Web Application Monitoring Tools – Essential Features

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Regardless of your business and its functions, the functionality of its mail system is critical to ensure fluid operations. No matter how well the Microsoft Exchange Server implementation went, in order to maintain consistent availability and functionality, Exchange Server must be continually monitored. Automatic monitoring solutions offer continual insight into the functionality of your critical mail system. If you’re looking to implement a monitoring solution for your Exchange Server, it’s essential your solution consists of the following elements for comprehensive management.

 

Elements of an Effective Monitoring Solution

The components of an effective Exchange monitoring tool vary according to vendor; however, there are several universal elements that result in comprehensive monitoring.

 

Key elements include:

 

• The tool must automatically discover the roles of all installed Exchange servers
• Provide real-time alerts based upon your designated parameters, along with best practice parameters established by the vendor.
• Provide custom recommendations based upon performance and functionality of Exchange infrastructure.
• Identify the various attributes of an Exchange Server, which include: logical drives, physical drives and information stores.
• Record and analyze domain controller response times, which are responsible for the overall functionality and performance of your Exchange Server.
• Provide continual system-wide monitoring, which includes monitoring: Operating System Health, External Storage Performance, Exchange Application Functionality. If you’re looking for a comparison of the available web application monitoring

Essential Exchange Metrics

When browsing monitoring solutions, make sure to review several critical metrics to ensure the most comprehensive monitoring service. These metrics include:

• Database Performance – The solution must continually monitor the performance of the Exchange database. This metric should provide information, such as real time and historical performance; cache performance, latency; IO requests; request queue logs.

• Mailbox Server Performance – The most effective solutions are those that detect and monitor all client protocols in operation, which includes mailbox server functionality and performance. As more protocols are deployed, the solution must automatically adjust its monitoring capabilities to account for this expansion.

• Client Access Server Performance – Client Access Server monitoring is essential to gather detailed insights regarding connection speeds, search logs, response times, Web service requests as well as ActiveSync trends.

• Hub Transport Functionality and Performance – This level of monitoring ensures all Hub Transport Servers are operating at their optimum performance levels. Metrics to be monitored within this category include: message rates, delivery queue trends, IO Bottlenecks and database operations.

• CPU Utilization Rates – The utilization rate of your central processing unit, or CPU, can provide insights regarding whether or not your allocated resources are large enough to handle request loads and activities. When operating at high levels, the overall performance of Exchange Servers can be negatively affected.

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