Active vs. Passive Monitoring: Which one to go for?

Passive Monitoring makes use of an internal approach if you want to monitor the performance of the web based applications that are embedded within the enterprise network. On the other hand, active monitoring is also known as synthetic monitoring. This form of monitoring executes routine scripted checks which simulate the behavior of the end-user. You can run these tests from within the network or from various points on the internet. While both active monitoring and passive monitoring aims at offering crucial performance monitoring data, the methodology and therefore the result is perfectly different. What do you mean by Passive Monitoring The other name for passive monitoring is real-user monitoring. Generally speaking, these monitoring tools are hardware based and are located inside the LAN capturing traffic flow. Passive monitoring gathers relevant metrics and aims at monitoring real users on a website as well as their behavior on the website. The technology upon which passive monitoring is based is exclusively designed for keeping a watch on actual end-user interactions as and when they take place. The passive monitors are generally available at a variety of price points as well as implementation procedures. Advantages of passive website monitoring Passive website monitoring comes with innumerable benefits including: • Application spanningrn • Keeping a watch on the requests which may be cached by a proxy or the user agent • Keeping a watch on the client side activities and eventsrn • Keeping a watch on the actual page render timern • Keeping a watch on the page to page latency What do you mean by Active Monitoring? rnActive monitoring makes use of the technology which emulates a web browser. On the other hand, scripting is programmed for simulating the actions of an actual user of the website. These scripts are executed on a consistent basis. While executing, they record as well as analyze various metrics. The data that you receive after active website monitoring is about the availability and performance of the website. With the help of active website monitoring you will be able to identify performance as well as connectivity issues from different online points. Advantages of Active Monitoring You don’t have to take many pains to set up as well as use active monitoring. Some of the benefits that you can avail using this form of monitoring are as follows: • It is highly proactive; hence, performance issues may be detected before they actually affect the web applications and websites. • Monitoring may take place from various online locations, thereby allowing users from across the globe adhere to this form of monitoring. • The ability for simulating user transactions permits for performance monitoring of scripted business procedures, like the use of secure logins, shopping carts to name a few. The Right Balance between passive and active website monitoring Whether you are talking about passive or active website monitoring solutions, there are some things in common, i.e. they offer benefits that stand out from the crowd; over and above some of these benefits may not be mutually exclusive as well. While both these solutions aim at providing crucial performance monitoring data, the methodology as well as the results obtained differ largely. The truth is that you need to look for an approach which is a combination of both passive as well as active monitoring solutions and ensures to help you with the highest degree of performance guarantee.