New Relic is a software analytics tool that helps you understand your application's performance and behavior. It was founded in 2008 by Cameron and Chris Cooksey.
New Relic provides real-time insights into your application's performance, allowing you to identify and fix issues quickly. This is made possible by its ability to monitor and collect data from various sources, including web applications, mobile apps, and servers.
One of the key features of New Relic is its ability to provide detailed performance metrics, including response times, error rates, and throughput.
What is New Relic
New Relic is a software analytics platform that helps companies monitor and improve their software applications.
It was founded in 2008 by Lewis Cirne, who wanted to provide a more comprehensive view of software performance.
New Relic offers a range of tools and features, including application performance monitoring, user experience monitoring, and error tracking.
The platform can be integrated with a wide range of programming languages and frameworks, including Java, Python, and Ruby.
One of the key benefits of New Relic is its ability to provide real-time data and insights, allowing developers to quickly identify and fix issues.
New Relic also offers a free trial and a range of pricing plans to suit different business needs.
Features and Integrations
New Relic's features and integrations make it a powerful tool for monitoring and optimizing your applications. New Relic's Amazon integrations help you monitor AWS data in several New Relic products.
You can connect multiple AWS integrations with your New Relic Infrastructure account, including AWS API Gateway, DynamoDB, VPC, and EC2 monitoring. To see the whole list of integrations available for AWS, click here.
To connect your AWS account to New Relic Infrastructure, you must first install the infrastructure agent. The process involves creating a new role in AWS, which requires entering your New Relic account ID as the External ID. You can also connect multiple AWS accounts with New Relic by following the same steps for each account.
Here's a quick rundown of the required steps:
- Go to infrastructure.newrelic.com and select Amazon Web Services from Integrations.
- Follow the instructions to create a new role in AWS, including entering your New Relic account ID as the External ID.
- Copy the entire Role ARN, which is required later in the procedure.
- Select the Amazon Web Services to be monitored with New Relic Infrastructure integrations, then Save.
How New Relic Works
New Relic works by collecting data from your application, including user interactions, errors, and performance metrics. This data is then analyzed to provide insights into how your application is performing.
The data is collected using agents that can be installed on your application's servers, which can be either on-premises or in the cloud. New Relic also has a browser agent that can be added to your application's web pages.
New Relic's platform is built on a cloud-based infrastructure that allows for scalable and reliable data collection and analysis. This infrastructure is designed to handle large amounts of data and provide fast and accurate insights.
New Relic's analytics engine is able to process and analyze the data in real-time, providing users with up-to-date information on their application's performance. This engine is also able to identify patterns and anomalies in the data, which can help users identify potential issues before they become major problems.
New Relic's platform provides a range of visualizations and dashboards that allow users to view their data in a variety of ways, including charts, graphs, and maps. These visualizations can help users quickly understand their application's performance and identify areas for improvement.
Aws Integrations
AWS Integrations are a powerful feature in New Relic, allowing you to monitor your AWS data in various New Relic products.
You can view and explore AWS data reporting to your New Relic Infrastructure account, but only Owners, Admins, or Infrastructure add-on managers can add AWS integrations.
To connect your AWS account to New Relic Infrastructure, you must install the infrastructure agent and follow a specific procedure.
The procedure involves creating a new role in AWS, which requires selecting Amazon Web Services from Integrations and then selecting Add an AWS account.
You'll need to use the Account ID 754728514883, check the Require external ID box, and enter your New Relic account ID for External ID.
Don't enable the setting to Require MFA (multi-factor authentication).
You'll also need to create a Custom policy with a permission statement and add it as an inline policy to the new role.
To complete the process, enter your AWS account name and the ARN for the new role in the New Relic UI, and then select the Amazon Web Services to be monitored with New Relic Infrastructure integrations.
You can connect multiple AWS accounts with New Relic by following the same steps for each account.
If you want to connect multiple AWS integrations with your New Relic Infrastructure account, you can choose Amazon Web Services from Integrations in infrastructure.newrelic.com and select the integrations you want to monitor.
To uninstall your services completely from New Relic Infrastructure Integrations, you'll need to unlink your AWS account and delete the role you created in your AWS console from IAM.
