Brave is a library used to capture and report latency information about distributed operations to Zipkin. Most users won't use Brave directly, rather libraries or frameworks that employ Brave on their behalf.
This module includes tracer creates and joins spans that model the latency of potentially distributed work. It also includes libraries to propagate the trace context over network boundaries, for example, via http headers.
Most importantly, you need a Tracer, usually configured to report to Zipkin.
Here's an example setup that sends trace data (spans) to Zipkin over HTTP (as opposed to Kafka).
// Configure a reporter, which controls how often spans are sent
// (this dependency is io.zipkin.reporter2:zipkin-sender-okhttp3)
sender = OkHttpSender.create("http://127.0.0.1:9411/api/v2/spans");
// (this dependency is io.zipkin.reporter2:zipkin-reporter-brave)
zipkinSpanHandler = AsyncZipkinSpanHandler.create(sender);
// Create a tracing component with the service name you want to see in Zipkin.
tracing = Tracing.newBuilder()
.localServiceName("my-service")
.addSpanHandler(zipkinSpanHandler)
.build();
// Tracing exposes objects you might need, most importantly the tracer
tracer = tracing.tracer();
// Failing to close resources can result in dropped spans! When tracing is no
// longer needed, close the components you made in reverse order. This might be
// a shutdown hook for some users.
tracing.close();
zipkinSpanHandler.close();
sender.close();If you need to connect to an older version of the Zipkin api, you can use the following to use Zipkin v1 format. See zipkin-reporter for more.
sender = URLConnectionSender.create("http://localhost:9411/api/v1/spans");
reporter = AsyncReporter.builder(sender)
.build(SpanBytesEncoder.JSON_V1); // don't forget to close!
zipkinSpanHandler = ZipkinSpanHandler.create(reporter)Note: ZipkinSpanHandler requires an explicit dependency on
io.zipkin.reporter2:zipkin-reporter
The tracer creates and joins spans that model the latency of potentially distributed work. It can employ sampling to reduce overhead in process or to reduce the amount of data sent to Zipkin.
Spans returned by a tracer report data to Zipkin when finished, or do nothing if unsampled. After starting a span, you can annotate events of interest or add tags containing details or lookup keys.
Spans have a context which includes trace identifiers that place it at the correct spot in the tree representing the distributed operation.
When tracing code that never leaves your process, run it inside a scoped span.
// Start a new trace or a span within an existing trace representing an operation
ScopedSpan span = tracer.startScopedSpan("encode");
try {
// The span is in "scope" meaning downstream code such as loggers can see trace IDs
return encoder.encode();
} catch (RuntimeException | Error e) {
span.error(e); // Unless you handle exceptions, you might not know the operation failed!
throw e;
} finally {
span.finish(); // always finish the span
}When you need more features, or finer control, use the Span type:
// Start a new trace or a span within an existing trace representing an operation
Span span = tracer.nextSpan().name("encode").start();
// Put the span in "scope" so that downstream code such as loggers can see trace IDs
try (SpanInScope scope = tracer.withSpanInScope(span)) {
return encoder.encode();
} catch (RuntimeException | Error e) {
span.error(e); // Unless you handle exceptions, you might not know the operation failed!
throw e;
} finally {
span.finish(); // note the scope is independent of the span. Always finish a span.
}Both of the above examples report the exact same span on finish!
In the above example, the span will be either a new root span or the next child in an existing trace. How this works is described later.
Once you have a span, you can add tags to it, which can be used as lookup keys or details. For example, you might add a tag with your runtime version.
span.tag("clnt/finagle.version", "6.36.0");The Tag type is a helper that works with all variants of Span. For
common or expensive tags, consider implementing Tag or re-using a
built-in one.
Here's an example of a potentially expensive tag:
SUMMARY_TAG = new Tag<Summarizer>("summary") {
@Override protected String parseValue(Summarizer input, TraceContext context) {
return input.computeSummary();
}
}
// This works for any variant of span
SUMMARY_TAG.tag(summarizer, span);When exposing the ability to customize spans to third parties, prefer
brave.SpanCustomizer as opposed to brave.Span. The former is simpler to
understand and test, and doesn't tempt users with span lifecycle hooks.
interface MyTraceCallback {
void request(Request request, SpanCustomizer customizer);
}Since brave.Span implements brave.SpanCustomizer, it is just as easy for you
to pass to users.
