Real-Time Monitoring
Pulsimo implements true real-time monitoring with sub-10-second alert latency, compared to traditional scraping-based systems like Prometheus which typically have 1-5 minute delays.
Key Innovation: Active Health Checks
Instead of waiting for metrics to be scraped, Pulsimo actively checks service health every 10 seconds and immediately publishes status changes via WebSocket and Redis PubSub.
Pulsimo vs Prometheus/Grafana
| Aspect | Pulsimo | Prometheus + Grafana |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Push-based (Active checks) | Pull-based (Scraping) |
| Check Interval | 10 seconds (configurable) | 15-60 seconds (typical) |
| Alert Latency | 1-10 seconds | 1-5 minutes |
| Real-Time UI | WebSocket (built-in) | Polling (Grafana refresh) |
| Multi-Tenancy | Native (organizations) | Complex setup required |
| Setup Complexity | Single Docker Compose | Multiple components + config |
Alert Latency Comparison
Prometheus Scraping Model š
Timeline (Prometheus):
āāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāā
0s 15s 30s 45s 60s 75s
ā ā ā ā ā ā
Scrape Scrape Scrape Scrape Scrape Scrape
ā Service down ā Detected (30-45s later)Prometheus Workflow:
- Service goes down at time T
- Prometheus scrapes at T+15s (next interval)
- Scrape fails ā Metric shows service down
- Evaluation interval ā Alert rule checked (another 15-30s)
- Alert fires ā Alertmanager receives (another 1-5s)
- Notification sent ā Email/Slack (another 5-10s)
ā±ļø Total Latency: 30-60 seconds minimum, often 1-5 minutes
Pulsimo Active Check Model ā”
Timeline (Pulsimo):
āāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāāā
0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s
ā ā ā ā ā ā
Check Check Check Check Check Check
ā Service down
ā Incident created (instant)
ā WebSocket broadcast (instant)
ā Email sent (1-2s)Pulsimo Workflow:
- Service goes down at time T
- Next health check at T+10s (or less)
- Check fails ā Immediately detected
- Incident created ā Database write (50-100ms)
- Redis PubSub ā Event published (5-10ms)
- Notification Service ā Email sent (1-2s)
- WebSocket ā Frontend updated (10-50ms)
ā” Total Latency: 1-10 seconds
WebSocket Real-Time Updates
Instant Dashboard Updates
Status changes appear immediately on all connected dashboards without page refresh
Live Incident Notifications
New incidents appear in real-time with visual and sound notifications
Real-Time Metrics
Response times and health check results stream continuously
Multi-User Sync
All team members see the same state simultaneously
Benefits of Real-Time Monitoring
ā” Faster Response: Detect and respond to incidents 3-30x faster than traditional monitoring systems. Minutes matter during outages.
š„ Better Collaboration: Entire team sees incidents simultaneously. No confusion about who's working on what.
š Accurate MTTR: Sub-second precision in detecting failures leads to accurate Mean Time To Repair metrics.