rippled/OpenTelemetryPlan/09-data-collection-reference.md

Observability Data Collection Reference

Audience: Developers and operators. This is the single source of truth for all telemetry data collected by rippled's observability stack.

Related docs: docs/telemetry-runbook.md (operator runbook with alerting and troubleshooting) | 03-implementation-strategy.md (code structure and performance optimization) | 04-code-samples.md (C++ instrumentation examples)

Data Flow Overview

graph LR
    subgraph rippledNode["rippled Node"]
        A["Trace Macros<br/>XRPL_TRACE_SPAN<br/>(OTLP/HTTP exporter)"]
        B["beast::insight<br/>OTel native metrics<br/>(OTLP/HTTP exporter)"]
        C["MetricsRegistry<br/>OTel SDK metrics<br/>(OTLP/HTTP exporter)"]
    end

    subgraph collector["OTel Collector  :4317 / :4318"]
        direction TB
        R1["OTLP Receiver<br/>:4317 gRPC  |  :4318 HTTP<br/>(traces + metrics)"]
        BP["Batch Processor<br/>timeout 1s, batch 100"]
        SM["SpanMetrics Connector<br/>derives RED metrics<br/>from trace spans"]

        R1 --> BP
        BP --> SM
    end

    subgraph backends["Trace Backends  (choose one or both)"]
        D["Jaeger  :16686<br/>Trace search &<br/>visualization"]
        T["Grafana Tempo<br/>(preferred for production)<br/>S3/GCS long-term storage"]
    end

    subgraph metrics["Metrics Stack"]
        E["Prometheus  :9090<br/>scrapes :8889<br/>span-derived + system metrics"]
    end

    subgraph viz["Visualization"]
        F["Grafana  :3000<br/>13 dashboards"]
    end

    A -->|"OTLP/HTTP :4318<br/>(traces + attributes)"| R1
    B -->|"OTLP/HTTP :4318<br/>(gauges, counters, histograms)"| R1
    C -->|"OTLP/HTTP :4318<br/>(counters, histograms,<br/>observable gauges)"| R1

    BP -->|"OTLP/gRPC :4317"| D
    BP -->|"OTLP/gRPC"| T

    SM -->|"span_calls_total<br/>span_duration_ms<br/>(6 dimension labels)"| E
    R1 -->|"rippled_* gauges<br/>rippled_* counters<br/>rippled_* histograms"| E

    E -->|"Prometheus<br/>data source"| F
    D -->|"Jaeger<br/>data source"| F
    T -->|"Tempo<br/>data source"| F

    style A fill:#4a90d9,color:#fff,stroke:#2a6db5
    style B fill:#4a90d9,color:#fff,stroke:#2a6db5
    style R1 fill:#5cb85c,color:#fff,stroke:#3d8b3d
    style BP fill:#449d44,color:#fff,stroke:#2d6e2d
    style SM fill:#449d44,color:#fff,stroke:#2d6e2d
    style D fill:#f0ad4e,color:#000,stroke:#c78c2e
    style T fill:#e8953a,color:#000,stroke:#b5732a
    style E fill:#f0ad4e,color:#000,stroke:#c78c2e
    style F fill:#5bc0de,color:#000,stroke:#3aa8c1
    style rippledNode fill:#1a2633,color:#ccc,stroke:#4a90d9
    style collector fill:#1a3320,color:#ccc,stroke:#5cb85c
    style backends fill:#332a1a,color:#ccc,stroke:#f0ad4e
    style metrics fill:#332a1a,color:#ccc,stroke:#f0ad4e
    style viz fill:#1a2d33,color:#ccc,stroke:#5bc0de

There are two independent telemetry pipelines entering a single OTel Collector via the same OTLP receiver:

1. OpenTelemetry Traces — Distributed spans with attributes, exported via OTLP/HTTP (:4318) to the collector's OTLP Receiver. The Batch Processor groups spans (1s timeout, batch size 100) before forwarding to trace backends. The SpanMetrics Connector derives RED metrics (rate, errors, duration) from every span and feeds them into the metrics pipeline.
2. beast::insight OTel Metrics — System-level gauges, counters, and histograms exported natively via OTLP/HTTP (:4318) to the same OTLP Receiver. These are batched and exported to Prometheus alongside span-derived metrics. The StatsD UDP transport has been replaced by native OTLP; server=statsd remains available as a fallback.

