In this episode, I’m joined by Julius Volz, co-founder of Prometheus and founder of PromLabs, to explore the fascinating world of systems monitoring and observability. Julius’s journey from working on Borgmon at Google to co-creating Prometheus offers unique insights into how modern monitoring systems evolved.

We start with the technical foundations of Prometheus. What particularly caught my attention was Julius’s explanation of their dimensional data model and how it revolutionized metrics-based monitoring. His breakdown of common pitfalls, especially around metric design and “cardinality bombs,” provides invaluable guidance for anyone implementing Prometheus.

The conversation gets especially interesting when we dive into long-term data storage challenges. Julius shares practical insights about solutions like Cortex and Thanos, demonstrating how to handle large datasets effectively. His live demonstration of PromQL, showing functions like rate, irate, and increase, reveals the powerful querying capabilities that make Prometheus stand out.

I was particularly intrigued by our discussion of future trends in observability. Julius’s thoughts on eBPF integration, OpenTelemetry, and the OpenMetrics project show how the monitoring landscape continues to evolve. We also explore the simplicity of writing Prometheus exporters, highlighting how accessible the technology can be even for those with minimal coding experience.

If you’re interested in systems monitoring, observability, or infrastructure management, you’ll find plenty of practical insights here. Julius brings both deep technical knowledge and hands-on experience to the discussion, making complex monitoring concepts accessible while maintaining their technical depth.

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