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Why You Must Combine Synthetic and Real User Monitoring

In the realm of application monitoring, there are many topics that are essential in terms of establishing a stable and high-performing application However, none are as important as the use of synthetic and real-user monitoring, which is also referred to as RUM. Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions within the application monitoring industry is developers only need to use one or the other. While utilizing just one of these two monitoring techniques is an effective way to control and manage your applications, when combines you're given a comprehensive look into the actual performance and stability of your application This advanced-levelform of monitoring is essentialas application continue to evolve into complex components

Benefits of Synthetic & Real-User Monitoring

Before delving into how combining these two techniques benefits the stability and performance of your various Web applications, it's essential to delve into each technique separately The following is a breakdown of the most common benefits associated with synthetic and real-user monitoring
Synthetic Monitoring

Service Disruptions - With the number of components and complexities within the modern application, it's literally impossible to identify all service disruptions until users beginto report errors. Synthetic monitoring continuously interacts with your Web applications inthe exact same manner as a real user. Therefore, if there is any level of service disruptions,the monitor notifies administrator's immediately, which significantly reduces harm caused by critical application service disruptions There are a number of paid andfree tools like EveryStepAutomation that can handle monitoring these types of disruptions

Baseline Performance - The only way for any application monitoring solution to effectively monitor and manage your applications is by establishing baseline performance While many administrator's simply wait for user interactions to establish baseline performances, this is a dangerous technique as critical errors wiII not be identified untiIusers are affected. With synthetic monitoring, application performance is reviewed and measured before being accessed by real users.
This greatly enhances the establishment of baselines,which simultaneously enhances the stability of an application

Real-User Monitoring

Actual Data Collection -While synthetic monitoring gathers data within a controlled environment, real-user monitoring gathers actual data as your users experience the application This data is gathered regardless of user geographic location, browser or device. In this sense, RUM collects information that shines a Iight into the actual performance and stability ot applications

Application Weaknesses - Due to the controlled environment of synthetic tests, identifying application weaknesses is almost impossible However, through RUM, derived data can identify various weaknesses and areas of focus for future deployments

Tips For Making The Most Of Application Monitoring Data

One of the greatest features of an application monitoring software is its ability to gather data from a variety of metrics, and streamline this complex information into an easy to understand report For many instances, it's only through these error logs you're able to understand the true health, performance and stabilily of your various applications The need for effective data reporting and error logs continues to grow as the complexity of modern application infrastructure grows Therefore, in order to fully understand the current status of your applications, you must learn how to maximize the effectiveness and reliability of your data reports and error logs

Tips for Application Monitoring Data Logs

After your application moves out of the development phase, and begins to approach deployment, you'll quickly notice the need for effective logs and data reports simultaneously grows Because such logging messages are typically the only level of insight into the health and performance of your application, it's important to customize your data reports and logs based upon the unique structure of your application.

In order to accomplish this goal, then it's important that you log as much data as possible While application performance monitoring solutions are designed to automatically report and log performance bottlenecks and other issues, such as memory leaks, the majority of "out-of-the-box" monitoring solutions aren't able to gather enough data to help solve specific errors and issues. For example, why specific records aren't processing as they should or why specific users are unable to access their accounts while others are able to freely use the application

Code-Level Reports - It's important to regard your application codes as the central nervous system of your entire application If there is a misfire within the code-level of your application, then there can be broad errors and issues.
Therefore, it's imperative that you run data reports along the code-level of your application These reports should be able to identify specific errors or potential errors within the written code of your app

Diagnostic Reports - The most effective monitoring solutions are those capable of providing in-depth diagnostic reports If your application is running smoothly, then these reports are relatively simple to read through; however, if there's an error within any component of your application infrastructure, these reports are able to identify current or potential errors. Along with early error detection, diagnostic reports provide the exact location of errors, which streamline its correction.

User-Friendly Report Dashboard -While you may have some of the most powerful error and performance logs if they're scattered across multiple platforms and control panels, collecting the necessary information to truly understand the performance and health of your application may be a challenging task. Therefore, it's imperative that you select a web-application monitoring program capable of aggregating all logs and reports into a single screen. This allows your entire team to have instant access to essential data and reports, which significantly reduces the duration of error identification and correction. Look for a solution that indexes reports and displays complex data in an easily digestible format, such as via contextual graphics

Why eCommerce Sites Must Monitor Hosting Applications

Software Not Ready For Users Until Load Tested

Perhaps one of the largest mistakes a website administrator can make is avoiding application monitoring solutions until it begins to see a rush of customers. As time progresses, the use of eCommerce stores becomes evermore prevalent among shoppers. In fact, the previous holiday season was among the largest on record. While this is excellent news for those wishing to establish a successful eCommerce store, it also provides the ideal platform to begin searching for effective monitoring eCommerce application and protocols.

Regardless of what you sell or how long you've been in business, online shoppers are dedicated to only one facet of your operation - its performance. In fact, the importance of high-performing websites (and its included applications) is greater than ever before. The majority of Internet users state they have no problem clicking out of your website should it or any of its applications perform below their expectations Moreover, under performing applications tend to suggest its security has been compromised. Therefore, many Web users will immediately click out of your site should an application load too slowly or be re-directed to an error page.

In order to establish a successful and stable eCommerce store, you must implement not only website monitoring solutions, but also application monitoring tools. Do not confuse the two. While their fundamental purpose is universal, the technologies and techniques used to effectively monitor a website and a Web application are vastly different.

When determining whether or not your enterprise should implement an application monitoring solution, you must determine whether stability and performance are important factors. More than likely, the answer to this question is a resounding "Yes!" Because of this, you must seek out an application monitoring solution capable of safeguarding your eCommerce store by

Monitoring Transactions -This is perhaps one of the most important elements when it comes to monitoring your Web applications These on-page elements interact with visitors by communicating with servers and databases.

Communication strings are referred to as transactions, and depending on the complexity of your application, your server and databases may deal with thousands of transactions per day Through transaction monitoring,you're able to monitor the health of communication as well as the performance of response times. Should a bottleneck occur, a monitoring solution is capable of immediately notifying website administrators and/or lead developers Depending upon the specific software that you use, there might be a lot of different approaches to monitoring. For example, EveryStep's way of monitoring of web applications is different than other tools.

Performance Error Diagnostics - Determining the root cause of a performance draining error can be a time consuming, and costly, venture. However, through the use of application monitoring software, the root cause of errors and issues may be identified within a fraction of time via diagnostic tools. In the realm of eCommerce enterprises, the faster an error is identified, the faster a correction may be implemented In terms of applications, the swiftness of error corrections could mean the difference between making a sale or losing a customer for life.

One final note about monitoring applications: make sure to take the time to monitor your web server as well, because sometimes there are problems there and the issue may not be with your actual web application. In these situations, it may make sense to upgrade your hosting, and use a different provider. These days, green web hosting is all the rage, and it may be worth your time to spend an afternoon comparing green web hosting companies. If you're confused by all of the different options, Web Hosting Prof has a great guide on the subject and it's really worth looking at. They make the confusing simple, and tackle a bunch of different topics.