Tag: Web

mycheckpoint (rev 208): aggregation tables, enhanced charting, RPM distribution

MySQL

Revision 208 of mycheckpoint, a MySQL monitoring solution, has been released. New and updated in this revision:

  • Aggregation tables: aggregated data makes for fast reports on previously slow queries.
  • Enhanced charting: interactive charts now present time stamps dynamically (see demo); “Zoom in” charts are available (see demo) on mycheckpoint‘s HTTP server.
  • RPM distribution: a “noarch” RPM mycheckpoint build is now available.
  • Initial work on formalizing test environment

mycheckpoint celebrates one year of existence!

Aggregation tables

I really wanted to avoid using these: everything was so more beautiful with one single dataset and dozens of supporting views (OK, the views themselves are hardly “beautiful”).

However it was impossible (for my level of expertise) to optimize query performance what with all those views on per-hour and per-day aggregation. The GROUP BYs and the JOINs did not make it possible for condition pushdown (i.e. using MERGE algorithm) where desired.

As result, mycheckpoint now manages aggregation tables: per-hour and per-day. The impact on sample taking is neglect able (making for two additional fast queries), but the impact on reading aggregated data is overwhelming. Generating a HTML full report could take a few minutes to complete. It now returns in no time. This makes charting more attractive, and allows for enhanced charting, such as zooming in on charts, as described following.

Aggregation tables will automatically be created and retroactively populated upon using revision 208. There’s nothing special to do; be advised that for one single execution of mycheckpoint, many INSERT queries are going to be executed. Shouldn’t take more than a couple minutes on commodity hardware and a few months of history.

It is possible to disable aggregation tables, or make for a complete rebuild of tables; by default, though, aggregation is ON.

Enhanced charting

Two enhancements here: Continue reading » “mycheckpoint (rev 208): aggregation tables, enhanced charting, RPM distribution”

mycheckpoint (rev. 190): HTTP server; interactive charts

MySQL

Revision 190 of mycheckpoint, a MySQL monitoring solution, has been released. New and updated in this revision:

  • HTTP server: mycheckpoint can now act as a web server. Point your browser and start browsing through HTML reports. See mock up demo.
  • Interactive charts: HTML line charts are now interactive, presenting with accurate data as you move over them. See sample.
  • Enhanced auto-deploy: now auto-recognizing failed upgrades.
  • Reduced footprint: much code taken out of the views, leading to faster loading times.
  • Better configuration file use: now supporting all command line options in config file.
  • Remote host monitoring accessibility: now supporting complete configurable accessibility details.
  • Bug fixes: thanks to the bug reporters!

mycheckpoint is free, simple, easy to use (now easier with HTTP server) and useful. I encourage you to try it out: even compared with other existing and emerging monitoring tools, I believe you will find it a breeze; it’s low impact and lightness appealing; it’s alerts mechanism assuring; its geeky SQL-based nature with ability to drill down to fine details — geeky-kind-of-attractive.

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HTTP server

You can now run mycheckpoint in http mode:

bash$ mycheckpoint http

mycheckpoint will listen on port 12306, and will present you with easy browsing through the reports of your mycheckpoint databases. Continue reading » “mycheckpoint (rev. 190): HTTP server; interactive charts”

Static charts vs. interactive charts

MySQL

I’m having my usual fun with charts. Working on mycheckpoint, I’ve generated monitoring charts using the Google Chars API. But I’ve also had chance to experiment and deploy interactive charts, JavaScript based. In particular, I used and tweaked dygraphs.

I’d like to note some differences in using charts of both kinds. And I think it makes a very big difference.

Static charts

I’ll call any image-based chart by “static chart”. It’s just a static image. Example of such charts are those generated by Google Image Charts (they now also have new, interactive charts), or RRDtool. Show below is an example of a static chart; in this example, generated by Google: Continue reading » “Static charts vs. interactive charts”

The DB problem inherent to dynamic web pages

MySQL

When building web sites, a popular demand is a maximum page load time.

For example, many would require < 0.5 seconds (or even less) for major pages loading time. Of course, there are numerous factors for page load time: network, caching, web servers, scripting language/code, database access and more.

Naturally I want to discuss the use of database access when creating web pages. I’ll be referring to dynamic web pages, such that are created by common languages as PHP, Java/J2EE, Ruby, ASP(.NET) etc.

A very common programming style is – what’s called in the Java jargon – using “scriptlets” as in the following JSP page:

<html>
<body>
    Time now is <%= new java.util.Date() %>
</body>
</html>

The above replaces the “<%= new java.util.Date() %>” part with a text representation of the current time.

If I were to produce a dynamic content site, say, a WordPress blog, like the one you’re reading, I would need to generate several dynamic contents: the latest posts, the popular tags, the comments for this post, etc. These are generated by calling upon the database and running some queries. I suppose there’s nothing new in what I’ve explained so far.

The problem

When generating a “heavyweight” page, like some online newspaper or bookstore, there may be many queries involved. Are you logged in? Do we have recommendations for you? What are the latest topics? What have you been interested in before? Do you have friends online? What content have you produced on the website?

Continue reading » “The DB problem inherent to dynamic web pages”