(Virtual) Observability Deep Dive

Join Boston Azure AI for this virtual session featuring Monika Mundra (blog, LinkedIn).

TALK DESCRIPTION

Observability Deep Dive: Correlating logs across Azure Monitor, App Insights and distributed services.

• Understand the Observability Gap: Modern distributed applications are difficult to troubleshoot because logs, metrics, and traces are often siloed, lack a common correlation key, and may lose critical context through sampling.
• Build a Unified Observability Platform: Azure Monitor, Application Insights, and Log Analytics work together to collect and correlate telemetry from applications, infrastructure, containers, Azure services, and hybrid environments.
• Leverage Correlation and Distributed Tracing: Use `operation_Id`, W3C `traceparent`, and OpenTelemetry to track requests end-to-end across microservices, databases, APIs, and downstream dependencies.
• Accelerate Root Cause Analysis with KQL: Cross-workspace KQL queries enable teams to correlate requests, dependencies, exceptions, and infrastructure logs, making it easier to identify production issues and performance bottlenecks.
• Adopt Production-Ready Practices: Standardize correlation IDs, use structured logging, implement intelligent alerting, and embrace OpenTelemetry-based instrumentation to reduce noise, improve visibility, and lower incident resolution time.

Key Takeaway: Treat Azure Monitor, Application Insights, and Log Analytics as a single observability ecosystem. Correlated telemetry combined with OpenTelemetry and KQL provides the visibility needed to troubleshoot complex distributed systems at scale.

AGENDA

• 5:55 pm - Virtual doors open (you can join the online meeting)
• 6:00 pm - Let's go! (welcome and main presentation)
• ~7:00 pm - Wrap up and questions