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@squadcast ・ Nov 18,2023 ・ 8 min read ・ 622 views ・ Originally posted on www.squadcast.com
Explore top observability tools like Prometheus, Grafana, Jaeger, and Squadcast. Enhance system performance and streamline incident response seamlessly
Understanding Observability
Observability is the capability to gauge the internal states of a system through the examination of its outputs. A system achieves 'observability' when it becomes feasible to estimate the current state using information solely derived from outputs, particularly sensor data. Leveraging Observability data enables the identification and troubleshooting of problems, optimization of performance, and enhancement of security measures.
In the following sections, we'll delve into the three foundational pillars of Observability: Metrics, Logs, and Traces.
The relationship between Observability and Monitoring is intricately connected, with the latter serving as a prerequisite for the former.
Observability involves gaining insights into the internal workings of a system, enabling a profound understanding of its behavior. On the other hand, Monitoring is the process of collecting data on system performance and behavior.
Furthermore, Monitoring tends to focus on predefined metrics and thresholds to detect deviations from expected behavior. In contrast, Observability is driven by the ambition to furnish a profound comprehension of system behavior, facilitating the exploration and discovery of unexpected issues.
Perspectives and Mindsets
In terms of perspective and mindset, Monitoring adheres to a "top-down" approach, relying on predefined alerts based on known criteria. In contrast, Observability adopts a "bottom-up" approach, encouraging open-ended exploration and adaptability to changing requirements.
Observability | Monitoring | |
Tells you why a system is at fault. | Notifies that you have a system at fault. | |
Acts as a knowledge base to define what needs monitoring. | Focuses only on monitoring systems and detecting faults across them. | |
Focuses on giving context to data. | Data collection focused. | |
Give a more complete assessment of the overall environment. | Keeping track of monitoring KPIs. | |
Observability is a traversable map. | Monitoring is a single plane. | |
It gives you complete information. | It gives you limited information. | |
Observability creates the potential to monitor different events. | Monitoring is the process of using Observability. |
Monitoring detects anomalies and alerts you to potential problems. However, Observability not only detects issues but also helps you to understand their root causes and underlying dynamics.
Observability, anchored in the Three Pillars—Metrics, Logs, and Traces, is built on the core concept of "Events." These events constitute the fundamental units of monitoring and telemetry, each carrying a timestamp and quantifiable attributes. What sets events apart is their context, particularly in user interactions. For instance, the act of a user clicking "Pay Now" on an eCommerce site is an event, expected within seconds.
Within monitoring tools, the spotlight falls on "Significant Events." These events serve as triggers for:
Consider a scenario where a server's disk is nearing 99% capacity—an event of significance. Yet, understanding which applications and users contribute to this scenario is crucial for effective action.
Metrics act as numeric indicators, providing valuable insights into a system's health. While some metrics, such as CPU, memory, and disk usage, are evident indicators of system health, numerous other critical metrics can uncover underlying issues. For instance, a gradual increase in OS handles can lead to a system slowdown, eventually necessitating a reboot for accessibility. Similar valuable metrics span the various layers of the modern IT infrastructure.
Critical to effective metric usage is careful consideration when determining which metrics to continuously collect and how to analyze them. Domain expertise plays a pivotal role in this decision-making process. While most monitoring tools can detect obvious issues, the best ones excel in providing insights into detecting and alerting complex problems. Identifying the subset of metrics that serve as proactive indicators of impending system problems is crucial. For example, an OS handle leak rarely occurs abruptly.
Tracking the gradual increase in the number of handles in use over time makes it possible to predict when the system might become unresponsive, allowing for proactive intervention.
Advantages of Metrics:
Challenges of Metrics:
Log Analysis for Enhanced Observability
Delving into the intricacies of log files provides a wealth of information on how an application handles requests. The detection of anomalies, such as exceptions, within these logs serves as a crucial indicator of potential issues within the application. Monitoring and analyzing these errors and exceptions in logs constitute a fundamental component of any observability solution. Additionally, parsing through logs can unveil invaluable insights into the overall performance of the application.
Unlike APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) or querying application databases, logs often harbor insights that may remain undiscovered. Unfortunately, many Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) fail to provide alternative methods for accessing the data embedded in logs. Consequently, a robust observability solution must not only facilitate log analysis but also streamline the capture of log data and its seamless correlation with metric and trace data.
Advantages of Logs:
Challenges of Logs:
Tracing is a relatively recent development, especially suited to the complex nature of contemporary applications. It works by collecting information from different parts of the application and putting it together to show how a request moves through the system.
The primary advantage of tracing lies in its ability to deconstruct end-to-end latency and attribute it to specific tiers or components. While it can't tell you exactly why there's a problem, it's great for figuring out where to look.
Advantages of Traces:
Challenges of Traces:
Tracing Integration Made Effortless
In the past, integrating tracing posed challenges, but the advent of service meshes has transformed the process into a seamless endeavor. Service meshes now manage tracing and stats collection at the proxy level, ensuring effortless observability throughout the entire mesh. This eliminates the need for additional instrumentation from applications within the mesh, simplifying the implementation process.
While each discussed component has its own set of pros and cons, there's often a desire to leverage them collectively for comprehensive observability. 🧑💻
Observability Tools Tools dedicated to observability play a crucial role in collecting and analyzing data pertaining to user experience, infrastructure, and network telemetry. This proactive approach allows for the early identification of potential issues, preemptively addressing them to prevent any adverse impact on critical business key performance indicators (KPIs).
Discover a range of popular observability tools that cater to diverse monitoring needs:
Conclusion: In the realm of observability, the synergy of logs, metrics, and traces forms the foundation for a comprehensive view of distributed systems. Strategic incorporation, such as placing counters and logs at entry and exit points, and utilizing traces at decision junctures, enhances the effectiveness of debugging. Combining observability with incident management creates an efficient response mechanism for incidents, minimizing their impact on business operations and improving overall system reliability.
Squadcast Integration: Squadcast proves instrumental in this ecosystem by seamlessly integrating with a wide array of observability tools, including Honeycomb, Datadog, New Relic, Prometheus, and Grafana. Start a free trial of Squadcast's incident platform today, and explore its ability to minimize incident impact and enhance system reliability. Whether using the pre-built integrations or leveraging Squadcast's public API, the platform ensures adaptability to various observability tools. Book a demo today to witness the power of Squadcast in action.
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