Files
rippled/docs/telemetry-runbook.md
Pratik Mankawde dec8b0a9a1 docs(telemetry): fix stale RPC span names + drop volatile line numbers in runbook
- RPC Spans table: `rpc.request` was documented but the code actually emits
  `rpc.http_request`. Listed the actual emitted names
  (`rpc.http_request`, `rpc.ws_upgrade`, `rpc.ws_message`, `rpc.process`)
  and their parent/child relationship.
- Drop `:<line>` suffixes from Source File columns in both RPC and
  Transaction span tables. Line numbers drift with every refactor; the
  filename is enough for operators to grep.
- Summary table: replace the never-emitted `rpc.request` row with the real
  entry points so `span_name=` filters in PromQL / TraceQL match.
2026-05-14 16:34:58 +01:00

29 KiB
Raw Blame History

xrpld Telemetry Operator Runbook

Overview

xrpld supports OpenTelemetry distributed tracing to provide visibility into RPC requests, transaction processing, and consensus rounds.

Quick Start

1. Start the observability stack

docker compose -f docker/telemetry/docker-compose.yml up -d

This starts:

2. Enable telemetry in xrpld

Add to your xrpld.cfg:

[telemetry]
enabled=1
endpoint=http://localhost:4318/v1/traces

3. Build with telemetry support

conan install . --build=missing -o telemetry=True
cmake --preset default -Dtelemetry=ON
cmake --build --preset default

Configuration Reference

Option Default Description
enabled 0 Master switch for telemetry
endpoint http://localhost:4318/v1/traces OTLP/HTTP endpoint
service_name xrpld OpenTelemetry service name resource attribute
service_instance_id node public key OpenTelemetry service instance ID resource attribute
sampling_ratio 1.0 Head-based sampling ratio (0.0--1.0)
trace_rpc 1 Enable RPC request tracing
trace_transactions 1 Enable transaction tracing
trace_consensus 1 Enable consensus tracing
trace_peer 0 Enable peer message tracing (high volume)
trace_ledger 1 Enable ledger tracing
consensus_trace_strategy deterministic Consensus trace ID strategy (deterministic or random)
batch_size 512 Max spans per batch export
batch_delay_ms 5000 Delay between batch exports
max_queue_size 2048 Max spans queued before dropping
use_tls 0 Use TLS for exporter connection
tls_ca_cert (empty) Path to CA certificate bundle

Span Reference

All spans instrumented in xrpld, grouped by subsystem:

RPC Spans (Phase 2)

Span Name Source File Attributes Description
rpc.http_request ServerHandler.cpp Top-level HTTP RPC request
rpc.ws_upgrade ServerHandler.cpp WebSocket upgrade handshake
rpc.ws_message ServerHandler.cpp WebSocket RPC message
rpc.process ServerHandler.cpp RPC processing (child of rpc.http_request/ws_message)
rpc.command.<name> RPCHandler.cpp command, version, rpc_role Per-command span (e.g., rpc.command.server_info)

Transaction Spans (Phase 3)

Span Name Source File Attributes Description
tx.process NetworkOPs.cpp xrpl.tx.hash, local, path Transaction submission and processing
tx.receive PeerImp.cpp xrpl.peer.id, xrpl.tx.hash, peer_version, suppressed, tx_status Transaction received from peer relay

Transaction Queue Spans (Phase 3)

Span Name Source File Attributes Description
txq.enqueue TxQ.cpp xrpl.tx.hash Transaction enqueue decision (child of tx.process)
txq.apply_direct TxQ.cpp -- Direct apply attempt (bypassing queue)
txq.batch_clear TxQ.cpp -- Batch clear of queued transactions for an account
txq.accept TxQ.cpp queue_size Ledger-close accept loop over queued transactions
txq.accept_tx TxQ.cpp xrpl.tx.hash, retries_remaining, ter_code Per-transaction apply during accept
txq.cleanup TxQ.cpp xrpl.ledger.seq Post-close cleanup of expired queue entries

Consensus Spans (Phase 4)

