A web application is software that is accessed over the Internet through a web browser. A web browser, also referred to as a web client, usually interacts with a web server requesting services. Web application monitoring is the process of testing and confirming that users can properly interact with a web application as anticipated.
Web application monitoring is often used by companies to ensure that application performance, uptime, and functionality are as expected. Organizations make use of web monitoring companies and tools (like EveryStep) for efficient system monitoring. Web applications tracking tools gather data including server response times, page element performance, and load times to analyze and ultimately optimize application performance.
Importance of Web Application Monitoring
Monitoring ensures system uptime and that all application modules are in sync by capturing system performance data and notifying administrators when downtime occurs. Additionally, web monitoring ensures that a system is accessible to users, reduced downtime, and performance is optimized. End-users who rely on web applications often get frustrated when web systems are not readily available and accessible. Web monitoring thus ensures system uptime.
Quick Web Monitoring Dos and Don’ts
Now that you have understood web application monitoring, here are several Dos and Don’ts to help you get started with web application monitoring:
Dos:
- Manage essential web transactions both in real-time and synthetically. Real-time monitoring will help detect problems and their cause in real time while synthetic monitoring will help you can validate application availability and performance.
- Monitor server performance to ensure required server capability and detect server overloading.
- Observe application throughput and response times to get overall system performance and trends over time (you can learn more about this on Dotcom-Tools.com).
Don’ts:
- Don’t assume that cloud services providers will always provide you with the best services – sometimes they slow down. Thus, don’t forget to manage them to give you the best.
- Don’t presume that your web application will always have good performance; it can be affected by downtime from providers or hardware and software failure, and therefore, it’s important to keep monitoring.
- Don’t only focus on HTTPS and HTTP monitoring. It’s vital to include DNS services monitoring as well as other essential web application elements including POP services and FTP which can also have a negative impact on user experience.
Businesses are increasingly adopting web applications, therefore transferring all their business operations on the cloud. As such, web monitoring is significant as it ensures application uptime and provides ways to monitor and reduce downtime.
