BreadcrumbHomeResourcesBlog Why Good PHP Monitoring Matters July 18, 2024 Why Good PHP Monitoring MattersPHP DevelopmentBy Massimiliano CavicchioliPHP application performance management (APM) allows developers to monitor the performance of their apps and quickly respond to any problems as soon as they arise. This offers more control to developers and ensures that end users have an optimal experience when using a PHP application.While most companies have some level of application monitoring in place, not all organizations have applied it well. In this blog, we give an overview of the benefits of a good PHP application monitoring strategy, outline evaluation criteria for choosing the right PHP monitoring tools, and discuss how Zend can support your PHP APM efforts.Note: This blog was originally published on July 13, 2023, and has been expanded to include updated information.Table of ContentsWhy PHP Monitoring Is Necessary for Web AppsHow to Evaluate PHP Monitoring ToolsImprove PHP Monitoring With ZendFinal Thoughts Additional Resources Table of Contents1 - Why PHP Monitoring Is Necessary for Web Apps2 - How to Evaluate PHP Monitoring Tools3 - Improve PHP Monitoring With Zend4 - Final Thoughts 5 - Additional Resources Back to topWhy PHP Monitoring Is Necessary for Web AppsEvery organization should have a well-implemented PHP APM solution for their mission-critical PHP apps. This allows DevOps teams (and the organization as a whole) to resolve issues and PHP performance bottlenecks efficiently and reduce Mean Time To Resolution (MTTR).This has a substantial impact on the bottom line of the business, as organizations do not have to deal with the unnecessary work involved in maintaining an extensive software analysis group.In general, PHP monitoring allows insight into application health, by providing notifications when certain conditions occur, such as high CPU usage, high memory usage, slow requests, execution errors, and more.You may either passively get details on events/issues by using the visualizations tools provided by a vendor, or you may setup the delivery of notifications to you actively on the channels of choice (SMS, email, Slack, ticket systems, etc.).Issue Detection and DebuggingRelated to the concept of MTTR, the ability to detect and debug an issue, as close as possible to the initial development phase of the software development lifecycle, or SDLC, is one of the most important features of a PHP monitoring system.In order to fulfill the objectives, an enterprise-level PHP monitoring system must provide the capacity to drill down into call stack traces to diagnose performance bottlenecks, auto-discover business transactions, complete dynamic baselining, and run code-level diagnostics.These functionalities will ensure a rapid issue identification and resolution to maintain an ideal user experience for any mission-critical PHP application, running on-premises or in the cloud.Performance OptimizationIn today’s digital world, faster troubleshooting isn’t enough.A great user experience is paramount for the success of a web application, therefore a valuable PHP monitoring system must guarantee a large set of data points, as intelligently aggregated as possible, related to areas of the execution that are not performing optimally.Those areas include:Scope Analysis of Degradations - Which users are impacted by applications performance issues, for which transactions, when and how often? Fault Isolation - Identify the infrastructure layer responsible for the application performance degradation across network, endpoint, secured gateway, load balancers, front- and back-end servers) to direct the case to the right team for in-depth root cause analysis and performance management.Root cause analysis - Pinpoint the change, defect, or parameter which is creating the slow processing or errors.Security and Vulnerabilities DetectionAs your PHP apps succeed and grow, your services scale in number and complexity. This makes it difficult to maintain a rapid pace of innovation while keeping your applications secure.It’s particularly challenging to respond to attacks, as DevOps and security teams need to collaborate to understand each attack’s root cause and remediate the vulnerabilities that enabled it.It becomes paramount to be able to identify risks from known vulnerabilities in third-party libraries and services, assuring that the only attack surface is limited to the proprietary logic developed in-house under the full control of DevOps and security teams.A PHP app monitoring system can help teams to:Identify services/libraries exposed to security risksUnderstand those vulnerabilitiesSee which elements have been exposed to attacksMitigate active threatsStay Up to Date on the Latest CVEsZend is dedicated to keeping PHP applications secure against the latest CVEs. Our PHP Security Center allows your team to quickly assess vulnerabilities and exposures by version, type, and severity.Visit the PHP Security Center Availability and UptimeAnother topic that has great business relevance is app availability, especially for critical PHP apps.Availability and Uptime must be analyzed ahead of time through the following lenses: Figure out your SLAsDetermine the cost to your business when SLAs are violated in terms of lost revenue, brand antipathy, and even the loss of customer lifetime revenueMake a case for the ‘Line of Business’ decision makersA state-of-the-art PHP APM must be able to feed valuable and unequivocal data towards the analysis mentioned above, facilitating