Which of the following is true about instrumentation?

Instrumentation in the context of monitoring and observability refers to the techniques and tools used to collect, measure, and analyze data from applications and systems. The choice that states it allows the building of traces is correct because instrumentation fundamentally involves adding code or using tooling within an application to capture detailed information about the execution and performance of the code. This can include timing, status of requests, and relationships between various parts of a service, allowing for the generation of traces.

Tracing provides insights into the flow of requests across different services within a system, which is critical for understanding performance bottlenecks and troubleshooting issues. Proper instrumentation enables a clear picture of how requests traverse through microservices, showing the latency and potentially identifying failure points in the application.

Although the other options mention valid aspects of monitoring and observability, they do not specifically connect to the primary function of instrumentation in establishing traces as the first option does. For instance, while monitoring logs is indeed an essential aspect of observability, it primarily relies on logging practices rather than instrumentation itself. Similarly, the ability to build code and the idea of instrumentation always being automatic don’t directly pertain to the core definition and purpose of instrumentation.