Software Telemetry

Book excerpt: Software Telemetry shows you how to efficiently collect, store, and analyze system and application log data so you can monitor and improve your systems. Summary In Software Telemetry you will learn how to: Manage toxic telemetry and confidential records Master multi-tenant techniques and transformation processes Update to improve the statistical validity of your metrics and dashboards Make software telemetry emissions easier to parse Build easily-auditable logging systems Prevent and handle accidental data leaks Maintain processes for legal compliance Justify increased spend on telemetry software Software Telemetry teaches you best practices for operating and updating telemetry systems. These vital systems trace, log, and monitor infrastructure by observing and analyzing the events generated by the system. This practical guide is filled with techniques you can apply to any size of organization, with troubleshooting techniques for every eventuality, and methods to ensure your compliance with standards like GDPR. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the technology Take advantage of the data generated by your IT infrastructure! Telemetry systems provide feedback on what’s happening inside your data center and applications, so you can efficiently monitor, maintain, and audit them. This practical book guides you through instrumenting your systems, setting up centralized logging, doing distributed tracing, and other invaluable telemetry techniques. About the book Software Telemetry shows you how to efficiently collect, store, and analyze system and application log data so you can monitor and improve your systems. Manage the pillars of observability—logs, metrics, and traces—in an end-to-end telemetry system that integrates with your existing infrastructure. You’ll discover how software telemetry benefits both small startups and legacy enterprises. And at a time when data audits are increasingly common, you’ll appreciate the thorough coverage of legal compliance processes, so there’s no reason to panic when a discovery request arrives. What's inside Multi-tenant techniques and transformation processes Toxic telemetry and confidential records Updates to improve the statistical validity of your metrics and dashboards Revisions that make software telemetry emissions easier to parse About the reader For software developers and infrastructure engineers supporting and building telemetry systems. About the author Jamie Riedesel is a staff engineer at Dropbox with over twenty years of experience in IT. Table of Contents 1 Introduction PART 1 TELEMETRY SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE 2 The Emitting stage: Creating and submitting telemetry 3 The Shipping stage: Moving and storing telemetry 4 The Shipping stage: Unifying diverse telemetry formats 5 The Presentation stage: Displaying telemetry 6 Marking up and enriching telemetry 7 Handling multitenancy PART 2 USE CASES REVISITED: APPLYING ARCHITECTURE CONCEPTS 8 Growing cloud-based startup 9 Nonsoftware business 10 Long-established business IT PART 3 TECHNIQUES FOR HANDLING TELEMETRY 11 Optimizing for regular expressions at scale 12 Standardized logging and event formats 13 Using more nonfile emitting techniques 14 Managing cardinality in telemetry 15 Ensuring telemetry integrity 16 Redacting and reprocessing telemetry 17 Building policies for telemetry retention and aggregation 18 Surviving legal processes