Grafana Tempo 2.8 release: memory improvements, new TraceQL features, and more

Grafana Tempo 2.8 introduces new features and improvements, particularly in TraceQL, alongside performance enhancements and some breaking changes. Key updates include the addition of the 'most_recent' query hint in TraceQL to return the latest results, the introduction of the 'span:parentID' intrinsic for searching child spans, and new metrics functions like 'sum_over_time', 'topk', and 'bottomk' for better control over data analysis. Performance upgrades focus on reducing compactor memory usage, significantly lowering memory high-water marks by adjusting pooling strategies. Notably, the release fully removes serverless features and changes the default HTTP listen port from 80 to 3200. Looking forward, Grafana Tempo is rolling out new architectures and adding a Tempo MCP server for enhanced query capabilities. Users can engage further with community forums or explore open positions at Grafana Labs for deeper involvement.

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