Ex.
for (MyTraceCallback callback : userCallbacks) {
callback.request(request, span);
}Sometimes you won't know if a trace is in progress or not, and you don't
want users to do null checks. brave.CurrentSpanCustomizer adds to any
span that's in progress or drops data accordingly.
Ex.
// Some DI configuration wires up the current span customizer
@Bean SpanCustomizer currentSpanCustomizer(Tracing tracing) {
return CurrentSpanCustomizer.create(tracing);
}
// user code can then inject this without a chance of it being null.
@Inject SpanCustomizer span;
void userCode() {
span.annotate("tx.started");
...
}Check for instrumentation and abstractions and Zipkin's list for common patterns like client-server or messaging communication. Please at least read this doc before deciding to write your own code to represent remote communication.
If you really think that the existing abstractions do not match your need, and you want to model your request yourself, you generally need to...
- Start the span and add trace headers to the request
- Put the span in scope so things like log integration works
- Invoke the request
- Catch any errors
- Complete the span
Here's a simplified example:
requestWrapper = new ClientRequestWrapper(request);
span = tracer.nextSpan(sampler, requestWrapper); // 1.
tracing.propagation().injector(ClientRequestWrapper::addHeader)
.inject(span.context(), requestWrapper);
span.kind(request.spanKind());
span.name("Report");
span.start();
try (Scope scope = currentTraceContext.newScope(span.context())) { // 2.
return invoke(request); // 3.
} catch (Throwable e) {
span.error(error); // 4.
throw e;
} finally {
span.finish(); // 5.
}Sampling may be employed to reduce the data collected and reported out of process. When a span isn't sampled, it adds no overhead (noop).
Sampling is an up-front decision, meaning that the decision to report data is made at the first operation in a trace, and that decision is propagated downstream.
By default, there's a global sampler that applies a single rate to all
traced operations. Tracing.Builder.sampler is how you indicate this,
and it defaults to trace every request.
For example, to choose 10 traces every second, you'd initialize like so:
tracing = Tracing.newBuilder()
.sampler(RateLimitingSampler.create(10))
--snip--
.build();Some need to sample based on the type or annotations of a java method.
Most users will use a framework interceptor which automates this sort of policy. Here's how they might work internally.
// derives a sample rate from an annotation on a java method
SamplerFunction<Traced> samplerFunction = DeclarativeSampler.createWithRate(Traced::sampleRate);
@Around("@annotation(traced)")
public Object traceThing(ProceedingJoinPoint pjp, Traced traced) throws Throwable {
// When there is no trace in progress, this overrides the decision based on the annotation
ScopedSpan span = tracer.startScopedSpan(spanName(pjp), samplerFunction, traced);
try {
return pjp.proceed();
} catch (RuntimeException | Error e) {
span.error(e);
throw e;
} finally {
span.finish();
}
}You may want to apply different policies depending on what the operation is. For example, you might not want to trace requests to static resources such as images, or you might want to trace all requests to a new api.
Most users will use a framework interceptor which automates this sort of policy.
Here's a simplified version of how this might work internally.
SamplerFunction<Request> requestBased = (request) -> {
if (request.url().startsWith("/experimental")) {
return true;
} else if (request.url().startsWith("/static")) {
return false;
}
return null;
};
Span nextSpan(final Request input) {
return tracer.nextSpan(requestBased, input);
}Note: the above is the basis for the built-in http sampler
Sometimes you need to propagate additional fields, such as a request ID or an alternate trace context.
