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Cloud Monitoring and Alerts

Choose service signals, actionable alerts and runbook steps without flooding an operator with noise.

3 reading lessons · about 30 min ·written by MTT

The idea

Metrics summarize numeric behavior, logs record events and traces follow work through components. Combine signals according to the question. A running machine is not proof that users can complete a task. Measure errors, usable response times and workload in addition to infrastructure resources.

Worked example

A fictional checkout has low CPU usage but every payment request fails. A machine-only dashboard looks healthy, while a completed-checkout rate reveals the user impact. A trace or correlated log can then help locate the failed dependency.

Try it

Choose five signals for a fictional checkout and explain the purpose of each. Include one user outcome and one dependency observation. Match a high-level alert to the logs or traces that would help investigate it without recording payment secrets.

Lesson 1 of 3 · About 10 min

Observe user-relevant behavior

Check your understanding

Course quiz

Finish the course to unlock the quiz

Complete all 3 lessons and 5 questions open up here. You have 3 to go.

What you will learn

  • Distinguish metrics, logs and traces
  • Define an alert with an owner and duration
  • Validate detection and recovery behavior

Before you start

Prerequisites
Basic service or web-request familiarity. Exercises use fictional telemetry and need no cloud subscription.
Cost
Free introductory reading lessons, exercises and quiz. Optional third-party tools, hosting or AI subscriptions may cost money.

Original introductory lessons and assessment by Master the Trick. Estimated times include the suggested exercises.