Postman Monitoring

Postman Monitoring is a feature within the Postman platform that allows developers and teams to schedule and automate the testing of their APIs.This ensures that APIs are consistently checked for performance, reliability, and functionality, even when no one is manually testing them. Postman Monitor provides real-time insights and alerts, helping to identify and resolve issues quickly.

Setting Up Postman Monitor

Before setting up the monitor make sure you have a postman account and and you have a proper collection of API requests . Now, Let me create a collection [New collection] which i want to monitor .

As seen in the collection above we have few requests like post, get,put, delete request .

Now select the monitors tab .

Create a New Monitor

Click on the "Create a Monitor" button.

Fill in the monitor details:

• Monitor Name: Give your monitor a name.

• Collection: Select the collection you want to monitor.

• Environment: Choose an environment if you use environment variables.

• Frequency: Set how often the monitor should run (e.g., every 5 minutes, hourly, daily).

• Region: Select the geographical region where the monitor should run. This helps test the API's performance from different parts of the world.

• As mentioned above, I have named new monitor as [my collections ] .

• In collection, I have selected [New collection] from the Dropdown.

• Next, I have selected the test environment.

• I have set the monitor to run at 3pm every day. You can set this run as per your needs from the wide range of options available under Run this monitor .

• In the free version region is selected automatically .To change the region one needs a paid version.

• Here we can also upload a json data file for the Data Driven test upto 1mb.

• We can opt to receive the email notifications to upto 5 email recipients on the run failures and errors.

• Stop Notification, in this section you can define the number of consecutive failures after which you wish to stop receiving notifications .

• If the run fails, check 'Retry if run fails' to run the trial again for upto 2 times.

• Request timeout can be set for runtime of maximum 10 minutes i.e. 600,000 ms.

• Delay between the requests can be set from 1-600,000 ms to avoid failures due to the response time.

• Follow Redirects and Enable SSL validations are enabled by default . You can choose to disable them .

• Now click on the create Monitor button for run.
  

Analyzing Monitor Results

Dashboard Overview

1. Monitor Summary: View a summary of recent runs, including pass/fail rates.
   

• Above is the output of my scheduled run.

• Response time for the collection run is 0.70s as indicated by the blue dot in the output.When multiple runs are performed, summary is presented in the output screen for all the runs incl. response time, number of failed tests and number of errors. Time and date of the run is also shown.

2. Detailed Results: Click on individual runs to see detailed results for each request in the collection.

Here is the test results of the collection , we can check the number of passed and failed requests by switching to "Passed" and "Failed" in Test Results.

3. Response Times: Check the response times for each endpoint to identify performance bottlenecks.

4. Failure Reasons: Understand why a request failed, such as response code mismatches or timeout errors.

• We can use the filter to either view results of All requests or specific requests like Creating User,New Request, UpdateUser.

• We can also filter the results by type by selecting from ALL types or manual or Scheduled run or webhook run.

• Run result in which we can select which type of results we wanted to see like All types or Successful or Failure or Error or Abort we can select any of them .

• In the free version, region cannot be changed. To change the region, subscribe to paid plans.

Edit the current monitor

On the top right of your screen, you can find options to Run, Refresh and 3 dots menu .

• Run button is used to run the collection again.

• Refresh button is used to refresh the run .

• The 3 dots represent the options like pause ,edit and delete. Pause option can be used to pause the run for sometime. Edit is used to edit the necessary information when changes are required. Use delete to delete the monitor.

Conclusion

Postman Monitor is an indispensable tool for ensuring the reliability, performance, and functionality of your APIs. It transforms the way developers manage and maintain their APIs, offering a proactive approach to ensure API health and performance. With automated, scheduled tests, Postman Monitors enable continuous oversight of your endpoints, quickly identifying issues before they escalate into user-impacting problems.

Scalability and Flexibility: Postman Monitors can be scaled to fit the needs of any project, from small startups to large enterprises. Its flexible scheduling and regional testing capabilities ensure that your API performs well under various conditions and locations.

Comprehensive Reporting: The detailed dashboards and reports provide clear insights into API performance, helping teams to identify and resolve issues quickly. These reports can be shared with stakeholders to keep everyone informed about the API's health and performance metrics.

Integration with Development Workflows: Postman Monitors integrate seamlessly with your existing development workflows and CI/CD pipelines. This integration ensures that API tests are part of the continuous delivery process, catching issues early in the development cycle.

Cost-Effectiveness: By preventing downtime and performance issues, Postman Monitors can save significant costs associated with API failures. The ability to detect and address problems proactively helps maintain user satisfaction and trust.

Ease of Use: Postman's user-friendly interface and comprehensive documentation make it easy for teams of all sizes and skill levels to set up and manage monitors. This ease of use ensures that even non-technical team members can contribute to API health monitoring.

Enhanced Collaboration: The ability to share monitors and reports with team members fosters a collaborative environment. Teams can work together to troubleshoot and resolve issues, leading to faster problem resolution and improved API performance.

By integrating Postman Monitors into your development and maintenance workflows, you not only bolster your API reliability but also gain valuable insights into performance trends and potential bottlenecks. This proactive monitoring strategy fosters a culture of high standards, continuous improvement, and resilience in API management. Incorporating Postman Monitors into your toolkit is a strategic move to safeguard your API infrastructure, ensuring that your services remain robust, performant, and always available to your users.