OpenObserve is an open-source observability platform, built in rust for high performance that unifies logs, metrics, traces, front end monitoring, pieplines, dashboards, alerts, reports and more into a single system. It provides real-time analytics through a custom built columnar storage engine optimized for observability data. The platform offers efficient storage using object storage solutions like S3 (or any s3 API compatible service), GCS, Azure Blob or MinIO, making it significantly more cost-effective than traditional solutions. OpenObserve supports both cloud and self-hosted deployments, with a focus on performance and resource efficiency.

OpenObserve processes logs through an efficient pipeline that includes real-time parsing and indexing. Logs are stored in columnar format using Apache Parquet, enabling fast queries and efficient storage. The platform supports various ingestion methods including HTTP endpoints, popular log forwarders (Vector, Fluentd, Fluent Bit, otel-collector), and cloud provider integrations. Log processing can be customized using pipelines and Vector Remap Language (VRL) functions for parsing, transformation, and enrichment. The system supports both structured and unstructured logs with automatic field detection and indexing.

OpenObserve provides comprehensive metrics support with multiple collection methods. It accepts metrics through OpenTelemetry, Prometheus remote write, and direct ingestion. The platform supports all standard metric types including counters, gauges, and histograms. Metrics can be queried using both SQL and PromQL, allowing for complex analysis and aggregations. The storage engine is optimized for time-series data, enabling efficient storage and fast retrieval of metric data.

OpenObserve implements distributed tracing through OpenTelemetry integration. The platform collects trace data using the OTLP protocol and maintains trace context using W3C trace context standards. Traces include detailed span information with timing, service relationships, and custom attributes. The system provides service maps for dependency visualization and supports both manual and automatic instrumentation through OpenTelemetry SDKs.

OpenObserve's Real User Monitoring (RUM) capabilities are implemented through a JavaScript SDK that collects performance metrics, user interactions, and errors. The system captures Core Web Vitals, page load timing, and resource performance data. Error tracking includes automatic capture of JavaScript errors with full stack traces and context. The platform provides real-time analysis of frontend performance and user experience data.

OpenObserve implements observability pipelines using conditions for routing Vector Remap Language (VRL) for transformation and enrichment. The platform supports both real-time and scheduled pipelines with VRL for data processing. Pipelines can include multiple processing steps with conditions and enrichment tables. The system provides monitoring and debugging tools for pipeline execution, with support for testing transformations before deployment with an intuitive GUI.

OpenObserve provides a flexible alerting system that supports both scheduled and real-time alerts. Alerts can be configured using SQL queries for logs and traces, and PromQL for metrics. The system includes support for occurrence thresholds, evaluation windows, and silence periods. Notifications can be sent to various destinations including email, Slack, and webhook endpoints. Alert conditions can use aggregations and complex query logic for precise monitoring.

OpenObserve offers comprehensive visualization through its dashboard feature. The platform supports over 19 different chart types including time-series graphs, tables, heatmaps, and gauges. Custom charts are supported too that allow you to build over 300 different chart types allowing you to unleash your creativity. Dashboards can be created using SQL or PromQL queries, with support for variables and templating. The system provides real-time updates, drill-down capabilities, and sharing options. Prebuilt community dashboards are available for common use cases and can be customized as needed.

OpenObserve is built to be multi-tenant from ground up. It implements multi-tenancy through organizations. Each organization maintains isolated data storage and access controls. The system supports role-based access control (RBAC) for fine-grained permissions management. Users can be assigned to multiple organizations with different roles. The platform ensures data isolation at both storage and query levels.

OpenObserve can be deployed in multiple ways to suit different requirements. The platform offers a cloud service (OpenObserve Cloud) with a generous free tier. For self-hosted deployments, OpenObserve can be installed on Kubernetes using Helm charts, or on virtual machines using Docker containers. The system supports various object storage backends including AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, MinIO, and Azure Blob Storage. Any other object store that offers s3 compatible APIs including ceph, digital ocean, tencent cloud, civo and more can be used too.

OpenObserve's cost efficiency comes from its architectural design choices. The platform uses columnar storage (Apache Parquet) which provides excellent compression ratio. Data is stored in object storage, significantly reducing storage costs compared to traditional solutions. The system implements efficient indexing strategies and query optimization to minimize compute requirements. The stateless architecture allows for flexible scaling based on actual needs.

OpenObserve implements comprehensive security features including authentication, authorization, and audit logging. The platform supports single sign-on (SSO) through below providers:

1. LDAP
2. GitHub
3. SAML 2.0
4. GitLab
5. OpenID Connect
6. OAuth 2.0
7. Google
8. LinkedIn
9. Microsoft
10. AuthProxy
11. Bitbucket Cloud
12. BuiltIn (local)
13. OpenShift
14. Atlassian Crowd
15. Gitea
16. OpenStack Keystone

Role-based access control (RBAC) enables fine-grained permission management.

Data encryption is supported both in transit and at rest. The system provides audit trails for user actions and data access.

Getting started with OpenObserve is straightforward. You can sign up for OpenObserve Cloud which offers a free tier with generous limits. For self-hosted deployments, comprehensive documentation guides you through the installation process. The platform provides quick-start guides for common use cases and integrations. Community support is available through Slack and GitHub for additional assistance.

For additional questions or detailed information, please refer to our documentation or join our community.