Trace backends — The collector exports traces via OTLP/gRPC to one or both:

• Jaeger (development) — Provides trace search UI at :16686. Easy single-binary setup.
• Grafana Tempo (production) — Preferred for production. Supports S3/GCS object storage for cost-effective long-term trace retention and integrates natively with Grafana.

Further reading: 00-tracing-fundamentals.md for core OpenTelemetry concepts (traces, spans, context propagation, sampling). 07-observability-backends.md for production backend selection, collector placement, and sampling strategies.

---

1. OpenTelemetry Spans

1.1 Complete Span Inventory (16 spans)

See also: 02-design-decisions.md §2.3 for naming conventions and the full span catalog with rationale. 04-code-samples.md §4.6 for span flow diagrams.

RPC Spans

Controlled by trace_rpc=1 in [telemetry] config.

Span Name	Parent	Source File	Description
rpc.request	—	ServerHandler.cpp	Top-level HTTP RPC request entry point
rpc.process	rpc.request	ServerHandler.cpp	RPC processing pipeline
rpc.ws_message	—	ServerHandler.cpp	WebSocket message handling
rpc.command.<name>	rpc.process	RPCHandler.cpp	Per-command span (e.g., rpc.command.server_info, rpc.command.ledger)

Where to find: Jaeger → Service: rippled → Operation: rpc.request or rpc.command.*

Grafana dashboard: RPC Performance (rippled-rpc-perf)

Transaction Spans

Controlled by trace_transactions=1 in [telemetry] config.

Span Name	Parent	Source File	Description
tx.process	—	NetworkOPs.cpp	Transaction submission entry point (local or peer-relayed)
tx.receive	—	PeerImp.cpp	Raw transaction received from peer overlay (before deduplication)
tx.apply	ledger.build	BuildLedger.cpp	Transaction set applied to new ledger during consensus

Where to find: Jaeger → Operation: tx.process or tx.receive

Grafana dashboard: Transaction Overview (rippled-transactions)

Consensus Spans

Controlled by trace_consensus=1 in [telemetry] config.

Span Name	Parent	Source File	Description
consensus.proposal.send	—	RCLConsensus.cpp	Node broadcasts its transaction set proposal
consensus.ledger_close	—	RCLConsensus.cpp	Ledger close event triggered by consensus
consensus.accept	—	RCLConsensus.cpp	Consensus accepts a ledger (round complete)
consensus.validation.send	—	RCLConsensus.cpp	Validation message sent after ledger accepted
consensus.accept.apply	—	RCLConsensus.cpp	Ledger application with close time details

Where to find: Jaeger → Operation: consensus.*

Grafana dashboard: Consensus Health (rippled-consensus)

Ledger Spans

Controlled by trace_ledger=1 in [telemetry] config.

Span Name	Parent	Source File	Description
ledger.build	—	BuildLedger.cpp	Build new ledger from accepted transaction set
ledger.validate	—	LedgerMaster.cpp	Ledger promoted to validated status
ledger.store	—	LedgerMaster.cpp	Ledger stored to database/history

Where to find: Jaeger → Operation: ledger.*

Grafana dashboard: Ledger Operations (rippled-ledger-ops)

Peer Spans

Controlled by trace_peer=1 in [telemetry] config. Disabled by default (high volume).

Span Name	Parent	Source File	Description
peer.proposal.receive	—	PeerImp.cpp	Consensus proposal received from peer
peer.validation.receive	—	PeerImp.cpp	Validation message received from peer

Where to find: Jaeger → Operation: peer.*

Grafana dashboard: Peer Network (rippled-peer-net)

---

1.2 Complete Attribute Inventory (22 attributes)

See also: 02-design-decisions.md §2.4.2 for attribute design rationale and privacy considerations.

