Atlassian Bitbucket Monitoring on Microsoft SCOM
As part of a customer project, we developed a custom Bitbucket Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM). This tailored solution enables IT operations teams to monitor key performance and health metrics of Bitbucket environments, ensuring planning and bug-tracking platforms remain available and performant.
With this Use Case paper, we aim to share our knowledge with the SCOM community, highlighting the possibilities of advanced monitoring on Microsoft SCOM and helping teams improve their day-to-day tasks.
What is Bitbucket by Atlassian
Bitbucket is Atlassian’s Git-based source code repository hosting service, widely used by development teams for managing source code and enabling collaborative software development. It supports both cloud and on-premise (Bitbucket Data Center) deployments and integrates tightly with tools like Jira, Bamboo, and Confluence to support DevOps workflows.
Core features include Git repository management, pull request workflows and code reviews, branch permissions and access controls, integrated CI/CD pipelines (especially in Bitbucket Cloud), and REST API for automation and integrations.
Why Monitor Atlassian Bitbucket?
Bitbucket is mission-critical for teams practicing continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) and agile software development. If Bitbucket becomes slow, unresponsive, or misconfigured, it can significantly disrupt development pipelines. Monitoring Bitbucket ensures:
Integration Health: Dependencies on systems such as databases, application servers, and CI tools are operational.
Availability: The service is accessible to users at all times.
Performance: Developers experience low latency in clone, pull, and push operations.
Scalability: The infrastructure supports load from concurrent users and automated systems.
Security: Unauthorized access is detected, and configuration drift is minimized.
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Key Atlassian Bitbucket Monitoring Areas
Ensure performance, availability, and security in your Bitbucket environment by tracking key technical indicators. Below is a breakdown of what IT teams should monitor to proactively detect issues, optimize system health, and support uninterrupted collaboration.
Availability
Service and process uptime: Ensures the Bitbucket service (including web interface and background services) is up and responsive, which is critical for developer productivity and CI/CD reliability.
Node and cluster availability: In multi-node or Data Center deployments, monitors the health of individual nodes to maintain high availability and failover readiness.
Repository accessibility: Validates that users can access repositories without errors or latency, ensuring development teams aren’t blocked.
Integration status (e.g., with Jira, Bamboo): Monitors the availability of linked Atlassian or third-party tools, which are often tightly integrated into developer workflows.
Performance
API response times: Tracks latency for REST and internal APIs, helping identify slow endpoints that could impact integrations, automation scripts, or UI performance.
Web UI response latency: Measures user-facing performance for code browsing, pull requests, and repo settings to catch slowdowns early.
Repository clone/push/pull duration: Monitors Git operation speeds to detect network, disk, or load-related issues affecting developers.
Background job execution time (e.g., indexing, garbage collection): Tracks how long critical background tasks take, ensuring system health and responsiveness are not impacted over time.
Queue length and processing rate (hooks, CI triggers): Detects bottlenecks in job queues, which could delay build pipelines or webhook responses.
Security & Access
User login activity and anomalies: Tracks logins and failed attempts, highlighting unusual access patterns or potential brute-force behavior.
Permission changes (repo/project level): Monitors admin-level permission adjustments for auditing, compliance, and rollback if misconfigurations occur.
SSH and personal access token usage: Detects potentially risky access patterns or misused tokens, especially useful in tightly secured environments.
Failed Git operations due to permission issues: Identifies misconfigurations or unintended access restrictions affecting user productivity.
Monitoring Bitbucket Cloud vs Data Center
Bitbucket is available in two deployment models: Bitbucket Cloud, a fully managed SaaS offering hosted by Atlassian, and Bitbucket Data Center, an on-premise solution designed for enterprise scalability and control. While both platforms support core version control and collaboration features, the monitoring requirements differ significantly due to their operational models.
This section outlines the key areas that IT administrators or monitoring engineers, such as those using SCOM or other enterprise monitoring tools, should focus on when ensuring the health, performance, and security of their Bitbucket environments. The table below compares critical monitoring considerations for both Bitbucket Cloud and Bitbucket Data Center, helping teams establish the right observability practices based on their deployment type.
