Software Engineering Daily: Prometheus and Open-Source Observability with Eric Schabell
Release Date: April 15, 2025
In this insightful episode of Software Engineering Daily, host Kevin Ball engages in an in-depth conversation with Eric Schabell, Director of Community and Developer Relations at Chronosphere and a CNCF Ambassador. The discussion centers around Prometheus, an open-source observability tool, and the challenges and solutions associated with scaling observability platforms in dynamic, cloud-native environments.
1. Introduction to Eric Schabell and Chronosphere
[01:35] Kevin Ball: "Hey, thank you very much. Nice to be here."
[02:19] Eric Schabell:
Eric introduces himself as the Director of Evangelism at Chronosphere, emphasizing the fluid and evolving nature of his role within the observability space. He highlights Chronosphere's commitment to open standards and cloud-native solutions, positioning the company as a key player in managing and scaling observability infrastructures.
2. Understanding Prometheus as a Cloud-Native Observability Platform
[04:00] Eric Schabell:
Eric delves into what makes Prometheus a standout tool in the observability landscape. Originally developed by SoundCloud, Prometheus is praised for its high performance, scalability, and unobtrusive nature. He explains the pull-based data collection model, where Prometheus scrapes metrics from various endpoints at configurable intervals without relying on agents or collectors.
Notable Quote:
"Prometheus is designed to be highly performant and scalable, making it ideal for dynamic cloud-native environments where traditional monitoring tools fall short." — Eric Schabell [04:00]
He contrasts time series metrics with logs and traces, underscoring Prometheus's specialization in handling continuous, high-volume data streams essential for real-time monitoring and alerting.
3. Metrics Collection and Time Series Data
[09:22] Eric Schabell:
Eric breaks down the differences between metrics, logs, and traces. He emphasizes that while logs and traces provide valuable information for debugging and understanding service interactions, metrics are crucial for measuring the ongoing performance and health of systems. He highlights the challenges of managing time series data, particularly the issue of cardinality explosions—where an excessive number of unique metric labels can overwhelm storage and querying capabilities.
Notable Quote:
"In a time series database, managing high cardinality is essential to prevent overload and ensure efficient querying." — Eric Schabell [09:22]
4. The Lifecycle of Prometheus Deployment
[20:19] Eric Schabell:
Eric outlines the typical lifecycle of deploying Prometheus for service monitoring:
- Setting Up Exporters: Using pre-built exporters (e.g., Node Exporter for Node.js services) to generate standard metrics without modifying application code.
- Data Collection: Prometheus scrapes these endpoints at regular intervals, storing metrics as time series data.
- Dashboard Creation: Utilizing PromQL (Prometheus Query Language) to create visualizations and dashboards that provide real-time insights into system performance.
- Alerting: Configuring alerting rules within Prometheus to notify teams of threshold breaches or anomalies.
He also discusses the importance of trimming unnecessary metrics to optimize storage costs, noting that on average, 60% of collected metrics may go unused.
Notable Quote:
"Once you start collecting data, the challenge shifts to managing and optimizing what you store to avoid unnecessary costs." — Eric Schabell [20:19]
5. Challenges of Scaling Prometheus
[26:03] Eric Schabell:
Scaling Prometheus introduces significant complexities, particularly around high availability and data sharding. Prometheus was not initially designed for high availability, making it difficult to manage failover scenarios without incurring additional overhead. Eric points out that scaling often leads to intricate topologies that require manual intervention to handle increased load and ensure data consistency.
Notable Quote:
"Prometheus doesn't have built-in high availability, so scaling it requires managing multiple instances and dealing with complex topologies." — Eric Schabell [26:03]
6. Transitioning to Managed Observability Solutions
[30:51] Eric Schabell:
To address the scaling challenges of Prometheus, Eric advocates for transitioning to managed observability platforms like Chronosphere. He explains that such platforms handle the underlying complexities of scaling, high availability, and cost optimization, allowing engineering teams to focus on developing their applications rather than managing observability infrastructure.
Notable Quote:
"Managed platforms take over the heavy lifting of scaling and maintaining observability tools, freeing your team to concentrate on what they do best." — Eric Schabell [30:51]
7. Migration Path and Compatibility
[35:52] Eric Schabell:
Eric discusses the migration process from self-hosted Prometheus to Chronosphere. Emphasizing open standards and compatibility, he assures that migrating should be relatively straightforward due to shared protocols and query languages like PromQL. He highlights the flexibility of Chronosphere in integrating with existing telemetry pipelines, ensuring that organizations can seamlessly transition without significant disruptions.
Notable Quote:
"Because we adhere to open standards, migrating to Chronosphere from Prometheus can be done with minimal friction, ensuring continuity and reliability." — Eric Schabell [35:52]
8. Consolidating Observability Signals
[38:42] Eric Schabell:
Eric explains that platforms like Chronosphere aim to unify various observability signals—metrics, logs, and traces—under one umbrella. This consolidation simplifies the observability stack, providing a cohesive view of system performance and health. He underscores the importance of flexibility, allowing organizations to integrate legacy systems while adopting modern telemetry standards like OpenTelemetry.
Notable Quote:
"Consolidating metrics, logs, and traces into a single platform enhances visibility and simplifies troubleshooting across your entire infrastructure." — Eric Schabell [38:42]
9. Cost Management and Optimization
[44:47] Eric Schabell:
Cost is a critical consideration in observability. Eric emphasizes that unmanaged, self-hosted solutions can lead to exponentially increasing data costs without proportional value. Managed platforms like Chronosphere offer cost optimization features, enabling organizations to monitor data usage, eliminate unused metrics, and maintain control over their observability expenses.
Notable Quote:
"Without proper management, your observability costs can spiral out of control. Managed platforms provide the tools you need to keep expenses in check while maintaining comprehensive monitoring." — Eric Schabell [44:47]
10. Conclusion and Resources
As the discussion wraps up, Eric encourages listeners to explore Chronosphere's workshops and resources to gain hands-on experience with observability tools and practices.
[45:35] Eric Schabell:
"If you explore our workshops, you can gain practical experience with installing Prometheus, configuring Fluent Bit, and leveraging OpenTelemetry—all available online for free." — Eric Schabell [45:35]
[45:49] Host:
Kevin thanks Eric for the insightful conversation, leaving listeners with a comprehensive understanding of Prometheus, the challenges of scaling observability, and the benefits of managed solutions like Chronosphere.
Key Takeaways
- Prometheus is a powerful, open-source tool for metrics collection, essential for monitoring cloud-native environments.
- Scaling Prometheus introduces challenges related to high availability, data sharding, and cost management.
- Chronosphere and similar managed observability platforms offer solutions to these scaling challenges by handling infrastructure complexities and optimizing costs.
- Transitioning to managed platforms is facilitated by adherence to open standards like PromQL and OpenTelemetry, ensuring compatibility and ease of migration.
- Effective observability requires a unified approach that consolidates metrics, logs, and traces, enhancing visibility and simplifying troubleshooting.
For those interested in enhancing their observability practices, exploring Chronosphere's resources and workshops is a valuable next step.