Management and Monitoring Patterns and Guidance

Cloud applications run in in a remote datacenter where you do not have full control of the infrastructure or, in some cases, the operating system. This can make management and monitoring more difficult than an on-premises deployment. Applications must expose runtime information that administrators and operators can use to manage and monitor the system, as well as supporting changing business requirements and customization without requiring the application to be stopped or redeployed.

The following patterns and guidance topics are related to management and monitoring in cloud-hosted applications.

External Configuration Store Pattern

Move configuration information out of the application deployment package to a centralized location. This pattern can provide opportunities for easier management and control of configuration data, and for sharing configuration data across applications and application instances.

For more info, see the External Configuration Store Pattern.

Health Endpoint Monitoring Pattern

Implement functional checks within an application that external tools can access through exposed endpoints at regular intervals. This pattern can help to verify that applications and services are performing correctly.

For more info, see the Health Endpoint Monitoring Pattern.

Runtime Reconfiguration Pattern

Design an application so that it can be reconfigured without requiring redeployment or restarting the application. This helps to maintain availability and minimize downtime.

For more info, see the Runtime Reconfiguration Pattern.

Instrumentation and Telemetry Guidance

Most applications will include diagnostics features that generate custom monitoring and debugging information, especially when an error occurs. This is referred to as instrumentation, and is usually implemented by adding event and error handling code to the application. The process of gathering remote information that is collected by instrumentation is usually referred to as telemetry.

For more info, see the Instrumentation and Telemetry Guidance.

Service Metering Guidance

You may need to meter the use of applications or services in order to plan future requirements; to gain an understanding of how they are used; or to bill users, organization departments, or customers. This is a common requirement, particularly in large corporations and for independent software vendors and service providers.

For more info, see the Service Metering Guidance.

Next Topic | Previous Topic | Home | Community