Microservices are commonly used to build scalable and resilient applications, but their complexity complicates tracking system behavior. Observability is increasingly vital, moving beyond mere monitoring to provide insights into system states based on external outputs. The Three Pillars of Observability are Metrics, which quantify performance; Logs, which detail discrete events; and Traces, which follow requests through systems. Effective metrics involve analyzing trends using methods like RED and USE, with structured logging practices improving context and traceability.
As software systems grow more complex, microservices have become the go-to way to build apps that are scalable, resilient, and easier to maintain. However, with that flexibility comes a trade-off: things get harder to track. Understanding how all the moving parts behave across a distributed system isn't easy, making observability a crucial requirement rather than a luxury.
Observability extends beyond traditional monitoring to provide deep insights into the internal state of complex systems based on their external outputs. While monitoring tells you when something is wrong, observability helps you understand why it's wrong-often before users notice issues.
The Three Pillars of Observability include Metrics, which provide numerical representations of system and business performance over time; Logs, which represent discrete events occurring within applications and infrastructure components; and Traces, which track requests as they move through a system.
Implementing effective metrics involves establishing baselines for normal behaviour and setting appropriate thresholds for alerts. The RED method (Rate, Errors, Duration) and the USE method (Utilization, Saturation, Errors) are frameworks to prioritize metrics.
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