Modern Network Observability : A Hands-On Approach Using Open Source Tools Such As Telegraf, Prometheus, and Grafana / David Flores, Christian Adell and Josh VanDeraa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Flores, David, author.

Adell, Christian, author.

VanDeraa, Josh, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Computer networks--Monitoring.

Computer networks.

Computer networks--Management.

Network performance (Telecommunication).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (506 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Birmingham, England : Packt Publishing, [2024]

Biography/History:

Flores David: David Flores is passionate about solving complex problems in network infrastructure, software architectures, automation, and observability. With experience with service providers, cloud providers, and system integrators, David has gained expertise in managing, automating, and building observability stacks for network infrastructure. Currently at CoreWeave, he focuses on enhancing automation and observability. David has also contributed to open source projects such as gns3fy, and actively shares his knowledge through blogs, workshops, and technical events. David is always curious and eager to keep himself updated and open to new ideas in the field. Adell Christian: Christian Adell is a principal architect at Network to Code He is focused on building network automation solutions for diverse use cases, with great emphasis on open source software. He is passionate about learning and helping others to grow, but also has more hobbies than hours in the day, so working remotely from Barcelona gives him the time and the space to achieve his dreams. Christian is a co-author of O'Reilly's Network Programmability and Automation book and a co-author of Network Automation with Nautobot by Packt. Also in relation to sharing knowledge, he is the organizer of the NetBCN community in Barcelona and has been collaborating with several universities for almost 20 years. VanDeraa Josh: Josh VanDeraa is a network engineer and automation leader. Currently, he is a services director at Network to Code, driving value from network automation solutions. Josh has experience in automation and networking across retail, transportation, and managed services. In his free time, he enjoys being with his family or the Minnesota seasons. Josh co-authored Network Automation with Nautobot and self-published Open Source Network Management.

Summary:

As modern IT services and software architectures such as microservices rely increasingly on network performance, the relevance of networks has never been greater. Network observability has emerged as a critical evolution of traditional monitoring, providing the deep visibility needed to manage today’s complex, dynamic environments. In Modern Network Observability, authors David Flores, Christian Adell, and Josh VanDeraa share their extensive experience to guide you through building and deploying a flexible observability stack using open-source tools. This book begins by addressing the limitations of monolithic monitoring solutions, showing you how to transform them into a composable, flexible observability stack. Through practical implementations, you’ll learn how to collect, normalize, and analyze network data from diverse sources, build intuitive dashboards, and set up actionable alerts that help you stay ahead of potential issues. Later, you’ll cover advanced topics, such as integrating observability data into your network automation strategy, ensuring your network operations align with business objectives. By the end of this book, you'll be able to proactively manage your network, minimize downtime, and ensure resilient, efficient, and future-proof operations.

Contents:

Cover

Title page

Copyright and credits

Dedication

Foreword 1

Foreword 2

Contributors

Table of Contents

Preface

Part 1: Understanding Monitoring and Observability

Chapter 1: Introduction to Monitoring and Observability

Defining network observability

Network monitoring evolution

What has worked so far

Trends and requirements

Network observability pillars

Data quality

Scalability and interoperability

Actionable data

Assisted analysis

Benefits

Summary

Chapter 2: Role of Monitoring and Observability in Network Infrastructure

Networking in the 2020s

Technological changes

Cultural changes

Transforming data into information

The importance of using business terms

Defining KPIs

From data to information

Expectations for network observability

Heterogeneous and enriched data

Proactive role in network automation

Full visibility of network state

Faster, more accurate, and at scale

Chapter 3: Data's Role in Network Observability

Network monitoring and telemetry

Challenges of traditional network monitoring

Network telemetry

Network observability framework

Collecting data, in practice

Agent-based versus Agentless approach

Network data collection methods

Setting up the lab environment

Part 2: Building an Effective Observability Stack

Chapter 4: Observability Stack Architecture

The components of an observability platform

The importance of a well-designed observability stack

Why does an observability stack need to be well designed?

What does it mean to be a well-designed platform?

Understanding data pipelines for observability

The versatility of data pipelines

Unpacking ETL in data pipelines

Challenges and best practices

Scalability

Reliability.

Flexibility, extensibility, and customization

Cost management

Other tips and best practices

Setting up a lab environment

Lab scenarios

Chapter 5: Data Collectors

A deep dive into data collectors

Key characteristics

A look into Telegraf

Telegraf architecture

Telegraf configuration

Telegraf SNMP input plugin

Telegraf synthetic monitoring input plugins

Telegraf gNMI input plugin

Telegraf exec input plugins

A look into Logstash

Logstash architecture

Logstash syslog input

Chapter 6: Data Distribution and Processing

Understanding data normalization

Observability data models

Breaking down metrics and the data model

Enhancing insights with data enrichment

Data enrichment injection

Data enrichment at query time

The scale of the observability data pipeline

Why message brokers/buses matter in observability

Chapter 7: Data Storage Solutions for Network Observability

Databases for observability

Time series databases

Matching databases with observability needs

A look into Prometheus TSDB

Prometheus architecture

Writing to Prometheus TSDB

Reading from Prometheus TSDB (PromQL)

Prometheus rules

A look at Grafana Loki

Grafana Loki architecture

Writing to Loki

Reading from Loki (LogQL)

Loki rules

Persistence tips and best practices

Performance and scale

Automation is your best friend

Chapter 8: Visualization - Bringing Network Observability to Life

Data visualization principles

A look into Grafana

Architecture

Creating your first Grafana dashboard

Visualization tips and best practices

Chapter 9: Alerting - Network Monitoring and Incident Management

Incident management and alerts

Challenges and considerations on alerting.

Alert aggregation and correlation

Alert engine architecture

A look into rulers and Alertmanager

Creating your first alerts

Grafana for alerts

External integrations

Alerting tips and best practices

Addressing common alert challenges

Build on top of communication and transparency

Healthy incident management process

The role of AI in alerting

Chapter 10: Real-World Observability Architectures

Observability stack options

All-in-one open source tools

Commercial off-the-shelf tools

Controller-based systems

Time series versus snapshot observability

Comparing build versus buy decision points

Defining requirements

Evaluating in-house capabilities and resources

Cost analysis

Assessing risks

Comparing features and flexibility

Making a decision

Orchestrating an observability platform

Deployment methodologies and orchestration

Part 3: Using Your Network Observability Data

Chapter 11: Applications of Your Observability Data - Driving Business Success

The business value of observability data

Capacity planning

Percentiles

Forecasting

Defining health status

Treating your network as a service

Monitoring SLIs, SLOs, and SLAs for optimal network performance

How to treat a network as a service

Architecting dashboards

Network-related personas

Dashboard types

Chapter 12: Automation Powered by Observability Data - Streamlining Network Operations

Advanced automation techniques with event-driven automation

Event-driven automation

Closed-loop automation

Event-driven automation with Prefect

Chapter 13: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Enhanced Network Observability

AI and ML fundamentals

ML algorithms

Neural networks and language models.

Real-world AIOps

Lab requirements

Validating operational changes

Assisted root cause analysis

Appendix A

A lab environment

Hardware requirements

Software requirements

Step 0 - Git repository setup

Step 1 - VM provisioning

Step 2 - interacting with the lab scenarios

Step 3 - removing the lab environment

Step 4 - managing lab scenarios

Index

Other Books You May Enjoy.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-83508-317-X

OCLC:

1456587178