Exploring Telemetry and Observability Practices in Elixir Applications

In this episode, Zack Kayser and Ethan Gunderson from Cars Commerce share their insights on implementing telemetry and observability within large-scale Elixir applications. They address the technical and organizational hurdles encountered when scaling applications, particularly during the transition to Elixir at Cars.com, which deals with substantial traffic. The discussion emphasizes the importance of observability in diagnosing issues and understanding system behavior. They delve into techniques such as tracing and spans, and the unique challenges that come with LiveView and WebSocket connections. The conversation also highlights the benefits of using OpenTelemetry as a flexible instrumentation tool and the foundational role of Elixir's telemetry library. Additionally, they offer practical advice for developers aspiring to enhance their observability capabilities and introduce their forthcoming book aimed at helping developers integrate these practices into their Elixir projects.