it_user147213 - PeerSpot reviewer
CEO & Co-Founder with 51-200 employees
Vendor
I always have Datadog up to debug issues with integrations or to ensure that live campaigns are running smoothly.

We were building a real-time bidding exchange for digital out-of-home ads by providing the analytics and the infrastructure for the ecosystem. We not only facilitate the buys, but we also act as an ad server for the network and advertisers who put in their server requirements. It is very similar to the large online ad servers. In order to provide this real-time service, we had to be able to monitor and analyze a wide range of data points for the many media companies in their ad exchange. 

We wanted to find an “out-of-the-box” metrics solution that would integrate easily with current systems. We found that Datadog included the integrations that we needed to get our monitoring solution up quickly. Additionally, we liked Datadog’s ability to perform customized metric monitoring, log critical events, and scale easily. I had scaled up open-source monitoring solutions once before, and it wasn’t fun. So when I had the opportunity to do it again, I said ‘No.’ 

On a daily basis, Datadog eliminates a lot of the back and forth with the media owners to find out what is going on, it is just a good visual tool for seeing the activity from each of the content management systems that we work with. It is an easy way to go in and get a feel of what is going on. Without Datadog, we would have to repeatedly spend time to reach out to each media owner directly to see if they are sending any requests that day.

As we moved toward a real-time system, it was important to understand whether our partner networks had reported all of their ads in a short period of time. We now use Datadog as a daily monitoring tool to get a feel for what networks are actively sending requests to their servers, what live campaigns are running smoothly and whether the right networks are requesting ads. I always have Datadog up on a daily basis to debug issues with integrations or just to make sure that live campaigns are running smoothly. 

Each network that we work with has different requirements. In terms of connectivity of their networks, we are always dealing with different frequencies and rates of requests each day. The wide diversity in partners has made customization key since the monitoring needs for each partner varies drastically. There are days where we see weird trends of requests coming in. We are able to use Datadog’s custom graphs to catch the anomalies or concern areas in their system on a real-time basis.

Going forward, we are looking to create separate dashboards for each ad network that we work with. This will enable us to gain more detailed metrics for each individual media owner. We will be able to take these detailed metrics and use them to quickly identify potential problem areas, improving our ability to solve problems as soon as they are detected.

Disclosure: PeerSpot has made contact with the reviewer to validate that the person is a real user. The information in the posting is based upon a vendor-supplied case study, but the reviewer has confirmed the content's accuracy.
PeerSpot user
Cloud Operations Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Great log, SQL, and network monitors
Pros and Cons
  • "Datadog documentation on web pages has improved a lot and is pretty easy to follow and find."
  • "Alerting timing should be improved to be more fine-tuned and exact."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for monitoring applications and informing customers via Pagerduty and Statuspage. The monitoring and alerts can be personalized internally, and we are able to find problems and issues. The response time monitor has been great, and it has been validating upgrades. We can check in to see which step fails,

How has it helped my organization?

Previously, we had monitors scattered with different places and products, making troubleshooting harder and slower. Also, logs and monitors were on different platforms, making it harder to put the infrastructure puzzle together.

Datadog documentation on web pages has improved a lot and is pretty easy to follow and find.

Additionally, integrations with, for example, GCP, Network, component, and Software providers are much easier as everything is now centralized.

API and notification integrations are also a great benefit for our organization.

Datadog is listening actively for customer feedback and develops improvements for us effectively.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of the solution include the APM, log monitor, SQL monitors, network monitors, and integrations.

What needs improvement?

Alerting timing should be improved to be more fine-tuned and exact. The current problem is that monitoring is integrated with the Statuspage and the SLA.

Also, browser support for browsers other than Chrome should be added. Browser test recording is another problem, as it does not always work in normal mode. One needs to use incognito mode or a pop-up.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for three years.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
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Security Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Real User
Great dashboards, helpful visualizations, and has the capability to scale
Pros and Cons
  • "The Datadog suite has allowed us to easily integrate log collection into all of our services and quickly detect unexpected changes in system data to declare security incidents."
  • "The ease of implementation needs improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use the solution for security monitoring and anomaly detection.

How has it helped my organization?

The Datadog suite has allowed us to easily integrate log collection into all of our services and quickly detect unexpected changes in system data to declare security incidents.

What is most valuable?

The dashboards are great. They allow for the visualization of log data over time to detect anomalous behavior.

What needs improvement?

The ease of implementation needs improvement. I did not personally experience the initial deployment of Datadog in our environment, however, after some conference workshops, some of the pain points with deployment and turning on certain settings or features were revealed. I would not know how to deal with these issues (or sometimes where to begin) if I were starting from scratch.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?


What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Datadog is very easy to deploy at scale when implemented early in the deployment process and if made a deployment requirement.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not previously use a different solution. 

How was the initial setup?

I was not involved with the initial setup. 

What about the implementation team?


What was our ROI?


What other advice do I have?

The solution is deployed as a SaaS.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Security Analyst at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Integrates well with different providers and easy to install, but needs better reporting
Pros and Cons
  • "Its integration is most valuable because you can integrate it with various service providers such as AWS, .Net, etc."
  • "I'm still exploring the trial version, and it is fine. One thing that I haven't been able to figure out is how to retrieve a report. This is something that could be improved. I probably need to navigate to a place to access the reports."

What is our primary use case?

We are currently testing it. If the testing goes well, we'll purchase the full version, and it will probably be our main monitoring tool. We plan to use it for monitoring our activities and the attacks on our systems or network.

