What is meant by context-rich observability?

Context-rich observability refers to the capacity to capture and store all incoming observations along with relevant references to the entities being monitored. This approach ensures that the metrics, traces, and logs are not only collected but also contextualized, allowing for deeper insights and more meaningful analysis.

By storing observations with a reference to their monitored entity, teams can effectively correlate data across various layers of the system, which facilitates a comprehensive understanding of application performance and behavior. This enables teams to troubleshoot issues more effectively, identify patterns, and derive actionable insights for performance optimization.

In contrast, the other choices do not encapsulate the full concept of context-rich observability. Metrics with visual summaries, while valuable, do not inherently include the same level of depth or relational context. Observability without structure lacks the crucial organization that context-rich observability provides, making it harder to draw meaningful conclusions. A high-level summary of monitored data can oversimplify complex interdependencies and fail to give a detailed view of system performance and behavior. Thus, the correct choice highlights the importance of context in observability.