> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://documentation.byteful.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Observability Overview

> Learn how to monitor and analyze proxy usage across hostnames, users, and networks with the Byteful Observability Panel

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/pingproxies/jDaVCOuDPVpv6QiC/images/general/network-observability.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=jDaVCOuDPVpv6QiC&q=85&s=b49655d3b3a5c1768f54621f64341171" alt="Byteful Network Observability" width="2688" height="1680" data-path="images/general/network-observability.png" />

The **Network Observability Panel** provides real-time and historical insights into your proxy infrastructure. This panel is designed to give you comprehensive visibility across all usage dimensions—hostnames, proxy users, networks, and Smartpath® performance metrics—without needing third-party analytics tools.

## Why use Observability?

Whether you are debugging traffic anomalies, optimizing performance, or planning capacity, the Observability Panel helps you make data-driven decisions quickly and confidently. All key metrics and breakdowns are accessible in a single interface with intuitive filtering and real-time updates.

## Key Features

### Real-Time Metrics and Historical Data

* Monitor live traffic as it happens with minimal delay
* Access up to **90 days of historical data** to identify long-term trends and anomalies
* View data usage charts and request volume over time

### Advanced Filtering Options

The panel allows for precise filtering across multiple dimensions:

* Hostname
* Proxy User
* Network Type (Residential, Mobile, ISP, Datacenter)
* Time Span (Custom ranges with support for hourly to 90-day windows)

Filters support advanced operators such as `equals`, `not equals`, `contains`, and `greater than`.

### Top-Level Metrics

The top summary section includes:

* **Requests**: Total number of proxy requests
* **Bytes Usage**: Data consumption in gigabytes
* **Error Rate**: Percentage of failed or errored requests

These metrics update in near real-time and reflect the currently selected date range and filters.

## Hostnames, Users, and Networks

### Top Hostnames

Understand where your traffic is going. The panel lists the top 100 hostnames by:

* Request count
* Data usage
* Error rates

This helps in diagnosing domain-specific issues or validating traffic targets.

<Note>
  We may summarise hostnames in the format \*.hostname.TLD when we detect high cardinality between a large number of hostnames.
</Note>

### Top Proxy Users

Gain visibility into your heaviest users:

* Track request volume and data consumption per user
* Identify abnormal usage patterns
* Pinpoint users causing elevated error rates

### Network Distribution

View traffic split by:

* Residential
* Mobile
* ISP
* Datacenter

Percentages and total volume are displayed clearly to assess distribution across your available network types.

## Smartpath® Metrics

If Smartpath is enabled for your account, the observability panel includes the following metrics:

| Metric                | Description                                           |
| --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| AI Optimized Requests | Number of requests routed intelligently via Smartpath |
| AI Optimized Bytes    | Data optimized through Smartpath routing decisions    |
| Money Saved           | Estimated cost savings achieved with Smartpath        |

These metrics are filterable and help measure Smartpath’s impact across specific users, domains, and time periods.

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/pingproxies/jDaVCOuDPVpv6QiC/images/general/smartpath-analytics.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=jDaVCOuDPVpv6QiC&q=85&s=c547f37b3020d5d0974bf08f023a6e37" alt="Byteful Smartpath Analytics" width="1436" height="847" data-path="images/general/smartpath-analytics.png" />

## Network Activity Table

At the bottom of the observability panel, a detailed activity table logs all traffic events by the hour, grouped by:

* Timestamp
* Proxy User
* Hostname
* Network Type
* Request Count
* Bytes Usage
* Smartpath Savings
* Billed Bytes