What is the web application performance management tool “APM”?

This is Ohara from the technical sales department.

I would like to introduce ``APM'', which has been attracting attention little by little recently.
By the way, APM is an abbreviation for "Application Performance Management."
As the name suggests, it is a tool for managing and monitoring application performance.

About APM

APM is a tool that visualizes application performance management.
Rather than traditional management methods that monitor individual network and system components,
it detects, understands, and analyzes performance degradation from the end user's perspective.

By constantly maintaining application performance,
you can improve the efficiency of application operation management and user satisfaction.

In addition, in order to manage application performance,
it is a prerequisite that the following two points are possible.

・Be able to measure application performance from the end user's perspective
・Be able to analyze and identify the causes of application performance bottlenecks

APM management process

In general system operation management,
problems are identified from the management tools of each system such as networks, servers, databases, and logs, and

are ascertained . There may be a delay in investigating the cause.

Although each system is operating smoothly,

performance is deteriorating due to various factors such as the location and region of the access source and the device used by the user event will occur.

However, APM has the characteristic of monitoring applications from the end user's perspective.

is like having an engineer constantly in front of a PC monitor, monitoring web applications and business systems from a browser

makes it possible to manage application performance from angles that cannot be approached using traditional management methods

Industries suitable for APM implementation

web application development, such as social games, online shops, and SaaS (ASP)
, seem to be considering the introduction of APM as a part of improving service quality.

What the industries have in common is that they are actively using public clouds.
A public cloud is a system in which resources (CPU, memory, disk, network bandwidth, etc.) on a virtual infrastructure are
shared and used by multiple users.

However, users have
questions about how resources are shared, what they are used for, and whether there are any problems with the operation of the platform itself, things that have become invisible due to cloud computing. It is also possible that there are hidden factors behind the delay.

To avoid losing customers due to an unsatisfying user experience,
you're looking to improve the performance of your application and create key differentiation.

In other words, what is important when managing an application is "How about it from the end user's perspective?"
When end users find that their website or application is slow,
they become dissatisfied and leave.

Advantages of APM

■ Improving the efficiency of failure response

APM manages performance from the end user's perspective, which
naturally speeds up response to failures. In addition, while it was difficult to understand and analyze the cause with conventional management methods
, the system quickly investigates the cause,
allowing administrators to eliminate the work of understanding and analyzing the problem.

■ Improving user satisfaction

According to Gomez's website satisfaction survey, just one second of slowness in display speed
reduces user satisfaction by 16%, page views by 11%, and conversions by 7%. .

Reference: Why Web Performance Matters: Is Your Site Driving Customers Away?

In other words, application performance has a huge impact on user satisfaction.
APM can improve user satisfaction by consistently maintaining high performance.

■ Prevention of opportunity loss

In online shops, there are a large number of users who leave because of the delay in displaying their products.
If the system is not responsive, users will feel very stressed.
This stress leads to a decrease in the user's desire to purchase, which directly affects the performance of the online shop.
By preventing these opportunity losses, you can aim to increase online shop sales.

APM tools

We will introduce APM tools from two companies that are often compared.

■ New Relic

New Relic is the collective name for the performance analysis service platform provided by New Relic, which
integrates not only one performance analysis function but also multiple analysis functions.

 

[New Relic product URL]
https://newrelic.com/

■ App Dynamics

 

AppDynamics is compared as a competitor of New Relic.
It is equipped with a self-learning function, so the service automatically sets thresholds.

 

[App Dynamics product URL]
https://www.appdynamics.jp/

summary

Currently, the companies that are introducing APM are mainly large companies with the budget, but
in the future it will gradually spread to industries such as social games and online shops, so
APM services will become mainstream. I think so.