1.4 Troubleshoot Errors Using Zipkin Traces

This topic describes the systematic instructions to troubleshoot the errors using the Zipkin Traces.

Set up the Zipkin server. For information on how to set it up, refer to the Observability User Guide.

To perform troubleshooting using Zipkin Traces:

  1. Launch the Zipkin URL.
    The basic layout of Zipkin displays.

    Figure 1-5 Layout of Zipkin


    Description of Figure 1-5 follows
    Description of "Figure 1-5 Layout of Zipkin"

  2. Use Search to find the traces of required API calls and services.

    Note:

    The search options given in the user interface are self-explanatory, and there is another UI option (Try Lens UI). It is given a different user interface with the same functionality.

    Some error API calls are made to showcase how to track errors. The blue listing shows the successful API hits, and the red listing indicates the errors. Each block indicates a single trace in the listing.

    The list of traces are displayed.

    Figure 1-6 List of Traces


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    Description of "Figure 1-6 List of Traces"

  3. Open the individual trace.
    It describes the time taken for each block. As the two custom spans are created inside two service calls, user can find a total of four blocks. The time taken for an individual block is shown below.
    The details of an individual trace displays.

    Figure 1-7 Individual Trace


    Description of Figure 1-7 follows
    Description of "Figure 1-7 Individual Trace"

  4. Click on the individual block.
    The details of an individual block are displayed.

    Figure 1-8 Details of Individual Block


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    Description of "Figure 1-8 Details of Individual Block"

    The user can also view the logging events in the Zipkin UI as small circular blocks. An example of an error log is shown below.

    Figure 1-9 Sample Error Log


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    Description of "Figure 1-9 Sample Error Log"

  5. Click the error portion.
    The details about the error and where the error has arisen are displayed.

    Figure 1-10 Details of Error


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    Description of "Figure 1-10 Details of Error"

    Note:

    If the Lens UI is used in Zipkin, the above figures are not applicable but are relatable to the Lens UI as well. Traces of the application can be found using TraceId. The TraceId can be found in the debug logs of the deployment when spring-cloud-sleuth is included in the dependencies (included in spring-cloud-starter-zipkin dependency).
  6. Click the Dependencies tab.
    The dependency graph information between micro-services is displayed.

    Figure 1-11 Sample Dependency Graph


    Description of Figure 1-11 follows
    Description of "Figure 1-11 Sample Dependency Graph"

    This topic contains the following sub-topic:

  • Known Issues for Zipkin
    This topic describes the known issues encountered when using Zipkin and how to work around them.

Parent topic: Troubleshooting Technical Flows