Every span can carry key-value attributes that provide context for filtering and aggregation.

RPC Attributes

Attribute	Type	Set On	Description
xrpl.rpc.command	string	rpc.command.*	RPC command name (e.g., server_info, ledger)
xrpl.rpc.version	int64	rpc.command.*	API version number
xrpl.rpc.role	string	rpc.command.*	Caller role: "admin" or "user"
xrpl.rpc.status	string	rpc.command.*	Result: "success" or "error"
xrpl.rpc.duration_ms	int64	rpc.command.*	Command execution time in milliseconds
xrpl.rpc.error_message	string	rpc.command.*	Error details (only set on failure)

Jaeger query: Tag xrpl.rpc.command=server_info to find all server_info calls.

Prometheus label: xrpl_rpc_command (dots converted to underscores by SpanMetrics).

Transaction Attributes

Attribute	Type	Set On	Description
xrpl.tx.hash	string	tx.process, tx.receive	Transaction hash (hex-encoded)
xrpl.tx.local	boolean	tx.process	true if locally submitted, false if peer-relayed
xrpl.tx.path	string	tx.process	Submission path: "sync" or "async"
xrpl.tx.suppressed	boolean	tx.receive	true if transaction was suppressed (duplicate)
xrpl.tx.status	string	tx.receive	Transaction status (e.g., "known_bad")

Jaeger query: Tag xrpl.tx.hash=<hash> to trace a specific transaction across nodes.

Prometheus label: xrpl_tx_local (used as SpanMetrics dimension).

Consensus Attributes

Attribute	Type	Set On	Description
xrpl.consensus.round	int64	consensus.proposal.send	Consensus round number
xrpl.consensus.mode	string	consensus.proposal.send, consensus.ledger_close	Node mode: "syncing", "tracking", "full", "proposing"
xrpl.consensus.proposers	int64	consensus.proposal.send, consensus.accept	Number of proposers in the round
xrpl.consensus.proposing	boolean	consensus.validation.send	Whether this node was a proposer
xrpl.consensus.ledger.seq	int64	consensus.ledger_close, consensus.accept, consensus.validation.send, consensus.accept.apply	Ledger sequence number
xrpl.consensus.close_time	int64	consensus.accept.apply	Agreed-upon ledger close time (epoch seconds)
xrpl.consensus.close_time_correct	boolean	consensus.accept.apply	Whether validators reached agreement on close time
xrpl.consensus.close_resolution_ms	int64	consensus.accept.apply	Close time rounding granularity in milliseconds
xrpl.consensus.state	string	consensus.accept.apply	Consensus outcome: "finished" or "moved_on"
xrpl.consensus.round_time_ms	int64	consensus.accept.apply	Total consensus round duration in milliseconds

Jaeger query: Tag xrpl.consensus.mode=proposing to find rounds where node was proposing.

Prometheus label: xrpl_consensus_mode (used as SpanMetrics dimension).

Ledger Attributes

Attribute	Type	Set On	Description
xrpl.ledger.seq	int64	ledger.build, ledger.validate, ledger.store, tx.apply	Ledger sequence number
xrpl.ledger.validations	int64	ledger.validate	Number of validations received for this ledger
xrpl.ledger.tx_count	int64	ledger.build, tx.apply	Transactions in the ledger
xrpl.ledger.tx_failed	int64	ledger.build, tx.apply	Failed transactions in the ledger

Jaeger query: Tag xrpl.ledger.seq=12345 to find all spans for a specific ledger.

Peer Attributes

Attribute	Type	Set On	Description
xrpl.peer.id	int64	tx.receive, peer.proposal.receive, peer.validation.receive	Peer identifier
xrpl.peer.proposal.trusted	boolean	peer.proposal.receive	Whether the proposal came from a trusted validator
xrpl.peer.validation.trusted	boolean	peer.validation.receive	Whether the validation came from a trusted validator

Prometheus labels: xrpl_peer_proposal_trusted, xrpl_peer_validation_trusted (SpanMetrics dimensions).