For example, if you have a need to know a specific request's country code, you can propagate it through the trace as an HTTP header with the same name:
import brave.baggage.BaggagePropagationConfig.SingleBaggageField;
// Configure your baggage field
COUNTRY_CODE = BaggageField.create("country-code");
// When you initialize the builder, add the baggage you want to propagate
tracingBuilder.propagationFactory(
BaggagePropagation.newFactoryBuilder(B3Propagation.FACTORY)
.add(SingleBaggageField.remote(COUNTRY_CODE))
.build()
);
// Later, you can retrieve that country code in any of the services handling the trace
// and add it as a span tag or do any other processing you want with it.
countryCode = COUNTRY_CODE.getValue(context);As long as a field is configured with BaggagePropagation, local reads and
updates are possible in-process.
If added to the BaggagePropagation.Builder, you can call below to affect
the country code of the current trace context:
COUNTRY_CODE.updateValue("FO");
String countryCode = COUNTRY_CODE.getValue();Or, if you have a reference to a trace context, it is more efficient to use it explicitly:
COUNTRY_CODE.updateValue(span.context(), "FO");
String countryCode = COUNTRY_CODE.get(span.context());
Tags.BAGGAGE_FIELD.tag(COUNTRY_CODE, span);By default, the name used as a propagation key (header) by addRemoteField() is the same as
the lowercase variant of the field name. You can override this by supplying different key
names. Note: they will be lower-cased.
For example, the following will propagate the field "x-vcap-request-id" as-is, but send the fields "countryCode" and "userId" on the wire as "baggage-country-code" and "baggage-user-id" respectively.
import brave.baggage.BaggagePropagationConfig.SingleBaggageField;
REQUEST_ID = BaggageField.create("x-vcap-request-id");
COUNTRY_CODE = BaggageField.create("countryCode");
USER_ID = BaggageField.create("userId");
tracingBuilder.propagationFactory(
BaggagePropagation.newFactoryBuilder(B3Propagation.FACTORY)
.add(SingleBaggageField.remote(REQUEST_ID))
.add(SingleBaggageField.newBuilder(COUNTRY_CODE)
.addKeyName("baggage-country-code").build())
.add(SingleBaggageField.newBuilder(USER_ID)
.addKeyName("baggage-user-id").build())
.build()
);You can also integrate baggage with other correlated contexts such as logging:
import brave.baggage.BaggagePropagationConfig.SingleBaggageField;
import brave.baggage.CorrelationScopeConfig.SingleCorrelationField;
AMZN_TRACE_ID = BaggageField.create("x-amzn-trace-id");
// Allow logging patterns like %X{traceId} %X{x-amzn-trace-id}
decorator = MDCScopeDecorator.newBuilder()
.add(SingleCorrelationField.create(AMZN_TRACE_ID)).build()
tracingBuilder.propagationFactory(BaggagePropagation.newFactoryBuilder(B3Propagation.FACTORY)
.add(SingleBaggageField.remote(AMZN_TRACE_ID))
.build())
.currentTraceContext(ThreadLocalCurrentTraceContext.newBuilder()
.addScopeDecorator(decorator)
.build())Your log correlation properties may not be the same as the baggage field names. You can override them in the builder as needed.
Ex. If your log property is %X{trace-id}, you can do this:
import brave.baggage.CorrelationScopeConfig.SingleCorrelationField;
scopeBuilder.clear() // TRACE_ID is a default field!
.add(SingleCorrelationField.newBuilder(BaggageFields.TRACE_ID)
.name("trace-id").build())Brave is an infrastructure library: you will create lock-in if you expose its apis into business code. Prefer exposing your own types for utility functions that use this class as this will insulate you from lock-in.
While it may seem convenient, do not use this for security context propagation as it was not designed for this use case. For example, anything placed in here can be accessed by any code in the same classloader!
You may also need to propagate an second trace context transparently. For example, when in an Amazon Web Services environment, but not reporting data to X-Ray. To ensure X-Ray can co-exist correctly, pass-through its tracing header like so.
import brave.baggage.BaggagePropagationConfig.SingleBaggageField;
OTHER_TRACE_ID = BaggageField.create("x-amzn-trace-id");
tracingBuilder.propagationFactory(
BaggagePropagation.newFactoryBuilder(B3Propagation.FACTORY)
.add(SingleBaggageField.remote(OTHER_TRACE_ID))
.build()
);Propagation is needed to ensure activity originating from the same root are collected together in the same trace. The most common propagation approach is to copy a trace context from a client sending an RPC request to a server receiving it.
