I wanted to address an important aspect of our microservices architecture, specifically regarding our tracing implementation with OpenTelemetry. We have multiple microservices operating seamlessly together. However, I've noticed that when one microservice saves a message to the Couchbase collection and another microservice listens for new records with the DCP client, traceID becomes NULL in logging
To enhance our observability and ensure a clearer understanding of our flow, it’s crucial that we use the same trace ID that was employed when saving the record in the database. This will help maintain consistency across our distributed systems and allow us to correlate logs effectively.
One solution which i think upon is this
Capture the Trace Context: When the first microservice saves the record to Couchbase, capture the current trace context. By extracting the trace information (trace ID, span ID, etc.) from the current OpenTelemetry context.
Store the Trace Context: Save the trace context along with the record in Couchbase.
Extract and Propagate the Trace Context: When the second microservice picks up the new record via the DCP client, extract the trace context from the record. Then, use OpenTelemetry to set the extracted trace context as the current context before continuing with any operations.
ANY OTHER SOLUTION FOR THIS or Better solution
I think your approach to trace continuity using OpenTelemetry is a good approach. There are a few things you might want to consider while doing so.
First off, when your first microservice saves a record to Couchbase, make sure you're capturing the trace context correctly. The OTel API has functionality to get the active context, which you can then store in Couchbase—whether in the document’s metadata or as part of the document itself. This way, when another microservice picks it up later, the trace context is right there, ready to be extracted.
When saving the active context make sure to save the essentials like the trace ID and span ID. This will make it easier for the next service to pull out the trace info and use it as needed.
When the second microservice picks up that new record via the DCP client, it should grab the trace context from the stored data. Then, using the set context functionality to set the current trace context ensures that everything happening afterward in that service is properly tied to the original trace.
I'd also make sure you are handling edge cases, for example making sure the second service can handle situations where the trace context might be missing or isn’t formatted correctly, if that situation arises. Adding some fallback logic or logging can help you deal with these cases more gracefully.
With these things in place, you should be on a good path.