Observability, a comprehensive practice that offers insights into the functionality and performance of entire systems, is often misunderstood as being solely applicable to a specific part of a stack or application. In reality, observability encompasses all stack layers and their interconnections. It is crucial to observe and analyze data from all layers of a system to gain a holistic understanding of its behavior and performance, detect anomalies, and deliver a better user experience.

Why is this a myth?

The misconception arises from the belief that monitoring one specific component, such as the application layer, is sufficient for understanding system behavior. However, this limited view overlooks the intricate interactions and dependencies between different parts of the stack.

True observability entails observing and analyzing data from all layers of the system, including application metrics, traces, and infrastructure telemetry. By adopting a comprehensive approach, teams can gain insights into how the entire system operates, identify performance bottlenecks, and detect anomalies.

Fact: Observability is applicable from mobile to mainframe

Observability is applicable across various platforms, including mobile, web, cloud, and mainframe systems. Let’s explore how observability works in different technology stacks:

• Mobile applications: Observability involves capturing relevant events, metrics, and logs through instrumenting code. This helps developers gain insights into user interactions, performance bottlenecks, and errors, improving the overall app quality.
• Web applications: Observability revolves around capturing and analyzing data from different layers, such as frontend, backend, and infrastructure. It helps identify performance issues, detect errors, and optimize application performance.
• Cloud-based services: Observability focuses on monitoring and analyzing distributed systems and microservices architectures. Technologies like distributed tracing and service mesh enable end-to-end visibility, helping teams troubleshoot issues and identify latency bottlenecks.
• Mainframe systems: Observability plays a vital role in mainframe systems, as it helps monitor metrics, transaction logs, and resource usage data. It enables organizations to gain insights into system performance, identify inefficiencies, and optimize critical business processes.

Why should observability be applicable to all parts of your stack?

• Comprehensive system understanding: Observability provides a holistic view of the entire system stack, facilitating understanding of interactions, dependencies, and performance characteristics.
• Faster troubleshooting and debugging: Observability data provides granular insights into system behavior, enabling teams to quickly identify and resolve issues.
• Proactive issue detection and prevention: Observability helps detect anomalies, monitor key metrics, and set up alerts to proactively address potential issues, minimizing downtime and improving system reliability.
• Improved customer experience: By leveraging observability across all platforms, organizations can continuously monitor user interactions, identify performance bottlenecks, and optimize the customer experience, leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates.

By embracing observability universally, organizations can gain actionable insights, enhance system performance, and deliver better experiences across diverse technology stacks and environments.

Observability by the numbers

IBM’s observability solution, IBM Instana, offers high-fidelity data with one-second granularity and end-to-end traces, providing full-stack visibility and real-time monitoring of cloud dependencies. To enhance your observability practices, you can request a demo of IBM Instana.

Customer success stories using IBM Instana demonstrate its effectiveness. For example, Conrad Electronic, a global multichannel sales company, uses IBM Instana and real-time data to scale its operations and improve customer experience.

What’s next

Stay tuned for upcoming eBooks that offer downloadable compilations of observability insights, which can significantly influence your decision to enhance or start your observability practices.

FAQ

What is observability?

Observability is a practice that involves observing and analyzing data from all layers of a system to gain insights into its functionality and performance. It provides a holistic view of the system, enabling teams to understand interactions, dependencies, and performance characteristics.

Why is observability important?

Observability is important because it helps organizations gain actionable insights, enhance system performance, and deliver better experiences for users. It enables faster troubleshooting and debugging, proactive issue detection and prevention, and a comprehensive understanding of the entire system stack.

Which technology stacks can observability be applied to?

Observability can be applied to various technology stacks, including mobile, web, cloud, and mainframe systems. It encompasses a wide range of technologies and environments, enabling organizations to gain insights and optimize performance across diverse platforms.

What are the benefits of observability?

The benefits of observability include a comprehensive understanding of system behavior, faster issue identification and resolution, proactive issue detection and prevention, and improved customer experience. By leveraging observability, organizations can optimize performance, minimize downtime, and enhance system reliability.

What is IBM Instana?

IBM Instana is an observability solution designed for cloud-native environments. It offers high-fidelity data with one-second granularity and end-to-end traces, providing full-stack visibility and real-time monitoring of cloud dependencies.