Software developers make use of a database to store and manage collected data and present analytical results as required. Database monitoring, which is the process of observing, identifying, and reporting database activities, is thus an important part of app maintenance.
Database monitoring ensures that database issues are found in time to make sure an app’s health and accessibility isn’t affected. Without proper monitoring in place, database outages can not only take place but may also go unnoticed.
There are two types of database management services and these are proactive monitoring and reactive monitoring. In the former, database metrics are studied for issues that can be identified before they become major problems. Reactive DB management, on the other hand, takes place after a problematic incident occurs. A few examples of when reactive database monitoring is done are performance troubleshooting and security breach monitoring.
Benefits
Due to the importance of database monitoring, many companies partner with data management services that will ensure there are no major problems with an application database. There are also a number of benefits to database management.
Database management improves end-user performance, which is an important element of any app, and troubleshoots problems before they reach the end-user. DB management also reduces the time and resources required for database support. In addition to this, database management determines if the solution to an issue is database upsizing or server configurations, through which capacity planning is improved.
Implementation
Database management services use various database monitoring designs and systems to troubleshoot problems and there are certain things to consider when implementing such a system.
Firstly, it is vital to look at how the database will be monitored. This includes the collection of key database, server, and virtualisation performance metrics. Next there should be an alert for any performance or availability problems and a comprehensive report on these issues. Finally, it’s important to correlate database issues with end-user response metrics. This is done for an accurate assessment of app performance.
The next area to look at is what counts as a problem. Problems include KPIs that exceed threshold values, inability to access the database, and poor performance and response time. Once these problems are identified, it’s important to consider what steps are taken next.
Prioritising and escalating high-severity issues with alerts, detailed notes into the alert to speed resolution on recurring problems, and automating with OS commands or scripts are some of the steps that database management services take once a problem or issue has been identified.
Database Metrics
There are a few types of database metrics that should be studied as part of DB management. Infrastructure is one of the main metrics in database monitoring and includes available memory and disc space and network bandwidth for inbound and outbound traffic.
Availability, throughput, performance, scheduled tasks, security, and logs are some of the other metrics that are looked at by database management services. These are all vital aspects of any database and can have problems and issues.
Database Management Services
While DB management requires skills and knowledge an IT professional would possess, companies sometimes look to third-party DB management solutions. A third-party solutions provider will offer a wide variety of options when it comes to evaluation, alerting, and reporting. DB management is also tied in with overall monitoring, which means that insight can be gained into the status of infrastructure as a whole.
Whether you have in-house database management solutions or rely on third parties, database management is an important part of application development. By not implementing monitoring systems and studying important database metrics, your collection of data will be vulnerable to a range of issues and problems. Your business can be greatly affected if these issues reach the end-user.
If, for instance, there are performance issues that go unnoticed by subpar database management, the user may move to a different app. As your app keeps losing users, your company may be forced to look at different avenues, which can come at a great cost. However, if database monitoring had been done efficiently, issues and problems could have been identified before any real damage was done.
It is for this reason that experts recommend having a good database management system in place so that troubleshooting can be done without delay.
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