Logging

It is a good practice to add logging capabilities to applications as they are built. There are a lot of good tutorials on how to setup logging within various applications and software frameworks. It is also instructive to discuss why something is a good practice since understanding why can lead to new insight in how, when, and where to apply said ’thing.’ The point of today’s post is to discuss some scenarios for why application logging is important. This post will be mostly non-technical because the how of logging can be learned with some decent web searches and there is already a wealth of information on logging software on the web. ...

Operational monitoring of a software application is one of the activities the ensures a successful public launch. Too often it seems like a service’s course to public availability looks something like, Conceptualization → Development → … → SHIP IT. The “…” component is an important step at large enterprises with large public services (like Expedia, Amazon.com, etc) and involves developing a way to monitor an application whilst running it. At smaller organizations though I have seen this smaller step get discarded or not looked at. Today’s post offers a few thoughts on what logging and monitoring looks like today. ...