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An Introduction to Application Performance Monitoring

Are you concerned that you aren’t getting as much out of your application and network infrastructure that you should? Do you notice an application not working as efficiently as possible? Have you looked into application performance monitoring?

Much more than just application monitoring, APM measures your software’s local and network performance to make sure you are getting as much as possible out of it. APM software monitors everything from the end-user experience down into a deep-dive analysis of the application itself. It has everything you need to make the most of your software.

What are the basics of APM software? What does the software do, exactly? Read on for an introduction to application performance monitoring!

What Is Application Performance Monitoring?

Application performance monitoring (APM) is a set of software tools built to monitor the health and performance of business applications. The tools, such as this platform, are used to make sure a business’s software and network applications are working at maximum efficiency. It collects several metrics that give an overall picture of how robust your operating platform is.

How Does It Work?

Application performance management software uses several key points of data to measure an application’s impact on the system it runs on. It also measures the impact on the overall network. It uses an application’s baseline working conditions as a measure of performance, meaning how it operated without any external factors affecting it.

Major Components of APM

There are five major components that application performance management software is designed to monitor. Though it is recommended to monitor as many factors as possible, these are the major metrics that Gartner Research recommends you keep abreast of above the rest. The first is the end-user experience.

The end-user experience is paramount to software efficiency. The longer it takes a user to navigate to where they need to be, the less efficient the application is. The segment collects data like HTTP errors, downtime, or slow loading time.

Next is application run-time architecture, which deals with the application components and how they interconnect. Knowing how the application interacts with its own components, allowing for a full view of the inner workings. This makes detecting problems easier if the whole application stack is visible to the monitoring software.

Business transaction profiling analyzes each transaction as it happens. It then can isolate problems in the transaction’s flow. It can find the exact database query or line of code that’s affecting your application’s performance.

Application deep-dive analysis follows performance throughout all sections of the application and brings slowdowns into focus. Pair this with the last area, analytics and reporting, and you have a comprehensive view of how your application and infrastructure work together for your business.

Application Performance Monitoring

APM is an important tool in your business arsenal. Using it can mean a tighter business practice, which in turn translates to happier clients. Utilize APM to bring your business infrastructure to the next level!

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