NWSChat 2.0 Monitoring in the Public Cloud

NWSChat 2.0 became operational across the NWS in August 2023. It is a significantly enhanced version of a messaging/chat system previously known as “NWS Chat”, providing real-time, two-way communications between NWS and partners. One of the key requirements for NWSChat 2.0 and all operational, mission-critical applications is high availability. Therefore, the NWS Office of Dissemination led an effort to develop robust, 24x7 monitoring and response for all applications in the Dissemination cloud system, including NWSChat 2.0. This effort involved integrating multiple tiers of IT support, leveraging cloud-native monitoring tools and automation, and developing innovative ways to ensure NWSChat 2.0 was functioning properly all the time. Attendees of this session will see examples of the challenges that the team faced, and best practices learned while standing up a robust 24x7 monitoring solution for a critical application that supports tens of thousands of NWS partners.