1
Open Source for
Better Observability
@horovits
Dotan Horovits
2
Quiz: what’s that?
Dotan Horovits
@horovits
• Principal Developer Advocate at
• 20 years in the hi-tech industry
• Developer, architect, product
• Co-organizer of DevOpsDays & CNCF Tel Aviv
• Run OpenObservability Talks podcast
4
• What’s observability
• Role of open source in observability
• The leading open source tools
• OpenTelemetry and the unified vision
Agenda
Useful links ahead 📷
5
Monitoring Cloud Native Systems is Hard
6
Monitoring
Cloud Native
Systems
is Hard
7
Cloud Native Monitoring Requires
Observability
“... loosely coupled systems that are resilient,
manageable, and observable.”
in Control Theory:
“Observability is a measure of how well internal states of a
system can be inferred from knowledge of its external outputs.”
Metrics
Logs Traces
Detect
Diagnose Isolate &
improve
Observability
Cloud Native Definition
8
Cloud Native Monitoring Requires
Observability
“... loosely coupled systems that are resilient,
manageable, and observable.”
Metrics
Logs Traces
Detect
Diagnose Isolate &
improve
Observability
In plain English for software systems:
"capability to ask and answer questions based on telemetry data"
Cloud Native Definition
InsideBIGDATA: https://bit.ly/o11y-data-analytics
The “What”, the “Why”, the “Where”
Metrics, Logs, Traces
10
Metrics — the “What”
• Detect issues, tell what happened
• Numerical (counters, gauges, histograms)
• Time series storage and query
• Typically combined with alerting on events
11
Logs — the “Why”
• Diagnose issues, tell why it happened
• Textual
• Parse, index, store, query, analyze
12
Traces — the “Where”
• Isolate issues, tell where it happened
• Improve performance
• Construct the trace based on causality
13
3 Pillars of Observability
The ability to ask and answer questions about our system
• Metrics — the “What”
• Logs — the “Why”
• Traces — the “Where”
Role in Observability
Open Source
15
By 2025, 70% of new cloud-native
application monitoring will use
open-source instrumentation, rather than
vendor-specific agents for improved
interoperability.
Open Source is the preferred choice
Open source monitoring tools in
use at nearly 60% of surveyed
organizations
Dec 2, 2020
April, 2021
Sep 2, 2020
The most commonly adopted
tools are open source
16
There’s no consolidation
● >¼ use 10-20 tools
● Greatest challenge with observability:
Engineers and teams using
multiple tools (50%)
Cloud Native Observability
Microsurvey 2022
https://bit.ly/cncf-o11y-2022
17
Relicensing is changing OSS landscape
Is “vendor owned open source” an oxymoron? https://horovits.medium.com/b5486a4de1c6
Source: opensource.google
18
Open Source in Observability
• OSS is key
• Tool sprawl
• Relicensed OSS
OpenWhat??
https://horovits.medium.com/e9e48
20
Metrics — the “What”
Open Source
* Update Apr 2021: relicensed from Apache2 to AGPLv3 by Grafana Labs.
*
21
Logs — the “Why”
Open Source
* Update Feb 2021: relicensed from Apache2 to non-OSS (SSPL) by Elastic BV.
*
*
**
** Update Apr 2021: relicensed from Apache2 to AGPLv3 by Grafana Labs.
22
Traces — the “Where”
Open Source
23
Observability is more than
Logs+Metrics+Traces
Metrics
Logs Traces
Detect
Diagnose Isolate &
improve
Observability
Unstructured and ad-hoc
Structured, machine-formatted, correlated
Reactive monitoring
Proactive data analysis and insights
Logging/metrics/tracing silos
Unified data collection and analytics
24
How do we generate and capture
Telemetry?
API
SDK Daemon
Collector
Protocol
Agent
25
OpenTelemetry
“OpenTelemetry is an observability framework - software and
tools that assist in generating and capturing telemetry data
from cloud-native software.”
Across Traces, Metrics, Logs
26
A unified set of vendor-agnostic APIs, SDKs and tools
for generating and collecting telemetry data, and then
exporting it to a variety of analysis tools.
Source: https://logz.io/learn/opentelemetry-guide/
27
Modern systems need to be
observable
Open source is key to
Observability
Summary
Open source for better observability
Tool sprawl and data silos
are inhibitors
Single pane of glass to
unleash data analytics
28
Open source for better observability:
https://horovits.medium.com/8c65b5630561
Observability as a data analytics problem:
https://bit.ly/o11y-data-analytics
Cloud Native Observability Microsurvey 2022
https://bit.ly/cncf-o11y-2022
Is “vendor owned open source” an oxymoron?
https://horovits.medium.com/b5486a4de1c6
Quick Dictionary to Open<X> Projects
https://horovits.medium.com/e9e48f0113de
OpenTelemetry Guide:
https://bit.ly/otel-kubecon
OpenObservability Talks:
https://anchor.fm/openobservability
Questions &
Resources
@horovits
29
Thanks
Dotan Horovits
@horovits

stackconf 2022: Open Source for Better Observability

  • 1.
