Before you make any changes or upgrades to your system, develop a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you will measure the results. For example, do you want to improve the speed, reliability, or scalability of your system? Do you want to fix a bug, add a feature, or enhance the security of your system? Do you want to comply with a standard, regulation, or policy? Based on your objectives, define the criteria and thresholds that will indicate whether the changes or upgrades are successful or not. For example, you may want to set a target for response time, uptime, throughput, or error rate.
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Design dashboards featuring crucial performance indicators, encompassing latency, error rates, and resource utilization. Reports must encompass Service Level Indicators (SLIs), error budgets, and Mean Time To Recovery (MTTR). Customize it to specific services or components affected by the change, employing annotations to highlight deployment times. Conduct a comparison of benchmark metrics, evaluating response time, error rates, and resource usage both before and after alterations. Scrutinize the data for any deviations from anticipated behavior. Validate system changes and upgrades by targeting performance enhancements, minimizing downtime, and adhering to Service Level Objectives (SLOs).
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Defining objectives and criteria is essential for successful system changes. As an SRE, establish Service Level Objectives (SLOs) based on key metrics transformed into Service Level Indicators (SLIs). Include crucial aspects like error rate (Availability SLO) and response times (Latency SLO). Tracking these metrics reveals the impact of changes, upgrades, and high load on user experiences. Monitoring the error budget provides a clear view of the trade-off between development velocity and operational stability. By setting clear objectives, backed by well-defined SLOs and SLIs, we can effectively measure and evaluate the success of system changes and upgrades, ensuring optimal performance and user satisfaction.
Depending on your objectives and criteria, select the appropriate dashboard and report types that will help you monitor and analyze the impact of the changes or upgrades on your system. For example, if you want to test the performance of your system, you may want to use a dashboard that shows the key performance indicators (KPIs) of your system, such as average response time, requests per second, or latency. If you want to test the availability of your system, you may want to use a dashboard that shows the status and health of your system components, such as servers, databases, or applications. If you want to test the security of your system, you may want to use a dashboard that shows the security events and alerts, such as login attempts, firewall blocks, or malware detections. Utilize different report types, such as trend reports, comparison reports, or anomaly reports, to gain more insights and context into the data.
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Being able to place change tracking markers on your dashboards, indicating exactly at which point a change was made, is invaluable. These markers enable you to observe performance and reliability before and after a change occurs and also communicate to the entire team that a change has occurred. These change tracking markers can also carry metadata about the change that aids in cross team understanding of what has changed.
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As an SRE, prioritize the '4 golden signals' and application performance monitoring metrics. Utilize dashboards to track these signals and monitor infrastructure, database metrics, CPU usage, memory consumption, disk space, and database performance. For teams that have set Service Level Objectives (SLOs), create dashboards showing Error Budget Burning Rates and SLI measurements. Leverage deployment reports and dashboards to track new microservice versions, identify issues, and assess the impact of changes or upgrades. By focusing on these critical metrics and utilizing deployment reports, gain a comprehensive understanding of system performance, effectively monitor changes, and analyze their impact.
Once you have chosen the right dashboard and report types, configure and customize them to suit your specific needs and preferences. For example, you might have to adjust the time range, frequency, and granularity of the data collection and display. You may want to filter, group, or sort the data by various dimensions, such as location, device, or user. Consider adding or removing widgets, charts, or tables to highlight the most relevant or important information. Use colors, labels, or icons to make the data more visible or understandable. Set up alerts or notifications to inform you of any significant changes or issues in the data.
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When configuring and customizing your dashboards and reports, it's crucial to tailor them to your specific needs and preferences. Adjust the time range, frequency, and granularity of data collection and display to align with your requirements. Utilize filtering, grouping, or sorting options to organize data by dimensions such as location, device, or user. Consider adding or removing widgets, charts, or tables to highlight the most relevant information. Enhance data visibility and understanding with colors, labels, or icons. Implement alerts or notifications to stay informed about significant changes or issues in the data.
After you have configured and customized your dashboards and reports, compare and contrast the data before and after the changes or upgrades. This will help you evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the changes or upgrades on your system. For example, compare the average response time before and after the changes or upgrades to see if there is any improvement or degradation in the performance of your system. Contrast the uptime before and after the changes or upgrades to see if there is any increase or decrease in the availability of your system. Compare the security events and alerts before and after the changes or upgrades to see if there is any reduction or increase in the risk of your system.
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After configuring and customizing your dashboards and reports, it's important to compare and contrast the data before and after the changes or upgrades. This evaluation allows you to assess the effectiveness and impact of the implemented modifications. For instance, compare the average response time before and after the changes or upgrades to gauge any improvements or degradations in system performance. Contrast the uptime before and after the changes or upgrades to identify any increases or decreases in system availability. Additionally, compare the security events and alerts before and after the changes or upgrades to determine any reduction or increase in system risks.
Finally, after you have compared and contrasted the data before and after the changes or upgrades, document and communicate your findings and recommendations. This will help you share your insights and feedback with your stakeholders, such as managers, developers, or customers. For example, document the objectives, criteria, dashboard and report types, configuration and customization, and comparison and contrast of the data in a report format. Communicate your findings and recommendations in a presentation format. Highlight the successes and challenges of the changes or upgrades, as well as the next steps or actions to be taken.
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Once you have compared and contrasted the data before and after the changes or upgrades, it is important to document and communicate your findings and recommendations. This enables you to share valuable insights and feedback with stakeholders such as managers, developers, or customers. Create a report that includes details on the objectives, criteria, chosen dashboard and report types, configuration and customization, and a thorough comparison and contrast of the data. Additionally, deliver a presentation to effectively communicate your findings and recommendations. Highlight the successes and challenges encountered during the changes or upgrades and outline the next steps or actions to be taken.
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