What Is Distributed Tracing? Benefits, Challenges & Tools

Distributed tracing is a technique used to track how requests flow within a distributed software system, like a microservices application. It provides visibility into the movement of requests between services and helps IT engineers pinpoint the source of performance issues and errors. Distributed tracing allows teams to study critical data elements within the context of microservice interactions, measure service relationships, improve collaboration and productivity, reduce Mean Time to Repair (MTTR), and maintain Service Level Agreements (SLAs). However, implementing distributed tracing can be challenging due to instrumentation difficulty, limited frontend coverage, random sampling issues, and the need for compatible tools. Groundcover offers a unique approach by using extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) to collect tracing data with minimal CPU and memory overhead, providing deep visibility without extensive effort.

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