Tracing
Dash0's Tracing view provides an excellent overview of all spans and simplifies analyzing issues based on span information.
Usage
When opening the tracing view, Dash0 will provide you with a list of spans - the building blocks of traces.
Screenshot: Tracing
Global Time Picker
The Global Time Picker's default time range is 30 minutes. The heatmap on top of the page represents all spans distributed over time and grouped into a certain duration cluster.
Heatmap
Horizontally, the information is distributed across the selected time range; vertically, you get an indication regarding the duration of spans. Within the heatmap, every cluster indicates how many spans match its criteria (combination of time and duration). The opacity indicates how many spans match the cluster. In case of erroneous spans, the cluster is colored red. More errors are represented with a stronger red color.
Dash0 will show more information about the related spans by hovering over a cluster.
A window can be dragged across the heatmap to drill into a certain time range and/or spans with a specific duration. The filter is applied by selecting "set timerange & duration filter."
The entries in the heatmap's legend can be selected to filter for erroneous spans quickly or spans with a status of OK or UNSET.
Span Table
By default, the span table is sorted by the Start time of the spans. The table columns can be selected to change the sorting or to sort by different values.
Using Filters
Each view in Dash0 provides quick access to Filtering.
The filtering capabilities are slightly different depending on the context. Filters can be accessed using the Filter icon in the top navigation of Dash0 (quick access using shift+F as a shortcut and accessing the filter from the command menu cmd/ctrl+k is also possible).
Screenshot: Filter Dialog - Value
When adding a filter, the key to be filtered on is selected first. Dash0 will offer all available and relevant keys, indicating how many records grouped by status are found.
After selecting the key, an operator for the filter needs to be specified. The operator can be selected by mouse, defined as text (is / equals), or by using the indicated shortcut ("=").
After specifying the operator, the applicable values and an indication of the matching resources are shown. Depending on the operation, you can select one or multiple options.
After specifying the value(s), the filter is automatically added to the filter bar. You can modify the filter by clicking on the filter component (key, operator, or value) you want to modify, or you can remove the filter by clicking on "x."
To add more filters, you can use the "+" button in the filter bar or add filters as described above.
Quick Filter
To quickly filter for specific values, hover over the column header to see the quick filter icon. The to-be-applied filter key is visible. Clicking on the icon opens the quick filter dialog.
The selected column has already been selected as a key for the filter. To apply a filter, an operator needs to be selected.
After selecting an operator, one or more values for the filter can be selected.
Hover Filter
To quickly add a filter based on values in the table, hovering over these elements shows a filter symbol with + or - to indicate if a filter should be applied to include the specific values (+) or to exclude them (-).
Detail Panel
Dash0 provides quick access to relevant information based on context. The detail panel on the right-hand side opens when a record in the table is selected.
It contains information distributed across several tabs. The overview tab is active by default and contains the most relevant information for quick access and navigation.
Trace View
The first panel on the overview tab in the detail panel contains context information about the related trace for the selected span.
Clicking on other spans within the trace preview lets you quickly change the selected span in the table (and the context in the detail panel) to other spans.
For a more detailed view of the entire trace, click on the trace ID starting with #. That will open the trace view.
Screenshot: Trace View
A mini-map at the top of the page shows a trace summary with all spans but without span details. The mini-map allows navigation, specifically through complex traces. The blue border indicates the zoom area, which is shown below the mini-map. Detailed information (like duration, span name, etc.) is shown for the zoomed area.
The zoom size can be changed using the scroll wheel or gestures. The position of the zoom area can be changed by dragging the blue box to the desired position.
Last updated: September 1, 2024