Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

No one likes a slow website. Every IT pro needs to constantly check website speed to keep up with the demands of today’s uber-connected world. Fast websites aren’t just about laptops or desktops anymore. Website users connect from a variety of devices like cell phones and smart TVs. This post will discuss website speed testing, including how often you should test your speed, why one speed test probably won’t cut it, and some tips and tricks related to website speed and performance.

Data breaches don’t wait for a convenient time to strike. They sometimes take months to uncover. They are complicated beasts, but once you’ve uncovered them some complex rules kick in that determine when you need to report the breach. Reporting a breach can be a daunting prospect. You’ll need to make a public statement in most cases, you may need to report the breach, and there may be legal requirements.

This past month was a hot one for outages. The Facebook family of apps continues to struggle with multiple outages, the London Stock Exchange had to open late one day this past month, and banks across the world experienced issues. Here’s your August outage report, including insights from our own monitoring at the Uptime.com HQ.

What makes synthetic monitoring a crucial tool to measure the customer experience? When I buy something online, it takes about one to three minutes. That time depends on the complexity of forms I encounter, whether I have an account with the retailer, and how easy the site is to navigate. Of course, there are lots of other variables I don’t notice that also affect my buying experience.

Digital experience relies heavily on the performance of your website, its servers, and your applications. The user experience is most impacted by load time or responsiveness. The fastest applications usually win the day, but there’s more to website performance monitoring than simply measuring speed. Website performance monitoring looks holistically at your site or application.

Slack went down and Twitter activity went up, but what did your team do with its downtime? Did you sit and ping your workspace over and over, waiting for the inevitable return? Did you give up and have a coffee? Did you use it to stay productive and get things done? Ok, I’m not your boss and sorry I asked that last question. Maybe if you were not productive it’s because an outage makes it hard to focus.

How fast is your website, and how does application performance affect the user experience even when small changes are applied? If careful attention is not paid to content delivery and hosting, speed and performance at scale become a full-time task. API latency, performance issues during traffic surges, and third-party services all play a role in general performance.

In April of 2018, security researcher Kevin Beaumont discovered an interesting case of web defacement on the NHS Insights website. He’d expected to find data related to patient surveys about their experiences with the National Health Service. Instead, he found a very different kind of message. A review of the page’s cache suggested that this eerie music and imposing image had been in place for at least the previous five days.

Website availability is a top priority for enterprise IT teams. Depending on the purpose of your website, even a couple of seconds of downtime can cost big money. That’s why monitoring for website availability issues is a critical part of any IT team’s overall mission. Downtime happens. But sometimes it can be prevented. We’ve put together this guide to help you get the most out of your website uptime monitor. Let’s dive in, shall we?

An API check is comprised of multiple HTTP/S checks configured for uptime monitoring. In API monitoring, tracking latency and availability provide first notice of a potential problem. The same extends to general uptime monitoring, where serving the best and fastest user experience is critical. Functionally, an API and HTTP/S check might do the job of monitoring API endpoints. Both can post or expect strings in response, and both provide alert of downtime.