---

1.3 SpanMetrics — Derived Prometheus Metrics

See also: 01-architecture-analysis.md §1.8.2 for how span-derived metrics map to operational insights.

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

Prometheus Metric	Type	Description
traces_span_metrics_calls_total	Counter	Total span invocations
traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_bucket	Histogram	Latency distribution (buckets: 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000, 5000 ms)
traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_count	Histogram	Observation count
traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_sum	Histogram	Cumulative latency

Standard labels on every metric: span_name, status_code, service_name, span_kind

Additional dimension labels (configured in otel-collector-config.yaml):

Span Attribute	Prometheus Label	Applies To
xrpl.rpc.command	xrpl_rpc_command	rpc.command.*
xrpl.rpc.status	xrpl_rpc_status	rpc.command.*
xrpl.consensus.mode	xrpl_consensus_mode	consensus.ledger_close
xrpl.tx.local	xrpl_tx_local	tx.process
xrpl.peer.proposal.trusted	xrpl_peer_proposal_trusted	peer.proposal.receive
xrpl.peer.validation.trusted	xrpl_peer_validation_trusted	peer.validation.receive

Where to query: Prometheus → traces_span_metrics_calls_total{span_name="rpc.command.server_info"}

---

2. System Metrics (beast::insight — OTel native)

See also: 02-design-decisions.md for the beast::insight coexistence design. 06-implementation-phases.md for the Phase 6/7 metric inventory.

Migration complete: Phase 7 replaced the StatsD UDP transport with native OTel Metrics SDK export via OTLP/HTTP. The beast::insight::Collector interface and all metric names are preserved — only the wire protocol changed. [insight] server=statsd remains as a fallback.

These are system-level metrics emitted by rippled's beast::insight framework via OTel OTLP/HTTP. They cover operational data that doesn't map to individual trace spans.

Configuration

# Recommended: native OTel metrics via OTLP/HTTP
[insight]
server=otel
endpoint=http://localhost:4318/v1/metrics
prefix=rippled

Fallback (StatsD):

[insight]
server=statsd
address=127.0.0.1:8125
prefix=rippled

2.1 Gauges

Prometheus Metric	Source File	Description	Typical Range
rippled_LedgerMaster_Validated_Ledger_Age	LedgerMaster.h	Seconds since last validated ledger	0–10 (healthy), >30 (stale)
rippled_LedgerMaster_Published_Ledger_Age	LedgerMaster.h	Seconds since last published ledger	0–10 (healthy)
rippled_State_Accounting_Disconnected_duration	NetworkOPs.cpp	Cumulative seconds in Disconnected state	Monotonic
rippled_State_Accounting_Connected_duration	NetworkOPs.cpp	Cumulative seconds in Connected state	Monotonic
rippled_State_Accounting_Syncing_duration	NetworkOPs.cpp	Cumulative seconds in Syncing state	Monotonic
rippled_State_Accounting_Tracking_duration	NetworkOPs.cpp	Cumulative seconds in Tracking state	Monotonic
rippled_State_Accounting_Full_duration	NetworkOPs.cpp	Cumulative seconds in Full state	Monotonic (should dominate)
rippled_State_Accounting_Disconnected_transitions	NetworkOPs.cpp	Count of transitions to Disconnected	Low
rippled_State_Accounting_Connected_transitions	NetworkOPs.cpp	Count of transitions to Connected	Low
rippled_State_Accounting_Syncing_transitions	NetworkOPs.cpp	Count of transitions to Syncing	Low
rippled_State_Accounting_Tracking_transitions	NetworkOPs.cpp	Count of transitions to Tracking	Low
rippled_State_Accounting_Full_transitions	NetworkOPs.cpp	Count of transitions to Full	Low (should be 1 after startup)
rippled_Peer_Finder_Active_Inbound_Peers	PeerfinderManager.cpp	Active inbound peer connections	0–85
rippled_Peer_Finder_Active_Outbound_Peers	PeerfinderManager.cpp	Active outbound peer connections	10–21
rippled_Overlay_Peer_Disconnects	OverlayImpl.cpp	Cumulative peer disconnection count	Low growth
rippled_job_count	JobQueue.cpp	Current job queue depth	0–100 (healthy)

