What is application performance management (APM)?

Getting the most out of IT infrastructure can sometimes be as simple as updating a server with the latest processors from Intel or AMD, but at other times it can be a hideously complicated undertaking.

Managing IT resources can be a strenuous enough prospect, but keeping all of the apps an organisation uses in check and running well can be a highly demanding task. But it is here that application performance management can help.

What is application performance management?

Application Performance Management (APM) is used to uncover and diagnose poor application performance, with the key purpose of providing a better experience for end-users. APM tools are employed to carry out the work and can be used to analyse the performance of a single app or multiple apps running on the same network, depending on the organisation’s needs.

The measurements are taken based on two scenarios: the end user experience, including the volume of transactions processed by and app and how the app responds to a user’s actions, such as the initial load and how it reacts to being deployed.

The second metric is looking into how an application uses compute resources – ie., whether it’s draining capacity or consuming an irregular amount of the company’s resources. If this is the case, one app could have a detrimental impact on the entire company’s app structure if used by a large number of users, for example and this could cause bottlenecks on the entire network.

When these two separate metrics are analysed together, administrators can work out what an app’s “baseline” performance is and allowing engineers to test them against potential scenarios; for example, what will happen if a lot of people are using the same app at the same time, what will happen if there’s a network-slow-down or an outage.

Application performance management also spans both hardware and software. The former looks to assess if insufficient compute power in the server or servers supporting the app is causing performance problems. While on the software level, tools track the rate at which errors occur so that IT administrators or developers can pinpoint problems causing apps to slow down or fail, for example from not having enough memory to handle intensive processes.

It is worth noting that application performance management differs in a fashion from application performance monitoring, as the latter only tracks the performance of an app while the former takes a deeper dive into the app’s performance metrics to identify where problems might exist.

Modern application performance management tools can not only be used across a network but also across different platforms. This is particularly handy when it comes to monitoring the performance of cloud-powered apps in private and hybrid cloud environments.

The nature of the cloud means apps and services can be run off a pool of shared compute resources and servers, meaning that load balancing and the spinning up of extra compute power when needed, can mask some performance problems in apps. This may be missed by an IT team but can be detected with application performance management tools.

How can application performance management be effective?

Ensuring apps are running smoothly and at optimal performance will help enable their users to be more productive and stop them from getting disgruntled at app crashes or sluggish running.

But application performance management can also detect errors in apps at both the development and the deployment stage of an app’s life.

And in situations where compute resources are finite, say in an on-premise server room, then application performance management allows for IT administrators to prioritise the apps they deem to be critical to the running of their company and spin down those that are not so business-critical yet are consuming resources.

There are now plenty of application performance management tools in the market, including those from major vendors such as IBM and CA Technologies, and specialist firms like Stackify and ManageEngine.

Such tools should make the management of app performance across an enterprise a less daunting task and one that can yield productivity benefits which in turn helps bolster a business’ bottom line.