Technology is evolving rapidly. DevOps is transforming the IT landscape and making a positive impact on the way companies operate. DevOps is a methodology that is used in both Agile and Lean setups. This means that organizations all around the globe are using the right combination of industry practices and innovative tools to deliver best-in-class software solutions and services. The development and operations teams work in close collaboration so that software solutions can be delivered with exceptional outcomes. But there is one key aspect of DevOps that you just cannot afford to neglect i.e. Observability.

The blog discusses the true meaning of Observability and why it is essential for DevOps teams.

What is Observability in DevOps?

Observability in DevOps is a key technical solution that helps the IT teams to understand what processes are going on in an application just by looking at the application’s output. This means that you can understand problems in a much better way by closely monitoring the application operations. You can also identify which process had failure issues. Observability helps you to understand the application lot better internally just by observing the external outputs.

Observability Vs Monitoring

There is always a difference between observability and monitoring, but both concepts have their importance. Monitoring allows you to collect data about the system and helps your teams to respond in case of any issues or errors. Observability is end-to-end visibility into the entire system and allows you to gather required information on when the issue occurred and why it occurred. You are monitoring as well as logging the events in a timebound fashion.

Why is Observability Essential for DevOps Teams?

Modern cloud-based applications are complex, running across thousands of instances in multiple systems. With the introduction of microservices, it becomes even more challenging to monitor different isolated components. The systems are getting complex with the introduction of new technology trends.

You just cannot overlook the importance of observability in DevOps as well. Since DevOps is all about delivering solutions continuously, it becomes crucial to get the right feedback at the right time. For example, most DevOps models operate on CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery) methodology it is important to know if new changes could make or break the system. This is where the concept of observability comes into the picture. This allows the development teams to keep track of the key activities when products are shipped to the end-users. Observability helps to identify the area that is causing errors or troubles.

When you identify the potential areas where errors are encountered, you can act proactively and see what can be done going forward to improve the overall application functionalities.

Components of Observability

These are the three different components that allow you to implement observability in your real-time systems:

• Metrics: These are the set of data that help you to monitor the overall performance of the system. The data can be collected over a specified period such as days, weeks, or even months. This allows DevOps teams to evaluate specific trends that impact the overall performance of the system. When you can closely monitor the system performance parameters, this is when you can easily identify the problems in real-time.
• Event Logs: These are the logs related to different events that are stored in the system. Logs provide a view of errors related to the system so that teams can identify the problem at hand.
• Traces: A trace provides DevOps teams with a system overview based on the request or transaction made in the system. You can track the request flow allowing you to make the system more visible and understandable.

Benefits of Observability

The following benefits are offered which can have a great impact on the overall business and end-user experience:

• It helps the teams to have a comprehensive understanding of the internal functionalities of the system.
• Observability ensures that DevOps teams can be proactive in identifying the root cause of the issues.
• It helps to improve customer satisfaction.
• It helps the companies to monitor the performance of the application.
• Observability ensures that you can perform debugging easily since you are aware of how the system behaves internally.

Conclusion

The blog discusses how observability is an important aspect for DevOps teams. You need to monitor the key areas or aspects that are critical for your business needs. So, if you work with DevOps teams in your organization, make them understand the true meaning of observability and how implementing it in real-time can add great value to the products you are shipping.

Looking for an expert team to kick start and manage the observability of your application? Axeno will assist you in the planning and executing of your observability project. We have a team of certified DevOps engineers, architects, and consultants.

Also, we are partners of new relic observability platform. You can mail us your queries at [email protected].