Cloud vs Data Center Monitoring Matrix
| Category | Bitbucket Cloud | Bitbucket Data Center (On-Premise) |
| Service Availability | Monitor Atlassian status page (status.atlassian.com) | Ping/health checks on web/UI, REST API endpoints |
| Authentication | Monitor SSO/OAuth integrations (e.g., Atlassian Access) | Monitor LDAP/SSO integration, Kerberos failures, auth latency |
| Performance Metrics | Limited (API rate limits, user-perceived latency) | JVM metrics (CPU, GC, memory), thread pools, DB query times |
| Repository Access | Monitor REST API access, webhook delivery | Monitor Git I/O latency, repo size growth, NFS share usage |
| Build/CI/CD Integration | Monitor pipeline status via Bitbucket Pipelines | Monitor integration with Jenkins/Bamboo, webhook queues |
| Error Logs | Only visible in audit logs (limited) | Access to application logs (bitbucket.log, atlassian-bitbucket.log) |
| User Management | Audit Atlassian org user changes | Monitor user provisioning/de-provisioning, permissions audit |
| Security & Compliance | Audit logs (via Atlassian admin console) | Monitor failed logins, permission changes, custom auditing |
| Infrastructure | Not applicable | Monitor host OS (CPU, RAM, disk), database (PostgreSQL, etc.) |
| Backup & Recovery | Managed by Atlassian | Monitor backup jobs, replication health, disaster recovery |
| Update & Patch Management | Atlassian managed updates | Monitor version drift, patching schedules, upgrade readiness |
| Integrations/Plugins | Managed via Atlassian Marketplace | Monitor add-on health, compatibility, resource usage |
| Network Connectivity | Monitor access to Atlassian domains, proxy/firewall logs | Monitor internal DNS, VIP load balancers, latency between nodes |
| Scalability/Cluster Health | Not applicable | Monitor node health, Hazelcast cluster status, replication |
| Alerting & Notification | Use Atlassian tools/webhooks to notify | Integrate with alerting tools (e.g., SCOM, Zabbix, Prometheus) |
Key-Areas for Microsoft SCOM Admins
For System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) administrators, integrating Bitbucket into the monitoring fabric requires a purpose-built Management Pack that understands both the infrastructure and application layers of Bitbucket.
Discovery & Inventory
Discover Bitbucket nodes and cluster topology: Automatically maps out all nodes in Bitbucket Data Center deployments to ensure full visibility and alert coverage.
Inventory of repositories and projects: Provides an up-to-date overview of hosted codebases, useful for capacity planning, license audits, and configuration tracking.
Plugin/module discovery (e.g., Code Insights, Smart Mirroring): Helps track which features and add-ons are active and subject to monitoring, ensuring no functionality is missed.
Health State Monitoring
Monitor core service status (e.g., Bitbucket Server, Elasticsearch): Confirms all underlying services are operational, ensuring reliable access and search functionality.
Track JVM health (memory, GC activity, thread pools): Detects memory leaks, thread starvation, and GC issues, which are frequent causes of performance degradation in Java-based services.
Cluster node heartbeat and sync status: Ensures all cluster nodes are online and synchronized, preventing inconsistent behavior or degraded performance.
Log File Monitoring
Parse Bitbucket logs for error patterns and warnings: Surfaces runtime issues that aren’t always exposed through metrics — e.g., plugin failures, config issues, or background job exceptions.
Track integration failures with Jira/Bamboo: Detects communication or authentication errors that can silently break end-to-end DevOps workflows.
Highlight security-related log events (e.g., failed login attempts): Enables early detection of potential security threats, like brute-force attacks or misuse of credentials.
Performance Monitoring
Monitor Git operation latency (clone, push, pull): Helps maintain high developer productivity by catching delays related to server load or network issues.
API call performance (REST endpoints): Enables visibility into which API routes are slow or failing, often used in automation and CI tools.
Track job queue length and scheduler delays: Identifies congestion in processing queues for tasks like indexing, builds, and hooks, enabling tuning or scaling decisions.
Dashboards & Views
Pre-built SCOM dashboards for Bitbucket health: Offer real-time visibility into system status, alert trends, and key performance indicators for fast situational awareness.
Breakdowns by project, repo, and node: Helps quickly isolate issues to specific teams or infrastructure segments, improving troubleshooting efficiency.
Trend views of error rates, response times, and usage: Supports historical analysis and capacity planning based on usage growth and stability trends.
Alerting & Integration
Configurable alerts for performance thresholds and service degradation: Notifies operations early about emerging issues, reducing MTTR (mean time to resolution).
Log-based alerting for critical errors and security incidents: Enhances detection beyond simple metrics by leveraging log intelligence for nuanced event monitoring.Integration with ServiceNow or ITSM platforms: Automates incident creation and triage workflows for seamless integration with enterprise support systems.
