Top 3 Features of Datadog

When it comes to distributed network monitoring, very few tools come close to exhausting engineers’ needs. You’ll keep thinking like this until you discover Datadog. Whether you’re just getting started on the Datadog journey or you already have an active set of agents placed everywhere but need some Datadog training, there are three features worth spending the most effort on.

This post celebrates three core features that make Datadog a competitive solutions provider for network management experts. These features are as follows:

1. The Datadog Agent
2. Tracing and application performance monitoring (APM)
3. Custom dashboards

As you’ll appreciate once you’re a Datadog expert, these three make an all-important tripod on which every other feature rests. Let’s start off by justifying all this glory throwing.

The Datadog Agent

If you liken the process of fetching data from all possible environments to fishing, agents would be the hook-and-bait component. All pipelines start with a Datadog Agent configured to fetch logs from over 400 integration options. Once you master how to cast your agents, there’s hardly a node you can’t pull logs from.

Now with an impression of what the Agent is (and that irking obligation to try it out on your stack), you ought to give it a shot. It’s always the best way to start the knowledge-gathering process, right? If time permits, make sure to try out the various Agent implementations available. Some dedicated Datadog training will make you ready and capable of taking control of any framework or environment you fancy building a network with.

Tracing and APM

The tracing feature introduces tags to an already-capable log and metric monitoring engine. The default tag options allow you to achieve an end-to-end monitoring pipeline. Chasing an event between date stamps and across environments then requires less effort than you’ve gotten accustomed to. Assuming, of course, that your current setup can look that deep into logs.

The application performance monitoring feature you stand to experience with Datadog breaks the barrier between just watching and managing. Management kicks in with detailed transaction monitoring. A typical case would emerge at the front-end side, with Datadog recognizing it all the way to the back end and any database queries it may have sparked.

Custom Dashboards

Once you’re pulling that many strings with agents and an intuitive APM system, it helps to have a windowpane onto which all findings project. It’s for this logical summit that Datadog boasts of an entirely customizable dashboard. All in all, this feature brings data visibility to levels that most data visualization platforms can only dream of.

Being custom, Datadog’s dashboard allows you to focus on the logs and metrics that you actually need. Yes, there are plenty of custom reports worth looking at from time to time. However, with so much collection power, it’s easy to lose yourself in the colorful graphic representations of trends.

Why You Need Datadog Training

At this point, you’d not be the one to blame if you went all out experimental with your instance of Datadog. However, some guided navigation of the plane will reap more advantages from a time and cost viewpoint. While the documentation and Datadog community can take you through the very basics of using the platform, having a hand to hold (through dedicated Datadog training) will walk you through the platform much better.