TLDR: Elastic APM (Application Performance Monitoring) is an open-source tool introduced by Elastic in 2017 as part of the Elastic Stack. It helps developers and DevOps teams monitor and troubleshoot application performance issues by providing detailed insights into system metrics, transactions, and errors. Elastic APM integrates seamlessly with Elasticsearch and Kibana for centralized monitoring and analysis.
Elastic APM works by collecting telemetry data from instrumented applications across multiple programming languages, including Java, Python, and Node.js. This data includes transaction traces, database queries, and error details, offering a complete picture of an application’s behavior. For example, it can identify slow API Endpoints or resource-heavy SQL queries, enabling targeted optimizations.
https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/current/overview.html
A key feature of Elastic APM is its integration with Kibana for visualizing performance data in real time. Users can create custom dashboards to monitor request latencies, system health, and error rates. Additionally, Elastic APM supports distributed tracing, which maps the flow of requests across microservices, helping teams pinpoint bottlenecks in complex architectures.
https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/kibana/current/apm-overview.html
To enhance security and compliance, Elastic APM supports data encryption via TLS and role-based access controls. By offering scalable and flexible monitoring, Elastic APM is widely used in DevOps workflows for maintaining high-performance applications and ensuring user satisfaction. Its open-source nature makes it an accessible choice for organizations of all sizes.