We are thrilled to present a new Insights & Metrics feature: Anomaly Detection. Anomaly detection is designed to safeguard the performance and stability of the mission-critical applications you host at WordPress VIP. This feature is available to customers on our Enhanced, Signature, and Premier packages. Here’s a brief introductory video.
WordPress VIP’s automated anomaly detection continuously monitors your application, allowing you to focus on other priorities.
Anomalies are detected for four metrics:
- Origin 5xx errors – a strong indicator that an application or the server it’s running on is in trouble and requires intervention.
- Edge 429 errors – indicates our platform is responding to a sudden increase in suspect traffic such as a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack. No immediate action is required from you.
- MySQL slow queries – identifying slow queries and optimizing their performance can improve database efficiency and the overall responsiveness of an application.
- Object cache hit rate – a drop in cache hit rate often occurs after a code deployment that includes modifications to object cache logic.
You can read more about each type of anomaly and how to respond in the documentation.
Anomaly Detection also provides proactive identification and notification of abnormal events. These notifications are new event types in VIP Notifications, which means you can receive alerts for anomalies with your existing Destinations.
Why is this in “beta”
As a beta launch, we want to clarify that the algorithms powering this feature might see improvements throughout the rest of 2024. We highly value your thoughts and eagerly look forward to incorporating your feedback.
To share your experiences with Anomaly Detection, just click the “Give feedback” button on the top right of any Insights & Metrics page.
Why don’t I see any anomalies?
This is a good thing! We only show anomalies when one of the four metrics above moves in the wrong direction. If your site is operating without anomalies, that’s an indication of application health.
It could also be that your package does not include anomaly detection. This feature is available to customers on our Enhanced, Signature, and Premier packages, customers.
If I see an anomaly, does that mean my site is down?
Not necessarily. You can read more about what each anomaly means the documentation, but as an overview:
- Edge 429 anomalies indicate that the WordPress VIP platform has automatically responded to keep your site up.
- A MySQL slow query anomaly can identify issues with a specific query, even when accessed infrequently. Correct that issue will keep your site performant if new traffic patterns increase the occurrence of that query.
- Dips in object cache hit rate are not uncommon after a deployment or plugin activation, but consistent issues should be investigated as described in the documentation.
- Origin 5xx responses are an indication of application health that does require attention. Some of these situations may self-correct, but you should do further research, as detailed in the documentation, to fix the underlying application issues.
Thank you!
Last but not least, I want to thank the customers who participated in our closed beta of this feature. What we are releasing today is better because of their feedback. Thank you!