Summary

In this chapter, you were introduced to the benefits of automating the management of your observability platform, and saw how investing in good automation can allow subject-matter experts to shift repetitive and low-value work to others in the organization. We discussed the different aspects of observability platforms, being data production, collection, storage, and visualization. You also learned who is typically responsible for each aspect of the platform.

With the theory largely covered, we then went on to discuss how to manage the data collection layer, presenting an in-depth analysis of the OpenTelemetry Collector Helm configuration that has been used to collect data throughout this book. We contrasted the way Helm works with Ansible to deploy to a virtual or physical setup, and you gained valuable skills in understanding the structure of the management files used by each tool. We rounded out the automation of data collection systems by introducing the Helm chart and...