monitoring
noun
Monitoring systematically tracks software, infrastructure or processes through measurements and checks. Deviations can trigger alerts so an administrator can investigate.
Monitoring alerted the operations team when the application's response time increased sharply.
Monitoring tracks whether software and its underlying infrastructure work as expected. It collects information such as availability, response time, error rates, memory usage and background task processing. Automated checks compare these measurements with agreed limits or patterns. A deviation can trigger an alert to the operations team.
What does monitoring reveal?
A single measurement tells you little. Monitoring tracks values over time and combines different signals. It can show that an application is still reachable but gradually slowing down, or that errors mainly occur after a particular Glossary · In briefreleaseA release is an identifiable software version prepared to be made available to users. It brings together one or more checked changes.Read more. Signals from business processes can also be relevant, such as tasks accumulating in a queue.
An alert is useful only if it is clear when someone needs to act. Limits that are too loose miss problems; overly strict limits generate many alerts without clear urgency. Appropriate thresholds, priorities and response agreements are therefore part of setting up monitoring.
Monitoring, logging and observability
Glossary · In briefloggingLogging records events while software is running. These records help developers follow a system's behaviour and investigate problems.Read more records events such as failed requests or started tasks. Monitoring uses these records and other measurements to track a system's state. Glossary · In briefexception trackingException tracking automatically records and groups errors that occur while software is running. It gives developers information to investigate an error's cause and impact.Read more focuses more specifically on software errors and preserves technical context for investigation.
Glossary · In briefobservabilityObservability is the extent to which available signals help you understand what is happening inside a software system.Read more describes how well available signals explain what is happening internally. Monitoring can show that a threshold has been exceeded. Good observability helps explain why. Monitoring does not automatically prevent an outage, but can reveal a deviation earlier and support a more focused investigation.