What is Instrumentation?
Instrumentation is the process of adding observability code to your applications to collect telemetry data such as:- Traces: Detailed execution flows showing request paths
- Metrics: Quantitative measurements of performance and usage
- Logs: Structured event records for debugging and monitoring
- Costs: Token usage and estimated API costs
Supported Providers
The operator supports four instrumentation providers:OpenLIT
Complete AI observability built on OpenTelemetry for LLMs, vector databases, GPUs and AI Agents with distributed tracing and metrics
OpenInference
OpenInference is a set of conventions and plugins that is complimentary to OpenTelemetry to enable tracing of AI applications.
OpenLLMetry
OpenLLMetry is a set of extensions built on top of OpenTelemetry that gives you complete observability over your LLM application.
Custom
Bring your own instrumentation image with custom implementations
How Instrumentation Works
1
Webhook Interception
The operator intercepts pod creation requests via an admission webhook
2
Label Matching
Checks if the pod matches any AutoInstrumentation selector labels
3
Init Container Injection
Injects an init container with the selected instrumentation provider
4
Environment Setup
The init container installs instrumentation packages and sets up environment variables
5
Application Start
Your application starts with instrumentation automatically enabled
6
Telemetry Collection
Traces, metrics, and costs are automatically collected and sent to your OTLP endpoint
Provider Comparison
Feature | OpenLIT | OpenInference | OpenLLMetry | Custom |
---|---|---|---|---|
AI Instrumentations | 50+ | 30+ | 30+ | Depends |
Cost Tracking | ✅ Advanced | ✅ Basic | ✅ Basic | Depends |
Performance Metrics | ✅ Comprehensive | ✅ Standard | ✅ Standard | Depends |
Vendor Lock-in | None | None | None | None |
Troubleshooting
Common Issues
Provider image not found
Provider image not found
Symptoms: Init container fails with image pull errorsSolutions:
Instrumentation packages conflict
Instrumentation packages conflict
Symptoms: Application fails to start with package conflictsSolutions:
No telemetry data
No telemetry data
Symptoms: Applications start but no traces appearSolutions: