Error Root Cause

Error Root Cause Analysis

When this applies

A trace contains one or more error spans and the user wants to know the originating failure, not just the symptoms.

Procedure

1. Use get_trace_errors to list all error spans with their status messages.
2. Use get_trace_topology to see the full span tree and identify parent-child relationships among the error spans.
3. Walk from each error span toward the leaves of the tree. The deepest error span with no errored children is the most likely root cause.
4. Use get_span_details on the candidate root-cause span(s) to inspect attributes, events, and status for the actual failure reason.
5. Report: root-cause span (service, operation, error message), the propagation chain, and a recommendation.

Gotchas

• Timeouts at a parent may mask the real cause in a child that was cancelled — check children of timed-out spans even if they do not have error status.
• Multiple independent root causes can exist in a single trace.