Opstrace: Open Source Observability with Sebastien Pahl

Observability is a key feature of a well-architected application. Because building an observability system for a cloud application can be challenging, especially at scale, many organizations elect to use third-party observability platforms rather than build internal tools. But these third-party provider contracts often charge by volume of data collected, which can be unpredictable and difficult to control. Organizations seeking to make their systems observable faced a tradeoff between convenience and control.

Opstrace is building an observability platform that seeks to circumvent that tradeoff by matching costs to the users who get value from their service. Opstrace’s platform is open-source, and its clusters can be created easily via command line tools. Opstrace clusters talk directly to your cloud provider, and can store your data safely and inexpensively in S3 or GCS buckets.

Sebastien Pahl is the co-founder and CEO of Opstrace. Prior to founding Opstrace, he was a Director of Engineering at Red Hat and Mesosphere. Sebastien joins the show today to talk about the evolution of the market for cloud observability tools, how Opstrace helps bring observability costs under control, and what the future has in store for the Opstrace open-source project.

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Transcript

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