# Distributed Tracing

> A mechanism that propagates a trace context across service calls and records each call as a timed span of one trace.

Record: `architecture:distributed-tracing`
Kind: mechanism
Layer: [Observability](https://banes-lab.com/records/layer/observability.md)
Severity: contextual
Scope: distributed system, service mesh
Canonical: https://banes-lab.com/ontology#architecture-distributed-tracing

Listed in [Architecture principles](https://banes-lab.com/api/records/architecture.md), after [Causation ID](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/causation-id.md) and before [SLO/SLI](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/slo-sli.md).

## Repair

- Refactored by: Add Tracing Middleware, Propagate Context
- Detected by: broken traces, missing spans
- Violated by: service calls without trace propagation
- Measured by: trace completeness, span coverage
- Enforced by: observability policy

## Requires

- [Trace Context Propagation](https://banes-lab.com/records/lexicon/trace-context-propagation.md)

## Reinforces

- [Observability](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/observability.md)
- [Causality](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/causality.md)

## Enables

- [Latency/Failure Root Cause Analysis](https://banes-lab.com/records/lexicon/latency-failure-root-cause-analysis.md)

## Conflicts with

- [Opaque Distributed Calls](https://banes-lab.com/records/lexicon/opaque-distributed-calls.md)

## In tension with

- [Overhead/Sampling](https://banes-lab.com/records/lexicon/overhead-sampling.md)

## Tensions

- [Distributed Tracing / Overhead/Sampling](https://banes-lab.com/records/tension/distributed-tracing-overhead-sampling.md)

## Severity

- [contextual](https://banes-lab.com/records/vocabulary/severity-contextual.md)

## Category

- [Observability / Auditability / Traceability](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture-category/observability-auditability-traceability.md)

## Reinforced by

- [Correlation ID](https://banes-lab.com/records/architecture/correlation-id.md)

## Linked from

- [Causality / Ordering / Distributed Time](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-causality-ordering-distributed-time.md)
- [Observability / Auditability / Traceability](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/principles/architecture-category-observability-auditability-traceability.md)
- [Observability / Auditability / Traceability](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/lexicon/lexicon-category-observability-auditability-traceability.md)
- [Severity levels](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/schema/the-vocabulary-severity.md)
- [The resolutions](https://banes-lab.com/ontology/schema/the-resolutions.md)