For example, when an downstream Http call is made, its trace context is sent along with it, encoded as request headers:
Client Span Server Span
┌──────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐
│ │ │ │
│ TraceContext │ Http Request Headers │ TraceContext │
│ ┌──────────────┐ │ ┌───────────────────┐ │ ┌──────────────┐ │
│ │ TraceId │ │ │ X─B3─TraceId │ │ │ TraceId │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ ParentSpanId │ │ Extract │ X─B3─ParentSpanId │ Inject │ │ ParentSpanId │ │
│ │ ├─┼─────────>│ ├────────┼>│ │ │
│ │ SpanId │ │ │ X─B3─SpanId │ │ │ SpanId │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ Sampled │ │ │ X─B3─Sampled │ │ │ Sampled │ │
│ └──────────────┘ │ └───────────────────┘ │ └──────────────┘ │
│ │ │ │
└──────────────────┘ └──────────────────┘
The names above are from B3 Propagation, which is built-in to Brave and has implementations in many languages and frameworks.
Most users will use a framework interceptor which automates propagation. Here's how they might work internally.
Here's what client-side propagation might look like
// configure a function that injects a trace context into a request
injector = tracing.propagation().injector(Request.Builder::addHeader);
// before a request is sent, add the current span's context to it
injector.inject(span.context(), request);Here's what server-side propagation might look like
// configure a function that extracts the trace context from a request
extractor = tracing.propagation().extractor(Request::getHeader);
// when a server receives a request, it joins or starts a new trace
span = tracer.nextSpan(extractor.extract(request));The TraceContext.Extractor<R> reads trace identifiers and sampling status
from an incoming request or message. The request is usually a request object
or headers.
This utility is used in standard instrumentation like HttpServerHandler, but can also be used for custom RPC or messaging code.
TraceContextOrSamplingFlags is usually only used with Tracer.nextSpan(extracted), unless you are
sharing span IDs between a client and a server.
A normal instrumentation pattern is creating a span representing the server
side of an RPC. Extractor.extract might return a complete trace context when
applied to an incoming client request. Tracer.joinSpan attempts to continue
this trace, using the same span ID if supported, or creating a child span
if not. When span ID is shared, data reported includes a flag saying so.
Here's an example of B3 propagation:
┌───────────────────┐ ┌───────────────────┐
Incoming Headers │ TraceContext │ │ TraceContext │
┌───────────────────┐(extract)│ ┌───────────────┐ │(join)│ ┌───────────────┐ │
│ X─B3-TraceId │─────────┼─┼> TraceId │ │──────┼─┼> TraceId │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ X─B3-ParentSpanId │─────────┼─┼> ParentSpanId │ │──────┼─┼> ParentSpanId │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ X─B3-SpanId │─────────┼─┼> SpanId │ │──────┼─┼> SpanId │ │
└───────────────────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ Shared: true │ │
│ └───────────────┘ │ │ └───────────────┘ │
└───────────────────┘ └───────────────────┘
Some propagation systems only forward the parent span ID, detected when
Propagation.Factory.supportsJoin() == false. In this case, a new span ID is
always provisioned and the incoming context determines the parent ID.
Here's an example of AWS propagation:
┌───────────────────┐ ┌───────────────────┐
x-amzn-trace-id │ TraceContext │ │ TraceContext │
┌───────────────────┐(extract)│ ┌───────────────┐ │(join)│ ┌───────────────┐ │
│ Root │─────────┼─┼> TraceId │ │──────┼─┼> TraceId │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ Parent │─────────┼─┼> SpanId │ │──────┼─┼> ParentSpanId │ │
└───────────────────┘ │ └───────────────┘ │ │ │ │ │
└───────────────────┘ │ │ SpanId: New │ │
│ └───────────────┘ │
└───────────────────┘
Note: Some span reporters do not support sharing span IDs. For example, if you
set Tracing.Builder.spanReporter(amazonXrayOrGoogleStackdrive), disable join
via Tracing.Builder.supportsJoin(false). This will force a new child span on
Tracer.joinSpan().
