Category Archives: APM

Tips for Maximizing and Monitoring Application Performance

Web applications have never been more popular among businesses in all industries. To provide fancy and new experiences for users, many webmasters are transferring their complex application to the client side rather than hosting them on back-end servers. While this provides smoother interfaces and higher quality interactions between a user and the website, the majority of web applications can encounter performance-draining instances that dramatically decreases functionality and overall user experiences.

While there are many techniques and tips capable of enhancing the performance of all web applications, several of these tips are universal across all platforms and applications.

Avoid Unnecessary Communication With Servers

Preserve the speed and performance of your web applications by limiting the amount of round trips between the client and the server throughout all events and processes. Perhaps one of the most effective ways to accomplish this goal is by implementing an Ajax UI. The idea behind this tip is to prevent a web page from having to fully refresh throughout multiple steps. By only allowing necessary portions of a page and application to refresh, there is less wait time for server response and the entire experience feels fluid and complete. Consider adding client side scripts to validate certain processes that require communication with a server in order to fulfill the request. Monitoring the performance of a website is one way to make sure that you don’t allow servers to use unnecessary resources or initiate unneeded communication with other devices.

Monitor Bandwidth Usage and Availability

When it comes to the performance of a web application, the amount of available bandwidth plays a direct role in how quickly the application operates. While you may have carefully planned for the amount of bandwidth an application will require, what happens when the application receives an unexpected amount of traffic? What if your site goes viral and thousands wish to access an application within a short amount of time? While there are many instances that are outside of your control, such as unexpected spikes in application traffic, you can help support continual high-performance by reducing the amount of unnecessary high resolution files, which include images and videos. When designing your web application, do so with the intention of having high bandwidth demands, which will automatically result in leaner, more functional applications.

Continually Monitor and Address Application Issues

Because of the dynamic environment most applications thrive in, it’s essential that you establish an application performance monitoring solution capable of continuously monitoring and addressing issues in all levels of an application. Remember, there’s no such thing as the perfect application code. Errors and issues will arise; however, it’s how you tend and repair these issues that truly determine its overall performance. Remain vigilant in regards to monitoring the performance of an application and establish set guidelines when it comes to addressing and correcting any and all errors.

Debunking Mobile APM Solution Myths

Mobile access to businesses is an exploding source of revenue and advertising for businesses across all industries. In fact, many of the world’s leading retailers have seen a significant increase, up to 80 percent, of revenue directly from mobile applications and site access. Because of the weight and importance mobile applications have in the modern digital marketplace, mobile APM solutions are swiftly becoming the go-to source to create a stable, functional mobile environment. While the importance of high-performing mobile applications is nothing new, when it comes to APM solutions for mobile platforms, there are several serious myths that deserve to be debunked.

Myth #1 – App Ratings in Marketplaces is an Unchangable Reality

 While there is not such thing as a completely error-free code, users are continually searching for well designed apps with as little performance and error issues as possible. Although it’s impossible to create a 100 percent perfect application code, the notion that negative app ratings in the marketplace is an unfortunate reality is nothing more than a myth. In many cases, mobile application developers may forego advanced-level APM solutions as they feel their code is decent and negative experiences are bound to happen; however, with an advanced-level APM solution, you’re given an opportunity to reduce performance issues while simultaneously delivering a stable application for all customers.

Myth #2 – Mobile APM Solutions Are Limited in its Insights

 An unfortunate reality in the realm of mobile application is the fact that most mobile-only APM tools offer visibility up to the point of a network request. Anything deeper than this surface-level request is unable to be tracked due to the limits of these constricting APM solutions. While this may be true, there are several viable options to encompass a complete monitoring solution: end-to-end APM tools.

An end-to-end APM solution delivers information regarding each transaction throughout its entire event: starting from the originating mobile device making a request, all the way to the backend database that follows through with this request. As our industry has expanded, so has our ability to monitor events from end-to-end. Take control of your mobile APM solution by adopting a tool that features end-to-end monitoring across all platforms.

Myth #3 – Understanding Users is Near Impossible

 This is one of the most common misconceptions regarding mobile application performance management, which is unfortunate. You’ll never fully understand your users unless you’re able to discover as much identifying information about them as possible. You must understand how users spend their time within the application and what processes they follow the most.

The modern mobile APM solution marketplace has expanded its capabilities to help you understand end-user behaviors and use. For example, you may inject timers at multiple points throughout an application event to measure how much time the average user takes to walk through the application. There are literally hundreds of customizable metrics set in place to monitor and observe the behaviors of mobile application users. It’s only when you’re armed with this information you can deepen your control and customization of an application based upon the specifications of users, not on the specifications of your test runs.