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Why APM Is Essential For Improving App Performance?

Application performance monitoring (APM) is the domain of information technology (IT) that ensures software application programs perform as expected. The goal of performance monitoring is to provide end-users with a quality end-user experience. APM helps detect and diagnose complex application performance problems to maintain an optimum level of service. APM is “the translation of IT metrics into business meaning or value”.

APM enhances the old IT service monitoring practice by providing businesses with an in-depth view of how all their applications are performing for customers and employees. This is because of the way IT departments monitor business-critical applications and services is changing. Previously it was sufficient to monitor the network, server, and infrastructure to get the service assurance one needed. But now as more businesses depend on tailor-made, custom-coded applications, the traditional method of monitoring doesn’t provide an accurate picture, nor the big picture.

But first, what is the difference between traditional monitoring services and APM?

Traditional IT Service Monitoring: Traditional IT service monitoring takes a broad approach. It tracks and manages several aspects: network availability, server uptime, database capacity, response times, and more. This approach gives you a comprehensive view of how all of your services are performing.

Application Performance Monitoring: In comparison, APM allows you to probe deeper into how a specific application is working. APM is generally deployed into the operating system on an application server, where it tracks, monitors, and reports on the performance of the custom code.

Modern and progressive businesses connect the developers with the business goals by introducing APM tools to the programmers. APM monitors how applications perform under various scenarios. APM tests code through all phases of SDLC. It directs coders to the source of issue before the code goes to production. Developers who use APM can benefit greatly in issue resolution and test how a fix will influence the rest of the code. For instance, ASP.NET app developers and operations teams creating and managing apps with ASP.NET framework (ranging from MVC to MVC 5) can get a comprehensive monitoring and performance solution for their projects.

APM & The DevOps Lifecycle: One popular analogy for APM tooling is that of making coffee. Just as a person can make the perfect cup of coffee, by heating up water, measuring the exact amount of grinds, and appropriate measures of sugar or milk in it brewing it to a ‘standard’, with an assumption that the person drinking it will enjoy it. However, unless you check with the person drinking whether they are having a good experience or not, you can’t possibly know for sure.

APM tooling can monitor everything from network to performance consumption but unless they examine deeper into the metrics to see what the end user is seeing, it is not possible to know if the customer is having the most desirable experience possible. Evaluating the end user experience needs to consider the entire environment. So if the company is delivering a software or an application it needs an end-to-end picture of the how it is performing.

Thus, companies should be tracking performance through the DevOps lifecycle. Right from the planning stages all the way through coding and testing. Testing should be a continuous process so that teams can avoid post-go live performance issues. Ideally, developers use these tools to understand the quality of application and fix the issues in pre-production. APM tools have the capability to show developers which part of the build is affecting performance, which build is good and which part is not as stable. By using the tools across the life cycle gives a visibility of performance and impact on customer experience.

Summary: APM is now considered core IT discipline, as software is the key driver for business revenue. While every APM tool is different, there are a few key metrics common to them all. A robust APM solution should provide visibility across traditional and modern applications, support flexible deployment models (on premise, SaaS, hybrid) and speed up the transformation to a digital enterprise. Have you considered using APM tools for your application development? Let us know your views on APM in the comments section below.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Technoblogger .