When you’re working with complex, multi-layered data, pinpointing the root cause of an issue or identifying anomalies can feel like trying to find a flickering light in a city skyline. Effective troubleshooting demands a deep understanding of data structures, filters, and query logic. But what happens when you’re staring at a mountain of logs or metrics and don’t even know what to look for? For instance, imagine you’re investigating a sudden spike in error rates across your application. Without knowing which service triggered the cascade or how to filter the noise, you’re left guessing where to begin.

With the introduction of deep search functionality in Grail, we’ve introduced a new way to cut through the noise of complex data. You can now explore data effortlessly without needing to understand every single layer of complexity in your data structure.

Investigating data is a time-consuming process

Difficult data investigations can be taxing. Examining data takes too long, and probing for issues is tricky for those who don’t know the complexities of the data structure. In the query example below, taken before the introduction of DQL search, we attempt to filter within spans where any event sent from an Oracle database contains the phrase “error”.

Search within complex structures

Grail’s unique data warping technology allows for index-free, schema-on-read, high-performance queries, enabling you to flexibly analyze diverse datasets. While Grail has long been capable of dynamically interpreting complex data structures at query time, with the addition of the DQL Search command, you can now deep dive into your metrics, logs, traces, and other data stored in Grail in a way more agile and intuitive way.

Simplified string-based filtering across multiple fields

You can now search across vast and complex data sets without needing to understand the underlying structure. By leveraging string-based search, the system offers intuitive exploration of deeply nested data—no manual filters or query syntax are required. This approach eliminates the traditional barriers of schema knowledge and filter construction, making data investigation accessible to everyone. (See Figure 2 below.)

Surface the needle in the haystack faster

You can search across all fields, not just indexed or predefined ones, making it easy to surface any data without needing to pre-tag or preprocess it. DQL search is optimized to be highly performant, even with terabytes of data.

Search in nested structures

Finding relevant data within nested elements or arrays is cumbersome, requiring a lot of effort to ensure you don’t exclude necessary parts of the data structure. With the new DQL Search command, you can search across complex data structures, including nested elements and arrays, to find exactly what you need.

Imagine a DevOps engineer troubleshooting a failed deployment in a development environment. Suspecting a misconfiguration or runtime error, the engineer needs to find traces containing the term “exception”—buried deep within the span.events array of nested records. The system scans across all nested fields and surfaces relevant spans instantly—saving time, reducing friction, and accelerating root cause analysis.

Now, consider another example with Dynatrace Security Investigator. You’re investigating a security incident in your Amazon cloud environment. You need to track a specific event from your AWS CloudFront logs, and you have the CloudTrail event ID value. You have no idea where to find the event ID. It could be buried in the content, tucked away in header values, or stored in an obscure field. The DQL Search command empowers you to search across all fields instantly—no filters, no field-mapping, just fast, accurate results when you need them the most.

As simple as using a search bar, inside DQL

Experience the flexibility and power of exploratory analytics in Dynatrace without worrying about indexes or schemas. The DQL Search command allows for deep, detailed investigations while maintaining simplicity, making it accessible to a wider range of users.

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Log management with adherence to industry-specific compliance requirements is more critical than ever. With an increasing number of regulations and standards governing how businesses handle data, an end-to-end compliance strategy is crucial. Administrators who work with developers and product managers responsible for instrumenting, managing, and achieving the business goals of applications benefit from Dynatrace log management. As the volume and complexity of data increase, understanding and managing logs effectively to reach compliance is essential.

The importance of compliance for end-to-end log data

End-to-end compliance refers to the ability to ensure that all aspects of an organization’s operations meet regulatory standards from start to finish. This holistic approach is particularly critical in industries handling sensitive data, such as the healthcare and financial sectors.

Holistic risk management: End-to-end compliance provides a comprehensive view of risk across the organization. By ensuring that all processes—from data collection to storage and usage—comply with regulatory requirements, organizations can better manage potential threats.

Build trust with your customers: Consumer trust is vital in sectors like e-commerce and healthcare. Demonstrating a commitment to protecting end-user data through compliant log management can enhance brand reputation and customer loyalty.

Streamlined audits: End-to-end compliance simplifies the audit process. With centralized log data, you can provide auditors with clear and comprehensive records, reducing the time and effort required for compliance checks.

Implement Dynatrace Log Management and Analytics with end-to-end compliance

Organizations should consider the following steps to effectively implement log management and ensure end-to-end compliance. Use our log management compliance guide to leverage the configuration options Dynatrace provides to address your regulatory and compliance requirements for log management.

