Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

February 2023

Implementing Distributed Tracing in a Java application

Monitoring and troubleshooting distributed systems like those built with microservices is challenging. Traditional monitoring tools struggle with distributed systems as they were made for a single component. Distributed tracing solves this problem by tracking a transaction across components. In this article, we will implement distributed tracing for a Java Spring Boot application with three microservices.

Using Nerdio Manager to Deploy eG Enterprise for AVD Monitoring: A Quick Start Guide

eG Enterprise is designed to be deployed automatically at scale within IaC type workflows and by products such as Nerdio Manager that facilitate automation. Deployment of eG Enterprise can be automated with or without Nerdio Manager. Many of our customers do choose Nerdio Manager to automate other workflows and to create and manage images for Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) deployments.

OpenTelemetry Nginx Tutorial - Instrument and visualize traces

OpenTelemetry is an open-source standard for instrumenting cloud-native applications for generating different types of telemetry data. A robust observability framework set up using OpenTelemetry can help tremendously while troubleshooting software in production. Nginx is one of the most widely adopted web servers. Most often, nginx is used as a reverse proxy. It serves the frontend or backend applications behind the reverse proxy.
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Discovering Efficiency Through 2 Steps Synthetic Monitoring for Splunk

You're probably familiar with Splunk. It's one of the most popular big data solutions organisations worldwide use to monitor their systems in real-time. But you may not know that Splunk also offers synthetic monitoring solutions via 2 Steps. 2 Steps Synthetic Monitoring for Splunk is a powerful tool that can help you speed up your application troubleshooting process. Today we'll take a closer look at what it is and how it can benefit your organisation.

Raygun API Beta is now open to everyone

We’re excited to announce the offical Beta launch of the Raygun API, allowing you to extract, manipulate, and visualize insights from your account in innovative ways. This is included with all Raygun plans, and is now readily available to customers of all sizes. We’ve made the decision to release this Beta sooner than anticipated, as we’re eager to receive your early feedback to make sure we’re focussing on the endpoints that provide the most value to your team and business.

Integrate eG Enterprise with Multiple ITSM Tools at the Same Time

Previous versions of eG Enterprise limited the eG Manager integration to a single ITSM system such as ServiceNow ITSM, Autotask, JIRA or others. This limitation was particularly cumbersome for SaaS and MSP (Managed Service Provider) deployments where each tenant/customer may have had their own preferred ITSM system. Our latest release lifts this restriction. ITSM integration can now be done for a specific Organization, Organizational Unit, or even User.

Understand user journeys with AppDynamics Business iQ

Understand where in their journey, do your users abandon your application. It could be due to latency or other similar types of performance issues, or perhaps when trying to communicate with a 3rd party endpoint, such as a payment processing service. Learn how observing key metrics provides the insights you need to ensure your customers have the best-of-class experience.

What is Retrace Application Performance Monitoring (APM)?

Retrace is so much more than your average Application Performance Monitoring tool; and the more you know about the tools and capabilities at your disposal, the easier it is to keep application performance humming. In this Retrace overview video, Stackify by Netreo Customer Success Lead Kyle Jackson shares valuable insights into how and why Retrace works the way it does, and the powerful monitoring capabilities that help you improve the performance of your applications.

AI & Application Performance Monitoring Opportunities & Challenges

In today’s fast-paced world, app performance equals brand reputation. Customers expect apps that are fast, responsive and available 24/7. That’s where Application Performance Monitoring (APM) comes in. The technology enables businesses to ensure the best possible user experience by monitoring and managing the performance of their applications. But as applications become increasingly complex, identifying and resolving performance issues in real-time becomes increasingly difficult.

eG Enterprise rated the No. 1 APM Tool for Customer Experience by SoftwareReviews

The reviews are in! We are thrilled that eG Enterprise has been recognized by SoftwareReviews, a division of Info-Tech Research Group, as a Champion in the 2023 Application Performance Management – Enterprise (APM) Tools Emotional Footprint Buyer’s Guide. Moreover, eG Enterprise APM was ranked in the top spot out of 14 vendor solutions.

Observability vs Monitoring - The difference explained with an example

Observability vs monitoring has been a common topic in DevOps recently. There has been a lot of debate, and I have learned a lot from them when I started my observability journey. Most literature on observability is associated with a particular product or shares a textbook definition. In this blog post, I want to give you a practical understanding of observability and the differences between observability and monitoring with different scenarios and examples. We will cover the following topics here.

Trace-based testing with Elastic APM and Tracetest

This post was originally published on the Tracetest blog. Want to run trace-based tests with Elastic APM? Today is your lucky day. We're happy to announce that Tracetest now integrates with Elastic Observability APM. Check out this hands-on example of how Tracetest works with Elastic Observability APM and OpenTelemetry! Tracetest is a CNCF project aiming to provide a solution for deep integration and system testing by leveraging the rich data in distributed system traces.

Loki vs Prometheus - Differences, Use Cases, and Alternatives

Loki and Prometheus are both open source tools. While Loki is a log aggregation tool, Prometheus is a metrics monitoring tool. Loki’s design is inspired by Prometheus but for logs. This blog post compares the two common monitoring tools Loki vs Prometheus, to help you understand their key differences. Log management and metrics monitoring are critical aspects of monitoring a software system effectively.