Grafana dashboard: Node Health (System Metrics) (rippled-system-node-health)

2.2 Counters

Prometheus Metric	Source File	Description
rippled_rpc_requests	ServerHandler.cpp	Total RPC requests received
rippled_ledger_fetches	InboundLedgers.cpp	Inbound ledger fetch attempts
rippled_ledger_history_mismatch	LedgerHistory.cpp	Ledger hash mismatches detected
rippled_warn	Logic.h	Resource manager warnings issued
rippled_drop	Logic.h	Resource manager drops (connections rejected)

Note: With server=otel, rippled_warn and rippled_drop are properly exported as OTel Counter instruments. The previous StatsD |m type limitation no longer applies.

Grafana dashboard: RPC & Pathfinding (System Metrics) (rippled-system-rpc)

2.3 Histograms (Event timers)

Prometheus Metric	Source File	Unit	Description
rippled_rpc_time	ServerHandler.cpp	ms	RPC response time distribution
rippled_rpc_size	ServerHandler.cpp	bytes	RPC response size distribution
rippled_ios_latency	Application.cpp	ms	I/O service loop latency
rippled_pathfind_fast	PathRequests.h	ms	Fast pathfinding duration
rippled_pathfind_full	PathRequests.h	ms	Full pathfinding duration

Quantiles collected: 0th, 50th, 90th, 95th, 99th, 100th percentile.

Grafana dashboards: Node Health (ios_latency), RPC & Pathfinding (rpc_time, rpc_size, pathfind_*)

2.4 Overlay Traffic Metrics

For each of the 45+ overlay traffic categories (defined in TrafficCount.h), four gauges are emitted:

• rippled_{category}_Bytes_In
• rippled_{category}_Bytes_Out
• rippled_{category}_Messages_In
• rippled_{category}_Messages_Out

Key categories:

Category	Description
total	All traffic aggregated
overhead / overhead_overlay	Protocol overhead
transactions / transactions_duplicate	Transaction relay
proposals / proposals_untrusted / proposals_duplicate	Consensus proposals
validations / validations_untrusted / validations_duplicate	Consensus validations
ledger_data_get / ledger_data_share	Ledger data exchange
ledger_data_Transaction_Node_get/share	Transaction node data
ledger_data_Account_State_Node_get/share	Account state node data
ledger_data_Transaction_Set_candidate_get/share	Transaction set candidates
getObject / haveTxSet / ledgerData	Object requests
ping / status	Keepalive and status
set_get	Set requests

Grafana dashboards: Network Traffic (rippled-system-network), Overlay Traffic Detail (rippled-system-overlay-detail), Ledger Data & Sync (rippled-system-ledger-sync)

---

3. Grafana Dashboard Reference

See also: 05-configuration-reference.md §5.8 for Grafana data source provisioning (Tempo, Jaeger, Prometheus) and TraceQL query examples.

3.1 Span-Derived Dashboards (5)

Dashboard	UID	Data Source	Key Panels
RPC Performance	rippled-rpc-perf	Prometheus (SpanMetrics)	Request rate by command, p95 latency by command, error rate, heatmap, top commands
Transaction Overview	rippled-transactions	Prometheus (SpanMetrics)	Processing rate, latency p95/p50, local vs relay split, apply duration, heatmap
Consensus Health	rippled-consensus	Prometheus (SpanMetrics)	Round duration p95/p50, proposals rate, close duration, mode timeline, heatmap
Ledger Operations	rippled-ledger-ops	Prometheus (SpanMetrics)	Build rate, build duration, validation rate, store rate, build vs close comparison
Peer Network	rippled-peer-net	Prometheus (SpanMetrics)	Proposal receive rate, validation receive rate, trusted vs untrusted breakdown

