Blogs

Google Donates Sqlcommenter to OpenTelemetry Project

Google announced today that Sqlcommenter, an open source project that provides access to an object-relational mapping (ORM) auto-instrumentation library, is being merged with OpenTelemetry, an open source project for building agent software to instrument applications.

Nimesh Bhagat, a product manager for Google, said Sqlcommenter is designed to make it simpler to correlate application and database telemetry. OpenTelemetry provides a mechanism for collecting logs, metrics and traces that is being advanced under the auspices of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF).

The challenge organizations using OpenTelemetry to collect that data will face is the need for tools to query that data in whatever platform it ultimately resides, noted Bhagat. OpenTelemetry previously lacked a common standard by which application tags and traces can be sent to databases and correlated with an application stack. Google envisions that IT teams will either employ Sqlcommenter to explore data or access via platforms such as Cloud SQL Insights or a third-party application performance management (APM) platform.

Google made Sqlcommenter available as open source software earlier this year. It is designed to enable object–relational mappings (ORMs) to augment SQL statements before execution by, among other things, providing access to comments containing information about the application code that caused its execution.

Sqlcommenter also allows OpenTelemetry trace context information to be propagated to the database, enabling correlation between application traces and database query plans that ultimately should make it easier to, for example, determine the root cause of a performance issue involving a microservices-based application making calls to a database. Sqlcommenter is primarily designed to be employed by full-stack developers that have some familiarity with how to use SQL to query data residing in an observability platform, noted Bhagat.

Specifically, Sqlcommenter is designed to provide deeper insights into the performance of backend databases by simplifying the process of correlating slow queries with source code. It currently supports Python, Java, Node.js and Ruby languages along with ORMs such as Django, Sqlalchemy, Hibernate, Knex, Sequelize and Rails.

As the number of applications that are instrumented using open source software continues to steadily increase, the amount of data that a DevOps team could potentially query also will steadily increase. Cloud storage platforms have made it easier to store that data at an affordable cost but the next challenge is clearly going to be finding a way to surface meaningful insights from all that data. Undoubtedly, achieving that goal will require everything from query tools to machine learning algorithms capable of identifying patterns at a level of scale that would not otherwise be possible.

In the meantime, DevOps teams can look forward to being able to attain a level of observability that previously could only be achieved at a cost that tended to limit the number of applications organizations would instrument. At a time when the dependencies between applications increases with each passing day, that level of observability will soon prove indispensable.

Mike Vizard

Mike Vizard is a seasoned IT journalist with over 25 years of experience. He also contributed to IT Business Edge, Channel Insider, Baseline and a variety of other IT titles. Previously, Vizard was the editorial director for Ziff-Davis Enterprise as well as Editor-in-Chief for CRN and InfoWorld.

Recent Posts

Building an Open Source Observability Platform

By investing in open source frameworks and LGTM tools, SRE teams can effectively monitor their apps and gain insights into…

21 hours ago

To Devin or Not to Devin?

Cognition Labs' Devin is creating a lot of buzz in the industry, but John Willis urges organizations to proceed with…

22 hours ago

Survey Surfaces Substantial Platform Engineering Gains

While most app developers work for organizations that have platform teams, there isn't much consistency regarding where that team reports.

2 days ago

EP 43: DevOps Building Blocks Part 6 – Day 2 DevOps, Operations and SRE

Day Two DevOps is a phase in the SDLC that focuses on enhancing, optimizing and continuously improving the software development…

2 days ago

Survey Surfaces Lack of Significant Observability Progress

A global survey of 500 IT professionals suggests organizations are not making a lot of progress in their ability to…

2 days ago

EP 42: DevOps Building Blocks Part 5: Flow, Bottlenecks and Continuous Improvement

In part five of this series, hosts Alan Shimel and Mitch Ashley are joined by Bryan Cole (Tricentis), Ixchel Ruiz…

2 days ago