SCOM Admin Quick Checklist for Bitbucket Monitoring
| Category | What to Monitor | SCOM Feature |
| Availability | Bitbucket service status, web/API endpoints | Availability Monitors |
| Performance | JVM heap, GC, thread count, response times | Performance Counters |
| Logs | Log file parsing for error patterns | Event Collection Rules |
| Repositories | Repo count, size, active/inactive state | Custom Rules |
| Security | Audit log anomalies, login failures | Alerting & Event Correlation |
| Integrations | Webhook status, plugin health | Dependency Views |
| Dashboards | Ops & Dev-friendly dashboards | Custom SCOM Dashboards |
By integrating Bitbucket into SCOM using a tailored management pack, organizations can unify infrastructure and DevOps monitoring under one platform. This enables proactive detection of issues, ensures high availability of developer tooling, and contributes to better collaboration between IT operations and engineering teams.
Atlassian Bitbucket Monitoring Use Cases
The following real-world use cases demonstrate how Bitbucket monitoring enables organizations to stay proactive, optimize operations, and support critical business functions.
Avoiding CI/CD Pipeline Failures Due to Git Operation Latency
Use Case
A DevOps team begins to see intermittent failures in automated build jobs triggered via Bitbucket. Developers assume it’s a CI issue, but after investigation, the root cause is slow Git clone and pull operations from the Bitbucket server, leading to timeouts in downstream CI tools like Bamboo or Jenkins.
How Monitoring Helps
Tracks Git operation durations (clone, push, pull) to identify rising latency trends.
Correlates slowness with load spikes, JVM memory pressure, or job queue congestion.
Alerts admins when thresholds are crossed before timeouts occur in dependent systems.
Benefits
Improves collaboration between DevOps and infrastructure teams.
Reduces build pipeline disruptions and developer downtime.
Helps maintain trust in CI/CD automation by catching issues upstream.
Detecting Unauthorized Access Attempts and Potential Security Breaches
Use Case
Security teams notice suspicious login attempts targeting Bitbucket accounts, raising concerns about potential brute-force attacks or credential leaks.
How Monitoring Helps
Tracks login attempts and failed authentications in real time.
Flags unusual access patterns such as repeated failures or logins from unexpected locations.
Monitors changes in repository permissions and SSH token usage.
Benefits
Protects source code integrity and developer credentials.
Enables early detection of security threats before data exfiltration occurs.
Supports compliance by auditing access and permission changes.
Maintaining Continuous Access in Bitbucket Data Center Deployments
Use Case
A multi-node Bitbucket Data Center cluster experiences intermittent node failure, causing occasional outages and degraded performance for users accessing repositories.
How Monitoring Helps
Monitors node heartbeats, cluster synchronization, and failover readiness.
Alerts IT teams immediately when nodes become unreachable or cluster sync is lost.
Provides health metrics on load distribution across nodes.
Benefits
Supports planned maintenance without unexpected service interruptions.
Minimizes downtime by enabling rapid response to node failures.
Ensures high availability for critical developer workflows.
Planning Capacity Before Repository Growth Impacts Performance
Use Case
The engineering organization rapidly expands, with repository counts and user activity growing steadily. Without proactive monitoring, performance degradation starts appearing in Git operations and API calls.
How Monitoring Helps
Tracks repository counts, user sessions, and operation latencies over time.
Provides trend analysis to forecast when additional infrastructure or tuning will be needed.
Identifies resource bottlenecks such as JVM heap usage or job queue backlogs.
Benefits
Maintains developer productivity despite growth.
Enables proactive scaling decisions, preventing unexpected slowdowns.
Supports smooth onboarding of new teams and projects.
We hope this Atlassian Bitbucket Monitoring Use Case paper inspires you to extend your monitoring on Microsoft SCOM. Feel free to reach out for help building your next custom Management Pack.
NiCE Services and Training for Microsoft SCOM
NiCE Services & Training for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) offers specialized expertise in enhancing IT monitoring through the development of custom Management Packs tailored to an organization’s unique infrastructure and business needs.
By leveraging NiCE’s deep knowledge of SCOM, their services empower IT teams to extend native monitoring capabilities, enabling precise, scalable, and efficient oversight of complex environments. The custom management packs crafted by NiCE address specific applications, devices, and services not covered by default SCOM templates, ensuring comprehensive visibility and proactive issue detection.
In addition to bespoke management pack creation, NiCE provides targeted training to equip IT professionals with the skills to maintain, customize, and optimize SCOM environments independently. This combination of tailored solutions and knowledge transfer significantly improves operational reliability, reduces downtime, and maximizes the return on investment in Microsoft SCOM deployments.