Benchmarking involves establishing performance, utilization, and cost baselines for applications to identify optimization opportunities. Here's how to systematically benchmark applications running on Azure:
1. Inventory and Dependency Mapping
- Objective: Identify all resources associated with the application and its dependencies.
- Steps:
- Use Azure Resource Graph Explorer or Azure CLI to list resources tagged with the application's name.
- Map resource dependencies using Azure Monitor Service Map or Network Watcher.
- Use Azure Resource Graph Explorer or Azure CLI to list resources tagged with the application's name.
- Output: Complete inventory of the application resources and dependency graph.
2. Monitor Resource Utilization
- Objective: Gather real-time and historical performance data for resources.
- Steps:
- Enable Azure Monitor for each resource (App Service, VMs, databases, etc.).
- Key metrics to monitor:
- App Service: CPU, Memory, Request Latency, Throughput.
- Azure SQL Database: DTU/VCU utilization, Query Performance.
- VMs: CPU, Memory, Disk I/O, Network Bandwidth.
- Azure Storage: Transaction Metrics, Data Ingress/Egress.
- Configure data collection in Log Analytics Workspace for centralized monitoring.
- Tools: Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Application Insights.
- Output: Performance dashboards and utilization reports.
3. Collect Application Insights
- Objective: Analyze application-level metrics and performance.
- Steps:
- Enable Application Insights for the application.
- Track key metrics:
- Response Times.
- Error Rates.
- Dependency Failures (e.g., Database Calls).
- User Load Patterns.
- Review the Performance and Failures tabs for actionable insights.
- Output: Application performance reports highlighting bottlenecks and usage trends.
4. Establish Utilization Patterns
- Objective: Identify normal, peak, and underutilized usage patterns.
- Steps:
- Analyze usage trends over a representative period (e.g., 30 days).
- Use Azure Metrics to view hourly, daily, and monthly usage patterns.
- Correlate usage data with business activities (e.g., peak hours, campaigns).
- Output: Detailed utilization patterns and baseline thresholds.
5. Conduct Load Testing
- Objective: Simulate user activity to evaluate application performance under varying loads.
- Steps:
- Use Azure Load Testing or third-party tools like JMeter or Locust.
- Define test scenarios to mimic real-world workloads (e.g., peak user traffic).
- Monitor resource performance during tests using Azure Monitor and Application Insights.
- Output: Load test results with recommendations for scaling and optimization.
6. Cost Benchmarking
- Objective: Understand cost allocation and identify areas for savings.
- Steps:
- Use Azure Cost Management to analyze cost by resource, service, and application.
- Identify underutilized or idle resources contributing to unnecessary costs.
- Review recommendations in Azure Advisor for cost-saving opportunities.
- Output: Cost breakdown reports and optimization suggestions.
7. Compare Against Industry Standards
- Objective: Ensure the application meets performance and security benchmarks.
- Steps:
- Use the Azure Well-Architected Framework Review Tool to evaluate the application.
- Compare findings with industry standards for performance, security, and reliability.
- Identify gaps and prioritize improvements.
- Output: Compliance report and prioritized improvement list.
8. Document and Validate Benchmarks
- Objective: Compile a report of established benchmarks and validate with stakeholders.
- Steps:
- Document baseline metrics, including:
- Resource utilization thresholds.
- Performance benchmarks.
- Cost metrics.
- Validate benchmarks with TMF stakeholders to ensure alignment with business goals.
- Document baseline metrics, including:
- Output: Final benchmarking report ready for optimization planning.