3.2 System Metrics Dashboards (5)

Dashboard	UID	Data Source	Key Panels
Node Health	rippled-system-node-health	Prometheus (OTLP)	Ledger age, operating mode, I/O latency, job queue, fetch rate
Network Traffic	rippled-system-network	Prometheus (OTLP)	Active peers, disconnects, bytes in/out, messages in/out, traffic by category
RPC & Pathfinding	rippled-system-rpc	Prometheus (OTLP)	RPC rate, response time/size, pathfinding duration, resource warnings/drops
Overlay Traffic Detail	rippled-system-overlay-detail	Prometheus (OTLP)	Squelch, overhead, validator lists, set get/share, have/requested tx, proof paths
Ledger Data & Sync	rippled-system-ledger-sync	Prometheus (OTLP)	Ledger data exchange, legacy ledger share/get, getobject by type, traffic heatmap

3.3 Accessing the Dashboards

1. Open Grafana at http://localhost:3000
2. Navigate to Dashboards → rippled folder
3. All 10 dashboards are auto-provisioned from docker/telemetry/grafana/dashboards/

---

4. Jaeger Trace Search Guide

See also: 08-appendix.md §8.2 for span hierarchy visualizations. 05-configuration-reference.md §5.8.5 for TraceQL examples when using Grafana Tempo instead of Jaeger.

Finding Traces by Type

What to Find	Jaeger Search Parameters
All RPC calls	Service: rippled, Operation: rpc.request
Specific RPC command	Operation: rpc.command.server_info (or any command name)
Slow RPC calls	Operation: rpc.command.*, Min Duration: 100ms
Failed RPC calls	Tag: xrpl.rpc.status=error
Specific transaction	Tag: xrpl.tx.hash=<hex_hash>
Local transactions only	Tag: xrpl.tx.local=true
Consensus rounds	Operation: consensus.accept
Rounds by mode	Tag: xrpl.consensus.mode=proposing
Specific ledger	Tag: xrpl.ledger.seq=12345
Peer proposals (trusted)	Tag: xrpl.peer.proposal.trusted=true

Trace Structure

A typical RPC trace shows the span hierarchy:

rpc.request (ServerHandler)
  └── rpc.process (ServerHandler)
       └── rpc.command.server_info (RPCHandler)

A consensus round produces independent spans (not parent-child):

consensus.ledger_close        (close event)
consensus.proposal.send       (broadcast proposal)
ledger.build                  (build new ledger)
  └── tx.apply                (apply transaction set)
consensus.accept              (accept result)
consensus.validation.send     (send validation)
ledger.validate               (promote to validated)
ledger.store                  (persist to DB)

---

5. Prometheus Query Examples

See also: 05-configuration-reference.md §5.8.7 for correlating Prometheus system metrics with trace-derived metrics.

Span-Derived Metrics

# RPC request rate by command (last 5 minutes)
sum by (xrpl_rpc_command) (rate(traces_span_metrics_calls_total{span_name=~"rpc.command.*"}[5m]))

# RPC p95 latency by command
histogram_quantile(0.95, sum by (le, xrpl_rpc_command) (rate(traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_bucket{span_name=~"rpc.command.*"}[5m])))

# Consensus round duration p95
histogram_quantile(0.95, sum by (le) (rate(traces_span_metrics_duration_milliseconds_bucket{span_name="consensus.accept"}[5m])))

# Transaction processing rate (local vs relay)
sum by (xrpl_tx_local) (rate(traces_span_metrics_calls_total{span_name="tx.process"}[5m]))

# Trusted vs untrusted proposal rate
sum by (xrpl_peer_proposal_trusted) (rate(traces_span_metrics_calls_total{span_name="peer.proposal.receive"}[5m]))

