Instrumentation with Prometheus in Practice
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The Four Core Metric Types in Prometheus
As we have seen, Prometheus supports four core metric types: counters, gauges, histograms, and summaries. Each metric type has its own use cases and characteristics. The following table summarizes the key differences between them:
| Metric Type | Description | Use Cases | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counter | A cumulative metric that represents a single monotonically increasing value that can only increase or be reset to zero. | Counting the number of requests, errors, or other events over time. | Only increases (or resets to zero). Ideal for cumulative metrics like total requests or bytes processed. |
| Gauge | A metric that represents a single numerical value that can go up or down over time. |
Observability with Prometheus and Grafana
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