Overview
Metrics are quantitative measurements (e.g., CPU usage, request count, error rate). Collecting metrics allows teams to monitor trends, set alerts, and perform capacity planning.
Key Concepts
- Counters: Metrics that only increase (e.g., total requests).
- Gauges: Metrics that can go up and down (e.g., memory usage).
- Histograms/Summaries: Metrics that track the distribution of values (e.g., request latency).
- Time-Series Database (TSDB): A database optimized for storing and querying time-stamped data (e.g., Prometheus, InfluxDB).
Benefits
- Real-time Monitoring: See the current state of the system.
- Trend Analysis: Identify patterns over days, weeks, or months.
- Alerting: Automatically notify teams when metrics exceed predefined thresholds.