data-driven decisions for business leaders.Back to topHow to Evaluate PHP Monitoring ToolsWhen choosing PHP monitoring tools, always take the time to evaluate your goals and the tools at your disposal to ensure you’ve selected the best fit for your application. It is important to emphasize some processes-related characteristics a PHP APM solution must unequivocally satisfy. These characteristics include:Easy to install in all componentsEasy to integrate in DevOps pipelines, bringing added value to such processesEnhancing the development experienceHigh degree of configurability in order to tailor the various PHP APM features exactly to the needs of an applicationEasy visualization of actionable dataPricing, monitoring requirements, fitting into existing processes and observability tools, and how the PHP apps are deployed and consumed by the end users also impact which PHP APM solution is your best monitoring solution.Back to topImprove PHP Monitoring With ZendThere is no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to selecting and implementing the right PHP monitoring tool for your web app. PHP applications can be complicated, and they require robust monitoring solutions that fit your team's skill set, available resources, goals, and more.Zend is here to help. We offer flexible PHP monitoring tools and support services to detect issues or vulnerabilities, schedule security updates, and improve your application's performance through advanced monitoring capabilities.Customizable PHP Monitoring With ZendHQModern PHP apps can become complex, and scaling these apps to meet demand isn't always as straightforward (or cheap) as teams hope. A PHP APM solution like ZendHQ makes it easy for your team to monitor, inspect, optimize, automate, secure, and scale your PHP apps.PHP MonitoringZendHQ detects issues before they become big troubles, in a very configurable way that minimizes false positives.Learn More About ZendHQ Observability and Monitoring >>Code TracingDo you need to see the entire backtrace of a problematic event (including values in and out for functions/methods) in a proactive fashion? ZendHQ code tracing immediately becomes a lifesaver for extremely difficult issues to debug, especially in production where things are not easily reproducible.Learn More About ZendHQ Code Tracing >>AutomationEasily automate and manage the installation and configuration of all PHP APM components tailored to any application needs, in every environment of your SDLC.Learn More About ZendHQ Automation >>JobQueueAs a great enhancer for performance and scalability, ZendHQ provides a state-of-the-art queuing system for async or long-running tasks that can be used directly from your proprietary code.Learn More About ZendHQ JobQueue >>Try ZendHQ Free for 30 DaysZendHQ, an extension for ZendPHP, delivers the building blocks for modern, scalable, and secure PHP apps. Try both free for 30 days, no strings attached.Start Your TrialContinuous PHP Performance Monitoring With Admin as a ServiceIf you want to take the stress out of PHP APM and monitoring, you can do so with Zend Admin as a Service. Our dedicated team keeps your PHP runtime secure and updated while providing continuous performance, security, and stability monitoring. With Admin as a Service, the Zend PHP experts become your PHP experts, offering:An intuitive and easy-to-navigate dashboardReduced ownership costs associated with maintaining PHP runtimesTurnkey installation and configurationsScheduled security patches and updatesEnsured compliance for all regulationsUninterrupted performance monitoring with personalized tuning and prompt failure alertsMonthly reports delivered directly to your inboxOverall, the service is designed to allow you to concentrate solely on your business objectives, with a plethora of data points delivered by us to substantially help with the achievement of such objectives.Back to topFinal Thoughts In summary, a good PHP monitoring strategy can pay dividends for many organizations. By making it easier to continuously improve user experience, optimize performance, and improve security, a well-applied PHP monitoring strategy can make the SDLC (and decision-making process) more efficient and ultimately more effective.That said, it's important to get it right. Choosing the right tool, such as ZendHQ or Zend Admin as a Service, and deploying it to its full benefit is critical to achieving the benefits described above.Exploring Your PHP Monitoring Options? ZendHQ and Zend Admin as a Service deliver comprehensive performance monitoring for PHP applications. Learn more at the links below.Explore ZendHQ Discover Admin as a ServiceBack to topAdditional Resources Blog - How to Build a Backup and Recovery Plan for PHP AppsBlog - PHP Debugging: Go Beyond Step Debuggers With ZendHQBlog - Getting Started With Web Application MonitoringBlog - Everything You Need to Know About Maintaining PHP ComplianceBlog - PHP Code Tracing With ZendPHP and ZendHQBlog - How to Use Apache HTTPD With php-fpm and mod_phpWebinar - PHP Observability and Orchestration With ZendHQBack to top
Massimiliano Cavicchioli Software Architect Massimiliano Cavicchioli is a Software Architect at Zend. He has over 20 years of experience in the tech world, 16 of which he spent contributing to the PHP ecosystem at Zend. During his many years of providing consultation to enterprise corporations, Massi has developed a wealth of tangible knowledge — making him highly capable in helping companies achieve best practices in both PHP and OSS.