TraceContext.Extractor<R> is implemented by a Propagation.Factory plugin. Internally, this code
will create the union type TraceContextOrSamplingFlags with one of the following:
TraceContextif trace and span IDs were present.TraceIdContextif a trace ID was present, but not span IDs.SamplingFlagsif no identifiers were present
Some Propagation implementations carry extra state from point of extraction (ex reading incoming
headers) to injection (ex writing outgoing headers). For example, it might carry a request ID. When
implementations have extra state, here's how they handle it.
- If a
TraceContextwas extracted, add the extra state asTraceContext.extra() - Otherwise, add it as
TraceContextOrSamplingFlags.extra(), whichTracer.nextSpanhandles.
By default, data recorded before (Span.finish()) are reported to Zipkin
to a SpanHandler. For example, Tracing.Builder.spanReporter is an instance
of a SpanHandler that reports data to Zipkin when sampled.
You can create you own SpanHandlers to modify or drop data before it goes to
Zipkin (or anywhere else). It can even intercept data that is not sampled!
Here's an example of SQL COMMENT spans so they don't clutter Zipkin.
tracingBuilder.addSpanHandler(new SpanHandler() {
@Override public boolean end(TraceContext context, MutableSpan span, Cause cause) {
return !"comment".equals(span.name());
}
});Another example is redaction: you may need to scrub tags to ensure no personal information like credit card numbers end up in Zipkin.
tracingBuilder.addSpanHandler(new SpanHandler() {
@Override public boolean end(TraceContext context, MutableSpan span, Cause cause) {
span.forEachTag((key, value) ->
value.replaceAll("[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{4}", "xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx")
);
return true; // retain the span
}
});An example of redaction is here
While Brave defaults to report 100% of data to Zipkin, many will use a lower percentage like 1%. This is called sampling and the decision is maintained throughout the trace, across requests consistently. Sampling has disadvantages. For example, statistics on sampled data is usually misleading by nature of not observing all durations.
Call Tracing.Builder.alwaysSampleLocal() to indicate if SpanHandlers
should see all data or only when data sampled remotely (TraceContext.sampled()).
This easiest way to configure multiple aspects is with a TracingCustomizer.
Here's an example that generates duration metrics, regardless of remote sampling:
// Metrics wants duration of all operations, not just ones sampled remotely
customizer = b -> b.alwaysSampleLocal().addSpanHandler(new SpanHandler() {
@Override public boolean end(TraceContext context, MutableSpan span, Cause cause) {
if (namesToAlwaysTime.contains(span.name())) {
registry.timer("spans", "name", span.name())
.record(span.finishTimestamp() - span.startTimestamp(), MICROSECONDS);
}
return true; // retain the span
}
});
// Later, your configuration library invokes the customize method
customizer.customize(tracingBuilder);A span metrics example is here
When reporting to a Zipkin compatible collector, use io.zipkin.reporter2:zipkin-reporter-brave.
The below example highlights notes for those sending data into a different
format. Notably, most trace systems only need data at the end hook.
public boolean end(TraceContext context, MutableSpan span, Cause cause) {
// Sampled means "remote sampled", e.g. to the tracing system.
if (!Boolean.TRUE.equals(context.sampled())) return true;
// span.tags("error") is only set when instrumentation sets it. If your
// format requires span.tags("error"), use Tags.ERROR when span.error()
// is set, but span.tags("error") is not. Some formats will look at the
// stack trace instead.
maybeAddErrorTag(context, span);
MyFormat customFormat = convert(context, span);
nonZipkinReporter.report(converted);
return true;
}Some data formats desire knowing how many spans a parent created. Below is an example of how to do that, using WeakConcurrentMap.
