Troubleshooting Frequent DevOps Alerts in an E-commerce Project

Alerts

In an eCommerce project, frequent alerts can disrupt performance, reliability, and user experience. Here’s a structured approach to solving common DevOps issues efficiently.

1. Successful Rate is Abnormal

Cause:

  • High error rates or failures in payment gateway, API requests, or authentication mechanisms.

Solution:

  • Check logs and metrics in APM tools like New Relic or Datadog.

  • Identify failing endpoints in API Gateway or load balancer.

  • Investigate database performance (slow queries, locking issues).

  • Rollback recent changes or apply fixes.

2. Health check Service Unavailable

Cause:

  • Underlying service down or network connectivity issues.

Solution:

  • Verify pod/container logs (kubectl logs <pod>).

  • Restart failing services and confirm DNS resolution.

  • Check healthcheck endpoint manually (curl <service-url>/health).

  • Update healthcheck configurations if required.

3. Argo CD Application is Not Healthy or Out of Sync

Cause:

  • Configuration drift or failed synchronization.

Solution:

  • Run argocd app sync <app-name> to force sync.

  • Inspect ArgoCD logs for errors (kubectl logs -n argocd <argocd-server-pod>).

  • Validate Kubernetes manifests (kubectl describe <resource>).

4. Argo CD Application is Healthy but Out of Sync

Cause:

  • Changes in Git are not applied to the cluster.

Solution:

  • Manually sync using argocd app sync.

  • Validate if auto-sync is enabled.

  • Investigate permissions issues.

5. POD Restart

Cause:

  • Memory leaks, OOM kills, or rolling updates.

Solution:

  • Check pod logs (kubectl logs -f <pod>).

  • Describe pod for restart reasons (kubectl describe pod <pod>).

  • Investigate resource limits in pod spec.

6. POD is in CrashLoopBackOff State

Cause:

  • Misconfiguration, dependency failures, or insufficient resources.

Solution:

  • Retrieve logs and events (kubectl get events & kubectl describe pod).

  • Adjust resource limits (requests.cpu, requests.memory).

  • Debug entrypoint script or missing dependencies.

7. High CPU Usage

Cause:

  • Unoptimized queries, high traffic, or inefficient loops.

Solution:

  • Use kubectl top pods to check CPU usage.

  • Scale pods (kubectl scale deployment <deployment-name> --replicas=<num>).

  • Optimize application logic or queries.

8. Token is Expiring Soon

Cause:

  • Short-lived tokens require refresh.

Solution:

  • Rotate secrets and tokens automatically.

  • Increase token TTL if applicable.

  • Ensure applications handle token renewal correctly.

9. GCP Service Quota High

Cause:

  • Unoptimized resource consumption.

Solution:

  • Use GCP Quotas Dashboard to check limits.

  • Request quota increase if necessary.

  • Optimize workload scheduling.

10. HTTP Request Rate Above Normal Range

Cause:

  • Sudden traffic spikes or DDoS attacks.

Solution:

  • Use rate limiting and load balancing.

  • Scale infrastructure dynamically.

  • Analyze traffic patterns for anomalies.

11. Persistent Volume Claim Exceeded 75% Usage

Cause:

  • Excessive logging or data growth.

Solution:

  • Expand volume or clean old data.

  • Use log rotation and retention policies.

  • Implement auto-scaling for storage.

12. Service Timeout

Cause:

  • Network delays or overloaded backend.

Solution:

  • Check service dependencies (kubectl get pods, services).

  • Increase timeout settings if necessary.

  • Optimize service response times.

13. High Memory Usage

Cause:

  • Memory leaks or excessive caching.

Solution:

  • Use kubectl top pods to identify memory hogs.

  • Implement memory profiling in the application.

  • Scale resources or adjust memory limits.

14. Latency is Abnormal

Cause:

  • Network congestion, database slowdowns.

Solution:

  • Use APM tools to analyze bottlenecks.

  • Optimize queries and backend responses.

  • Increase resources if needed.

15. Certificate Expiry

Cause:

  • Expired TLS certificates causing connection failures.

Solution:

  • Automate certificate renewal (Let's Encrypt, ACM, Cert Manager).

  • Monitor expiration dates and alert before expiry.

  • Manually renew if necessary (kubectl get secrets).

Conclusion

A proactive approach to monitoring and resolving alerts ensures smooth operation of an eCommerce platform. Implement automation, logging, and scaling strategies to reduce recurring issues and enhance system reliability.