What is Observability?
It is the ability to monitor the internal state of a system with external data.
Overview
Observability is an observation mechanism that allows us to understand what is happening in the inner world of complex software systems. It not only warns when there is an error, but also explains with data why the system slows down or does not produce the expected results.
How it works
Logs, metrics and monitoring data from the system are collected. By combining these data, the health status of the system is visualized. Thus, the problem can be detected before it is reflected to the user.
Where it is used
It is used in large server networks and to monitor the performance of artificial intelligence models. It is a critical tool, especially for finding where the system is clogged.
Commonly confused with
It's often confused with 'monitoring', which is just logging errors, but observability focuses on understanding why the system is failing.
Frequently asked questions
Why isn't just keeping an error log enough?
The error log tells the problem but does not explain the reason, while observability allows you to see all the steps inside the system.
Is it required for every system?
It may be an exaggeration for simple applications, but it is vital in artificial intelligence systems consisting of many parts.
Related terms
Related tools
This explanation was written in plain language for TreScout and machine-translated from the Turkish original · the Turkish version prevails. If something looks wrong or missing, write to hello@trescout.com. Read in Turkish →