Monitoring refers to the process of observing and analyzing systems, applications, and networks to ensure they are functioning optimally. It plays a crucial role in identifying performance issues, security incidents, and capacity bottlenecks.
There are several types of monitoring: infrastructure monitoring (e.g., servers and hardware), application performance monitoring (APM), network monitoring, security monitoring (e.g., SIEM), and user behavior monitoring.
Modern monitoring tools use dashboards, alerts, logs, metrics, and AI-driven analytics to provide visibility into IT operations. They help detect anomalies, ensure uptime, and automate incident response.
Effective monitoring leads to improved performance, better customer experience, and proactive risk management. It also aids in capacity planning, SLA compliance, and continuous improvement.
Tools like Nagios, Zabbix, Prometheus, Datadog, and Splunk are commonly used for monitoring across different environments. As systems grow more complex, especially with microservices and cloud deployments, comprehensive monitoring becomes indispensable.
