For those unfamiliar with the term observability, it can be defined as the ability to monitor and measure the behavior and state of an internal system from the data it generates. It plays a key role in a wide range of systems, including distributed systems, microservices architectures, and cloud-based environments. But the concept of observability isn’t new. It comes from the control theory in engineering which aims to understand how to control a system’s behavior to achieve the desired outcome. Observability plays an important role in control theory because it allows a system’s behavior to be monitored and controlled effectively.
The purpose of observability is to provide network engineers, DevOps and IT teams the ability to understand what’s going on across various environments and systems so they can diagnose and troubleshoot issues faster and more efficiently.
What is an observability platform and how is it different from observability tools?
A common misconception is that an observability tool is the same as an observability platform but, they’re quite different. An observability tool enables you to monitor and analyze the performance of your systems and applications. Common examples include log analysis tools (collect and analyze log data from various sources), tracing tools (help users understand the entire lifecycle of a request or action across several systems), application performance monitoring (APM) tools (monitor the performance and behavior of applications) and monitoring tools (collect data from various sources to enable users to monitor the performance and behavior of their systems in real-time).
IT teams often use observability tools (like the ones mentioned above) independently to gain valuable insights into single components of larger systems but they don’t offer a single source of truth. As a result, teams that rely solely on these tools lack a holistic view of what’s happening across the entire system(s). An observability platform, on the other hand, is much more comprehensive. It combines multiple observability tools and features into a single, integrated platform for a complete picture allowing for greater visibility. The goal of an observability platform is to provide teams with insights and visibility into how their systems are functioning, so they can proactively identify issues and rectify them before they negatively impact the end user.
Why is observability platform important and what are some of its benefits?
Today’s enterprises need to effectively manage the complexity of their distributed networks, systems, applications, and infrastructures. This complexity creates challenges for IT teams that need full visibility across the full IT stack to effectively analyze and troubleshoot any issues. An observability platform can address these challenges by enabling teams to collect and analyze data about the health and performance of their systems which can then be used to identify the root cause of issues, reduce MTTR and improve the performance and reliability of their systems and applications. Some of the key benefits of an observability platform include:
- Improved performance: by monitoring the performance of systems in real time, teams can identify and fix issues before they impact customers and/or business operations.
- Increased efficiency: By automating the collection and analysis of data, observability platforms can help organizations reduce the time and effort required to identify issues.
- Greater team collaboration: Observability platforms provide tools for collaboration and sharing of critical data which helps teams work more efficiently.
- Better decision-making: organizations can make informed decisions about their systems and infrastructure from the data that’s generated
- Happier customers: with an observability platform in place, organizations can detect and prevent issues before it impacts the customer
In sum, observability platforms are and will continue to be an important tool for organizations that rely on different systems to support their business operations. By providing IT teams with the visibility and monitoring capabilities they need, observability platforms can help organizations diagnose issues, reduce unnecessary downtime and improve reliability and performance.