Span Name Source File Attributes Description
consensus.round RCLConsensus.cpp xrpl.consensus.ledger_id, xrpl.ledger.seq, xrpl.consensus.mode, trace_strategy, xrpl.consensus.round_id Root span for a consensus round (deterministic or random trace ID)
consensus.phase.open Consensus.h -- Open phase duration (child of round)
consensus.proposal.send RCLConsensus.cpp xrpl.consensus.round Consensus proposal broadcast
consensus.ledger_close RCLConsensus.cpp xrpl.ledger.seq, xrpl.consensus.mode Ledger close event
consensus.establish Consensus.h converge_percent, establish_count, proposers Establish phase duration (child of round)
consensus.update_positions Consensus.h converge_percent, proposers, disputes_count Position update and dispute resolution (see Events below)
consensus.check Consensus.h agree_count, disagree_count, converge_percent, have_close_time_consensus, threshold_percent, consensus_result Consensus threshold check
consensus.accept RCLConsensus.cpp proposers, round_time_ms, quorum Ledger accepted by consensus
consensus.accept.apply RCLConsensus.cpp xrpl.ledger.seq, close_time, close_time_correct, close_resolution_ms, consensus_state, proposing, round_time_ms, parent_close_time, close_time_self, close_time_vote_bins, resolution_direction, tx_count Ledger application with close time details (see Events below)
consensus.validation.send RCLConsensus.cpp xrpl.ledger.seq, proposing Validation sent after accept (follows-from link)
consensus.mode_change RCLConsensus.cpp mode_old, mode_new Consensus mode transition
consensus.proposal.receive PeerImp.cpp trusted, xrpl.consensus.round Proposal received from peer (extracts parent context from TraceContext when present; falls back to standalone span for older peers)
consensus.validation.receive PeerImp.cpp trusted, xrpl.ledger.seq Validation received from peer (extracts parent context from TraceContext when present; falls back to standalone span for older peers)

Consensus Span Events

Parent Span Event Name Event Attributes Description
consensus.update_positions dispute.resolve xrpl.tx.id, dispute_our_vote, dispute_yays, dispute_nays Emitted per dispute when votes are tallied
consensus.accept.apply tx.included xrpl.tx.id Emitted per transaction included in the accepted ledger

Close Time Queries (Tempo TraceQL)

# Find rounds where validators disagreed on close time
{name="consensus.accept.apply"} | close_time_correct = false

# Find consensus failures (moved_on)
{name="consensus.accept.apply"} | consensus_state = "moved_on"

# Find slow ledger applications (>5s)
{name="consensus.accept.apply"} | duration > 5s

# Find specific ledger's consensus details
{name="consensus.accept.apply"} | xrpl.ledger.seq = 92345678

# Find all spans in a consensus round (deterministic trace strategy)
{name="consensus.round"} | xrpl.consensus.round_id = "<round_id>"

# Find dispute resolutions
{name="consensus.update_positions"} >> {event:name="dispute.resolve"}

Cross-Node Trace Propagation

xrpld propagates trace context across nodes via protobuf TraceContext fields embedded in peer-to-peer messages. When Node A sends a transaction, proposal, or validation, it injects its active span's trace/span IDs into the protobuf message. Node B extracts that context on receipt and creates a child span, linking the two nodes into a single distributed trace.

How It Works

Node A (sender)                          Node B (receiver)
+-----------------------------+          +-------------------------------+
| tx.process / consensus.*    |          | PeerImp::onMessage()          |
|   |                         |          |   |                           |
|   v                         |          |   v                           |
| SpanGuard::getTraceBytes()  |          | extract TraceContext from      |
|   |                         |          | protobuf message               |
|   v                         |   send   |   |                           |
| injectSpanContext() --------|--------->|   v                           |
| sets TraceContext fields    |  proto   | txReceiveSpan()               |
| (trace_id, span_id, flags) |  msg     | proposalReceiveSpan()         |
+-----------------------------+          | validationReceiveSpan()       |
                                         |   |                           |
                                         |   v                           |
                                         | child span with parent link   |
                                         +-------------------------------+

Send-Side Injection

Message Type Injection Point Mechanism
TMTransaction NetworkOPs::apply() Injects tx.process span into relay msg
TMProposeSet RCLConsensus::propose() Injects active context into proposal msg
TMValidation RCLConsensus::validate() Injects active context into validation msg

Receive-Side Extraction

Message Type Extraction Point Helper Function
TMTransaction PeerImp::onMessage(TMTransaction) TxTracing::txReceiveSpan()
TMProposeSet PeerImp::onMessage(TMProposeSet) ConsensusReceiveTracing::proposalReceiveSpan()
TMValidation PeerImp::onMessage(TMValidation) ConsensusReceiveTracing::validationReceiveSpan()

