PromCon EU 2024

Talk abstract

The Future of Metadata in Prometheus: Enhancing Storage and Usability

Speaker(s): Ganesh Vernekar & Arve Knudsen

Prometheus has revolutionized the way we handle monitoring and alerting, yet the management of metadata within the system remains a challenge. Currently, Prometheus stores series metadata per time-series only in memory, with no persistence on disk. As the use of Prometheus expands, the demand for more sophisticated metadata management has become evident. Metadata use cases now extend beyond a single instance per time-series, encompassing metadata that holds independent significance or provides additional context to series or groups of series.

In this talk, we will explore the evolving landscape of metadata in Prometheus. We will discuss the emerging use cases that necessitate a more robust metadata management solution and our vision for addressing these needs. Our goal is to design a persistent metadata store that can efficiently handle diverse metadata requirements, enhancing the flexibility and functionality of Prometheus.

Join us as we delve into the challenges and opportunities of building a metadata storage layer. We will share our initial design considerations, anticipated benefits, and invite the community to contribute to shaping the future of metadata in Prometheus. This session is ideal for developers, system architects, and anyone interested in the inner workings of Prometheus and the future of observability.