Effective Monitoring and Alerting

Chapter 1. Introduction

Present-day information systems have became so complex that troubleshooting them effectively necessitates real-time performance, data presented at fine granularity, a thorough understanding of data interpretation, and a pinch of skill. The time when you could trace failure to a few possible causes is long gone. Availability standards in the industry remain high and are pushed ever further. The systems must be equipped with powerful instrumentation, otherwise lack of information will lead to loss of time and—in some cases—loss of revenue.

Monitoring empowers operators to catch complications before they develop into problems, and helps you preserve high availability and deliver high quality of service. It also assists you in making informed decisions about the present and the future, serves as input to automation of infrastructures and, most importantly, is an indispensable learning tool.

Monitoring, Alerting, and What They Can Do for You

Monitoring has become an umbrella term whose meaning strongly depends on the context. Most broadly, it refers to the process of becoming aware of the state of a system. This is done in two ways, proactive and reactive. The former involves watching visual indicators, such as timeseries and dashboards, and is sometimes what administrators mean by monitoring. The latter involves automated ways to deliver notifications to operators in order to bring to their attention a grave change in system’s state; this is usually referred to ...