Key Files

File Role
src/xrpld/telemetry/PropagationHelpers.h injectSpanContext() — SpanGuard to protobuf
include/xrpl/telemetry/TraceContextPropagator.h OTel context <-> protobuf conversion primitives
src/xrpld/telemetry/ConsensusReceiveTracing.h Proposal/validation receive span factories
src/xrpld/telemetry/TxTracing.h Transaction receive span factory

Backwards Compatibility

Older peers that do not populate TraceContext fields in their messages will simply produce empty trace bytes on the receive side. The extraction helpers detect this and create standalone (root) spans instead of child spans. No errors are logged and no data is lost — the receive span is still created with all its normal attributes, it just lacks a cross-node parent link.

Example Tempo Queries

# Find cross-node transaction traces (tx.process -> tx.receive across nodes)
{name="tx.receive"} && status != error

# Find proposals received with cross-node parent context
{name="consensus.proposal.receive"} && nestedSetParent > 0

# Trace a transaction across the network by its hash
{name=~"tx\\..*"} | xrpl.tx.hash = "<hash>"

# Find all spans in a cross-node consensus trace
{rootServiceName="xrpld"} | xrpl.consensus.round_id = "<round_id>"

# Compare latency between sender and receiver for validations
{name="consensus.validation.send" || name="consensus.validation.receive"}

Prometheus Metrics (Spanmetrics)

The OTel Collector's spanmetrics connector automatically derives RED (Rate, Errors, Duration) metrics from every span. No custom metrics code is needed in xrpld.

Generated Metric Names

Prometheus Metric Type Description
traces_span_metrics_calls_total Counter Total span invocations
traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_bucket Histogram Latency distribution buckets
traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_count Histogram Latency observation count
traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_sum Histogram Cumulative latency

Metric Labels

Every metric carries these standard labels:

Label Source Example
span_name Span name rpc.command.server_info
status_code Span status STATUS_CODE_UNSET, STATUS_CODE_ERROR
service_name Resource attribute xrpld
span_kind Span kind SPAN_KIND_INTERNAL

Additionally, span attributes configured as dimensions in the collector become metric labels (dots → underscores):

Span Attribute Metric Label Applies To
command xrpl_rpc_command rpc.command.* spans
rpc_status xrpl_rpc_status rpc.command.* spans
xrpl.consensus.mode xrpl_consensus_mode consensus.ledger_close spans
local xrpl_tx_local tx.process spans

Histogram Buckets

Configured in otel-collector-config.yaml:

1ms, 5ms, 10ms, 25ms, 50ms, 100ms, 250ms, 500ms, 1s, 5s

Grafana Dashboards

Three dashboards are pre-provisioned in docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/:

RPC Performance (xrpld-rpc-perf)

Panel Type PromQL Labels Used
RPC Request Rate by Command timeseries sum by (xrpl_rpc_command) (rate(traces_span_metrics_calls_total{span_name=~"rpc.command.*"}[5m])) xrpl_rpc_command
RPC Latency p95 by Command timeseries histogram_quantile(0.95, sum by (le, xrpl_rpc_command) (rate(traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_bucket{span_name=~"rpc.command.*"}[5m]))) xrpl_rpc_command
RPC Error Rate bargauge Error spans / total spans × 100, grouped by xrpl_rpc_command xrpl_rpc_command, status_code
RPC Latency Heatmap heatmap sum(increase(traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_bucket{span_name=~"rpc.command.*"}[5m])) by (le) le (bucket boundaries)

Transaction Overview (xrpld-transactions)

Panel Type PromQL Labels Used
Transaction Processing Rate timeseries rate(traces_span_metrics_calls_total{span_name="tx.process"}[5m]) and tx.receive span_name
Transaction Processing Latency timeseries histogram_quantile(0.95 / 0.50, ... {span_name="tx.process"})
Transaction Path Distribution piechart sum by (xrpl_tx_local) (rate(traces_span_metrics_calls_total{span_name="tx.process"}[5m])) xrpl_tx_local
Transaction Receive vs Suppressed timeseries rate(traces_span_metrics_calls_total{span_name="tx.receive"}[5m])

Consensus Health (xrpld-consensus)

