App Monitoring 101: Collecting the Right App Data

If you want your app to function correctly, you need a system for monitoring data. Without data monitoring, there’s no way to observe just how well your app is functioning and how to respond to the problems. Nobody wants to run into trouble with their app, but issues are unavoidable. To plan in preparation for problem-solving, you should have a plan for collecting the right data about your app. Here’s a guide to app monitoring through data collection.

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Why Collect App Data?

It’s not expensive to monitor your app data, and it’s easy to overlook this part of the app development process in favor of more complex operations. Failing to monitor app data could leave you with a complicated problem which will end up costing you much more money than if you’d been tracking your app in the first place. Collecting and classifying data allows you to not only become aware of potential problems before they occur, but you can also boost your performance regularly through periodic updates.

Understanding Metrics

Metrics are values relating to your app systems for specific moments in time. Your metrics for your app are continually changing, so it’s essential to have a system for frequently checking your metrics. They can be collected at regular intervals as needed, such as once per second or once per minute. The two main types of metrics are work metrics and resource metrics. You’ll need to decide for yourself which app metrics are most important to you, and prioritize the collection of those.

Work Metrics

You can break your work metrics down into different types of observations. Your work metrics for your app will indicate it’s overall well-being, and whether it’s performing as well as possible. Common work metrics include throughput, error, success, and performance. Throughput is the amount of work your app completed per unit. Success and error are like they sound: the percentage of success or failure of your app for that unit of work. Finally, performances are how efficient your app functions. Performance is reported as a percentage.

App Monitoring 101: Collecting the Right App Data

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Resource metrics are essential to analyzing the current state of your system. This is where your problem solving comes in since resource metrics might indicate potential problems in your app. Once again, resource metrics are broken into categories. First is utilization, this is a percentage that represents whether a resource is in use. Saturation is the is a measure of requested resources. Errors indicate any potential problems within different areas of your app. Finally, availability is the percentage of time a particular resource or system responds to requests from the app. Resource metrics work in relation to work metrics to present a clear picture of overall performance.

Collecting Data

There are a lot of things to consider when collecting data from your app. You should learn how to analyze the data you collect, so you don’t have to break down what each number means. You should also have a system for regularly collecting data before a problem. Finally, you can use different resources like Load Testing by Stackify to stay in tune with your app performance. Data collection is an ongoing process. Spend time deciding the best way to manage your app data, so you’re never caught off guard!

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