Monitoring Solution for .NET Application on IIS and SQL Server | AWS Certified Database - Specialty Exam

Implementing a Monitoring Solution for .NET Application on IIS and SQL Server

Question

A .NET application is deployed to IIS running on EC2 instances.

The application also uses SQL Server on EC2 instances as a data tier.

The development team wants to implement a monitoring solution for the application that would collect and analyze key metrics, pull logs from the IIS and SQL Server, and correlate any errors to aid in identifying the resolution.

What service should the team utilize to satisfy this requirement?

Answers

Explanations

Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer

A. B. C. D.

Answer: B.

Option A is incorrect because CloudTrail is a service for logging and storing AWS account and service API activity, not application logs.

CloudTrail Insights is a feature that helps identify and alert any abnormal activity in the AWS account.

Option B is CORRECT because CloudWatch Application Insights for .NET and SQL Server collects metrics and logs of .NET and SQL Server applications across the stack (e.g., IIS server, OS, SQL Server database)

It collects performance metrics and helps in troubleshooting by automatically correlating errors and creating visual dashboards.

Option C is incorrect because AWS Inspector is a network and security assessment service.

It performs an assessment of EC2 instances for network vulnerabilities (e.g., exposed ports), Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE), and compares OS configurations to CIS security benchmarks.

It is not used for collecting logs or correlating errors.

Option D is incorrect because X-Ray is an SDK and associated service for inspecting and measuring the performance of system integrations.

It requires custom code development using the SDK to collect custom application logging and events.

As such, it is generally used for tracing and correlating events of applications utilizing serverless services such as Lambda and DynamoDB.Reference:

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/appinsights-what-is.html

The correct answer is B. CloudWatch Application Insights.

Explanation:

CloudWatch Application Insights is a service that provides application-level visibility into the performance and health of applications. It allows developers to monitor their applications and quickly diagnose problems with minimal setup and configuration.

In this scenario, the .NET application is deployed on IIS running on EC2 instances and uses SQL Server on EC2 instances as the data tier. The development team wants to implement a monitoring solution that would collect and analyze key metrics, pull logs from IIS and SQL Server, and correlate any errors to aid in identifying the resolution.

CloudWatch Application Insights is an ideal solution to meet these requirements as it can:

  1. Collect Metrics: CloudWatch Application Insights can automatically discover application components and dependencies, and collect performance and operational metrics from them. These metrics include requests per second, average response time, error rate, and resource utilization.

  2. Monitor Logs: CloudWatch Application Insights can also monitor logs from the application, including IIS and SQL Server logs. It provides a centralized view of logs from different sources, enabling developers to quickly identify errors and correlate them with other metrics.

  3. Analyze Errors: CloudWatch Application Insights can use machine learning to analyze log data and automatically detect anomalies and errors. It can also provide visualizations and dashboards that help developers understand the root cause of the issues.

  4. Correlate Metrics and Logs: CloudWatch Application Insights can correlate metrics and logs to provide a complete picture of application performance and health. It enables developers to quickly identify the root cause of issues and take corrective action.

In summary, CloudWatch Application Insights is the best service to meet the requirements of the development team. It can collect and analyze key metrics, monitor logs from IIS and SQL Server, and correlate errors to aid in identifying resolutions.