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OpenTelemetry Traces

Owned by Ben Bramley
Last updated: Oct 16, 2024
2 min read

Data Description

The PowerConnect Java agent can produce OpenTelemetry traces. Traces show how a request progresses through different services and systems, and the timing of each operation. In the context of a SAP Netweaver Java system the Trace will track all inbound calls and tag outbound calls with a unique identifier that can then be used by a backend that supports the OpenTelemetry standard to create a view of the entire transaction flow.

Potential Use Cases

This event could be used in the following scenarios:

  • Identify performance bottlenecks in application call perform.

  • Correlate transactions between SAP Java and ABAP solutions using PowerConnect.

  • Identify long-running application calls or slow application performance.

Limitations

  • The dataset we use to create the OpenTelemetry Trace data is SAP Distributed Statistics Records (DSR). The DSR data tracks the peformance of the transactions however it does not track whether a transaction experienced an error or not. This means that the OpenTelemetry trace data will also not track errors.

PowerConnect Administrative Console Configuration

Log into the PowerConnect administrative console via the following URL (http://<serverhost>:<port>/powerconnect-java/index.html). Then click on the Overview menu. The screen will look like the screenshot below. Ensure that Traces checkbox is selected under Open Telemetry

image-20240714-234739.png

 

The Traces will be routed to a supported Open Telemetry backend that needs to be configured in the Outputs menu.