Here's a summary of the steps to connect your AWS account to New Relic Infrastructure:
- Create a new role in AWS with the Account ID 754728514883 and the NewRelicInfrastructure-Integrations role name.
- Create a Custom policy with a permission statement and add it as an inline policy to the new role.
- Enter your AWS account name and the ARN for the new role in the New Relic UI.
- Select the Amazon Web Services to be monitored with New Relic Infrastructure integrations.
Targets Kubernetes Workloads
New Relic's observability platform targets Kubernetes workloads, providing developers with monitoring capabilities for dynamic environments to accelerate incident resolution and improve productivity.
The platform simplifies observability workloads for Kubernetes environments, allowing developer and platform teams to more easily monitor their stacks with intelligent insights driven by AI.
With one-step observability for Kubernetes, New Relic automates application performance monitoring (APM) instrumentation alongside Kubernetes deployments, upgrading APM agents without the need for code changes.
The platform provides AI-strengthened out-of-the-box insights that correlate application and Kubernetes data on a unified interface, thanks to pre-configured Kubernetes UI and alerts.
Native support for OpenTelemetry (OTel) and Prometheus unifies OTel-instrumented Kubernetes clusters and Prometheus-instrumented hosts alongside all telemetry data, eliminating fragmentation and blind spots.
New features specific to Kubernetes include:
- One-step instrumentation: Automates APM instrumentation alongside Kubernetes deployments.
- AI-strengthened out-of-the-box insights: Correlates application and Kubernetes data on a unified interface.
- Native support for OpenTelemetry (OTel) and Prometheus: Unifies OTel-instrumented Kubernetes clusters and Prometheus-instrumented hosts.
- Democratize observability with New Relic AI: Enables users of any role or skill level to easily access insights and take action.
Improved Performance and Productivity
New Relic offers a range of benefits that can improve performance and productivity. The platform provides full visibility across applications and Kubernetes workloads, allowing developer teams to detect and address issues more swiftly.
With New Relic, you can automate APM integration with Kubernetes deployments, streamlining management across departments. This is made possible through one-step instrumentation, which eliminates the need for code changes.
The platform includes pre-configured Kubernetes dashboards and alert systems, along with troubleshooting tools, enabling teams to view applications and Kubernetes data on a single interface. This unified view accelerates performance issue identification and resolution.
New Relic's AI-powered insights make it easier for users to access insights using natural language prompts. This feature makes observability tools accessible to everyone, encouraging wider adoption of observability practices within organisations.
Here are some key features that make New Relic's observability solution more efficient and accessible:
- One-step instrumentation
- AI-driven insights
- Native support for OpenTelemetry (OTel) and Prometheus
- Democratising observability with AI
Configuration and Monitoring
New Relic offers a robust monitoring service within its Synthetics tool suite. This service can be enabled by contacting support.
Pantheon provides unlimited New Relic Synthetics ping monitoring as part of its service, but there's a quota for other monitor types, set at 10K monthly checks for each account.
To configure the monitor service, you'll need to follow these steps: Click New Relic, then go to New Relic from the target environment within the Site Dashboard on Pantheon.Select Synthetic Monitoring from the main menu.Click Create Monitor in the Monitors tab and enter the details for the URL you want to monitor.Select the locations you want to check the site from, choosing locations that correspond to your site's visitors to reduce the risk of false-positives.Set the frequency for checks to five minutes.Provide an email address for notifications.Click Save monitor.
If your Pantheon workspace has more than 10K Synthetics checks running monthly, Pantheon will adjust the frequency or number of locations a Synthetics check originates from to reduce the number of checks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What data does New Relic collect?
New Relic collects four types of data: metrics, events, logs, and traces, which provide a comprehensive view of your system's performance and behavior. This data is essential for effective system monitoring and observability.
Sources
- https://www.devopsschool.com/blog/what-is-new-relic-how-does-it-work-new-relic-features-importance-competitors/
- https://medium.com/tensult/what-is-new-relic-8106dfde903d
- https://docs.pantheon.io/guides/new-relic/monitor-new-relic
- https://www.networkworld.com/article/3604360/observe-new-relic-boost-observability-of-kubernetes-workloads.html
- https://www.techedt.com/new-relic-launches-simplified-kubernetes-observability-with-ai-driven-insights-and-automatic-instrumentation
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