Datadog APM traces requests through distributed systems. Auto-instrumentation captures common frameworks. Custom spans add business context. Correlate traces with metrics and logs.
Instrumentation
Install language-specific tracing libraries. Auto-instrumentation captures HTTP, database, and cache calls. Custom spans wrap important operations. Tags add searchable metadata.
- Use auto-instrumentation for common frameworks
- Add custom spans for business-critical operations
- Include relevant tags for filtering and grouping
- Configure sampling for high-volume services
- Set up alerts on latency and error rates
Analysis
Service maps visualize dependencies. Flame graphs identify bottlenecks. Error tracking groups similar errors. Compare deployments for regression detection.