Monitoring is the process of observing and recording something, typically using specialized equipment. A monitoring system is a collection of software elements used for data gathering, processing, and presentation.
Alerting is the process of notifying someone of something, typically an emergency. This makes it possible for people to keep up with the information that matters most to them.
Monitoring and alerting best practices include having a system in place to track and record data, setting thresholds for when alerts should be triggered, and having a plan for how to respond to alerts.
Monitoring and alerting systems are important because they help us to detect and respond to problems in a timely manner. Timely detection and response can help to prevent or mitigate the impact of problems, and can help to improve the overall stability and availability of systems.
The first step in designing a monitoring and alerting system is to determine what data you need to collect. This will vary depending on the type of system you are monitoring, but some common data points to consider include:
System performance data: This can include data on CPU usage, memory usage, disk usage, network traffic, etc.
Application performance data: This can include data on response times, error rates, throughput, etc.
Infrastructure data: This can include data on server status, network status, etc. This can include data on server status, network status, etc.
Log data: This can include data from application logs, system logs, access logs, etc.