No matter how careful developers are or how comprehensive tests are applied before deployment, there will always be some level of issues to deal with in production. When it comes to managing issues and ensuring application quality, two main metrics should be on our radar: time to discover and time to resolve issues.

That is a common question I see among developers. Most of the time, nobody cares about system logs. But when things go south, we absolutely need them. Like water in the desert, sometimes! At Dashbird, we have a list of criteria compiled to determine a reasonable retention policy for application logs. There is no one-size-fits-all, though. The analytical dimensions below will give a relative notion of how long the retention period should be.

With the rise of cloud computing and modern distributed systems, we also witnessed the rise of a new practice area: DevOps. Despite being fundamental for smooth cloud operations, a dedicated DevOps practitioner is a luxury most teams can’t afford. Salaries average $130K in San Francisco, for example. When a dedicated DevOps practitioner is not available in our team, what should we do? The answer could unfold a multitude of aspects.

At this moment, billions of people are rushing to the internet for work, entertainment, shopping - everything, really. It’s great that we developed this virtual world and can keep the lights on, despite what’s happening outside. On the other hand, cloud systems and developers are under pressure to meet an unparalleled demand. At Dashbird, we have always thought developers deserve the most efficient tools to discover and resolve issues in order to keep cloud apps running smoothly.