OPENTELEMETRY-TRACES

CNCF OpenTelemetry traces pillar.

Definition

OTel Traces standardises concepts inherited from OpenTracing and OpenCensus (merged May 2019 into OpenTelemetry). Stable API Spec May 2021 ; GA SDK. Covers 10+ languages (Java, Go, Python, Node.js, .NET, Rust, Ruby, PHP, etc.). Exports OTLP gRPC/HTTP, Jaeger, Zipkin.

Origin

CNCF incubating project since August 2019 ; CNCF graduation December 2024.

Example in context

An auto-instrumented Java service sends 10K traces/sec in OTLP gRPC to a Grafana Tempo.

Related terms

• OTel Metrics — twin pillar.