Observability Concepts

Observability

It is a measurement of how well system's internal states can be inferred based on known outputs from this system.

(How easily can you know if the system is working based on its outputs)

Observability allow us to know the why and how something went wrong.

Monitoring

It is a subset of Observability.

Monitoring shows us that something is wrong, and it is based in knowing with precedence which signals to monitor.

3 Pillars

Metrics

Metrics are numbers.

They help us guiding the infrastructure (Technical metrics) and also business (Business metrics).

Infrastructure metrics

They help to optimize and make a better infrastructure.

Business metrics

It helps to make the business grow, cut expenses, create intelligence for the business.

Logs

Shows us the result of an Event.

Consider data protection laws, when writing logs, so that you don't log sensitive data.

Tracing

Shows us the order at which an Event was executed, allowing to track the order of requests, services and Events until an error was produced.