Distributed tracing with OpenTelemetry

Debugging microservices within complex architectures can be challenging due to the intricate nature of service interactions and the difficulty in tracing request failures. The article humorously compares this issue to bureaucratic processes, illustrating how a single HTTP request can pass through multiple services, often losing its trace and complicating error diagnosis. To address this, the article discusses the implementation of distributed tracing using OpenTelemetry, a popular tool that allows for the detailed tracking of request journeys across microservices by creating trace footprints. OpenTelemetry provides a comprehensive view of a request's lifecycle, improving the ease of diagnosing issues through its trace and span components. The article further describes setting up distributed tracing from scratch, detailing the deployment of the OpenTelemetry collector and its components like receivers, processors, and exporters. It also covers how to implement tracing in Go microservices, including handling HTTP, gRPC, and PubSub services, highlighting the benefits of using OpenTelemetry for clearer visibility into microservice interactions and request paths.