Four Keys to Successful APM Searches: Part One
Introduction
"Nothing is Hidden." While the Soto Zen founder, Eihei Dogen, was talking about "practicing life as a meditation", he easily could have meant searches for Application Performance Management information.
I have spent eight years searching continuously for answers to user questions for achieving stable and scalable APM monitoring infrastructures. And while others have been unable to find them after an “extensive” search, I have been to retrieve answers using the techniques listed below. It is my wish that this article will start an informative and wide-ranging dialogue on this topic. So let’s talk about two different Search Strategies, shall we?
Clueless Searches
Tommy Sherman is under the gun to find answers to his questions. So he queries frantically just to get anything to appear in the results area. Because any result is far better than a blank screen. Many just flail away doing futile information searches with not much thought is given to the query. But this approach does not have to be followed.
Organized Searches
Garfield Lemay plans his searches before typing a single key. This includes the following:
Key #1: What type of query is it?
Are you searching for:
- Answer to a simple question? (Information Request)
- Steps to install/upgrade/configure an APM component?
- Causes of an Error Message or a performance/condition?
- Answers to multiple related questions? (Complex search)
- Release-specific/Site-specific information?
Knowing the type of query will determine
- Which sources to search
- How long to search
- Results likely to be returned
Key #2: What is my APM Search Strategy?
The following are some successful search strategies to use?
- Start specific and get more general or Start general and get more specific?
The first approach goes for the “quick hit” and then expands the search. The second approach looks for analogous behavior in other components and then drills down. (An example of this is having a LINUX-based error. Seeing if this error occurs in other APM components and third-party products may result in more options.)
- Timeframe of searches. Some errors may be release-specific or occurred in the last two years. So more current information may be relevant. But some errors may have started with a few occurrences and later became more frequent. One example is the XML Parse Error in the TIM log. This used to happen infrequently. But with the arrival of SOAP, Web Services, and XML transactions, this became more common. So a wider search may show you the trends used to resolve an issue. And that gives you an idea of viable options and what was done before.
- Search terms, search terms, search terms.
A major reason for not finding information is simply the search terms used. Some guidelines for successful searches: - If there is a Java exception, searching on the offending class/method may yield a treasure trove of information.
- Include the who, when, and where in search terms:
- Describe the general operation (Such as install/upgrade, report, configuration)
- Include the component name/version, third-party software version, and APM version. Again try this with one of these factors and
then expand to all of them. - List what is and is not happening. (Such as no SLA reports)
Next time, I will continue on this topic. Until then, happy searching!