static final class TagChildCountDirect extends SpanHandler {
--snip--
public boolean begin(TraceContext context, MutableSpan span, @Nullable TraceContext parent) {
if (!context.isLocalRoot()) { // a child
childToParent.putIfProbablyAbsent(context, parent);
parentToChildCount.get(parent).incrementAndGet();
}
return true;
}
public boolean end(TraceContext context, MutableSpan span, Cause cause) {
// Kick-out if this was not a normal finish
if (cause != Cause.FINISHED && !context.isLocalRoot()) { // a child
TraceContext parent = childToParent.remove(context);
AtomicInteger childCount = parentToChildCount.getIfPresent(parent);
if (childCount != null) childCount.decrementAndGet();
return true;
}
AtomicInteger childCount = parentToChildCount.getIfPresent(context);
span.tag("childCountDirect", childCount != null ? childCount.toString() : "0");
// clean up so no OutOfMemoryException!
childToParent.remove(context);
parentToChildCount.remove(context);
return true;
}
}The above is a partial implementation, the full code is here.
Brave supports a "current tracing component" concept which should only be used when you have no other means to get a reference. This was made for JDBC connections, as they often initialize prior to the tracing component.
The most recent tracing component instantiated is available via
Tracing.current(). There's also a shortcut to get only the tracer
via Tracing.currentTracer(). If you use either of these methods, do
not cache the result. Instead, look them up each time you need them.
Brave supports a "current span" concept which represents the in-flight operation.
Tracer.currentSpanCustomizer() never returns null and SpanCustomizer
is generally a safe object to expose to third-party code to add tags.
Tracer.currentSpan() should be reserved for framework code that cannot
reference the span it wants to finish, flush or abandon explicitly.
Tracer.nextSpan() uses the "current span" to determine a parent. This
creates a child of whatever is in-flight.
Many frameworks allow you to specify an executor which is used for user
callbacks. The type CurrentTraceContext implements all functionality
needed to support the current span. It also exposes utilities which you
can use to decorate executors.
CurrentTraceContext currentTraceContext = ThreadLocalCurrentTraceContext.create();
tracing = Tracing.newBuilder()
.currentTraceContext(currentTraceContext)
...
.build();
Client c = Client.create();
c.setExecutorService(currentTraceContext.executorService(realExecutorService));When writing new instrumentation, it is important to place a span you
created in scope as the current span. Not only does this allow users to
access it with Tracer.currentSpanCustomizer(), but it also allows
customizations like SLF4J MDC to see the current trace IDs.
The easiest way to scope a span is via Tracer.startScopedSpan(name):
ScopedSpan span = tracer.startScopedSpan("encode");
try {
// The span is in "scope" meaning downstream code such as loggers can see trace IDs
return encoder.encode();
} catch (RuntimeException | Error e) {
span.error(e); // Unless you handle exceptions, you might not know the operation failed!
throw e;
} finally {
span.finish(); // always finish the span
}If doing RPC or otherwise advanced tracing, Tracer.withSpanInScope(Span)
scopes an existing span via the try-with-resources idiom. Whenever
external code might be invoked (such as proceeding an interceptor or
otherwise), place the span in scope like this.
try (SpanInScope scope = tracer.withSpanInScope(span)) {
return inboundRequest.invoke();
} catch (RuntimeException | Error e) {
span.error(e);
throw e;
} finally { // note the scope is independent of the span
span.finish();
}In edge cases, you may need to clear the current span temporarily. For
example, launching a task that should not be associated with the current
request. To do this, simply pass null to withSpanInScope.
try (SpanInScope cleared = tracer.withSpanInScope(null)) {
startBackgroundThread();
}Many libraries expose a callback model as opposed to an interceptor one.
When creating new instrumentation, you may find places where you need to
place a span in scope in one callback (like onStart()) and end the scope
in another callback (like onFinish()).
Provided the library guarantees these run on the same thread, you can
simply propagate the result of Tracer.withSpanInScope(Span) from the
starting callback to the closing one. This is typically done with a
request-scoped attribute.
Here's an example:
class MyFilter extends Filter {
public void onStart(Request request, Attributes attributes) {
// Assume you have code to start the span and add relevant tags...