How has it helped my organization?

It is a cloud monitoring tool. I believe it would make things easier for our clients in terms of monitoring.

What is most valuable?

Its integration is most valuable because you can integrate it with various service providers such as AWS, .Net, etc.

What needs improvement?

I'm still exploring the trial version, and it is fine. One thing that I haven't been able to figure out is how to retrieve a report. This is something that could be improved. I probably need to navigate to a place to access the reports. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We started using its trial version just last week.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have not yet interacted with their technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Currently, we're on EventTracker. We are doing research to see if we could get a better monitoring solution. That's why we are trying out Datadog. If we like it, we will buy the full version. We would also recommend it to our other clients.

How was the initial setup?

It is easy to install, and it doesn't have any cumbersome procedures. Its deployment took a couple of hours.

What about the implementation team?

I did it by myself.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated solutions from SolarWinds and IBM.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution. I am still trying it out, and I haven't encountered any challenges so far. I would rate Datadog a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Project Director at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Valuable logs, pretty stable, and provides a single tool for architecture and infrastructure
Pros and Cons
  • "Its logs are most valuable."
  • "Its pricing model can be improved. Its settings should be improved for a better understanding of billing. They should also provide some alerts when there is an increase in the usage. For example, if there is 20% more increase from one week to another, the customer should get an alert."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for our infrastructure network and servers.

How has it helped my organization?

From our customer's and our perspective, it has not brought much change in terms of the process. Datadog did not change anything about the process. It only provided a single tool instead of having to use multiple tools.

What is most valuable?

Its logs are most valuable.

What needs improvement?

Its pricing model can be improved. Its settings should be improved for a better understanding of billing. They should also provide some alerts when there is an increase in usage. For example, if there is a 20% more increase from one week to another, the customer should get an alert.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is pretty stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The perimeter in which we worked was not big enough to get any information about scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

Their technical support is fine.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

One of our customers was using another solution. They switched because of the scalability of the perimeter. Their previous solutions were limited in terms of the kind of servers and virtual machines. They had multiple tools, and Datadog provided them a single tool for architecture and infrastructure.

How was the initial setup?

Its initial setup is complex.

What about the implementation team?

We installed it ourselves.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I am not satisfied with its licensing. Its payment is based on the exported data, and there was an explosion of the data for three or four weeks. My customer was not alerted, and there was no way for them to see that there has been an explosion of data. They got a big invoice for one or two months. The pricing model of Datadog is based on the data. The customer was quite surprised about not being alerted about this explosion of data. They should provide some kind of alert when there is an increase in usage.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated various in-house and external options.

What other advice do I have?

I would advise others to take a step-by-step approach rather than a from-zero-to-everything approach.

I would rate Datadog an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Tech Lead & Solutions Architect at DXC
Real User
Customizable, attractive panel design, and gives broad insight
Pros and Cons
  • "I have found some of the most valuable features to be the way things all come together that gives us a point of view that is useful. The panel is very beautiful and customizable."
  • "The installation is easy for me. However, if you are new to this solution it might not be so easy."

What is our primary use case?

I implement this solution for clients.

What is most valuable?

I have found some of the most valuable features to be the way things all come together that gives us a point of view that is useful. The panel is very beautiful and customizable. The configuration file was really helpful, we were able to configure the solution in the way we needed. The portability of this solution is more flexible than other competitors, allowing us to change cloud services when we want. We are not locked into a particular one.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have used CloudWatch previously and this solution is better at meeting all our needs.

How was the initial setup?

The installation is easy for me. However, if you are new to this solution it might not be so easy.

What about the implementation team?

I am an implementor, I did the implantation of the solution.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Datadog a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Production Engineering at a construction company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Helps track incidents and integrates with Slack but needs better tooling integration within Slack
Pros and Cons
  • "It is great that creating an incident is possible from Slack while having all the relevant data in Datadog."
  • "I would like the tooling to have better integration in Slack, specifically sending out reminders to the relevant people to take breaks, do a retrospective, and specify with emojis which messages to log."

What is our primary use case?

We use Datadog incident management for our incident tooling. Whenever we run into an incident, we try to use it. It allows us to create a separate Slack channel for it.

How has it helped my organization?

Keeping track of incidents makes it possible to share learnings and follow-up. It is also required for SOC2 compliance.

What is most valuable?

It is great that creating an incident is possible from Slack while having all the relevant data in Datadog. It allows us to not think too much about organizing incidents, which is a highly stressful situation.

What needs improvement?

I would like the tooling to have better integration in Slack, specifically sending out reminders to the relevant people to take breaks, do a retrospective, and specify with emojis which messages to log.

Learning about the tooling could also be improved. It is a bit clunky to use, especially in an incident. It could definitely be more streamlined.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for about a year.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Real User
A stable network monitoring tool with some great features
Pros and Cons
  • "The application performance monitoring is pretty good."
  • "The Log Explorer could be better. I don't think it has log manipulation as Splunk does."

What is most valuable?

The application performance monitoring is pretty good. 

What needs improvement?

The Log Explorer could be better. I don't think it has log manipulation as Splunk does.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've only been using Datadog for the past one or two months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Datadog is stable. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is pretty easy. It's a kind of agent-based application monitoring. It's similar to Splunk and Elastic Stack.

What other advice do I have?

Although I don't have that much experience with it, overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give Datadog a rating of eight. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Datadog Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: June 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Datadog Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.