Panel Type PromQL Labels Used
Consensus Round Duration timeseries histogram_quantile(0.95 / 0.50, ... {span_name="consensus.accept"})
Consensus Proposals Sent Rate timeseries rate(traces_span_metrics_calls_total{span_name="consensus.proposal.send"}[5m])
Ledger Close Duration timeseries histogram_quantile(0.95, ... {span_name="consensus.ledger_close"})
Validation Send Rate stat rate(traces_span_metrics_calls_total{span_name="consensus.validation.send"}[5m])
Ledger Apply Duration timeseries histogram_quantile(0.95 / 0.50, ... {span_name="consensus.accept.apply"})
Close Time Agreement timeseries rate(traces_span_metrics_calls_total{span_name="consensus.accept.apply"}[5m])

Span → Metric → Dashboard Summary

Span Name Prometheus Metric Filter Grafana Dashboard
rpc.http_request {span_name="rpc.http_request"} -- (available but not paneled)
rpc.ws_upgrade {span_name="rpc.ws_upgrade"} -- (available but not paneled)
rpc.ws_message {span_name="rpc.ws_message"} -- (available but not paneled)
rpc.process {span_name="rpc.process"} -- (available but not paneled)
rpc.command.* {span_name=~"rpc.command.*"} RPC Performance (all 4 panels)
tx.process {span_name="tx.process"} Transaction Overview (3 panels)
tx.receive {span_name="tx.receive"} Transaction Overview (2 panels)
txq.enqueue {span_name="txq.enqueue"} -- (available but not paneled)
txq.apply_direct {span_name="txq.apply_direct"} -- (available but not paneled)
txq.batch_clear {span_name="txq.batch_clear"} -- (available but not paneled)
txq.accept {span_name="txq.accept"} -- (available but not paneled)
txq.accept_tx {span_name="txq.accept_tx"} -- (available but not paneled)
txq.cleanup {span_name="txq.cleanup"} -- (available but not paneled)
consensus.round {span_name="consensus.round"} -- (available but not paneled)
consensus.phase.open {span_name="consensus.phase.open"} -- (available but not paneled)
consensus.establish {span_name="consensus.establish"} -- (available but not paneled)
consensus.update_positions {span_name="consensus.update_positions"} -- (available but not paneled)
consensus.check {span_name="consensus.check"} -- (available but not paneled)
consensus.accept {span_name="consensus.accept"} Consensus Health (Round Duration)
consensus.proposal.send {span_name="consensus.proposal.send"} Consensus Health (Proposals Rate)
consensus.ledger_close {span_name="consensus.ledger_close"} Consensus Health (Close Duration)
consensus.validation.send {span_name="consensus.validation.send"} Consensus Health (Validation Rate)
consensus.accept.apply {span_name="consensus.accept.apply"} Consensus Health (Apply Duration, Close Time)
consensus.mode_change {span_name="consensus.mode_change"} -- (available but not paneled)
consensus.proposal.receive {span_name="consensus.proposal.receive"} -- (available but not paneled)
consensus.validation.receive {span_name="consensus.validation.receive"} -- (available but not paneled)

Troubleshooting

No traces appearing in Tempo

  1. Check xrpld logs for Telemetry starting message
  2. Verify enabled=1 in the [telemetry] config section
  3. Test collector connectivity: curl -v http://localhost:4318/v1/traces
  4. Check collector logs: docker compose -f docker/telemetry/docker-compose.yml logs otel-collector
  5. Verify Tempo is receiving data: open Grafana → Explore → select Tempo datasource → search by service.name = xrpld
  6. Check Tempo logs: docker compose -f docker/telemetry/docker-compose.yml logs tempo

High memory usage

  • Reduce sampling_ratio (e.g., 0.1 for 10% sampling)
  • Reduce max_queue_size and batch_size
  • Disable high-volume trace categories: trace_peer=0

Collector connection failures

  • Verify endpoint URL matches collector address
  • Check firewall rules for ports 4317/4318
  • If using TLS, verify certificate path with tls_ca_cert

Performance Tuning

Scenario Recommendation
Production mainnet sampling_ratio=0.01, trace_peer=0
Testnet/devnet sampling_ratio=1.0 (full tracing)
Debugging specific issue sampling_ratio=1.0 temporarily
High-throughput node Increase batch_size=1024, max_queue_size=4096

Disabling Telemetry

Set enabled=0 in config (runtime disable) or build without the flag:

cmake --preset default -Dtelemetry=OFF

When telemetry is compiled out, all trace macros expand to no-ops with zero overhead.