Running Spring Boot apps on Amazon EKS used to mean flying blind when containers restarted and logs vanished. Two key updates in late 2024 and 2025 reshaped how developers approach observability: OpenTelemetry Java Agent v2.0 shifted to an opt-in model, and Spring Boot 4.0 introduced `spring-boot-starter-opentelemetry` for easier OTLP exports. A practical setup now combines AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry (ADOT) auto-instrumentation with manual `@Observed` annotations for business logic.

ADOT handles HTTP, JDBC, and AWS SDK tracing out of the box, while AspectJ weaves custom spans into the mix. CloudWatch Logs, X-Ray, and Application Signals form the backend stack—no vendor lock-in, just standard OpenTelemetry protocols. The payoff? End-to-end traces, service health dashboards, and JVM runtime metrics without extra agents. For teams managing microservices at scale, this stack delivers clarity without clutter.