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The App-Hugger's Brief History of Application Recovery - Part I: Pre-APM

Kevin McCartney

Here is a brief summary of the most common approaches to application recovery since the mid-1990s, along with an overview of the limitations we’ve run across most frequently.

METHOD: Scripting

DATES: 1995 – Present

ALSO KNOWN AS: “Manual Labor”

WHAT IT DOES:

• Users identify problems and alert IT

• IT focused on infrastructure, not apps – at this time, there was a direct correlation between server and app, as all apps ran on dedicated HW (prior to virtualization and cloud), which no longer exists

• Difficult to pinpoint problems

• Heavy reliance on scripts--requires maintenance of script library

METHOD: Runbooks

DATES: 2001 – Present

ALSO KNOWN AS: “The Manual Process of Manuals”

WHAT IT DOES:

• Shelves of binders: if this, then that

• IT still focused on infrastructure, not apps

• Still difficult to identify source of problems

• Recovery very labor intensive

METHOD: Runbook Automation

DATES: 2007 – Present

ALSO KNOWN AS: “Rise of the Machines”

WHAT IT DOES:

• Emergence of software platforms that can execute scripts

• Works for routine operations such as provisioning

• Still requires a manual decision on what to do (which runbook to execute) – as it lacks awareness of overall health or current state of an application

LIMITATIONS OF PRE-APM APPROACHES TO APPLICATION RECOVERY

IT organizations manage run-time applications largely through an infrastructure-centric approach (network, server monitoring), which is then used to derive application health. The challenge with the approach is that it is not application-aware, and cannot tell you anything of the critical applications running on top of them. In some cases, application level monitoring is implemented, which provides analytics about an application’s performance. However, without the ability to intelligently respond, or empower staff to do so, these analytics will have limited benefit to ensuring the uptime of applications in their run-time environment.These tools tend provide a historical or root cause analysis view, versus a responsive solution to addressing real-time issues.

In conjunction with this approach, IT organizations may couple monitoring with script-based tools , including (also known as Run Books,) to help improve the efficiency of routine and pre-defined tasks. Scripts and run books can be effective to automate basic tasks with a known “start” and “stop”, however, they are not well-suited, nor are they scalable for complex, run-time environments. This is due to the fact that to address run-time Application Management with this approach, it requires scripts to be written for every possible scenario, and every possible combination of scenarios that may occur for each application – and they must be continually updated and adapted as the environment grows.

Furthermore, this typically still requires manual decision-making. And if scripts are not run properly, based on the state, and in context of each application’s hierarchy and dependencies, they provide limited utility – and in cases may actually compound the application downtime and data corruption problems they sought to prevent.

The App Hugger's Brief History of Application Recovery - Part II: The APM Era

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The App-Hugger's Brief History of Application Recovery - Part I: Pre-APM

Kevin McCartney

Here is a brief summary of the most common approaches to application recovery since the mid-1990s, along with an overview of the limitations we’ve run across most frequently.

METHOD: Scripting

DATES: 1995 – Present

ALSO KNOWN AS: “Manual Labor”

WHAT IT DOES:

• Users identify problems and alert IT

• IT focused on infrastructure, not apps – at this time, there was a direct correlation between server and app, as all apps ran on dedicated HW (prior to virtualization and cloud), which no longer exists

• Difficult to pinpoint problems

• Heavy reliance on scripts--requires maintenance of script library

METHOD: Runbooks

DATES: 2001 – Present

ALSO KNOWN AS: “The Manual Process of Manuals”

WHAT IT DOES:

• Shelves of binders: if this, then that

• IT still focused on infrastructure, not apps

• Still difficult to identify source of problems

• Recovery very labor intensive

METHOD: Runbook Automation

DATES: 2007 – Present

ALSO KNOWN AS: “Rise of the Machines”

WHAT IT DOES:

• Emergence of software platforms that can execute scripts

• Works for routine operations such as provisioning

• Still requires a manual decision on what to do (which runbook to execute) – as it lacks awareness of overall health or current state of an application

LIMITATIONS OF PRE-APM APPROACHES TO APPLICATION RECOVERY

IT organizations manage run-time applications largely through an infrastructure-centric approach (network, server monitoring), which is then used to derive application health. The challenge with the approach is that it is not application-aware, and cannot tell you anything of the critical applications running on top of them. In some cases, application level monitoring is implemented, which provides analytics about an application’s performance. However, without the ability to intelligently respond, or empower staff to do so, these analytics will have limited benefit to ensuring the uptime of applications in their run-time environment.These tools tend provide a historical or root cause analysis view, versus a responsive solution to addressing real-time issues.

In conjunction with this approach, IT organizations may couple monitoring with script-based tools , including (also known as Run Books,) to help improve the efficiency of routine and pre-defined tasks. Scripts and run books can be effective to automate basic tasks with a known “start” and “stop”, however, they are not well-suited, nor are they scalable for complex, run-time environments. This is due to the fact that to address run-time Application Management with this approach, it requires scripts to be written for every possible scenario, and every possible combination of scenarios that may occur for each application – and they must be continually updated and adapted as the environment grows.

Furthermore, this typically still requires manual decision-making. And if scripts are not run properly, based on the state, and in context of each application’s hierarchy and dependencies, they provide limited utility – and in cases may actually compound the application downtime and data corruption problems they sought to prevent.

The App Hugger's Brief History of Application Recovery - Part II: The APM Era

Hot Topics

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

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In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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