OpenTelemetry

As explained in Troubleshooting Java, Second Edition

OpenTelemetry is an open-source observability framework and standard for collecting, generating, and exporting telemetry such as traces, metrics, and logs.

OpenTelemetry is the observability layer that generates telemetry from running Java services, especially distributed traces composed of trace IDs and spans. It supports manual instrumentation in application code and automatic instrumentation through the OpenTelemetry Java agent, which attaches at startup without code changes. section 12.1.2

A practical tracing setup connects:

• Services instrumented with OpenTelemetry. section 12.1.2
• Export through protocols such as OTLP or gRPC. section 12.1.2
• Jaeger or Zipkin for collecting, searching, and visualizing traces. section 12.1.2

Figure 12.3 OpenTelemetry collects relevant data from the running service. Jaeger and Zipkin are tools that aggregate and display nicely this data to help you easily troubleshoot the system.

Use the architecture diagram to follow telemetry from a running service through OpenTelemetry to a tracing backend. section 12.1.2

How Troubleshooting Java, Second Edition covers it

How deep it goes

Explains manual and automatic instrumentation, export, and backend roles, but stops short of detailed configuration or code examples.

Examples

Uses a missing-order investigation and a service-to-backend architecture diagram as concrete tracing examples.

What it assumes

Assumes Java services and a deployed runtime environment, while distinguishing developer instrumentation from platform-managed tracing infrastructure.

What you can do after

Diagnose distributed-service failures by generating spans and exploring exported traces in Jaeger or Zipkin.

How it connects

Connects distributed tracing with trace IDs, spans, Jaeger, Zipkin, OTLP, gRPC, and observability infrastructure.

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Also explained in

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  Secure APIsOpenTelemetry is an open-source, vendor-neutral observability framework that defines APIs, SDKs, and conventions for generating, collecting, and exporting telemetry.
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  Quarkus in ActionOpenTelemetry is a vendor-neutral, language-agnostic collection of APIs, tools, and protocols for generating, collecting, and exporting application telemetry.
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  gRPC Microservices in GoOpenTelemetry is an open-source observability framework for instrumenting applications and collecting, processing, and exporting traces, metrics, and logs.

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Related concepts

• trajectoryused by · A trajectory is an ordered sequence of states, actions, events, or operations that records or describes progression through successive steps or over time.
• telemetryproduces · Telemetry is automatically generated or collected operational data describing a system’s activity, state, behavior, or performance.
• observabilityimplements · Observability is the ability to infer a system’s internal state and behavior from its externally available outputs, such as logs, metrics, and traces.
• instrumentationused by · Instrumentation is the addition or activation of mechanisms in software or systems to observe, measure, or record their behavior during execution.
• Jaegerused by · Jaeger is an open-source distributed tracing system for collecting, storing, querying, and visualizing trace data to monitor and troubleshoot distributed applications.
• OTLPhas part · OTLP, the OpenTelemetry Protocol, is a vendor-neutral protocol that defines how OpenTelemetry telemetry data is encoded and transmitted between sources, collectors, and destinations.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Troubleshooting Java, Second Edition. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.