Open table of contents
Conclusion
Check whether user symptoms can be traced to relevant processing, beyond instrumentation coverage.
Context
Collecting spans and explaining failures are different properties. Check context propagation and a usable query path from user symptoms.
Design and verification scope
Assess the following responsibilities and boundaries when designing and verifying a configuration.
- Trace context
- Sampling
- Cardinality
- Service ownership
- Incident queries
Decision rationale
Use the relationship between Trace context and Incident queries to compare the responsibilities of the selected approach and alternatives. Separate retained constraints from what the new boundary can change.
Trade-offs
Compare the implementation, maintenance and review work introduced by Sampling with the control it provides. Include failure paths, operator effort and conditions in which the approach should not be adopted.
Limitations
Record diagnosis of known failures, missing spans and cost. Data volume is not an operational-quality proxy.
Related case context
These cases provide attributed design context. They do not establish that the proposed experiments or configurations were delivered in those engagements.