Transaction tracing

BMC Application Diagnostics can trace the entire structure of a transaction. You can trace a problem with a specific request to the kind of business transaction that is affected, and conversely, you can trace a problem with a business transaction to the specific request that is the root cause of the problem.

For example, a problematic database query informs you that users trying to do money transfers are affected. Conversely, a problem with users trying to do money transfers points to a problematic database query.

Business transactions and traces

A business transaction is an intentional action by the end user of the system, and is typically formed from one or more lower-order activities, called traces. For example, logging on to a web page is a business transaction, while the several different HTTP requests made by the browser are traces.

From the Business Transactions window, you can drill down to a list of traces. The Traces window shows recorded instances with a high probability of having a problem. From the Traces window, you can drill down to the details of a specific trace.

The Trace Details window shows detailed information about the entire transaction. Details include an application flow map (which provides a visual overview of the transaction components), graphs, and baseline comparisons. Code-level details for the transaction are also displayed, providing information about executed methods on the application server. Code-level details are displayed in a tree-like structure and a table.