Question 1

How do I instrument a Spring Boot app with Zipkin?

Accepted Answer

Use the Brave instrumentation library by adding dependencies and configuring properties to report traces via HTTP or Kafka. The Zipkin documentation provides examples, and you can start with the quick-start to see traces in the UI.

Question 2

Zipkin vs Jaeger: which is better for Kubernetes?

Accepted Answer

Zipkin offers more storage backend flexibility and vendor neutrality, while Jaeger has tighter Kubernetes integration with native support. Choose Zipkin if you need multi-backend options, or Jaeger for a cloud-native focused setup.

Question 3

Can Zipkin scale to handle millions of traces daily?

Accepted Answer

Yes, with scalable backends like Elasticsearch or Cassandra, Zipkin can manage high volumes, but it requires proper resource allocation, indexing, and potentially disabling search to optimize performance, as mentioned in the storage component docs.

Question 4

What's the best storage backend for Zipkin in production?

Accepted Answer

Elasticsearch is commonly recommended for its query capabilities and scalability, while Cassandra suits high-write environments. Avoid MySQL due to performance issues, and consider the slim build if you don't need messaging transports.

Question 5

How to disable search in Zipkin to reduce costs?

Accepted Answer

Set the environment variable SEARCH_ENABLED=false or use StorageComponent.Builder.searchEnabled(false). This limits trace retrieval to ID-only queries, useful when trace IDs are available from logs, but disables UI search features.

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