OpenTelemetry: Escape Hatch from the Observability Cartel
18 days ago
- #OpenTelemetry
- #Observability
- #VendorLockIn
- OpenTelemetry (OTel) standardizes signal collection, description, and routing, enabling easy telemetry movement between self-hosted backends and vendors.
- OTel reduces instrumentation churn with language-neutral SDKs, stable semantic conventions, and auto-instrumentation for common protocols.
- The OTel Collector acts as a control plane, allowing flexible data routing, sampling, and deployment options.
- OTel enables multi-sink architectures, facilitating vendor migrations, redundancy, and regional compliance without code changes.
- OTLP, OTel's open format, supports cost control through compression, raw data storage, and vendor flexibility.
- OTel promotes freedom with its portability, extensibility, and strong community governance under CNCF.
- Starting small with OTel—replacing proprietary agents, introducing the collector, and experimenting with secondary backends—reduces lock-in risks.
- OTel ensures optionality, preventing vendor lock-in and enabling businesses to choose observability solutions based on value.