Replay Director 3.1 Makes Fault Isolation Easy

Replay Solutions Inc. has added log amplification and defect searching to its Replay Director 3.1, an application monitoring and software debugging product. Replay Director watches while an application runs in real time and logs what actions the application performs and what the results were. Replay calls this "log amplification," which lets users recreate any level of logs, even if the application log data was not originally generated. This is particularly useful for intermittent events where the event can't be reproduced, making it impossible to go back and capture debug or trace-level logs.

The log amplification feature lets users record the results of an application, and then application replay lets users drill down and get more detailed log information from there. The Replay system works by executing the application, doing a full, live execution run, and then captures the log message the application sends out. Logging is just the first area where such data amplification can be performed; in the future, it could also be applied to database queries, profiling, performance and security forensics.

Defect searching, which works together with the log amplification feature, uses all of the messages, logs, exceptions and user-inserted markers to help users diagnose problems in applications, security and performance issues. Searchable items include database activities, HTTP requests, web service calls and log messages.

"Replay Director is the type of product that will have a profound impact on development, test, and operations organizations," says Theresa Lanowitz, founder of the analyst company Voke Inc. "The differentiator is that Replay Director can rewind to any desired location [in an application] and provide as much detail as needed. Eliminating the overload of log data brings a level of efficiency to organizations as they adapt to more complex applications and focus on delivering strategic value to the customer." The log amplification features elevates Replay's status in the market, she says.

The software is available now under a monthly subscription model, with pricing starting at $720 per month for up to three users and scaling upward from there. There is an on-premises version as well. In addition, a free trial version is available for individual users. It can all be purchased from Replay's website. The software runs on Microsoft Windows or Linux systems and is intended for Java-based applications running on the web or on server-based applications such as Apache Software Foundation's Tomcat, BEA Systems' WebLogic and Red Hat Systems' JBoss.