IT Briefcase Interview: Mobile Website and Custom APIs Monitoring

with Zaheeruddin Ahmed B, Site24x7

Below, Zaheeruddin Ahmed B, marketing analyst at Site24x7, the cloud infrastructure monitoring service, discusses the need for a way to monitor mobile apps and mobile-optimized websites — from the perspective of the mobile user — and his company’s efforts to do just that with its industry-first mobile monitoring solution.

Q: What is the latest offering from Site24x7?

A: Site24x7 recently launched the Site24x7 Mobile Network Poller App during the Velocity conference in Santa Clara, California. With this first-of-its-kind Android app, users can monitor mobile websites and custom APIs from their mobile phones.

Q: First of its kind? Can you explain?

A: The Site24x7 Mobile Network Poller App doesn’t just monitor your mobile websites and custom APIs. It also gives you a carrier-specific monitoring perspective by converting your Android handheld device into a monitoring location. This is an industry-first offering that extends Site24x7 monitoring capability beyond 50+ global locations to include your personal mobile devices.

Q: What is the importance of monitoring mobile websites and APIs?

A: The rise of mobile device usage has driven a steep, corresponding rise in people using their handheld devices to access websites and apps. In turn, IT teams want to monitor how the websites and apps are performing to ensure great end-user experience for mobile device users and computer users alike.

Q: Why is carrier-specific information important to a user?

A: As mobile phones are primarily used to access websites and applications, it is important to get a mobile perspective on how the websites and apps are performing. Historically, there was no way to monitor mobile apps and websites from the mobile networks themselves. So IT teams lacked carrier-specific insight on how their apps and websites were actually performing for mobile users.

Without mobile network information, tuning and optimizing mobile apps and websites was an exercise in guesstimation. This guesswork is removed by the Site24x7 Mobile Network Poller App, as it gives you a mobile perspective for optimization.

Q: Can you elaborate on the connectivity mechanism of the Site24x7 app?

A: The Site24x7 Mobile Network Poller App works with popular wireless carriers like AT&T and Verizon and technologies including 3G, 4G, WiFi or any connectivity that is available on the phone. The app captures key statistics such as availability, response time and downtime from mobile users’ perspective.

Q: How many monitors can be associated with a specific carrier?

A: There is no limit to the number of monitors that can be associated with a specific carrier, but the app would monitor in sets of two. For example, if there are 10 monitors associated with a carrier, the app would monitor the first two and then move on to the next two and so on. Each instance of the Android app will have to be associated with one carrier. Since we do not charge extra for the app itself, cost is not an issue.

Q: Can you choose multiple carriers to monitor a single website?

A: Yes, this is one of the highlights of the app. This type of monitoring gives users carrier-specific insights on the performance of their websites and APIs. There could be a performance difference between a website being accessed from, say, AT&T and the same website being accessed from Verizon.

Q: What are the various monitoring perspectives that the app offers?

A: With this app, you can get the following monitoring perspectives:

– Carrier-specific insights into how apps and websites are performing

– Location-specific insights into how apps and websites are performing

– Performance and availability insights into mobile apps gained by monitoring custom APIs

– Enterprise-specific, mobile API insights gained when a mobile device running the app is physically present inside an office and accessing the Internet via local WiFi.

Q: Can you give me a sample use case to illustrate how this app comes in handy?

A: One immediate use case for the new Site24x7 app involves any company that has its distributor channels use smartphones and tablets to process orders. The Site24x7 Mobile Network Poller App can be downloaded in various, strategic distributor offices and used to monitor website performance. This use case can also be extended to include other branch offices in global locations.

Additionally, enterprise-specific, mobile APIs can be monitored using the app. In this case, users can run it within their corporate network to monitor enterprise mobile services.

Q: How do users get started with the app?

A: All you need to do is download the Site24x7 Mobile Network Poller App from the Google Play store and install it on your Android mobile device. If you already have an account with Site24x7, you simply download the app and register the Android device using your existing Site24x7 credentials. The device will then appear under the mobile poller section of the Site24x7 console.

Now the device can be selected as a primary or secondary location to monitor a website or custom APIs. Once the device is registered, the app will run in the background of the device all the time.

Conclusion

Monitoring the availability and performance of mobile websites has become a top priority for IT teams who rely on critical monitoring metrics to help ensure mobile device users have the best experience possible, and the Site24x7 Mobile Network Poller App is the right choice for folks who are focused on enhancing the end-user experience of mobile websites and APIs across wireless carriers.

Zaheeruddin Ahmed B is the marketing analyst for Site24x7, the cloud infrastructure monitoring service from ManageEngine. For more information on Site24x7, please visit http://www.site24x7.com; follow the blog at http://blogs.site24x7.com/, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Site24x7 and on Twitter at @Site24x7.