ASP.Net Core monitoring - definition & overview

ASP.Net Core is a free and open-source rewrite of the ASP.NET framework running on .NET Core and Full Framework. End-users can engage the framework to easily build contemporary, cloud-based, internet-connected applications for a multiplicity of platforms, as well as mobile back-ends.

ASP.Net Core has an open-source software framework arranged as cross-platform technology. This fact enables end-users to redistribute, modify, and customize the original source code to fit their unique needs, as well as the needs of their customer base. ASP.Net Core’s cross-platform framework also allows end-users to build applications on multiple platforms like iOS or Android with just a single codebase.

Base components of ASP.Net Core include CLR, Garbage Collector, JIT Compiler, and the base class library.

Most apps are designed to be highly accessible to a large volume of users. This requires app developers to keep a close eye on application performance to ensure everything is running smoothly. Low performance or access can indicate an issue that may be rendering your product unusable.

Here are some key ASP.Net Core metrics to observe that will help you track performance and address problems quickly.

Errors/Error types

• The DeveloperExceptionPageMiddleware captures synchronous and asynchronous exceptions from the HTTP pipeline.
  

• Error messages are generated in default plain-text response format.
  

• Users can also request HTML-formatted error code responses to capture exceptions.

Request duration

• The elapsed time between the client issuing the request to the moment client receives a response byte from the server.

Throughput (req/sec)

• ASP.Net Core 3.0 adds multiple improvements including faster throughput.

CPU/Memory

• Tools that help analyze memory usage such as counting object references, measuring GC impact on CPU usage, and how much memory space is used for each generation.
  

• GC reserves memory for initial heap segments and saves a small portion of memory after runtime is loaded.
  

• Task Manager that detects memory issues.

KPIs

• Collection of calculations to evaluate business success such as value achieved, the goal, statuses, and trends.

Visitor count/sales

• Potential to count every hit or visitor in a given application.

Now you know what metrics to look out for, how do you actually track them? Let’s take a look.

1. Logging. ASP.Net Core supports a logging API to work with many built-in or third-party logging providers. It is available to any .NET app using Generic Host and creates a logger using a log category that evaluates the severity of the given event logged on a scale of 0 to 6. The end-user is able to configure logging to control how much log output is written to specific storage mediums. Log levels can also be set to the command line, environment variables, and more.

2. Tracing. ASP.Net Core distributed tracing helps engineers to pinpoint failures or performance issues within a given application. It is designed for low overhead in order for programs to continue recording if issues occur.

3. Analytics. Different metric analytic types (as listed above) can track measurements of the user’s choosing such as API, counters, gauges, histograms, meters, and timers. You can access available counters by various .NET Core packages, third-party packages, or self-created metrics for monitoring.

Here’s how you can address any issues brought up during the monitoring process.

Troubleshooting issues found on ASP.NET Core applications such as SDK warnings:

• Core SDK warnings such as “both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the .NET Core SDK are installed
• NET Core SDK is installed in multiple locations
• No .NET Core SDKs were detected

Use middleware to obtain data from a given app such as:

• Request (host, pathbase, headers, etc,)
• Connection (local or remote IP address)
• Configuration settings

Debug ASP.Net Core applications

• Debugging on Linux
• Debugging with Visual Studio debugger

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