Computing performance analysis for spans in a microservices-based architecture

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein for causing a computer system to perform a method of computing a workload performed by a group of related spans within a microservices-based application executing in a distributed computing environment, the method comprising:

• detecting a user request associated with an execution of the microservices-based application within the distributed computing environment, wherein different microservices within the distributed computing environment process a different portion of the user request;
• causing monitoring in real time the different microservices that execute within the distributed computing environment and are instrumented to generate data for calls generated by the different microservices to service the user request as the user request propagates within and between the different microservices;
• generating, from the data, at least a thousand spans for a plurality of user requests, including the user request, wherein each span is associated with a particular user request;
• converting at least a plurality of the spans into a plurality of metric data streams, where each metric data stream is associated with a single span identify comprising a tuple of information corresponding to an associated type of span;
• monitoring in real time with sub second resolution the plurality of metric data streams and reporting in real time when a monitored metric of the plurality of metric data streams exhibits anomalous behavior;
• aggregating the at least a plurality of spans into a plurality of traces by matching a unique trace identifier included in each span and identifying a parent-child relationship between spans based on a parent span identifier included in a child span that references a span identifier of a parent span;
• wherein individual ones of the plurality of traces are associated with the user request, of the user requests, that propagates between two or more microservices;
• storing each of the plurality of traces with one or more tags, utilizing an unstructured format;
• retrieving a set of traces from the plurality of traces in response to a query;
• grouping the spans within the set of traces into a plurality of groups of related spans, based on one or more criteria;
• tracking an execution time of each span within the plurality of groups of related spans in the set of traces;
• wherein each of the plurality of groups of related spans is associated with a particular category;
• wherein spans in each group of related spans share common attributes extracted from the related spans in the group;
• wherein the tracking the execution time for each span comprises computing a self-time interval for the span determining a processing time for the span and excluding a time period in which the span waits for a child span to execute by traversing a tree structure of a trace including the span, and creating the self-time interval for the span for which no direct children of the span are active by creating an interval for a duration of the span, and creating the self-time interval for the span by removing intervals of any child spans from the interval for the span;
• tracking a cumulative execution time for the plurality of groups;
• computing a workload ratio associated with each group of related spans using an execution time associated with the group and the cumulative execution time for the plurality of groups;
• and
• responsive to a query received via a user interface element, rendering a representation of the workload ratio associated with each respective group for display in a graphical user interface for a user.

A system for performing a method of computing a workload performed by a group of related spans within a microservices-based application executing in a distributed computing environment, the system comprising:

• a processing device communicatively coupled with a memory and configured to:
• detect a user request associated with an execution of the microservices-based application within the distributed computing environment, wherein different microservices within the distributed computing environment process a different portion of the request;
• monitor in real time the different microservices that execute within the distributed computing environment and are instrumented to generate data for calls generated by the different microservices to service the user request as the user request propagates within and between the different microservices;
• generate, from the data, at least a thousand spans for a plurality of user requests, including the user request, wherein each span is associated with a particular user request;
• convert at least a plurality of the spans into a plurality of metric data streams, where each metric data stream is associated with a single span identify comprising a tuple of information corresponding to an associated type of span;
• monitor in real time with sub second resolution the plurality of metric data streams and reporting in real time when a monitored metric of the plurality of metric data streams exhibits anomalous behavior;
• aggregate the at least a plurality of the spans into a plurality of traces by matching a unique trace identifier included in each span and identifying a parent-child relationship between spans based on a parent span identifier included in a child span that references a span identifier of a parent span;
• wherein individual ones of the plurality of traces are associated with the user request, of the user requests, that propagates between two or more microservices;
• store each of the plurality of traces with one or more tags, utilizing an unstructured format;
• retrieve a set of traces from the plurality of traces in response to a query;
• grouping the spans within the set of traces into a plurality of groups of related spans, based on one or more criteria;
• track an execution time of each span within the plurality of groups of related spans in the set of traces,
• wherein each of the plurality of groups of related spans is associated with a particular category,
• wherein spans in each group of related spans share common attributes extracted from the related spans in the group,
• wherein tracking the execution time for each span comprises computing a self-time interval for the span determining a processing time for the span and excluding a time period in which the span waits for a child span to execute by traversing a tree structure of a trace including the span, and creating the self-time interval for the span for which no direct children of the span are active by creating an interval for a duration of the span, and creating the self-time interval for the span by removing intervals of any child spans from the interval for the span;
• track a cumulative execution time for the plurality of groups of related spans;
• compute a workload ratio associated with each group of related spans using an execution time associated with the group and the cumulative execution time for the plurality of groups;
• and
• responsive to a query received via a user interface element, render a representation of the workload ratio associated with each group for display in a graphical user interface for a user.