Distributed tracing in microservices
Follow a request end-to-end across multiple services to identify bottlenecks and understand dependencies.
Observability · Courses
OpenTelemetry: From Discovery to Expertise
Complete free OpenTelemetry course: concepts, OTLP, Collector (connectors, extensions), instrumentation, semantic conventions, distributed traces, metrics, logs, profiles, signal correlation and Kubernetes deployment with the Operator.
At your pace, through practice.By the end of this course you will be able to
- Explain OpenTelemetry concepts: signals, API, SDK, resource, context and maturity
- Configure a Collector with receivers, processors, exporters, connectors and extensions, and monitor it
- Instrument an application (auto and manual) following semantic conventions
- Master distributed traces: spans, status, links, propagation and sampling
- Produce correct metrics (instruments, temporality, histograms, cardinality) and correlated logs
- Understand the new profile signal and link a span to its profile
- Correlate the four signals and deploy OpenTelemetry on Kubernetes with the Operator
LEARNING PATH
Course curriculum
0Course overview1 lesson
1Introduction and concepts2 lessons
Why OpenTelemetry, the four signals, API, SDK, resource and maturity.
2OpenTelemetry architecture2 lessons
Understand the key components: API, SDK and the OTLP protocol.
3The OpenTelemetry Collector6 lessons
Receivers, processors, exporters, connectors, extensions and Collector telemetry.
- The Collector's role and pipeline architectureArticle · ⏱ 6 min
- Receivers: collecting telemetry dataArticle · ⏱ 12 min
- Processors: transforming and filtering signalsArticle · ⏱ 13 min
- Exporters: routing data to backendsArticle · ⏱ 11 min
- Connectors, extensions and Collector observabilityArticle · ⏱ 8 min
- Lab: Configure an OpenTelemetry Collector (receivers, processors, exporters)Hands-on lab · ⏱ 40 min · Level 2/5
4Instrumenting applications5 lessons
Auto-instrumentation, manual instrumentation and context propagation.
12Semantic conventions and resources1 lesson
Name telemetry in a standard way: semconv, stability and migration.
5Traces3 lessons
Distributed traces in depth: spans, status, events, links, propagation and sampling.
7Metrics2 lessons
Instruments, temporality, histograms, views, cardinality and exemplars.
8Logs2 lessons
Data model, appenders, trace correlation and file collection.
9Profiles, the new signal2 lessons
Continuous profiling, flame graphs, eBPF profiler and span-to-profile links.
10Correlating signals2 lessons
Go from an alert to the trace, logs and profile in a few clicks.
6Deployment, Kubernetes and case studies7 lessons
Agent and gateway, Kubernetes Operator, guided project and best practices.
- Deploy a complete observability pipeline with an Agent and a GatewayHands-on lab · ⏱ 2 h 34 · Level 3/5
- OpenTelemetry on KubernetesArticle · ⏱ 9 min
- Lab: OpenTelemetry Operator and auto-instrumentation on KubernetesHands-on lab · ⏱ 50 min · Level 3/5
- Capstone project: the four signalsArticle · ⏱ 7 min
- Capstone lab: diagnosing the OpenTelemetry Demo with the four signalsHands-on lab · ⏱ 1 h 30 · Level 3/5
- OpenTelemetry Collector, Grafana Alloy and BindplaneArticle · ⏱ 8 min
- OpenTelemetry best practicesArticle · ⏱ 25 min
90Certification preparation4 lessons
Preparation paths for the vendor's official certifications: unlimited practice exams, dashboard and readiness verdict.
LEARN BY DOING
Use cases & applications
Standardizing log collection
Use a unified log format across every application, regardless of language, and automatically enrich it with trace context.
Custom application metrics
Create business metrics (e.g. abandoned carts, revenue per minute) and export them to a system such as Prometheus or Mimir.
Recommended prerequisites
What next?
Frequently asked questions
What is OpenTelemetry?
It's a standard and a set of open-source tools (API, SDK, Collector) for instrumenting, generating, collecting and exporting telemetry data (traces, metrics, logs).
What is OTLP?
It's OpenTelemetry's native protocol (OpenTelemetry Protocol) for transporting telemetry data efficiently and in a standardized way between the different components.
Do I need to change my backend if I use OpenTelemetry?
No, that's one of its major strengths. OTel is vendor-agnostic and can send data to many backends (Jaeger, Prometheus, Dynatrace, Datadog, etc.) via exporters, sparing you from vendor lock-in.
What are semantic conventions (semconv)?
They are the standard names for attributes, spans and metrics (for example http.request.method or service.name). They make telemetry understandable by every tool; a whole chapter covers them.
Are profiles an OpenTelemetry signal?
Yes, it is the fourth signal, still in development: OTLP carries it and an eBPF profiler was donated to the project. The "Profiles" chapter explains the current state and how to link a span to its profile today.