StatsD Metrics

# Validated ledger age (should be < 10s)
rippled_LedgerMaster_Validated_Ledger_Age

# Active peer count
rippled_Peer_Finder_Active_Inbound_Peers + rippled_Peer_Finder_Active_Outbound_Peers

# RPC response time p95
histogram_quantile(0.95, rippled_rpc_time_bucket)

# Total network bytes in (rate)
rate(rippled_total_Bytes_In[5m])

# Operating mode (should be "Full" after startup)
rippled_State_Accounting_Full_duration

---

5a. Log-Trace Correlation (Phase 8)

Plan details: 06-implementation-phases.md §6.8.1 — motivation, architecture, Mermaid diagrams Task breakdown: Phase8_taskList.md — per-task implementation details

Phase 8 injects OTel trace context into rippled's Logs::format() output, enabling log-trace correlation. When a log line is emitted within an active OTel span, the trace and span identifiers are automatically appended after the severity field:

Log Format

<timestamp> <partition>:<severity> trace_id=<32hex> span_id=<16hex> <message>

Example:

2024-01-15T10:30:45.123Z LedgerMaster:NFO trace_id=abc123def456789012345678abcdef01 span_id=0123456789abcdef Validated ledger 42

• trace_id=<hex32> — 32-character lowercase hex trace identifier. Links to the distributed trace in Tempo/Jaeger.
• span_id=<hex16> — 16-character lowercase hex span identifier. Identifies the specific span within the trace.
• Only present when the log is emitted within an active OTel span. Log lines outside of traced code paths have no trace context fields.

Implementation

The trace context injection is implemented in Logs::format() (src/libxrpl/basics/Log.cpp), guarded by #ifdef XRPL_ENABLE_TELEMETRY. It reads the current span from OTel's thread-local runtime context via opentelemetry::trace::GetSpan() and opentelemetry::context::RuntimeContext::GetCurrent(). Both calls are lock-free thread-local reads measured at <10ns per call.

Log Ingestion Pipeline

rippled debug.log -> OTel Collector filelog receiver -> regex_parser -> Loki exporter -> Grafana Loki

The OTel Collector's filelog receiver tails debug.log files and uses a regex_parser operator to extract structured fields:

Field	Type	Description
timestamp	datetime	Log timestamp
partition	string	Log partition (e.g., LedgerMaster, PeerImp)
severity	string	Severity code (TRC, DBG, NFO, WRN, ERR, FTL)
trace_id	string	32-hex trace identifier (optional)
span_id	string	16-hex span identifier (optional)
message	string	Log message body

Grafana Correlation

Bidirectional linking between logs and traces is configured via Grafana datasource provisioning:

• Tempo -> Loki (tracesToLogs): Clicking "Logs for this trace" on a Tempo trace view filters Loki logs by trace_id, showing all log lines from that trace.
• Loki -> Tempo (derivedFields): A regex-based derived field on the Loki datasource extracts trace_id from log lines and renders it as a clickable link to the corresponding trace in Tempo.

Loki Backend

Grafana Loki (v2.9.0) serves as the log storage backend. It receives log entries from the OTel Collector's loki exporter via the push API at http://loki:3100/loki/api/v1/push.

LogQL Query Examples

# Find all logs for a specific trace
{job="rippled"} |= "trace_id=abc123def456789012345678abcdef01"

# Error logs with trace context
{job="rippled"} |= "ERR" |= "trace_id="

# Logs from a specific partition with trace context
{job="rippled"} |= "LedgerMaster" | regexp `trace_id=(?P<trace_id>[a-f0-9]+)` | trace_id != ""

# Count traced log lines over time
count_over_time({job="rippled"} |= "trace_id=" [5m])

---

5b. Future: Internal Metric Gap Fill (Phase 9)

Status: Planned, not yet implemented. Plan details: 06-implementation-phases.md §6.8.2 — motivation, architecture, third-party context Task breakdown: Phase9_taskList.md — per-task implementation details

Phase 9 fills ~50+ metrics that exist inside rippled but currently lack time-series export. Uses a hybrid approach: beast::insight extensions for NodeStore I/O, OTel ObservableGauge async callbacks for new categories.