1. Outline your organization’s data compliance requirements: Create policies for log management and compliance requirements based on your log management use case, ensuring your employees understand their roles and responsibilities.
2. Equip your compliance teams: Enrich your team’s knowledge of the Dynatrace capabilities that are required to ensure compliance with log data privacy and foster a culture of accountability.
3. Continuous improvement: Regularly assess your log management processes and compliance measures to identify areas for improvement and adapt to changing regulations

Our log management compliance guide explores three compliance-relevant use cases. These use cases can help you identify which configuration options you should consider for your environment:

• Optimize e-commerce conversion rates: Leverage Dynatrace log data to enhance user experience and increase conversion rates while maintaining compliance through data masking and controlled access.
• Monitor healthcare service logs in patient portals: Dynatrace has provisions that safeguard sensitive patient data and ensure compliance with healthcare regulations by implementing robust monitoring practices and preventing unauthorized access to personal health information.
• Fraud detection for payment services and aid: Ensure sensitive information is protected through stringent data masking techniques provided by Dynatrace during capture, ingestion, storage, and display in line with financial sector regulations.

Summary

To ensure your organization meets data compliance requirements based on industry regulations, it’s essential to identify each specific requirement and outline the steps to protect sensitive data. Additionally, understanding the configuration options provided by Dynatrace, particularly within its Log Management and Analytics masking capabilities, can help you effectively address these regulatory and compliance objectives.

Want to learn more? Read our documentation and explore how Dynatrace helps you address your regulatory and compliance requirements.

The post Navigate end-to-end data compliance through effective log management appeared first on Dynatrace news.

Dynatrace Managed customers are increasingly seeking to access the latest innovations from Dynatrace. By transitioning to the Dynatrace SaaS platform, customers can benefit from recent innovations like Grail™, AppEngine, and Workflows. Our partner community plays a vital role in facilitating this transition by effectively communicating the benefits of SaaS and ensuring a seamless migration process.

During a recent webinar, Dynatrace partners had the opportunity to learn how they deliver greater value to their customers while expanding their account footprints. Peter Vinh, Senior Director of Product Management at Dynatrace was joined by Andre van der Veen, Technical Consultant for Dynatrace at Mediro ICT, to share valuable insights that can support Dynatrace partners in guiding their customers from Managed to SaaS.

Customer benefits of transitioning from Dynatrace Managed to SaaS

By helping customers understand the benefits of migrating to Dynatrace SaaS, partners are providing enhanced value to their customers. During the webinar, Peter Vinh highlighted a crucial point for partners to convey: the latest innovations on the Dynatrace platform, including Grail, Davis CoPilot™, OpenPipeline™️, and Workflows, are exclusively available to SaaS customers.

Beyond the benefits these capabilities unlock, there are also significant commercial drivers. Dynatrace SaaS presents a lower total cost of ownership (TCO), enabling customers to consolidate various tools, thereby optimizing costs and enhancing internal user experiences. This sentiment was later echoed by Andre van der Veen, who explained that TCO is one of the primary drivers for Mediro customers, alongside higher availability. By migrating to SaaS, customers can reduce hardware expenses, enabling them to concentrate on accelerating innovation with Dynatrace.

Key insights for partners to enhance customer engagement and accelerate SaaS migration

Vinh also highlighted the benefits of customer SaaS migration for the Dynatrace partner community. Moving customers from Managed to SaaS presents a valuable opportunity to grow customer accounts by delivering enhanced end-to-end value. Rather than maintaining a transactional relationship selling licenses, partners can provide continuous support. With quicker access to customers’ SaaS tenants, they can view issues from the customers’ perspective and collaboratively resolve challenges. Additionally, there is the potential for increased revenue through the sale of migration services and supplemental modules exclusive to SaaS.

Vinh provided valuable insights on how partners can enhance their conversations with customers, acknowledging the various roadblocks they might face. Here are his key recommendations:

Don’t wait for renewals. The conversation could take months, freeze windows could prevent new sign-ups in a certain period, and security teams could have a long list of questions that must be answered. It’s important to start early, working backwards from these dates to identify when to initiate the discussion.

Align to strategic initiatives. It’s important to engage senior business leaders and position the value of Dynatrace SaaS in a way that aligns to their strategy and objectives. Vinh highlighted the Dynatrace for Executives webpage as a great jumping off point for these conversations.

Reassure customers about their data. Van der Veen discussed that a key objection is often customer concerns about putting monitoring data in the cloud, and whether they will be able to access historical data from their Managed instances. He explained how those concerns can be allayed by discussing types of data the customer already stores in the cloud, showing how Managed clusters can be kept online for long term storage, and outlining the security certifications and standards that Dynatrace adheres to.

Start small if you need to. Some customers may have a complex environment, or multiple business lines that operate individually, making them reluctant to change. Starting with a small SaaS footprint can help to alleviate concerns, focusing on areas where capabilities like Grail can deliver the greatest immediate impact. This helps to prove the value, building the customer’s confidence, so the footprint can expand over time.

Use Dynatrace resources. Vinh also reminded partners of the support resources available to them, including the Dynatrace ONE team, customer success managers, Dynatrace University certifications, the community support, documentation, and assets on the partner portal.

