Day Two Cloud 131: Monitoring The Cloud From The Cloud

Today’s Day Two Cloud podcast delves into issues about monitoring all the things, including the notion of monitoring the cloud…from the cloud. Ned Bellavance and Ethan Banks discuss the pros and cons of DIY vs. using a service, differences between monitoring infrastructure stacks and applications, what to monitor and why, how to deal with all that data, the necessity of alerting, constructing meaningful dashboards, and more. Sponsor: StrongDM StrongDM is secure infrastructure access for the modern stack. StrongDM proxies connections between your infrastructure and Sysadmins, giving your IT team auditable, policy-driven, IaC-configurable access to whatever they need, wherever they are. Find out more at StrongDM.com/packetpushers. Tech Bytes: Singtel Stay tuned for a sponsored Tech Bytes conversation with Singtel. We introduce North American listeners to Singtel; get background on the global network services it provides, including Internet, MPLS, IP transit 4G/5G; and why you might want to consider Singtel for cloud connectivity. Our guest is Mark Seabrook, Global Solutions Manager at Singtel. Show Links: Grafana Labs Nagios @Ned1313 – Ned Bellavance on Twitter @ecbanks – Ethan Banks on Twitter Transcript: [00:00:01.570] – Ethan Strong DM is secure infrastructure access for the modern stack, Strong DM proxies connections between your infrastructure and Sysadmins, giving your IT team auditable, policy driven IAC configurable access to whatever they need, wherever they are. Find out more at Strong DM dot com slash packetpushers. [00:00:34.650] – Ethan Welcome to Day Two Cloud. We’ve got a robust discussion for you today. Ned and I are going to get into thoughts about monitoring. And it’s really a free flowing conversation where I was recently setting up some new monitoring. And Ned, of course, has got lots of background in monitoring his world. So we go back and forth on some ideas about that, and that’s going to be followed up with a Tech Byte 15 minutes segment where we discuss with Singtel some aspects of cloud and cloud networking. Cloud networking performance from their perspective. So I hope you enjoy this conversation. We were going to just drop you in, literally. Ned and I got talking. We both just started hitting the record button. You’re dropping into a conversation where we’re talking about, of all things, music. [00:01:18.750] – Ned So I went to a hardcore show. It was like SeeYouSpaceCowboy. Johnny Booth was playing just like a bunch of hardcore metal. And naturally I wore my Carly Rae Jepsen hoodie, which says, I really, really, really like you on the back, which. It’s adorable, right? [00:01:40.650] – Ethan If you’re listening to this, it came up because Ned is drinking out of a Carly Rae Jepsen mug. [00:01:45.600] – Ned Yeah. [00:01:46.260] – Ethan Ned, come on, man. [00:01:47.540] – Ned No, this is fun because I self consciously put the hoodie on just for fun. And I go to the show. It’s at a Polish American Hall, which gives you kind of an idea of the vibe, right? It’s in the basement of this hall. And I go up at one point to use the facilities. And as I’m walking out, the guy at the bar goes. [00:02:07.200] – Ned Oh,