{"id":12955,"date":"2026-08-19T10:36:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/?post_type=manual_kb&#038;p=12955"},"modified":"2026-08-19T10:36:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:36:55","slug":"devops-observability-stack-checklist-metrics-logs-traces-alerts-and-ownership","status":"publish","type":"manual_kb","link":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/devops-observability-stack-checklist-metrics-logs-traces-alerts-and-ownership\/","title":{"rendered":"DevOps Observability Stack Checklist: Metrics, Logs, Traces, Alerts, and Ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"translation-block translation-block-merged\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A reliable DevOps observability stack helps a team detect incidents, understand what failed, and make clear on-call decisions. Use this checklist to review telemetry collection, signal correlation, dashboards, alerts, retention, access, instrumentation, and cost ownership across the full environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_86 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/devops-observability-stack-checklist-metrics-logs-traces-alerts-and-ownership\/#1_Confirm_the_purpose_of_each_signal\" >1. Confirm the purpose of each signal<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/devops-observability-stack-checklist-metrics-logs-traces-alerts-and-ownership\/#2_Check_telemetry_collection_and_instrumentation\" >2. Check telemetry collection and instrumentation<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/devops-observability-stack-checklist-metrics-logs-traces-alerts-and-ownership\/#3_Test_correlation_between_signals\" >3. Test correlation between signals<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/devops-observability-stack-checklist-metrics-logs-traces-alerts-and-ownership\/#4_Review_dashboards_for_decisions\" >4. Review dashboards for decisions<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/devops-observability-stack-checklist-metrics-logs-traces-alerts-and-ownership\/#5_Audit_alert_quality_and_on-call_ownership\" >5. Audit alert quality and on-call ownership<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/devops-observability-stack-checklist-metrics-logs-traces-alerts-and-ownership\/#6_Check_retention_access_and_cost_ownership\" >6. Check retention, access, and cost ownership<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/knowledgebase\/devops-observability-stack-checklist-metrics-logs-traces-alerts-and-ownership\/#Final_audit_result\" >Final audit result<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Confirm_the_purpose_of_each_signal\"><\/span>1. Confirm the purpose of each signal<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Telemetry is the operational data collected from systems and applications. The main signals in this checklist are metrics, logs, and traces. They answer different questions, so the audit should show where each signal comes from, where it is stored, and who uses it during an incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Metrics:<\/strong> confirm that important service and infrastructure behaviour is measured over time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Logs:<\/strong> confirm that application and system events can be reviewed with enough context to support failure analysis.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Traces:<\/strong> confirm that a request can be followed across the parts of a system that handle it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Alerts:<\/strong> confirm that the team is notified when an event needs action, rather than receiving a message for every change.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<div id=\"mybox-3166426806\" class=\"mybox-content mybox-entity-placement\"><div class=\"early-access-banner-inpost\">\r\n  <div class=\"banner-left-inpost\">\r\n    <div class=\"icon-box-inpost\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/square-info-icon.svg\" alt=\"Info\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"text-box-inpost\">\r\n      <span class=\"label-inpost\"><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Early access<\/span><\/span>\r\n      <h4><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Still need help?<\/span><\/h4>\r\n      <p><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Contact our customer service team.<\/span><\/p>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <div class=\"banner-right-inpost\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/panel.mybox.com\/helpdesk2\/v\/list\/\" class=\"banner-button-inpost\"><span class=\"translation-block translation-block-banner-text\">Message us<\/span><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"translation-block translation-block-merged\"><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">OpenTelemetry and Prometheus address related but different observability needs. The choice depends on whether the team needs telemetry collection, metrics, traces, or a combination of these capabilities. Record this distinction in the audit instead of treating all observability tools as interchangeable. <a href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/knowledgebase\/opentelemetry-vs-prometheus-which-observability-tool-should-devops-teams-use\/\">mybox&#8217;s comparison of OpenTelemetry and Prometheus<\/a> provides the relevant distinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Check_telemetry_collection_and_instrumentation\"><\/span>2. Check telemetry collection and instrumentation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For every critical service, record whether instrumentation is present and which signals it produces. The result should make it possible to identify the service, its environment, and the component that emitted the data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>List every application and infrastructure component that should produce telemetry.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mark whether metrics, logs, and traces are collected for each component.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Record the collection method and the tool responsible for it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check whether important requests, background jobs, and dependencies appear in the collected data.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Identify services that produce data but are not connected to a dashboard or alert.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Include Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, OpenTelemetry, and Jaeger in the tool inventory when they are part of the stack. For each one, document its actual role, the signals it handles, its owner, and its downstream users. This prevents a fragmented setup in which a tool is deployed but no team is responsible for the result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Test_correlation_between_signals\"><\/span>3. Test correlation between signals<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Detection and diagnosis require more than separate data stores. The on-call engineer should be able to move from an alert to the related service, logs, and request details without guessing which identifiers or time range to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Start with a real alert and record the steps needed to reach the related metrics, logs, and traces.