Observability Fundamentals

What is Observability?
Observability refers to a system’s capability to expose its internal workings, offering insights into key metrics like CPU usage, memory status, disk activity, and request failures. This visibility helps optimize infrastructure management, making systems more efficient and cost-effective.

Key Components of Observability:

1. Metrics – Quantitative data that measures system performance, such as latency, throughput, and error rates, providing real-time insights into system health.

2. Logging – Detailed records of events within a system, offering context for system behaviors and why particular states occur.

3. Traces – End-to-end records of requests, helping to identify performance issues by mapping the journey of each request through the system.

Combining these three components establishes true observability, enabling proactive system management and precise troubleshooting.

Monitoring vs. Observability
Monitoring is a crucial part of observability but is more focused on real-time metrics, often using tools like Grafana to visualize system states and trigger alerts for abnormal behaviors. Observability, however, provides a comprehensive view of system functionality, allowing teams to diagnose, predict, and prevent issues, resulting in a more resilient and responsive infrastructure.