AppVision is a monitoring platform for .NET or Java application environments that enhances the environments themselves to include capabilities targeted to application availability (error notifications and automated recovery), performance optimization, security and compliance monitoring.

The platform itself is based on the vendor's "symbiont" technology; wherein individual components are integrated with and extend the base runtime environment of an application (either Java or .NET) with new capabilities. According to the vendor, this technology therefore allows an admin to add new functionality (i.e., that provided by the plugged in symbiont) to existing third party, custom, or in-house applications without requiring access to the source code of the application itself.

The first available symbiont in the AppVision family is AppVision-CA, or "Continuous Availability." AppVision-CA provides the ability to detect and isolate application errors in applications, sending alerts to key personnel (a filtering system allows for the routing of the message based to appropriate individuals) along with real-time diagnostic information from the application environment. In addition to alerts, custom error handling is supported allowing for the creation of user-defined scripts and rules for the automatic recovery of failed components. AppVision-CA can initiate recovery actions based on the type or severity of the detected error.

According to the vendor, AppVision-CA operates in Java and .NET environments "... with no overhead & no system performance degradation." Supported Java application servers include WebSphere, WebLogic, Oracle Application Server 9i or 10g, Sun Java Application Server, JBoss, ColdFusion MX, and SAP NetWeaver; while supported .NET platforms include 1.1 and 2.0. Management of the platform is via the vendor's nVision Visibility Framework, which consists of an agent run on the managed node and a central nVision Visibility Manager console. From the console, administrators can communicate with the agents and perform actions such as starting and stopping nVision products, globally changing configurations on all or a subset of the nodes being managed, or performing automatic automatic upgrades to the agent or product software.

New features in the latest AppVision release include added symbionts specifically targeted to preventative (application and resource) monitoring chores; including JMX performance, memory monitor, runtime event handler, CPU monitor, deadlock monitor, and thread monitor symbionts. Additionally, the platform includes external diagnostic tests that can be used to check for and monitor external application and infrastructure dependencies (i.e., DBs, network devices, etc.).

AppVision is available now. Contact nVision Software Technologies for further information.