User Experience Design and Software Development

Datadog: App Monitoring's New Best Friend

6/7/2016

In the previous post we discussed the basics of port/latency monitoring using AppBeat. In this post we will discuss full stack server monitoring using a tool called Datadog.
Datadog is one of the leading application performance monitoring SaaS tools. We will cover how to setup a monitoring agent on your servers and configure Datadog to display metrics, trigger alerts, and even integrate with twilio to send SMS when there is a problem with the server.

Stack

The first thing to do is to sign up for the Datadog service here. Once completed, you can integrate your server into their dashboard by running the Datadog monitoring agent on your server as follows:

Integrate Datadog into applications it supports; you can see if your software is supported by Datadog here
You can install their agent directly into your machine as root.
You can run their monitoring agent inside a docker container.

It’s a cross-platform monitoring agent that works on both Linux and Windows and integrates over 100 services. The full list is available here.

Installing the Datadog agent on the server
The installation procedure is pretty simple, once you login to your server:

Go to Agents under the Integrations panel or go to this link:
Elect your operating system and follow the instructions on the page to install datadog agent on your server.

E.g. on my ubuntu machine I had to run the following command:
DD_API_KEY=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx bash -c "$(curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DataDog/dd-agent/master/packaging/datadog-agent/source/install_agent.sh)"

Once the agent is installed on your machine, go to the Datadog dashboard and see if any events appear on the event log.

You can find the default dashboard panel of your system at the bottom of the Dashboard List under the “Host Dashboards” section.

Open the host dashboard and you’ll see all sorts of metrics, for example :

Integrating Twilio into Datadog
Twilio is an telecommunications SaaS platform where your can send SMS and make calls like as you would on a mobile phone.

To integrate Twilio, follow this tab path to get to the configurations tab:

Open Integrations under the Integrations panel on the side panel
Select “Webhooks”
Select the Configurations tab and scroll down to the bottom of the popup

To test if the Twilio integration is successful:

Go to the Events page and input @webhook-twilio into the event box.

Click post to trigger the webhook and if everything is configured correctly you should receive an SMS.1.

In order to proceed, you will need a Twilio Account SID and Auth Token which you can find under “Account Summary” on the Twilio Console.

Copy both and replace them with ACCOUNT_SID and AUTH_TOKEN in the following URL:
- https://ACCOUNT_SID:AUTH_TOKEN@api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/ACCOUNT_SID/Messages.json

2. Following, construct this message in twilio API format.
{
"To":"+1XXXXXXXXXX",
"From":"+1YYYYYYYYYY",
"Body":"Service seems to be down, check datadog portal"
}
*(XXX) XXX-XXXX is your phone number and (YYY) YYY-YYYY is the twilio number.

3. Copy & paste the message in the content payload and check the “encode as form” box

4. Add the URL listed above into the URL field and “update the configuration”.

5. Create a new monitor and select the metrics you want to monitor and when it asks “What’s happening”, enter “@webhook-twilio” and save the monitor.

To test if the Twilio integration is successful, go to the Events page and input @webhook-twilio into the event box. Click post to trigger the webhook and if everything is configured correctly you should receive an SMS.

That covers how to monitor your app using Datadog and how to get notified. Note that the value you get out of Datadog is similar to what you would get by using a tool like New Relic which is a great tool, but comes with a premium price more suited for large corporations. For startups or others on a budget, Datadog could be your best friend.

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Wearable future Tech Meetup recap

5/26/2016

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Wearable tech enthusiasts, pizza, beer, what could be better? On Tuesday May 24th , we had the pleasant opportunity to host a Wearable Tech Meetup at one of the most innovative spaces for entrepreneurs, the Samsung Accelerator. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the space, Samsung Accelerator “provides strategic capital, office space, operational and product support to seasoned entrepreneurs so they can build market-driven software and services.” We are thankful to Samsung Accelerator for letting us use their space and look forward to collaborating with them in the future.

