To get started with the features described on this page, refer to the tutorials in the [Observability tutorial collection](/consul/tutorials/service-mesh-observability):

- [Monitor application health and performance with Consul proxy metrics](/consul/tutorials/service-mesh-observability/proxy-metrics)
- [Debug service mesh events and errors with Consul proxy access logs](/consul/tutorials/service-mesh-observability/proxy-access-logs)
- [Monitor Consul server health and performance with metrics and logs](/consul/tutorials/service-mesh-observability/server-metrics-and-logs#enable-consul-server-metrics-and-logging)
- [Visualize Service Mesh Communication in the Consul UI](/consul/tutorials/service-mesh-observability/service-mesh-visualization)
- [Observe Consul service mesh traffic with Prometheus](/consul/tutorials/service-mesh-observability/service-mesh-observability)
- [Layer 7 observability with Prometheus, Grafana, and Kubernetes](/consul/tutorials/service-mesh-observability/kubernetes-layer7-observability)
- HashiConf 2023 Learn Lab: [Deep observability insights at any scale with Consul](/consul/tutorials/service-mesh-observability/hashiconf-2023)

### Runtime specific usage documentation

For runtime-specific guidance, refer to the following pages:

- [Observe service mesh telemetry on virtual machines (VMs)](/consul/docs/observe/telemetry/vm)
- [Observe service mesh telemetry on Kubernetes](/consul/docs/observe/telemetry/k8s)

### Reference documentation

For reference material related to Consul's observability functions, refer to the following pages:

- [Telemetry parameters in Consul agent configuration reference](/consul/docs/reference/agent/telemetry)
- [`global.metrics` parameters in Kubernetes Helm chart reference](/consul/docs/reference/k8s/helm#v-global-metrics)
- [Proxy defaults configuration reference](/consul/docs/reference/config-entry/proxy-defaults)
- [Envoy proxy configuration reference](/consul/docs/reference/proxy/envoy)
- [OpenTelemetry Access Logging extension configuration
  reference](/consul/docs/reference/proxy/extensions/otel)
