20 Application Monitoring Interview Questions and Answers

Application monitoring is the process of tracking, diagnosing and responding to issues with software applications. It is a critical part of ensuring that applications are running smoothly and efficiently. When interviewing for a position in application monitoring, you can expect to be asked questions about your experience and technical skills. In this article, we review some of the most common interview questions and provide tips on how to answer them.

Application Monitoring Interview Questions and Answers

Here are 20 commonly asked Application Monitoring interview questions and answers to prepare you for your interview:

1. What do you understand by application monitoring?

Application monitoring is the process of tracking, measuring, and analyzing the performance and health of software applications. This can include everything from monitoring the overall performance of an application to tracking individual transactions and measuring specific KPIs.

2. Can you explain what an APM tool is and how it works?

An APM tool is a type of software that helps you monitor the performance of your applications. It does this by tracking various metrics, such as response time and error rates. This information can be used to help identify issues and bottlenecks so that they can be fixed.

3. What are the main categories of tools that can be used for application monitoring?

There are four main categories of tools that can be used for application monitoring:

-System monitoring tools: These tools monitor the overall performance of the system, including CPU usage, memory usage, and network activity.

-Application performance management (APM) tools: These tools focus on the performance of specific applications, and can provide detailed information on how the application is performing and where bottlenecks are occurring.

-Transaction monitoring tools: These tools track the performance of specific transactions, such as a user login or a purchase on an e-commerce site.

-Log analysis tools: These tools parse log files generated by the application, and can be used to troubleshoot performance issues or identify potential security threats.

4. Which open source tools would you recommend for a small team to monitor their applications?

I would recommend the following open source tools: Nagios, Icinga, Zabbix, and Cacti.

5. Why should teams use more than one type of monitoring tool for their applications?

There are a few reasons for this. First, no single monitoring tool can provide visibility into all aspects of an application. Each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses, so using multiple tools gives you a more complete picture. Second, using multiple tools can help to verify the results you’re seeing. If two different tools are showing similar results, you can be more confident that those results are accurate. Finally, using multiple tools can help to identify potential problems sooner. If one tool is showing an issue that another tool isn’t, that can be a sign that there’s a problem that needs to be investigated.

6. How does application monitoring differ from system monitoring?

Application monitoring is the process of monitoring the performance and availability of software applications. This can include monitoring the application itself, the underlying infrastructure, and the user experience. System monitoring, on the other hand, is the process of monitoring the performance and availability of computer systems. This can include monitoring the hardware, the operating system, the network, and the applications that are running on the system.

7. Do you have any experience using Datadog or NewRelic?

I have used both Datadog and NewRelic for application monitoring in the past. I find that they both have their strengths and weaknesses, but overall they are both very useful tools. Datadog is particularly good at giving you a high-level overview of your application’s performance, while NewRelic is better at drilling down into specific issues.

8. Can you explain some of the key features provided by NewRelic?

NewRelic is a software analytics company that provides application performance monitoring for web and mobile applications. NewRelic provides features such as application performance monitoring, transaction tracing, and custom dashboards. NewRelic also has a robust data platform that allows you to collect and analyze data from your applications.

9. What’s your understanding of dashboards in NewRelic?

Dashboards in NewRelic give you an at-a-glance view of the performance of your applications. You can customize the dashboard to display the information that is most important to you, and you can use it to quickly identify any areas that may need attention.

10. How would you go about setting up alerts in NewRelic?

To set up alerts in NewRelic, you would first need to create a new alert condition. To do this, you would click on the “Alerts” tab, and then click on the “Create Alert Condition” button. From there, you would select the type of condition that you want to create, fill out the necessary information, and then click on the “Create Condition” button. Once the condition has been created, you can then set up the alert by clicking on the “Alerts” tab, and then clicking on the “Create Alert” button. From there, you would select the condition that you want to use for the alert, fill out the necessary information, and then click on the “Create Alert” button.

11. Can you describe how service maps work in NewRelic?

Service maps in NewRelic give you an overview of the performance of your entire application, as well as the dependencies between the various services that make it up. This allows you to quickly identify bottlenecks and slowdowns, so that you can address them accordingly.

12. What’s your opinion on NewRelic documentation?

I believe that NewRelic documentation is excellent. It is clear and concise, and provides everything that I need to know in order to use their product effectively.

13. What are some common issues encountered while using NewRelic? How were they resolved?

Some common issues that can be encountered while using NewRelic include:

– Not receiving data from NewRelic: This can be caused by a number of factors, including incorrect API key, incorrect NewRelic license key, or NewRelic agent not installed properly.
– Data not appearing in NewRelic: This can be caused by incorrect NewRelic configuration, data not being reported to NewRelic, or NewRelic agent not installed properly.
– NewRelic not reporting data correctly: This can be caused by incorrect NewRelic configuration, data not being reported to NewRelic, or NewRelic agent not installed properly.

14. What makes Prometheus different from other monitoring tools like NewRelic, DataDog, Sensu, etc.?

Prometheus is an open-source monitoring tool that is often used in conjunction with Kubernetes. One of the main benefits of Prometheus is that it can scrape metrics from any application that exposes metrics in a Prometheus-compatible format. This makes it very versatile and easy to set up. Additionally, Prometheus has a powerful query language that allows for very granular control over the data that is being monitored.

15. What kind of architecture does Prometheus use to collect data?

Prometheus uses a pull-based architecture, meaning that it pulls metrics data from targets that it is configured to scrape.

16. How does Prometheus store its time series data?

Prometheus stores its time series data in a time series database.

17. What are some best practices for writing queries with PromQL?

PromQL is a query language for Prometheus that is designed to be simple and easy to use. However, there are still some best practices to follow when writing PromQL queries. First, make sure to use the appropriate operators for the data type you are querying. Second, use parentheses to clearly delineate the order of operations. Finally, use labels to help identify and group data.

18. What is your opinion on the performance of Prometheus?

I believe that Prometheus is a great tool for monitoring the performance of applications. It is very easy to use and provides a lot of features and flexibility.

19. Is there anything that Prometheus doesn’t support when compared to other monitoring tools?

Prometheus is a very comprehensive monitoring tool, but there are a few things that it doesn’t support when compared to other tools. For example, it doesn’t have built-in support for alerting, so you’ll need to use a third-party tool like Alertmanager for that. Additionally, it doesn’t have as many integrations with other tools and services as some of the other options out there.

20. What happens if Prometheus goes down? What will happen to my data?

If Prometheus goes down, your data will be lost.