A dependency graph, also called a service map or call graph, shows services in a distributed system and the communication relationships between them. It provides a dynamic architectural overview and shows information flow, but not execution timing. section 2.5.3 section 8.1.1
Use the graph to:
- Inspect how a request path connects services without manually correlating timestamped log events. section 2.5.3
- Relate the architecture view to a trace, whose spans show each service invocation and whose waterfall view adds elapsed time. section 8.1.1
- Treat the map as an operational starting point rather than a complete dependency inventory: external services may not appear as spans. section 8.2.3
Checkout request
A checkout request can connect checkout to the items data store, fraud detection, shipping, billing, a third-party payment provider, and inventory. The graph reveals the service relationships; the corresponding trace and waterfall reveal which invocation consumes the time. section 8.1.1
Open the happy-path dependency graph to inspect a dynamically generated application architecture before selecting an individual trace for temporal analysis. section 8.2.3
