Cloud

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), one of the most rigorous pieces of privacy legislation to date, has become almost synonymous with data privacy. This is partly due to its broad scope. The GDPR applies to any organization collecting and processing the data of an EU citizen—even if the organization isn’t based in…

Any enterprise deploying applications should be using Heroku—a cloud-based Platform as a Service (PaaS) for developers to deploy, manage, and scale their applications without having to manage dozens of pesky cloud infrastructure deployment scripts. One of the most useful features of Heroku is the access to hundreds of add-ons capable of operating as fully-managed services—from…

We live in a world of applications, which are always becoming better at what they offer to their end users. The continuous cycle of development, delivery, and feedback has made drastic changes in the way applications are developed these days, and the cloud has been at the forefront of all these changes. Not long ago,…

Since it came on the scene in 2013, Slack has taken the business world by storm, especially for SysAdmins looking for a better way to monitor dozens of software programs at once. It’s a full-package instant messaging system, offering organizations the ease of direct messaging, private channels, the ability to share files, and cross-platform compatibility…

Node.js is an open-source, JavaScript-built platform developed in 2009 to help quickly build scalable network applications. It’s a server-side system that’s highly economical, being both productive and lightweight. As a non-blocking IO model that’s event-centric and driven, it’s well-suited to applications that are data-intensive and run at a multi-device level. Node.js offers a large library…

You’d be hard-pressed to find a tech organization that doesn’t use logging. It’s a vital tool, particularly crucial for troubleshooting. So, most organizations will have logging, one way or the other. However, fewer organizations go the extra mile and turn their logging strategy into full-blown log management. Those few that do enjoy the benefits log…

Node.js, due to its advanced push technology, lightweight architecture, event loop, non-blocking I/O feature, and faster execution speed has been rated among one of the most popular Javascript frameworks. However, like any other application, Node.js applications aren’t immune to performance issues and errors. Debugging applications is still one of the most important, and at the…

Being aware of how quickly your website’s pages are loading is crucial. Slow loading times upset existing users, increase bounce rates, affect search engine rankings, and have a serious impact on revenue. So tracking your site’s loading times, and understanding problems that affect the speed of your website, can be the difference between a failing…

The IT departments in most enterprises handle myriad activities, both routine and rare in nature. The common goal of all IT teams is to keep their businesses running with optimum utilization of IT resources. However, ensuring high availability for business applications and monitoring network and infrastructure heath is no simple task. IT teams have to…

Network security predominantly falls into two different categories: on-premises and cloud-based. Enterprises choose which one they use to protect their system by considering several factors including individual needs and operational costs. Both approaches are concerned with keeping a network as secure as possible, but cloud security measures get the most scrutiny. So, which is it?…

There are literally hundreds of possible types of log sources around your environment and choosing which bubble to the top of your IT consciousness can be difficult. In a job where everything seems to be a top priority, understanding all the log types and sources available for selection can be daunting. In your environment, some…

With an increasing number of programming languages in circulation, the range of application monitoring tools is growing. This guide will specifically address Hypertext Preprocessor, better known as PHP, and the key features and advantages of some of the best PHP performance tools available. Before reviewing the PHP performance tools, let’s first take a look at…

It wasn’t long ago when organizations cited several concerns and excuses to avoid putting their production workloads in containers. Things have changed, to say the least. With Docker, container technology has gained high acceptance, and users now download millions of container images daily. Docker containers offer an efficient and convenient way to ship software reliably,…

Ruby is a common programming language, ranked among the most popular in the world for tech startups, alongside Java, Python, SQL, and PHP. Many well-known applications and websites are built on Ruby, including Airbnb, Twitter, Kickstarter, CafePress, and Github. Ruby is an object-oriented language developed in the mid-1990s by Japanese creator Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto. Matz…

Different IT infrastructure monitoring tools are designed to offer visibility into particular aspects of your overall IT system, including applications, servers, logs, and more. The overall quality of these tools can vary, from excellent products built for business use to more limited open-source software. Their alerting capabilities vary as well, with tools offering a range…

Is your organization looking for a better way to log? Unfortunately, logging comes with several challenges. Especially when logs pile up with an immense amount of data. This makes extracting key metrics difficult without the right tools. Therefore, it’s vital one has an organized logging practice. Today we’re taking a look at .NET logging. Firstly,…

These days, even business-critical applications are being virtualized, and with the increasing costs and complexity of data environments, it’s not surprising. Some estimate that large organizations are as much as 70% virtualized already, with no plans to go back to physical servers. Virtualization, however, introduces new challenges for the Oracle DBA, including getting visibility to…

Knowing the state of your network and server health is incredibly important for techs who want to optimize performance. Without insights into how your servers are performing, you increase the odds of encountering pesky software bugs or potential bottlenecks. That’s why it’s important to develop proactive server monitoring practices. Monitoring servers can be a tedious…

Real user monitoring (RUM) and application performance monitoring (APM) are two different but related methods of IT monitoring that share a goal: improved application performance. In this guide, we’ll break down the differences between RUM and APM, how each of them work, and their typical purposes. I’ll also explain how RUM and APM can complement…

MTTR: Definition and More Efficient incident management starts with tracking and improving the right metrics of success. There are quite a few of them (MTTR, RTO, etc.), but it’s important to know which align to your business’s objectives for application performance.  In this post, we’ll cover the definition of MTTR, the benefits of tracking it,…

What Are Cloud-Native Applications? While there isn’t a universal definition for cloud-native applications, some common principles characterize them. Cloud technologies are used to create applications that are easier to manage and scale. The cloud is about giving the business flexibility without sacrificing speed. In this post, I want to explore the characteristics of cloud native…