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eBPF: Observability with Zero Code Instrumentation [Video]

Current observability practice is largely based on manual instrumentation, which requires adding code in relevant points in the user’s business logic code to generate telemetry data. This can become quite burdensome and create a barrier to entry for many wishing to implement observability in their environment. This is especially true in Kubernetes environments and microservices architecture.

eBPF is an exciting technology for Linux kernel-level instrumentation, which bears the promise of no-code instrumentation and easier observability into Kubernetes environments (alongside other benefits for networking and security).

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Embracing invokedynamic To Tame Class Loaders in Java Agents

One of the nicest things about Byte Buddy is that it allows you to write a Java agent without manually having to deal with byte code. To instrument a method, agent authors can simply write the code they want to inject in pure Java. This makes writing Java agents much more accessible and avoids complicated onboarding requirements.

After the first successful experiments, agent authors often get hit by a wall of complexity that the JVM throws at them: class loaders (OSGi, oh my!), class visibility, dependence on internal APIs, classpath scanners, and version conflicts to name a few. 

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Observability 101: Terminology and Concepts

When I first started following Charity on Twitter back in early 2019, I was quickly overwhelmed by the new words and concepts she was discussing. I liked the results she described: faster debugging, less alert fatigue, happier users. Those are all things I wanted for my team! But I was hung up on these big polysyllabic words, which stopped me from taking those first steps toward improving our own observability.

This post is my attempt to help orient folks who want to learn more about observability but maybe feel overwhelmed or intimidated by the vocabulary list, like I did. My goal is to get everyone on the same page about what these words mean so that we can focus on leveraging the tools and ideas to build better software and deliver more value!