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check that service names, environment names, and time information use consistent values across tools.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Confirm that the same incident can be investigated from more than one signal.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Record where the path breaks, such as a missing service name or a signal stored without useful context.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A stack that collects all three signals but cannot connect them still leaves a diagnosis gap. Treat correlation as a separate audit requirement, not as an automatic result of installing several tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_Review_dashboards_for_decisions\"><\/span>4. Review dashboards for decisions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dashboards should support a specific operational decision. Create an inventory with the dashboard name, intended user, service, signal, and action it supports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Keep a service-level view for detecting a change in health.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Keep a component view for narrowing the affected area.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Show the same service and environment labels used by alerts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Remove panels that are not used during detection, diagnosis, or recovery.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Assign an owner who reviews the dashboard when the service changes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Availability monitoring should also cover external causes of downtime. DNS issues, expired domains, and plugin conflicts can take a website offline, even when the hosting environment is available. <a href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/knowledgebase\/5-best-tools-for-monitoring-website-availability\/\">mybox&#8217;s overview of website availability monitoring<\/a> identifies these as factors to include in the review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5_Audit_alert_quality_and_on-call_ownership\"><\/span>5. Audit alert quality and on-call ownership<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For each alert, write down the condition, affected service, severity, response owner, and next action. An alert passes the audit when the on-call person can decide what to do from the alert and its linked context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Separate alerts that require immediate action from events that only need review.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check whether repeated alerts are grouped into one incident.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Confirm that every critical alert has a current owner and an escalation path.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Review alerts that have no recorded action or that repeatedly close without investigation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Test alerts during a planned review so the team knows that notification and ownership still work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Infrastructure monitoring should support availability, performance, and security checks, with issues identified before they affect users. These are the core monitoring goals described in <a href=\"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/knowledgebase\/nagios-infrastructure-monitoring-tool\/\">mybox&#8217;s overview of Nagios<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"6_Check_retention_access_and_cost_ownership\"><\/span>6. Check retention, access, and cost ownership<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Retention defines how long each signal remains available for investigation. Record the retention setting for metrics, logs, traces, and alert history, then compare it with the period needed for incident review and operational reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Document who can read, change, and delete each type of telemetry.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use access groups that match operational responsibilities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Review whether sensitive or high-volume data is available to more people than required.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Record the owner for storage, ingestion, dashboards, alert rules, and on-call operations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Track which services generate the most telemetry and which teams own that usage.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Review whether duplicate collection or unused telemetry is increasing cost without improving detection or diagnosis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cost ownership should be visible at service and team level. When no team owns telemetry volume, retention, or query usage, excessive data can remain in the stack without a clear decision maker. When ownership is split across teams, record the handoff points and the person responsible for resolving gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_audit_result\"><\/span>Final audit result<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mark each requirement as complete, partial, or requiring action. A useful final record names the signal, tool, service, owner, dashboard, alert, retention setting, access group, and cost owner. Prioritise items that prevent detection first, then items that slow diagnosis or make on-call decisions unclear.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","manualknowledgebasecat":[42],"manual_kb_tag":[],"class_list":["post-12955","manual_kb","type-manual_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","manualknowledgebasecat-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb\/12955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/manual_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb\/12955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12969,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb\/12955\/revisions\/12969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"manualknowledgebasecat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manualknowledgebasecat?post=12955"},{"taxonomy":"manual_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybox.com\/help\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/manual_kb_tag?post=12955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}