---
title: "Getting instrumented | Grafana Labs"
description: "Two paths to Level 2 visibility"
---

> For a curated documentation index, see [llms.txt](/llms.txt). For the complete documentation index, see [llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt).

## Two paths to Level 2

| Path                                       | Best for                               | How it works                                            |
|--------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| **OpenTelemetry SDK**                      | Any environment — K8s, VMs, bare metal | Auto-instrumentation libraries added to your app        |
| **Instrumentation Hub** *(public preview)* | Kubernetes — zero-code fast path       | Grafana Beyla observes at the OS level, no code changes |

> **What is Beyla?** A lightweight agent that observes your applications at the operating system level, capturing traces without any code changes. It outputs standard OpenTelemetry data. Note that Beyla is newer technology — evaluate it carefully before using in production.

## Problems solved

| Problem                                          | Solution                                                                |
|--------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Instrumenting services takes months of dev work  | OTel auto-instrumentation libraries cover most frameworks automatically |
| Don’t know which services lack instrumentation   | Both paths surface instrumentation gaps.                                |
| Vendor lock-in with proprietary agents           | OpenTelemetry is the industry standard.                                 |
| On Kubernetes and want zero-code instrumentation | Instrumentation Hub + Beyla (public preview)                            |

## The tradeoff

| OpenTelemetry SDK      | Instrumentation Hub   |
|------------------------|-----------------------|
| Works anywhere         | Kubernetes only       |
| Proven, widely adopted | Newer, still maturing |
| Requires SDK addition  | No code changes       |
| Industry standard      | Public preview        |

## Both paths lead to the same destination

> Traces flowing → RED metrics → Service visibility → Level 2 achieved