Correlation of activities across a distributed system

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to:

• receive, by the processing device from a first service collector, first intra-service activity information of a first service of a distributed computing environment, wherein the first intra-service activity information of the first service comprises a first inter-service message between the first service and a second service, and wherein the first intra-service activity information comprises information identifying a plurality of activities associated with a common thread of execution relating to a user request;
• receive, by the processing device from a second service collector, second intra-service activity information of the second service of the distributed computing environment, wherein the second intra-service activity information of the second service comprises a second inter-service message between the first service and the second service;
• identify, by the processing device, a first inter-service communication correlation linking the first intra-service activity information of the first service to the first inter-service message;
• identify, by the processing device, a second inter-service communication correlation linking the second intra-service activity information of the second service to the second inter-service message;
• apply, by the processing device, a rule defining a selected time frame comprising a first span of time to identify an inter-service communication correlation linking the first inter-service message with the second inter-service message by determining the first inter-service message and the second inter-service message occur within the first span of time of the selected time frame;
• and
• associate, by the processing device, the first intra-service activity information of the first service with the second intra-service activity information of the second service using the inter-service communication correlation.

A computer system comprising:

• a memory to store instructions;
• and
• a processing device operatively coupled to the memory, the processing device to execute the instructions to:
• receive, from a first service collector, first intra-service activity information identifying a first plurality of activities associated with a first common thread of execution relating to a user request of a first service of a distributed computing environment, wherein the intra-service activity information of the first service comprises a first inter-service message between the first service and a second service;
• receive, from a second service collector, second intra-service activity information relating to a second plurality of activities associated with a second common thread of execution of a second service of the distributed computing environment, wherein the second intra-service activity information of the second service comprises a second inter-service message;
• identify a first inter-service communication correlation linking the first intra-service activity information of the first service to the first inter-service message;
• identify a second inter-service communication correlation linking the second intra-service activity information of the second service to the second inter-service message;
• apply a rule defining a selected time frame comprising a first span of time to identify an inter-service communication correlation linking the first inter-service message with the second inter-service message to determine the first inter-service message and the second inter-service message occur within the first span of time of the selected time frame;
• associate the first intra-service activity of the first service with the second intra-service activity of the second service using the inter-service communication correlation;
• and
• determine a common transaction associated with the first intra-service activity information of the first service with the second intra-service activity information of the second service.