Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In this episode of the Grafana OTel Community Call, we're exploring OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation (OBI). OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation (OBI) offers a powerful way to instrument applications at the system kernel level, capturing essential “RED metrics” — request rate, error rate, and duration — and network flows without requiring code changes, rebuilds, or redeployments.
We will cover the project's architecture, discuss its origins as Grafana Beyla, and look ahead to the roadmap for language and runtime coverage.
Guests: Mario Macías (linkedin.com/in/mariomac/), Nikola Grcevski (linkedin.com/in/nikola-grcevski-16796717/)
Hosts: Imma Valls (linkedin.com/in/imma-valls/)
Join the conversation, bring your questions, and learn how this project is evolving with contributions from across the community.
#opentelemetry #ebpf #grafana #observability
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
1:56 Meet the guests: Mario Macías and Nikola Grcevski
4:47 What eBPF actually is and why
7:21 From Grafana Beyla to OBI: the donation story
9:31 Why Go came first. Legacy apps and team boundaries
12:19 Who contributes to OBI today
13:39 The real cost of rewriting an app just to instrument it
16:24 Beyla and OBI: one codebase, no forks
18:44 What working fully upstream gained the project
20:22 How OBI works: eBPF programs, maps and the user space process
22:42 Language and protocol coverage
26:26 Limitations: Linux kernels, managed clouds and privileges
27:46 Is a privileged container actually less safe?
30:10 Logs: trace correlation and output enrichment
32:19 Trace and profile correlation with the OTel profiler
33:08 Watch the demo at "Debugging a cluster on fire: drop in OBI, no restarts"
35:26 What OBI maintainers do day to day and how to join
42:42 Roadmap and gaps ahead. Aiming for 1.0 by KubeCon North America
52:04 Question: OBI compared to Istio and service meshes
54:37 Question: What Beyla adds on top of OBI
56:31 Advice for first-time contributors
1:00:06 OBI or Beyla: where should contributions go?
1:00:54 Wrap-up and next episode
In this episode of the Grafana OTel Community Call, we're exploring OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation (OBI). OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation (OBI) offers a powerful way to instrument applications at the system kernel level, capturing essential “RED metrics” — request rate, error rate, and duration — and network flows without requiring code changes, rebuilds, or redeployments.
We will cover the project's architecture, discuss its origins as Grafana Beyla, and look ahead to the roadmap for language and runtime coverage.
Guests: Mario Macías (linkedin.com/in/mariomac/), Nikola Grcevski (linkedin.com/in/nikola-grcevski-16796717/)
Hosts: Imma Valls (linkedin.com/in/imma-valls/)
Join the conversation, bring your questions, and learn how this project is evolving with contributions from across the community.
#opentelemetry #ebpf #grafana #observability
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
1:56 Meet the guests: Mario Macías and Nikola Grcevski
4:47 What eBPF actually is and why
7:21 From Grafana Beyla to OBI: the donation story
9:31 Why Go came first. Legacy apps and team boundaries
12:19 Who contributes to OBI today
13:39 The real cost of rewriting an app just to instrument it
16:24 Beyla and OBI: one codebase, no forks
18:44 What working fully upstream gained the project
20:22 How OBI works: eBPF programs, maps and the user space process
22:42 Language and protocol coverage
26:26 Limitations: Linux kernels, managed clouds and privileges
27:46 Is a privileged container actually less safe?
30:10 Logs: trace correlation and output enrichment
32:19 Trace and profile correlation with the OTel profiler
33:08 Watch the demo at "Debugging a cluster on fire: drop in OBI, no restarts"
35:26 What OBI maintainers do day to day and how to join
42:42 Roadmap and gaps ahead. Aiming for 1.0 by KubeCon North America
52:04 Question: OBI compared to Istio and service meshes
54:37 Question: What Beyla adds on top of OBI
56:31 Advice for first-time contributors
1:00:06 OBI or Beyla: where should contributions go?
1:00:54 Wrap-up and next episode
