Summary

You may have heard the saying, “data is the new oil.” Even though this tagline was framed for another context, it’s true for observability, as it is the oil that drives the observability engine.

The data collection layers that we have addressed in this chapter provide a simple way to divide the observability landscape. Each of these layers needs to be individually analyzed and reviewed carefully in the context of your organization and catalog the data required to achieve the observability goals, one application at a time. We recommend doing that in the order outlined in this chapter – infrastructure, application, business service, and lastly, organization. The complexity of data collection increases with each layer. Simple application architecture requires a simple setup, and as application complexity increases, multiple tools and methods need to be employed to get full stack observability. This understanding emphasizes the standardization of...