The rise of cloud computing and containerized applications has changed how software is built and deployed.

Legacy monitoring focused on collecting basic metrics like CPU utilization and disk space. While valuable, this siloed approach doesn't provide the deep insights needed for complex, distributed systems. Cloud native applications, built with microservices and containers, are constantly scaling and shifting. Traditional tools can't keep track of these fleeting instances. This makes it difficult to pinpoint issues and maintain application health.

Cloud native observability offers a holistic approach. It goes into three key areas: logs, traces and metrics (often referred to as the golden signals). Logs capture detailed events within the application, traces map the flow of requests across services, and metrics provide real-time performance data. By analyzing all three, you gain a better understanding of how your application is functioning.

Furthermore, cloud native observability tools are built for the dynamic nature of cloud environments. They automatically collect data from containers and microservices, regardless of their location or lifespan. This allows for real-time monitoring and proactive problem identification.

Cloud native observability, with its focus on deep insights and adaptability, is the key to ensuring the health, performance and scalability of modern applications.

SUSE, a provider of reliable and secure enterprise open source solutions, including SUSE Linux Enterprise, Rancher and NeuVector, is aware of what cloud native observability brings. That is why SUSE recently acquired the full stack observability platform StackState.

StackState's technology gives IT teams a fast path to identifying and remedying issues within their containerized cloud-based environments through a single observability platform. StackState's technology excels at correlating events over time. It enables faster identification of root causes and makes troubleshooting easier.

With StackState, SUSE will accelerate cloud native observability for the enterprise by integrating the platform into Rancher Prime, its premium container management service.

The integration in Rancher Prime is expected to help customers proactively safeguard their end-user's experience, build cross-team collaboration and innovation and bring cloud native applications together in a single view, from data center to the edge to the cloud.

“As IT environments become more complex, our Rancher Prime customers need end-to-end observability of their entire stack,” said SUSE CEO Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen. “StackState's comprehensive infrastructure and application monitoring capabilities and technical talent are the perfect complement to Rancher Prime and sets up SUSE's container management solutions to best serve our customers on their modernization journey.”

The integration strengthens SUSE's portfolio by boosting innovation and delivering tangible efficiency gains for customers. Something to keep an eye on will be the new possibilities for future development that the integration/acquisition will unlock. Cost management, intelligent issue resolution, environment optimization and even Industrial IoT observability all become potential areas for future collaboration.

“We offer unparalleled observability to customers running mission critical workloads in complex environments,” said Andreas Prins, CEO of StackState. “SUSE's Rancher Prime is a great fit for our technology and our team, and I'm looking forward to seeing what we have built reach its full potential.”