Charting New Territory: OpenTelemetry Embraces Profiling

Continuous profiling is gaining traction in the observability domain, evolving from its traditional role in performance analysis to encompass a broader range of applications such as signal correlation, incident response, and resource analysis. This shift is underscored by major acquisitions and entrepreneurial ventures, like Intel's acquisition of Granulate and the founding of Pyroscope. OpenTelemetry's recent decision to include continuous profiling as a core signal, formalized through an OpenTelemetry Enhancement Proposal, highlights its growing importance. This initiative involves integrating profiling data with existing telemetry signals, using an extended pprof model for data visualization and analysis. The approach leverages both runtime and eBPF full-host profilers, each with unique advantages and challenges, to provide comprehensive system visibility. Novel visualization techniques, such as timeline views of thread activities, offer deeper insights into application behavior and resource utilization. With continuous profiling still in the experimental stage, OpenTelemetry's support marks a significant step towards integrating it more fully into observability practices.