FINAL WORD
performance problems that arise, putting
user experiences at risk.
Combatting the complexity
conundrum
Michael Allen, VP and EMEA CTO, Dynatrace
These cloud-native architectures make
it easier for organisations to fully reap
the benefits of the cloud. They allow
organisations to achieve the agility and
flexibility that means application resources
can scale in line with fluctuations in traffic,
operational and storage costs can be
reduced and faster implementation and
deployment can be achieved.
Storm clouds ahead
However, while the eventual benefits of
rearchitecting applications far outweigh
those of the ‘lift and shift’ approach,
businesses can be put off given the tricky
and costly processes of redesigning,
recoding and repurposing applications; not
to mention the added complexity it brings
to the enterprise cloud ecosystem. Research
has found that today, web and mobile
transactions already cross an average of 35
different technology systems, compared to
22 just five years ago. In large part, that’s
because organisations are running hugely
complex hybrid cloud environments, with
applications that sit astride multiple cloud
platforms and on-premises systems.
As a result, before they begin the process
of rearchitecting applications for the cloud,
enterprises must undertake analysis of
where to optimally break the monolith into
microservices to ensure they will actually work
in this new environment and deliver the desired
benefits. They must also ensure they have the
ability to maintain end-to-end visibility and
control over the user experience in spite of the
added complexity that’s being introduced to
their hybrid, multi-cloud environments. The
first step in that process is to identify a way to
ensure rearchitected applications provide the
same level of performance and quality of user
experience when they’re in the cloud as they
did on-premise.
Baselining application performance
before migration will provide a clear
picture of what ‘normal’ behaviour looks
like, so organisations can quickly identify
any degradations introduced by the
process of rearchitecting applications
into microservices and containers. Having
established that baseline, businesses need
a way to monitor the performance of their
newly rebuilt cloud-native applications in
real time, so any problems that arise can
be resolved before the user experience
is impacted. Traditional monitoring
approaches are simply unable to provide
that level of visibility in today’s complex
cloud-native ecosystems, which introduces
a major risk, as application performance
can’t be guaranteed – a risk no business can
afford to take.
Clear skies ahead
This challenge can only be overcome with
new monitoring approaches that have
advanced AI and automation at their core.
These capabilities mean that IT teams
can auto-discover dynamic IT ecosystems
and instantly analyse the complex
interdependencies between cloud-native
application and infrastructure components.
They can also auto-adjust the performance
baseline as the cloud ecosystem changes,
to reduce alert noise that stems from the
fluctuations in resource consumption that
are common in the cloud. This provides the
business with real-time situational awareness
into their cloud-native ecosystems, making
it much easier to identify and rectify
performance problems before they impact
user experience.
As with any major technological
shift, rearchitecting applications into
microservices and containers is not
without its pitfalls. However, with the right
measures in place to ensure they can steer
a steady course through the complexity
that these cloud-native architectures
bring, businesses will be able to fully reap
the rewards of versatility, agility and
flexibility that the modern enterprise
cloud has to offer. This capability will be a
major advantage in the race for constant
transformation that’s taking place across
all industries and every organisation. n
Microservices and containers add even
more layers of complexity to that
technology stack, while creating black box
environments that are difficult to see into.
These environments are also more dynamic,
meaning that applications that were
previously static are undergoing constant
change. The extra ‘noise’ this creates can
make it infinitely more difficult for businesses
to identify and rectify the root cause of any
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