    1 Open Source for BetterObservability @horovits Dotan Horovits
  • 2.
  • 3.
    Dotan Horovits @horovits • PrincipalDeveloper Advocate at • 20 years in the hi-tech industry • Developer, architect, product • Co-organizer of DevOpsDays & CNCF Tel Aviv • Run OpenObservability Talks podcast
  • 4.
    4 • What’s observability •Role of open source in observability • The leading open source tools • OpenTelemetry and the unified vision Agenda Useful links ahead 📷
  • 5.
  • 6.
  • 7.
    7 Cloud Native MonitoringRequires Observability “... loosely coupled systems that are resilient, manageable, and observable.” in Control Theory: “Observability is a measure of how well internal states of a system can be inferred from knowledge of its external outputs.” Metrics Logs Traces Detect Diagnose Isolate & improve Observability Cloud Native Definition
  • 8.
    8 Cloud Native MonitoringRequires Observability “... loosely coupled systems that are resilient, manageable, and observable.” Metrics Logs Traces Detect Diagnose Isolate & improve Observability In plain English for software systems: "capability to ask and answer questions based on telemetry data" Cloud Native Definition InsideBIGDATA: https://bit.ly/o11y-data-analytics
  • 9.
    The “What”, the“Why”, the “Where” Metrics, Logs, Traces
  • 10.
    10 Metrics — the“What” • Detect issues, tell what happened • Numerical (counters, gauges, histograms) • Time series storage and query • Typically combined with alerting on events
  • 11.
    11 Logs — the“Why” • Diagnose issues, tell why it happened • Textual • Parse, index, store, query, analyze
  • 12.
    12 Traces — the“Where” • Isolate issues, tell where it happened • Improve performance • Construct the trace based on causality
  • 13.
    13 3 Pillars ofObservability The ability to ask and answer questions about our system • Metrics — the “What” • Logs — the “Why” • Traces — the “Where”
  • 14.
  • 15.
    15 By 2025, 70%of new cloud-native application monitoring will use open-source instrumentation, rather than vendor-specific agents for improved interoperability. Open Source is the preferred choice Open source monitoring tools in use at nearly 60% of surveyed organizations Dec 2, 2020 April, 2021 Sep 2, 2020 The most commonly adopted tools are open source
  • 16.
    16 There’s no consolidation ●>¼ use 10-20 tools ● Greatest challenge with observability: Engineers and teams using multiple tools (50%) Cloud Native Observability Microsurvey 2022 https://bit.ly/cncf-o11y-2022
  • 17.
    17 Relicensing is changingOSS landscape Is “vendor owned open source” an oxymoron? https://horovits.medium.com/b5486a4de1c6 Source: opensource.google
  • 18.
    18 Open Source inObservability • OSS is key • Tool sprawl • Relicensed OSS
  • 19.
  • 20.
    20 Metrics — the“What” Open Source * Update Apr 2021: relicensed from Apache2 to AGPLv3 by Grafana Labs. *
  • 21.
    21 Logs — the“Why” Open Source * Update Feb 2021: relicensed from Apache2 to non-OSS (SSPL) by Elastic BV. * * ** ** Update Apr 2021: relicensed from Apache2 to AGPLv3 by Grafana Labs.
  • 22.
    22 Traces — the“Where” Open Source
  • 23.
    23 Observability is morethan Logs+Metrics+Traces Metrics Logs Traces Detect Diagnose Isolate & improve Observability Unstructured and ad-hoc Structured, machine-formatted, correlated Reactive monitoring Proactive data analysis and insights Logging/metrics/tracing silos Unified data collection and analytics
  • 24.
    24 How do wegenerate and capture Telemetry? API SDK Daemon Collector Protocol Agent
  • 25.
    25 OpenTelemetry “OpenTelemetry is anobservability framework - software and tools that assist in generating and capturing telemetry data from cloud-native software.” Across Traces, Metrics, Logs
  • 26.
    26 A unified setof vendor-agnostic APIs, SDKs and tools for generating and collecting telemetry data, and then exporting it to a variety of analysis tools. Source: https://logz.io/learn/opentelemetry-guide/
  • 27.
    27 Modern systems needto be observable Open source is key to Observability Summary Open source for better observability Tool sprawl and data silos are inhibitors Single pane of glass to unleash data analytics
  • 28.
    28 Open source forbetter observability: https://horovits.medium.com/8c65b5630561 Observability as a data analytics problem: https://bit.ly/o11y-data-analytics Cloud Native Observability Microsurvey 2022 https://bit.ly/cncf-o11y-2022 Is “vendor owned open source” an oxymoron? https://horovits.medium.com/b5486a4de1c6 Quick Dictionary to Open<X> Projects https://horovits.medium.com/e9e48f0113de OpenTelemetry Guide: https://bit.ly/otel-kubecon OpenObservability Talks: https://anchor.fm/openobservability Questions & Resources @horovits
  • 29.