How to Troubleshoot API Errors and Reduce MTTD/R

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The benefits of Node.js to develop real-time applications at scale are very well known. As Node.js architectures get more and more complex, visualization of your microservices-based architecture is crucial. However, the visualization of microservices is incredibly complex given the scale and the transactions across them. In this workshop, you will learn how to leverage service maps to instantly understand your architecture and troubleshoot any API error.

We will write a simple Express application and explore best practices when using Express. Then, we’ll deploy the application on AWS, integrate the environment with Epsagon, and deep-dive into various features of the platform to enable immediate detection and fast troubleshooting of application errors. Goals: Visualizing your architecture, monitoring your applications, reducing your mean time to detection and recovery (MTTD and MTTR).


Who should attend?
DevOps, Engineers, Cloud Architects, IT, Software Developers, Solution Architects and Engineers, SREs, and anyone who is running microservice-based applications (Kubernetes, containers, serverless functions, and more) in the cloud.



Prerequisites

  • We prefer to use VSCode for a better experience (other IDEs are fine)
  • Preinstall npm and node
  •         Pre-existing AWS Account - You can create a free tier here
  •         Attendees are free to create an Epsagon account in advance here, not mandatory





This workshop has been presented at Node Congress 2021, check out the latest edition of this Tech Conference.

FAQ

Observability in modern Node.js applications refers to the ability to monitor and understand the internal states of systems by examining their outputs. It involves tracking and analyzing metrics, logs, and traces to gain insights into application performance and behavior, especially in complex distributed systems.

Observability can be challenging in distributed applications due to the complexity of managing multiple components that interact with each other. Tracing the flow of requests and understanding dependencies across services becomes difficult, making it hard to pinpoint issues and optimize performance.

AWS Lambda is a serverless compute service that allows you to run code without provisioning or managing servers. It automatically manages the compute resources, scaling them as needed. It's used for deploying applications by allowing you to upload your code, which Lambda executes in response to events such as HTTP requests through Amazon API Gateway.

Distributed tracing is the process of tracking a request as it travels through various components of a distributed system. It is important because it helps developers understand the path of requests, diagnose bottlenecks, and identify failures across complex microservices architectures.

Epsagon specializes in providing observability solutions for distributed systems by offering automated tracing and monitoring tools. These tools help in visualizing and understanding the behavior of applications, enabling quick identification and resolution of issues within cloud-native environments.

Gal Bashan
Gal Bashan
149 min
15 Jul, 2021

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Video Summary and Transcription

Today's workshop focused on observability in modern Node.js applications and the challenges in distributed systems. The workshop covered building an Express application, making API requests, deploying to AWS Lambda, and integrating with Epsilon for tracing and troubleshooting. Epsilon provides a comprehensive solution for monitoring and troubleshooting, including visualizing trace data, indexing requests, and creating alerts. The workshop also included a treasure hunt contest to find a hidden password within the APIs. Overall, the workshop emphasized the importance of observability and provided practical tools and techniques for implementing it in real-world applications.
Video transcription and chapters available for users with access.

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