comply with privacy laws, we'd advise you on how to contact the APM vendor/partner to subscribe, and won't share your contact information with the vendor/partner.
6. We'll have more detail on this, of course, but need to finalize our vendor selection first.  Our technical evaluators have been impressed by the progression of the market's APM capabilities and efficiencies.

Thank you, 

Dave

[mvaatanen-2]

Good afternoon,

and thank you for adding some color the discussion. Few comments some of your points:

- Understood that EOL is done by Dynatrace and in practice we can use current Appmon as far as we have UEM license visits left. It means couple of months after EOL date because then all visits have been used and new UEM license is not possible to get from Dynatrace

- It is good if PTC recognizes that not all of your customers are authorized to use SaaS APM,  and you are really seeking a APM vendor that offers on-prem alternatives. Because that is only choice in our case. The Appmon is very vital tool to investigate performance issues. Hopefully similar capability/functionality will be there also new APM tool which can collect and analyze data on-prem also.

[dduncan]

Good afternoon, we've updated the article here with our latest knowledge:  https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/CS328900 

It includes more background, update on progress, and recommended options.  Over the next several weeks, we're cross-training with Dynatrace to assemble the starter-set profiles and train them on PTC products.  

Regards,

Dave

[mvaatanen-2]

Good morning,

and thank you for keeping updated from future of application performance monitoring in case of PTC products.

I read the updated article. My last question to this topic is that does the switch over documentation mentioned in option 1 also include instructions how to make switchover from current PSM (Appmon) monitoring to the Dynatrace Managed which means on-premises deployment?

Best Regards,

Marko

[dduncan · Accepted solution]

Hi Marko,

Yes, the switch over instructions will cover how to work with Dynatrace for on-prem APM deployments.  In the last 60 days, one of our lead technical product managers worked with Dynatrace and one of PTC's defense customers to confirm the feasibility and practicality of running Dynatrace on premise.  Dynatrace already does this with other customers today, so it's not new for them.  Resulting from this, Dynatrace will have an approach for the on-premise scenario.

Naturally, to use the on-premise option, you'd have to assume the infrastructure and personnel costs of hosting Dynatrace locally, which negates some of the SaaS benefits that have driven the APM market.  But PTC did select Dynatrace as our referred vendor since they have this flexibility, as many of our customers don't have the flexibility to use SaaS APM.

Hope this helps for now.  We're assembling greater detail in October.

~Dave