Telemetry
The automated collection and transmission of data (metrics, logs, and traces) from remote applications or systems back to a central monitoring platform.
What it is
Telemetry is the raw data emitted by your software. It tracks what a system is doing in real-time, such as how much memory a server is using, how long a database query took, or if a user encountered an error. This raw data stream forms the foundation required to understand the health of complex distributed systems.
When you would use it
You implement telemetry instrumentation (like OpenTelemetry) into your code to ensure your application reports its health status to your DevOps team automatically.
Common operations
- Emitting log events when an AI agent successfully connects to an MCP tool.
- Collecting server CPU metrics to trigger automated horizontal scaling.
Related terms
Where this is taught
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