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Bob Plankers

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Bob Plankers

Bob Plankers is a vExpert and Linux and virtualization systems expert who has broad experience as a project manager and systems and storage administrator.

The Latest Posts Featuring Bob Plankers

Inside the Black Box: Bridging the Database Observability Gap
March 27, 2026
Database

Over the past 15 years, Agile and DevOps have accelerated application delivery, enabling faster, more reliable releases. Yet the database layer often remains a blind spot for observability and performance monitoring.

In this article, Kevin Kline shows why closing the database observability gap is critical to improving performance, efficiency, and resilience for DBAs, developers, and the businesses that depend on their data.

Monitoring: How and Why We Do It

Monitoring is a lot of work. A monitoring system is a service unto itself, and like other applications it needs care, feeding, configuration, databases, DBAs, patching, and maintenance. Though it often prevents the loss of revenue, it doesn’t generate revenue except in rare circumstances. Last, it requires vigilance and attention to detail that is often overlooked or impossible in a busy IT environment. So why even bother?