Hi, we're @devsectop (formerly o11y-top) and we develop secure topology of distributed systems. “o11y” is a numeronym for observability while “top” is also a Linux command which returns an overview of system processes and resource usage. ∢

Observability is the ability to understand the behaviour of a distributed system through its outputs. These outputs can take the form of: metrics, events, logs and traces (MELT), which inform the thresholds for the key performance indicators (KPIs) set by the organisation’s key performance objectives (KPOs). Observability is important within the modern software development cycle as it enables cross-domain teams to gain insights from a system’s behaviour through various tooling and practices to make informed decisions about performance optimisations and address issues as they arise.

Monitoring differs from observability in that monitoring typically involves tracking of predefined set of metrics or events to ensure that a system is functioning as expected. Observability, on the other hand, emphasizes the ability to ask ad hoc questions about a system's behaviour and to trace issues through the system. As such, monitoring forms a subset focused on collecting and aggregating data, while observability extends upon monitoring by providing more context to detect and diagnose issues, and improve system performance.

OpenTelemetry is a vendor-neutral observability framework which plays a crucial role in providing a standardised approach to collecting telemetry data from across an entire system. It allows developers and operators to get a complete view of their systems and applications by collating data from various MELT sources and integrating them into a single platform for analysis and visualization.

In addition to open-sourcing implementation of observability best practices, we look forward to fostering a community of enthusiasts where we share pro-tips and enable us to reach a wider audience spanning tech sectors.

Thank you for your time and support!