4 Azure Load Balancer Metrics to Monitor

An Azure Load Balancer is a Layer-4 (TCP, UDP) load balancer that provides high availability by distributing incoming traffic among healthy VMs. A load balancer health probe monitors a given port on each VM and only distributes traffic to an operational VM. Azure Load Balancers are frequently used in Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) deployments. From our work with Azure Load Balancer, we think there are 4 key metrics and events you should proactively monitor and alert on.

Complete Guide on Docker Logs [All access methods included]

Docker logs play a critical role in the management and maintenance of containerized applications. They provide valuable information about the performance and behavior of containers, allowing developers and administrators to troubleshoot issues, monitor resource usage, and optimize application performance. By capturing and analyzing log data, organizations can improve the reliability, security, and efficiency of their containerized environments.

How MSPs can Capitalize on the Rush for Localization of IT Services

“If you are a managed service provider (MSP) in Switzerland, your customers are very likely Swiss customers, so they speak the local language, and they want their data to be in Switzerland, and they want your service provider to comply with all the Swiss regulations. And the same is true in 190 other countries, especially after last year,”

Guide on Structured Logs [Best Practices included]

Structured logging is the method of having a consistent log format for your application logs so that they can be easily searched and analyzed. Having structured logs allows for more efficient searching, filtering, and aggregation of log data. It enables users to extract meaningful information from log data easily. Logging is an essential aspect of system administration and monitoring. Logging allows you to record information data about the application's activity.

Winston Logger - Full tutorial with a sample Nodejs application

Winston Logger is one of the most popular logging libraries for Node.js. It is designed to be a simple and universal logging library supporting multiple modes of transport. A transport is essentially a storage device for the logs. Each logger can have multiple modes of transport configured at different levels. For example, one may want error logs stored in a database, but all logs output to the console or a local file. Some of the features of Winston logger are.

Advanced filtering capabilities, Logs performance benchmark, and front page of HN - SigNal 21

Welcome to our first monthly product newsletter of 2023, SigNal - 21! Last month, we worked closely with our users to ship some advanced features which will enable our users to take advantage of their observability data more effectively. We were also trending on the front page of hacker news and got featured as one of the fastest-growing open source startups. Let’s dive in to see what humans at SigNoz were up to in the month of January 2023.

Variable Chaining in Dashboards Demo - SigNoz

With variable chaining, you have more granular control over charts in the Dashboards tab of SigNoz. It lets you filter specific views based on your use cases quickly. More about SigNoz: SigNoz - Monitor your applications and troubleshoot problems in your deployed applications, an open-source alternative to DataDog, New Relic, etc. Backed by Y Combinator. SigNoz helps developers monitor applications and troubleshoot problems in their deployed applications. SigNoz uses distributed tracing to gain visibility into your software stack.

Using OOP concepts to write high-performance Java code (2023)

Java is a class-based object-oriented programming (OOP) language built around the concept of objects. OOP concepts are intended to improve code readability and reusability by defining how to structure your Java program efficiently. There are seven core principles of object-oriented programming, as follows.

How to install the Site24x7 APM Insight Node.js agent

This video will walk you through the process of installing the Site24x7 APM Insight Node.js agent. The APM Insight Node.js agent automatically instruments supported frameworks (like Express, Koa, and Hapi) and records interesting events, like HTTP requests, database queries, errors, exceptions, web API calls, and remote calls. This installation method works in both Linux and Windows environments. Related notes and links.

How to verify the license key for a .NET application

Learn how to verify the license key when the.NET monitor fails to be created in the Site24x7 web client. About Site24x7 Site24x7 offers unified cloud monitoring for DevOps and ITOps. Monitor the experience of real users accessing websites and applications from desktop and mobile devices. Site24x7's in-depth monitoring capabilities enable DevOps teams to monitor and troubleshoot applications, servers, and network infrastructures (including private and public clouds). End-user experience monitoring is done from over 90 locations across the world and various wireless carriers.

How to set up Golang application performance monitoring with open source monitoring tool - SigNoz

In this article, learn how to setup application monitoring for Golang apps using an open-source solution, SigNoz. If you want to check our Github repo before diving in 👇 Scalability, Reliability, Maintainability... The list goes on for the benefits of microservices architecture in today's world. But along with these benefits also comes the challenges of complexity.

The role of APM and distributed tracing in observability

Application performance management (APM) and distributed tracing are practices that many teams have been using for years to help detect and mitigate performance issues within applications – while the first one was born in the era of big single-host monoliths, the latter is especially useful for distributed applications that use a microservices architecture, in which tracing is critical for pinpointing the source of performance issues.

Supporting Key Business Applications in the Cloud is Challenging: A Real-World Case Study

These days, many IT executives believe that it is easier to deploy applications in the cloud than on-prem. They are also often under the misconception that once an application is hosted in the cloud, it is the responsibility of the cloud service provider to maintain the availability and performance of the application.

10 Best RUM Tools for Improving Your User Experience

Having user-friendly programs is paramount for any software company’s success. To gain a better understanding of your users’ experience and enjoyment, it’s vital that you learn how customers interact with your app or website. Real user monitoring (RUM) solutions enable your company to visualize how users interact with your software, helping you learn what works best for your customers so you can thrive against the competition.