Technical Publication

Field Notes & Guides

OpenTelemetry, architecture, debugging, and production lessons for engineers running real systems.

Build Guide 9 min read

Collector to Collector: choose authentication for the hop you have

Two Collectors can authenticate with TLS, mTLS, basic auth, bearer tokens, OIDC, or a service mesh. Each answers a different question, and the right one depends on the boundary the hop crosses.

Published Sep 4, 2026

opentelemetry collector observability

Scale Guide 6 min read

Do not tune every metric: start with a 60-second scrape interval

A practical 60-second metric collection default, with the alerting, query, source-load, and billing checks needed for justified exceptions.

Published Aug 18, 2026

observability metrics opentelemetry

Debug Guide 21 min read

Query-level PostgreSQL evidence with OpenTelemetry: a privilege decision, not a config flag

Query samples, blocking evidence and pg_stat_statements are not config flags. Each one buys diagnostic power for a privilege, for query text leaving the database, or for work the receiver makes PostgreSQL do. What each costs, measured.

Published Aug 12, 2026

postgresql opentelemetry observability

Build Guide 16 min read

A database receiver is not database observability: PostgreSQL with OpenTelemetry

The PostgreSQL receiver reports what the server is doing; your traces report what the request felt. Neither joins the other. A staged guide to server metrics, client spans and pool telemetry, with what each one cannot tell you.

Published Jul 31, 2026

postgresql opentelemetry observability

Build Guide 12 min read

Beyond the defaults: extending Kubernetes enrichment with your own labels and annotations

Add Kubernetes pod and namespace labels or annotations to OpenTelemetry logs with the k8s_attributes processor.

Published Jul 1, 2026

opentelemetry kubernetes observability

Debug Guide 8 min read

A Local Lab for Debugging OpenTelemetry Collector Pipelines

Use Docker Compose to prove that traces, metrics, and logs pass through each OpenTelemetry Collector pipeline before you debug the backend.

Published May 30, 2026

opentelemetry collector prometheus

Build Guide 8 min read

OpenTelemetry on Kubernetes: deploy node, cluster, and identity in that order

How to split node-local and cluster-wide OpenTelemetry Collectors on Kubernetes with Helm, explicit OTLP export to a backend.

Published May 12, 2026

kubernetes opentelemetry observability

Build Guide 2 min read

Unveiling Olatuak: A New Chapter in Observability Guidance

When we first set out to build this product, we had a simple mission: help teams get more value out of Datadog. We saw how easy it is for observability costs t

Published Nov 4, 2025

datadog observability

Debug Guide 5 min read

The Guided Ops Era: Why Observability Needs a Compass

For years, “visibility” was the holy grail. Teams instrumented everything (logs, traces, metrics), following the seemingly reasonable principle that if they col

Published Nov 2, 2025

datadog observability

Scale Guide 3 min read

Applying Datadog Metrics without Limits at Scale

Now that we’ve covered the principles of Metrics without Limits (MwL), let’s explore how you can easily leverage Olatuak to take advantage of this feature. Fi

Published Oct 13, 2025

datadog observability usage_optimization

Build Guide 4 min read

Getting Started in Datadog: The 5 Fundamentals Every Read-Only User Should Know (Part 1)

So, you just got access to Datadog. You log in, and… wow, there’s a lot going on. Dashboards, metrics, traces, logs — it can feel overwhelming if you don’t know

Published Oct 7, 2025

datadog observability

Debug Guide 4 min read

The Most Common Mistakes Teams Make With Datadog Logs (and How to Avoid Them)

I’ve worked with teams running Datadog Logs across some of the largest enterprises in the world. One thing I’ve noticed: most logging mistakes aren’t about Data

Published Sep 15, 2025

datadog observability usage_optimization