// We now set the span in scope so that any code between here and
// the end of the request can modify it with Tracer.currentSpan()
// or Tracer.currentSpanCustomizer()
SpanInScope spanInScope = tracer.withSpanInScope(span);
// We don't want to leak the scope, so we place it somewhere we can
// lookup later
attributes.put(SpanInScope.class, spanInScope);
}
public void onFinish(Response response, Attributes attributes) {
// as long as we are on the same thread, we can read the span started above
Span span = tracer.currentSpan();
// Assume you have code to complete the span
// We now remove the scope (which implicitly detaches it from the span)
attributes.remove(SpanInScope.class).close();
}
}Sometimes you have to instrument a library where There's no attribute
namespace shared across request and response. For this scenario, you can
use ThreadLocalSpan to temporarily store the span between callbacks.
Here's an example:
class MyFilter extends Filter {
final ThreadLocalSpan threadLocalSpan;
public void onStart(Request request) {
// Assume you have code to start the span and add relevant tags...
// We now set the span in scope so that any code between here and
// the end of the request can see it with Tracer.currentSpan()
threadLocalSpan.set(span);
}
public void onFinish(Response response, Attributes attributes) {
// as long as we are on the same thread, we can read the span started above
Span span = threadLocalSpan.remove();
if (span == null) return;
// Assume you have code to complete the span
}
}The examples above work because the callbacks happen on the same thread.
You should not set a span in scope if you cannot close that scope on the
same thread. This may be the case in some asynchronous libraries. Often,
you will need to propagate the span directly in a custom attribute. This
will allow you to trace the RPC, even if this approach doesn't facilitate
use of Tracer.currentSpan() from external code.
Here's an example of explicit propagation:
class MyFilter extends Filter {
public void onSchedule(Attributes attributes) {
// Stash the invoking trace context as this will be the correct parent of
// the request.
attributes.put(TraceContext.class, currentTraceContext.get());
}
public void onStart(Request request, Attributes attributes) {
// Retrieve the parent, if any, and start the span.
TraceContext parent = attributes.get(TraceContext.class);
Span span = tracer.nextSpanWithParent(samplerFunction, request, parent);
// add tags etc..
// We can't open a scope as onFinish happens on another thread.
// Instead, we propagate the span manually so at least basic tracing
// will work.
attributes.put(Span.class, span);
}
public void onFinish(Response response, Attributes attributes) {
// We can't rely on Tracer.currentSpan(), but we can rely on explicit
// propagation
Span span = attributes.remove(Span.class);
// Assume you have code to complete the span
}
}The CurrentTraceContext makes a trace context visible, such that spans
aren't accidentally added to the wrong trace. It also accepts hooks like
log correlation.
For example, if you use Log4J 2, you can copy trace IDs to your logging context with our decorator:
tracing = Tracing.newBuilder()
.currentTraceContext(ThreadLocalCurrentTraceContext.newBuilder()
.addScopeDecorator(ThreadContextScopeDecorator.get())
.build())
...
.build();Besides logging, other tools are available. StrictCurrentTraceContext can help find out when code is not closing scopes properly. This can be useful when writing or diagnosing custom instrumentation.
If you are in a situation where you need to turn off tracing at runtime,
invoke Tracing.setNoop(true). This will turn any new spans into "noop"
spans, and drop any data until Tracing.setNoop(false) is invoked.
Brave has been built with performance in mind. Using the core Span api, you can record spans in sub-microseconds. When a span is sampled, there's effectively no overhead (as it is a noop).
Unlike previous implementations, Brave 4 only needs one timestamp per
span. All annotations are recorded on an offset basis, using the less
expensive and more precise System.nanoTime() function.
Instrumentation problems can lead to scope leaks and orphaned data. When testing instrumentation, use StrictCurrentTraceContext, as it will throw errors on known scoping problems.
If you see data with the annotation brave.flush, you may have an
instrumentation bug. To see which code was involved, set
Tracing.Builder.trackOrphans() and ensure the logger brave.Tracer is at
'FINE' level. Do not do this in production as tracking orphaned data incurs
higher overhead.
