In this text, the author discusses how to use various tools to collect and visualize metrics from Istio service mesh components. They explain how Istio's design includes observability features that allow for monitoring its internal workings. The text covers configuring Mixer to collect metrics from traffic in the mesh, using add-ons like Grafana and Kiali to visualize metrics, collecting logs directly from Envoy, tracing requests with Zipkin, and more. They also introduce the Pilot debugging endpoints for troubleshooting configuration issues. The author concludes by stating that they will cover how to set up Datadog to monitor Istio in a future post.