XRebel changes application performance monitoring tools
In this podcast, ZeroTurnaround's Jevgeni Kabanov discusses how XRebel differentiates itself from competing application performance monitoring tools on the market.
There is no shortage of application performance monitoring and management (APM) tools on the market today. In fact, with the new challenges cloud-based systems present to the job of monitoring performance, along with the need to monitor mobile applications that might be written using a variety of different languages, there have been a number of vendors jumping into the market -- each peddling a new tool that either profiles differently or can apparently monitor software and report on problems in a unique way.
A relatively new entry into the APM space is XRebel, ZeroTurnaround's lightweight Java profiler that promises to find and fix common problems in code. ZeroTurnaround is a seller of software development tools, based in Boston and Tartu, Estonia.
Interested in why the company would jump into a space that is so crowded with competitors, TheServerSide contacted CEO Jevgeni Kabanov for this podcast interview to find out how the product differentiates itself.
This APM tool is always on
According to Kabanov, the big differentiator is the fact that XRebel -- similar to ZeroTurnaround's JRebel product -- is designed to run during development, catching problems incrementally as the code is developed and tested, as opposed to traditional tools that typically only get involved when an application is approaching a promotion into production. "The biggest difference is that most APMs work well when there's a load," he said. "But XRebel is meant to run in development with no load whatsoever and find specific issues in development, and that is the biggest difference by far."
Another somewhat unique feature of XRebel is the fact that it runs constantly in the background, as opposed to traditional tools that only run during nonfunctional testing cycles or when a problem needs some troubleshooting. "With classic profilers, you turn them on when you know something is wrong," Kabanov said. That process then generates a gargantuan amount of data, which needs to be examined in order for the problem to be identified. XRebel is always on, which means problems are identified early in the application lifecycle. "It runs all the time, and when you have a problem in your code, it will pop up and say, 'You should fix it right away.'"
Also in this podcast, Kabanov talks about the most common performance issues he encounters when troubleshooting applications, how JRebel has changed over the years, and the technological advances that are happening in the industry that he finds most exciting.
What are your strategies for addressing application performance problems? Let us know.
You can follow Jevgeni Kabanov on Twitter: @ekabanov
You can follow Cameron McKenzie as well: @potemcam
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