Microservices are an architectural approach for developing applications. They are distributed and loosely coupled to support independent deployment, scalability of an application that helps developers to rapidly deliver more functionality and reliability. Therefore, the increasing need for microservices can be summarized in one word - speed.

Unsurprisingly, it has changed undulate effects within software management, including monitoring systems. So, today we will be discussing the radical changes required to monitor microservices efficiently in production environments. We’ll check why we need to monitor systems, what the challenges are in monitoring microservices, and how to overcome them.

Why Monitor Microservices?

Monitoring is a critical part of every IT system. However, the challenges that are associated with microservices are comparatively new and different. For instance, deployed as a single application, a monolithic system has dependencies and failures that are completely different from what one can find in microservices.

Although the  reason behind monitoring microservices is similar to any other type of distributed system, i.e., failure, being a system with multiple services, microservices-based applications require more intensive and different monitoring methods.

No one wants their system to fail. However, it’s not only one reason why you should be monitoring microservices. Systems are not only about ups and downs - but complex systems can also operate in a degraded state while impacting the performance. These states can often proclaim the upcoming failures in the system. That’s why monitoring the system behavior can alert the developers about the degraded state prior to complete failure.

Additionally, system monitoring can produce insightful information that can help in enhancing the performance of services. The data, including performance and failure, can be used to determine certain failure patterns of the system and resolve them.

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