Source URL: https://blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-observatory-and-smart-shield/
Source: The Cloudflare Blog
Title: Introducing Observatory and Smart Shield — see how the world sees your website, and make it faster in one click
Feedly Summary: We’re announcing two enhancements to our Application Performance suite that’ll show how the world sees your website, and make it faster with one click – available Cloudflare Dashboard!
AI Summary and Description: Yes
Summary: The provided text details the announcement of Cloudflare’s new tools, Observatory and Smart Shield, aimed at enhancing application monitoring and performance optimization. It emphasizes the importance of not only identifying performance issues but also providing actionable solutions, leveraging real-user data, backend telemetry, and synthetic testing to improve user experiences and application resilience.
Detailed Description:
The text outlines the introduction of two significant functionalities—Observatory and Smart Shield—by Cloudflare, targeting professionals responsible for application performance and resilience. Key insights from the text include:
* **User Expectation**: Modern users demand fast and reliable web applications; even 100 ms delays can significantly affect engagement and conversions.
* **Monitoring Integration**: The real value is achieved by combining monitoring and remediation tools. Observatory allows users to not just monitor performance but also identify and implement solutions directly.
* **Comprehensive Data Sources**:
– **Real-User Data (RUM)**: Provides actual performance metrics based on real traffic.
– **Synthetic Data**: Collected through simulated tests to maintain a consistent baseline for performance evaluation.
* **Collective Insights**: Observatory aggregates various data types into one platform, offering a comprehensive view of an application’s health and performance.
* **Performance Metrics**: Metrics analyzed include Time to First Byte (TTFB), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), error rates, and cache hit ratios, which help diagnose application performance issues.
* **Smart Suggestions**: New recommendations aim to provide actionable guidance based on data, helping users prioritize improvements effectively.
* **Smart Shield**: This tool simplifies origin protection, streamlining necessary configurations into a unified interface and enhancing performance while safeguarding origins from excessive load.
* **Connection Reuse**: Cloudflare has improved how connections are established with origins, resulting in a significant reduction in handshake time and overall connections, thus optimizing performance and lowering costs.
Overall, the integration of Observatory and Smart Shield represents an advanced approach to application performance management, pushing for comprehensive data usage and actionable insights that significantly enhance user experiences. The focus on practical, data-driven solutions renders a compelling value proposition for organizations aiming to optimize their web applications efficiently.