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The Kieker Observability Framework Version 2

Shinhyung Yang, David Georg Reichelt, Reiner Jung, Marcel Hansson, Wilhelm Hasselbring

TL;DR

The paper presents the Kieker Observability Framework Version 2 and demonstrates its end-to-end applicability by applying it to the TeaStore benchmark with ExplorViz visualization. It details an integrated pipeline comprising instrumentation, data collection, analysis, and visualization, including a TeeTime-based analysis chain and an OpenTelemetry transformation to enable cross-system interoperability. The authors provide a tangible artifact—the TeaStore-ExplorViz demonstration—available online and as a Docker-based deployment, along with overhead benchmarking via MooBench and cross-language instrumentation support. This work offers a practical, reproducible setup for researchers and industry practitioners aiming to design, deploy, and sustain observability in distributed microservice environments, with a clear path toward broader adoption through SustainKieker.

Abstract

Observability of a software system aims at allowing its engineers and operators to keep the system robust and highly available. With this paper, we present the Kieker Observability Framework Version 2, the successor of the Kieker Monitoring Framework. In this tool artifact paper, we do not just present the Kieker framework, but also a demonstration of its application to the TeaStore benchmark, integrated with the visual analytics tool ExplorViz. This demo is provided both as an online service and as an artifact to deploy it yourself.

The Kieker Observability Framework Version 2

TL;DR

The paper presents the Kieker Observability Framework Version 2 and demonstrates its end-to-end applicability by applying it to the TeaStore benchmark with ExplorViz visualization. It details an integrated pipeline comprising instrumentation, data collection, analysis, and visualization, including a TeeTime-based analysis chain and an OpenTelemetry transformation to enable cross-system interoperability. The authors provide a tangible artifact—the TeaStore-ExplorViz demonstration—available online and as a Docker-based deployment, along with overhead benchmarking via MooBench and cross-language instrumentation support. This work offers a practical, reproducible setup for researchers and industry practitioners aiming to design, deploy, and sustain observability in distributed microservice environments, with a clear path toward broader adoption through SustainKieker.

Abstract

Observability of a software system aims at allowing its engineers and operators to keep the system robust and highly available. With this paper, we present the Kieker Observability Framework Version 2, the successor of the Kieker Monitoring Framework. In this tool artifact paper, we do not just present the Kieker framework, but also a demonstration of its application to the TeaStore benchmark, integrated with the visual analytics tool ExplorViz. This demo is provided both as an online service and as an artifact to deploy it yourself.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 11 sections, 2 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Impact of Kieker
  3. Observability Engineering
  4. Instrumentation and Data Collection with Kieker
  5. Instrumentation
  6. Benchmarking Observability Overhead
  7. The Tool Artifact
  8. Installation
  9. Documentation
  10. Related Work
  11. Summary and Outlook

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Visual illustration of metrics, logging, and tracing. They are ordered vertically with a higher data volume at the bottom.
  • Figure 2: Architecture of the tool artifact. The provided Docker compose file launches all the containers in the component diagram, and it is accessible with two web servers on the Ports 8080 (1) and 8082 (2).