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The App Hugger's 5 Truths About Application Recovery - and an Opportunity for Innovation

Kevin McCartney

Application (App) Hugger: Someone who is obsessed with application availability, particularly from the end user perspective — in the same manner that the “server hugger” focuses on infrastructure monitoring.

1. Applications Can Be as Finicky as Cats - OK, They Can Be a Bitch to Manage

Applications are typically very complex, with many dynamic components. They are notoriously fragile since they are constructed with a very specific technical hierarchy, order and dependencies between application components — as well as within the IT ecosystem in which they run. And various application types have different architectures, as well as unique underlying relationships to their infrastructure.

This makes the task of managing multiple applications in a run-time environment very challenging. It requires that the appropriate steps must be taken, and completed in the appropriate sequence, depending on the current state of an application.

2. Users Are Great at Telling You When Something's Broken - Just Let 'Em Try Fixing It

IT operations teams spend a significant portion of their budgets on intelligent software-based systems, tools and staff to monitor their networks, servers and systems to identify problems — before their users find them.

Once a problem is identified and cause pinpointed — a challenge we'll deal with in another App-Hugger Brief — the IT staff begins an application repair or recovery process that is almost always painstakingly labor-intensive and manual — and therefore fraught with risk.

3. Re-arranging Servers and Routers on the Enterprise Titanic

And this problem is only getting more daunting: As the variety of application types (custom, commercial off-the-shelf, SaaS) and platforms (cloud, on-premise, virtual) continues to explode, application recovery becomes even more complex and labor-intensive — increasing the risk of downtime even more.

4. We All Know Scripts and Runbooks Don't Scale

Some IT departments have improved the speed and efficiency of the application recovery process over time with tools like scripts and runbook automation.

But those still require development of individual steps and libraries full of scripts that have to be created and maintained — for each individual application. In many cases the runbook is still a physical binder sitting on a shelf.

5. An Opportunity for Innovation: Why Not Push-Button App Recovery

Next generation Application Management platforms must combine features such as stateful awareness to enable “push-button” application recovery — across all of enterprise's applications, regardless of type or infrastructure. “Push-button” application recovery (PBAR) alerts an authorized IT staff member to trigger a pre-determined sequence of steps and scripts to recover an application. The sequence is based on a carefully defined set of business rules developed by the IT department.

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The App Hugger's 5 Truths About Application Recovery - and an Opportunity for Innovation

Kevin McCartney

Application (App) Hugger: Someone who is obsessed with application availability, particularly from the end user perspective — in the same manner that the “server hugger” focuses on infrastructure monitoring.

1. Applications Can Be as Finicky as Cats - OK, They Can Be a Bitch to Manage

Applications are typically very complex, with many dynamic components. They are notoriously fragile since they are constructed with a very specific technical hierarchy, order and dependencies between application components — as well as within the IT ecosystem in which they run. And various application types have different architectures, as well as unique underlying relationships to their infrastructure.

This makes the task of managing multiple applications in a run-time environment very challenging. It requires that the appropriate steps must be taken, and completed in the appropriate sequence, depending on the current state of an application.

2. Users Are Great at Telling You When Something's Broken - Just Let 'Em Try Fixing It

IT operations teams spend a significant portion of their budgets on intelligent software-based systems, tools and staff to monitor their networks, servers and systems to identify problems — before their users find them.

Once a problem is identified and cause pinpointed — a challenge we'll deal with in another App-Hugger Brief — the IT staff begins an application repair or recovery process that is almost always painstakingly labor-intensive and manual — and therefore fraught with risk.

3. Re-arranging Servers and Routers on the Enterprise Titanic

And this problem is only getting more daunting: As the variety of application types (custom, commercial off-the-shelf, SaaS) and platforms (cloud, on-premise, virtual) continues to explode, application recovery becomes even more complex and labor-intensive — increasing the risk of downtime even more.

4. We All Know Scripts and Runbooks Don't Scale

Some IT departments have improved the speed and efficiency of the application recovery process over time with tools like scripts and runbook automation.

But those still require development of individual steps and libraries full of scripts that have to be created and maintained — for each individual application. In many cases the runbook is still a physical binder sitting on a shelf.

5. An Opportunity for Innovation: Why Not Push-Button App Recovery

Next generation Application Management platforms must combine features such as stateful awareness to enable “push-button” application recovery — across all of enterprise's applications, regardless of type or infrastructure. “Push-button” application recovery (PBAR) alerts an authorized IT staff member to trigger a pre-determined sequence of steps and scripts to recover an application. The sequence is based on a carefully defined set of business rules developed by the IT department.

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Industry experts offer predictions on how AI will evolve and impact technology and business in 2025. Part 2 covers the challenges presented by AI, as well as solutions to those problems ...

In the final part of APMdigest's 2025 Predictions Series, industry experts offer predictions on how AI will evolve and impact technology and business in 2025 ...

E-commerce is set to skyrocket with a 9% rise over the next few years ... To thrive in this competitive environment, retailers must identify digital resilience as their top priority. In a world where savvy shoppers expect 24/7 access to online deals and experiences, any unexpected downtime to digital services can lead to significant financial losses, damage to brand reputation, abandoned carts with designer shoes, and additional issues ...

Efficiency is a highly-desirable objective in business ... We're seeing this scenario play out in enterprises around the world as they continue to struggle with infrastructures and remote work models with an eye toward operational efficiencies. In contrast to that goal, a recent Broadcom survey of global IT and network professionals found widespread adoption of these strategies is making the network more complex and hampering observability, leading to uptime, performance and security issues. Let's look more closely at these challenges ...

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The 2025 Catchpoint SRE Report dives into the forces transforming the SRE landscape, exploring both the challenges and opportunities ahead. Let's break down the key findings and what they mean for SRE professionals and the businesses relying on them ...

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