Learnings from the frontline

Finally, van der Veen shared his first-hand experiences delivering Dynatrace Managed to SaaS migrations for Mediro customers. He was amongst the earliest adopters of the Dynatrace SaaS Upgrade Assistant, and provided helpful insights for other partners. His key points included:

• Communication is key, ensuring all stakeholders are bought into the value of moving to SaaS.
• Cleanse the environment prior to migration; removing unused dashboards, making sure the OneAgent version is compatible with SaaS, and ensuring only one person has administrative access.
• Restart processes after the migration to ensure it has been fully completed. Verify with the customer that the dashboards are fully operational, and data is coming through as expected.

Offering his closing thoughts, van der Veen highlighted that the value and benefits of upgrading from Dynatrace Managed to SaaS is huge for both partners and their customers. While the process may seem daunting, the tooling that is now available makes it much easier.

For further insights on how Dynatrace partners can help their customers move from Managed to SaaS, and for a demo of the Migration Assistant, watch the webinar on-demand.

The post Empowering partners to drive customer success through Dynatrace SaaS migration appeared first on Dynatrace news.

Modern software intelligence needs a new approach. It should be open by design to accelerate innovation, enable powerful integration with other tools, and purposefully unify data and analytics. Enter Grail-powered data and analytics.

Grail™ is a purpose-built data lakehouse for observability, security, and AIOps. Grail makes converging real-time, historical, and predictive analytics possible on a single platform. All innovations based on Grail are only available in Dynatrace SaaS environments. Customers using Dynatrace Managed, the on-premises market-leading observability solution, need to upgrade their deployments to leverage Grail. The SaaS Upgrade Assistant reduces the manual effort and imports Dynatrace Managed environment configuration automatically and seamlessly into the target SaaS environment, saving precious time and aiding a seamless upgrade.

As a pioneer in the industry, Dynatrace is rewriting cloud observability with Grail data lakehouse and all Grail-based innovations. Grail makes converging real-time, historical, and predictive analytics possible on a single platform designed to accelerate innovation, enable powerful integration with third-party tools, and unify data and analytics.

Dynatrace Managed is the market-leading observability solution for customers with mandatory on-premises requirements. Grail-based innovations are, however, only available in Dynatrace SaaS environments. Customers currently using Dynatrace Managed need to upgrade their deployments to leverage Grail. While upgrading to Dynatrace SaaS involves numerous considerations, SaaS Upgrade Assistant reduces manual effort by automatically and seamlessly importing Dynatrace Managed environment configurations and even migrating OneAgents to your new Dynatrace SaaS environment, saving you precious time and assuring a smooth upgrade.

Effective upgrade of large environments requires automation

Upgrading your Dynatrace Managed environment to Dynatrace SaaS takes time and careful planning, depending on the size and complexity of your existing environment. We recommend investing time in planning to make the upgrade experience seamless.

• Larger environments have potentially hundreds of configurations that need to be migrated, creating a real need for automation.
• Tracking the upgrade process, which can take weeks, is daunting and requires automation to ensure nothing is missed.
• Incorrect environment configurations can lead to disruptions for Dynatrace users.
• Every custom Dynatrace dashboard needs updated ownership information.

Dynatrace SaaS Upgrade Assistant automatically imports your environment configurations

SaaS Upgrade Assistant is a Dynatrace® app that imports your Dynatrace Managed environment configuration. It enables Dynatrace Managed cluster administrators to navigate through a frictionless upgrade from their Dynatrace Managed on-premises deployment to the Dynatrace SaaS deployment model. A cluster administrator can import the configuration to the target SaaS environment and update it to align with SaaS environment requirements. The app ensures a faster migration and minimizes disruption to Dynatrace users that might be caused by incorrect environment configuration. Automation eliminates time-consuming manual tasks, such as updating dashboard ownership or adjusting entity IDs that have changed between environments.

Before deployment in your new Dynatrace SaaS environment, you can update the imported configuration from Dynatrace Managed directly in SaaS Upgrade Assistant. Two editing modes are available: single and bulk. Once imported, you receive a report showing how much of your Dynatrace Managed configuration was replicated in the new environment.

The intuitive web UI of SaaS Upgrade Assistant helps ensure that OneAgent® and ActiveGate® migrations align with your desired configuration. You can also update all dashboard owners to match the user identifiers in your new Dynatrace SaaS environment. Preview mode gives you confidence that your migration is on track.

Get started

SaaS Upgrade Assistant is generally available with configuration export from Dynatrace Managed, starting with Dynatrace Managed version 1.294 on Dynatrace Hub. Simply install it in your SaaS environment and follow the instructions.

• For a demonstration of SaaS Upgrade Assistant, see SaaS Upgrade Assistant – Dynatrace App Spotlight.
• For a closer look into incorporating the new app into your upgrade to Dynatrace SaaS, see How to upgrade from Dynatrace Managed to Dynatrace SaaS effectively.
• For more information on migrating configurations, see Migrate configurations documentation.
• Are you ready to upgrade to SaaS? Answer the questions in our SaaS readiness assessment to find out.

Don’t forget to share your feedback in the Upgrade to Dynatrace SaaS community.

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