Regardless of the complexity of network and web applications, the use of complex event processing, or CEP, plays a direct role in increasing productivity and ensuring infrastructure and operations run as smoothly as possible. Along with protecting the functionality of applications, complex event processing serves as a direct line of defense against fraud and malicious attacks against your network and infrastructure.
Complex event processing is directly responsible for the development of secure and advanced IT environments. Because of CEP, application performance management tools are able to work with a wide array of applications and architecture types, such as SOA and legacy applications. This is made possible as complex event processing engines are not limited to working with a single source for its data. It’s able to accurately correlate information from a wide array of sources, which allows it to delve deep into how IT errors and issues directly affect the key performance indicators in business metrics.
Complex event processing allows APM tools the ability to:
- Establish enterprise-level standards across all data platforms
- CEP allows testing models and troubleshooting to be done in a safe environment (virtual simulation)
- Allows for simple and effective establishing of event pattern expectations, which may be used to design and create processes based upon contextual delivered information.
- Enhances the ability for network scalability without fostering a vulnerable security environment.
- Enables wide aspect event harvesting, which allows each event/transaction to be visible not only on the IT level, but also at the business level. This feature allows businesses to understand how each transaction is affecting their business functionality and performance. It’s only with this information that effective changes can be implemented.
- Recognize established patterns based upon the parameters set forth by the network administrator. By showcasing patterns across multiple platforms, or applications, administrators are able to view trends in application use as well as spikes in abnormal behavior, which may otherwise go unnoticed. Enacting a company-wide policy that includes some type of application performance monitoring is one way to ensure that these things don’t go unnoticed.
Overall, complex event processing allows data gathered through an APM tool to be delivered in such a way that IT organizations are able to improve application performance, availability (uptime) and visibility to all users. Its insightful conclusions are a must-have for all businesses who desire a means of reducing the impact of application errors while simultaneously working to the detect anomalous behavior, which could indicate fraud or a malicious attack.
Establishing a stable and high-performance application environment is not a simple task. However, with the use of complex event processing within your application performance management solution is able to streamline necessary information to help decrease the time spent troubleshooting application errors and issues. While not every business requires the use of CEPs, if you’re seeking a stable application environment, this is an essential component to any network infrastructure.