Note: When using log4j2, set the following to ensure log settings apply:
-Djava.util.logging.manager=org.apache.logging.log4j.jul.LogManager
When writing unit tests, there are a few tricks that will make bugs easier to find:
- Report spans into a concurrent queue, so you can read them in tests
- Use
StrictCurrentTraceContextto reveal subtle thread-related propagation bugs - Unconditionally cleanup
Tracing.current(), to prevent leaks
Here's an example setup for your unit test fixture:
ConcurrentLinkedDeque<Span> spans = new ConcurrentLinkedDeque<>();
StrictCurrentTraceContext currentTraceContext = StrictCurrentTraceContext.create()
Tracing tracing = Tracing.newBuilder()
.currentTraceContext(currentTraceContext)
.spanReporter(spans::add)
.build();
@After public void close() {
Tracing current = Tracing.current();
if (current != null) current.close();
currentTraceContext.close();
}Brave 4 was designed to live alongside Brave 3. Using TracerAdapter,
you can navigate between apis, buying you time to update as appropriate.
Concepts are explained below, and there's an elaborate example of interop here.
Note: The last version of Brave 3 types is io.zipkin.brave:brave-core:4.13.4
TracerAdapter also should work with later versions of io.zipkin.brave:brave
If your code uses Brave 3 apis, all you need to do is use TracerAdapter
to create a (Brave 3) .. Brave. You don't have to change anything else.
Tracing brave4 = Tracing.newBuilder()...build();
Brave brave3 = TracerAdapter.newBrave(brave4.tracer());Those coding directly to both apis can use TracerAdapter.toSpan to
navigate between span types. This is useful when working with client RPC
and in-process (local) spans.
If you have a reference to a Brave 3 Span, you can convert like this:
brave3Span = brave3.localSpanThreadBinder().getCurrentLocalSpan();
brave4Span = TracerAdapter.toSpan(brave4, brave3Span);You can also attach Brave 4 Span to a Brave 3 thread binder like this:
brave3Span = TracerAdapter.toSpan(brave4Span.context());
brave3.localSpanThreadBinder().setCurrentSpan(brave3Span);Brave 3's ServerTracer works slightly differently than Brave 3's client
or local tracers. Internally, it uses a ServerSpan which keeps track
of the original sample status. To interop with ServerTracer, use the
following hooks:
Use TracerAdapter.getServerSpan to get one of..
- a real span: when a sampled server request preceded this call
- a noop span: when a server request preceded this call, but was not sampled
- null: if no server request preceded this call
brave4Span = TracerAdapter.getServerSpan(brave4, brave3.serverSpanThreadBinder());
// Since the current server span might be empty, you must check null
if (brave4Span != null) {
// use or finish the span
}If you have a reference to a Brave 4 span, and know it represents a server
request, use TracerAdapter.setServerSpan to attach it to Brave 3's thread
binder.
TracerAdapter.setServerSpan(brave4Span.context(), brave3.serverSpanThreadBinder());
brave3.serverTracer().setServerSend(); // for exampleio.zipkin.brave:brave(Brave 4) is an optional dependency of
io.zipkin.brave:brave-core(Brave 3). To use TracerAdapter, you need
to declare an explicit dependency, and ensure both libraries are of the
same version.
- Never mutate
com.twitter.zipkin.gen.Spandirectly. Doing so will break the above integration. - The above only works when
com.github.kristofa.brave.Bravewas instantiated viaTracerAdapter.newBrave
Traditionally, Zipkin trace IDs were 64-bit. Starting with Zipkin 1.14, 128-bit trace identifiers are supported. This can be useful in sites that have very large traffic volume, persist traces forever, or are re-using externally generated 128-bit IDs.
If you want Brave to generate 128-bit trace identifiers when starting new
root spans, set Tracing.Builder.traceId128Bit(true)
When 128-bit trace ids are propagated, they will be twice as long as
before. For example, the X-B3-TraceId header will hold a 32-character
value like 163ac35c9f6413ad48485a3953bb6124.
Before doing this, ensure your Zipkin setup is up-to-date, and downstream instrumented services can read the longer 128-bit trace IDs.
Note: this only affects the trace ID, not span IDs. For example, span ids within a trace are always 64-bit.
See our Rationale for design thoughts and acknowledgements.