By: James O’Rell

In December of 2021, iWorks personnel attended a Dynatrace Partner Enablement Training. That consisted of two major pieces: The Dynatrace Virtual Instructor Lead Training (vILT) and accompanying labs. As part of the vILT, we spent five days with a Dynatrace trainer, who taught us how to install of Dynatrace and use it effectively and showed us labs to be completed outside the training. Afterwards, those of us who did not already have the Dynatrace Associate Certification took the exam. The separate trainings showed us how to install Dynatrace, administer it, and to use Dynatrace with various technologies.

What is Dynatrace?

Dynatrace is an Application Performance Management (APM) system . that iWorks uses and partners with to ensure the highest quality of security and monitoring. This software helps monitor and identify any potential problems with systems, especially large-scale systems. Dynatrace uses artificial intelligence (AI) (Dynatrace’s AI is nick-named Davis) to identify the cause of issues and assist users in resolving them.

Dynatrace Training

Dynatrace requires all partners to complete a Partner Enablement Training. Since iWorks is one of Dynatrace’s partners, several of us at iWorks completed the training. There are a few ways to fulfil their training requirement, which include a Virtual Instructor Lead Training (vILT) and/or Dynatrace Labs.

We attended the vILT training for a total of 20 hours over a week. The training was taught from the beginner level with almost zero knowledge about the software.

1. We were each given access to our own remote desktop connections. Each had a Dynatrace instance with an application installed called easyTravel, which we monitored throughout the week. The instructor shared their screen on Zoom and walked us through the material.
2. We installed the monitoring applications:
   1. OneAgent: an application that monitors the state of the local machine and sends the data to the Dynatrace instance; and
   2. ActiveGate: an application that bundles the data from the OneAgents and sends it to the Dynatrace instance.
3. We set up parameters within easyTravel to simulate and fix issues with the application.
4. Finally, we were given tips to study for and pass the Dynatrace Associate Exam.

Another part of the Partner Enablement Training was the Dynatrace labs, which cover a myriad of subject in detail too great for the vILT. The labs require you to start from scratch and install Dynatrace and components for it to manage. They then go into how to configure Dynatrace to manage those components.

Studying for the Dynatrace Associate Exam

The topics covered by the Dynatrace Associate Exam include questions about the software, how it interacts with your system, and effective setup. Here is the breakdown of exam topics (via Dynatrace University):

Capabilities & Monitoring 23%

Components & Architecture 9%

Digital Experience Management 19%

Install & Configure 20%

Problems & Resolution 13%

Reporting & Analysis 16%

The best way to study for the exam is to use the software. iWorks has an instance set up for getting accustomed to the software and to help diagnose internal projects. Clicking around and learning where important functionality is located is key to passing.

Another useful tool is Dynatrace University. This is where you can sign up for vILT, sign up for the exam, watch Dynatrace’s numerous instructional videos, find a mind map for each exam. There is also a practice test called “Taste of the Exam, which is an important tool in learning and using Dynatrace.

Finally, another tool is Quizlet flash cards, made by people who have studied for this exam. This set was useful. Please note that the information on these flash cards isn’t always 100% correct but were still worthwhile. They worked well, just keep an eye out for mistakes. My suggestion is to use the “Learn” function. It helps you memorize the facts you need to remember when taking the exam.

With these tools, I was able to pass the exam and hopefully you will be able to as well.