This meetup was a panel discussion on The Wearable Future and it focused on the developmental process of the space and how it will develop within the next few years. With a focus towards the fashion/apparel side of things, the panel analyzed several devices including step trackers and smartwatches and their current domination in the market. They explored factors that currently limit the wearability design process including archaic battery technology due to short battery life and bulky attributes and furthermore talked about key marketing strategies behind selling a wearable tech product in its relation to the fashion industry.

Important key factors from the discussion included:

Wearable technology doesn’t exist for users to adapt to the product, but rather to improve and advance their current lives.
Similarly to other tech designers, wearable designers need to integrate the concept of longevity into their design process so that the intended product line can expand over time
The fact that although many mainstream fashion brands have expressed their desire to expand into wearable technology, the possibility of the product appearing to be too cheesy and cheap might devalue the brand as a whole.

Wearable topics and companies the panelists considered to the be leading the wearable tech industry today included:

Companies:

Meta : Meta glasses are see-through wearable glasses, in which digital content is displayed as a dynamic layer over your actual physical surroundings
Carbon3d : Develops 3d printing solutions that integrates ideas of diverse perspectives and disciplines including software, hardware, and molecular science

Concepts:

Smart textile application in the military (for medical and other fields)
3D printing of soles for shoes vs hand sewing/injection molding
Exo-skeleton development to increase physical capabilities

The panelists that we invited to the meetup not only have years in relevant experience, but are figures leading successful companies that are currently dominating in the industry. .

Nora Levinson, President & CEO at Caeden
An experienced mechanical engineer and entrepreneur, Nora Levinson has been involved in the in the product design industry for several years.. After spending 5 years in China at several companies including Skullcandy and Jawbone, Levinson joined forces with her co-founder to create ADOPTED Inc and Caeden and still applies her management to both.

About Caeden
Technological pieces like the headphones and earphones have long since been standard within the industry. Although many companies have ventured into improving sound quality while at the same time improving the appearance, most of the time they would have to decrease the other in order to make it completely functional. Caeden however, was able to combine both elements equally delivering impeccable sound quality with a beautiful and refined finish. Their most recent release, the Sona, is a bracelet designed for performance. Connecting to the Caeden App, the Sona is an innovative wearable tech piece that takes performance bracelets to the next level by tracking your physical activity and building your resilience to stress.

Ryan Sherman, Founder & CEO at FUSAR
Ryan Sherman is doing what every little boy has dreamed of: 1: creating his own company, and (2: creating his own company in the exciting field of adventure sports. Note: change) With years of Product Engineering experience in a variety of companies, Sherman has brought with him the expertise and leadership he needed to start his own company, FUSAR, in August 2013.

About FUSAR
In regards the actual company, FUSAR is the world’s first technology ecosystem for action sports. By connecting the tech industry to the action sports sphere, FUSAR believes they can encourage more connectivity from users and help with overall safety. The product’s selling point is simple: it provides multiple advantageous features while at the same time providing flexibility in that you can use any helmet with the product. The advanced features in which it provides includes: full action camera, activity tracking, unlimited-range communication*, navigation, music playback, black box, and emergency alert capabilities. There is also an accompanying app with features such as tracking and sharing rides, chatting with friends via their push-to-talk comms, emergency alert system, and real time photo and video sharing, this app really expands the boundaries of creating a holistic social media outlet for fellow junkie riders.

Meisha Brooks, Product Manager/ Mechanical Engineer at The Crated
Engineering and fashion are two categories not usually associated with one another. For Meisha Brooks however, both aspects have remain to this day in her life. Starting off her career at Harvard for mechanical engineering, Brooks would proceed to build an impressive list of experiences covering various industries around mechanical engineering often switching between Japan and the United States. Following her position at Tradecraft as a Product Designer, Brooks then moved to The Crated, where she still works to this day.

About The Crated
Despite wearable technology focusing more on miniaturized computers on wrists these days, The Crated expands their perspective on wearable technology to even the clothes we wear. Positioning themselves as an innovation house, The Crated actively develops products, conducts proprietary research and provides insights to industry leaders with the hopes of making second generation wearable technology mainstream.

The event went over the planned time as the panelists had the audience under their wearable tech industry spell. To be part of our next meetup, join the New York Wearable Tech Meetup at www.meetup.com/WearableTechNYC

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