New Metric Categories

NodeStore I/O (via beast::insight)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Description
rippled_nodestore_reads_total	Gauge	Cumulative read operations
rippled_nodestore_reads_hit	Gauge	Cache-served reads
rippled_nodestore_writes	Gauge	Cumulative write operations
rippled_nodestore_written_bytes	Gauge	Cumulative bytes written
rippled_nodestore_read_bytes	Gauge	Cumulative bytes read
rippled_nodestore_read_duration_us	Gauge	Cumulative read time (microseconds)
rippled_nodestore_write_load	Gauge	Current write load score
rippled_nodestore_read_queue	Gauge	Items in read queue

Cache Hit Rates (via OTel MetricsRegistry)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Description
rippled_cache_SLE_hit_rate	Gauge	SLE cache hit rate (0.0-1.0)
rippled_cache_ledger_hit_rate	Gauge	Ledger object cache hit rate
rippled_cache_AL_hit_rate	Gauge	AcceptedLedger cache hit rate
rippled_cache_treenode_size	Gauge	SHAMap TreeNode cache size (entries)
rippled_cache_fullbelow_size	Gauge	FullBelow cache size

Transaction Queue (via OTel MetricsRegistry)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Description
rippled_txq_count	Gauge	Current transactions in queue
rippled_txq_max_size	Gauge	Maximum queue capacity
rippled_txq_in_ledger	Gauge	Transactions in open ledger
rippled_txq_per_ledger	Gauge	Expected transactions per ledger
rippled_txq_open_ledger_fee_level	Gauge	Open ledger fee escalation level
rippled_txq_med_fee_level	Gauge	Median fee level in queue
rippled_txq_reference_fee_level	Gauge	Reference fee level
rippled_txq_min_processing_fee_level	Gauge	Minimum fee to get processed

PerfLog Per-RPC Method (via OTel Metrics SDK)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Labels	Description
rippled_rpc_method_started_total	Counter	method="<name>"	RPC calls started
rippled_rpc_method_finished_total	Counter	method="<name>"	RPC calls completed
rippled_rpc_method_errored_total	Counter	method="<name>"	RPC calls errored
rippled_rpc_method_duration_us_bucket	Histogram	method="<name>"	Execution time distribution

PerfLog Per-Job Type (via OTel Metrics SDK)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Labels	Description
rippled_job_queued_total	Counter	job_type="<name>"	Jobs queued
rippled_job_started_total	Counter	job_type="<name>"	Jobs started
rippled_job_finished_total	Counter	job_type="<name>"	Jobs completed
rippled_job_queued_duration_us_bucket	Histogram	job_type="<name>"	Queue wait time
rippled_job_running_duration_us_bucket	Histogram	job_type="<name>"	Execution time

Counted Object Instances (via OTel MetricsRegistry)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Labels	Description
rippled_object_count	Gauge	type="<name>"	Live instances of internal type

Tracked types: Transaction, Ledger, NodeObject, STTx, STLedgerEntry, InboundLedger, Pathfinder, PathRequest, HashRouterEntry

Fee Escalation & Load Factors (via OTel MetricsRegistry)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Description
rippled_load_factor	Gauge	Combined transaction cost multiplier
rippled_load_factor_server	Gauge	Server + cluster + network load
rippled_load_factor_local	Gauge	Local server load only
rippled_load_factor_net	Gauge	Network-wide load estimate
rippled_load_factor_cluster	Gauge	Cluster peer load
rippled_load_factor_fee_escalation	Gauge	Open ledger fee escalation
rippled_load_factor_fee_queue	Gauge	Queue entry fee level

New Grafana Dashboards (Phase 9)

Dashboard	UID	Data Source	Key Panels
Fee Market & TxQ	rippled-fee-market	Prometheus	TxQ depth/capacity, fee levels, load factor breakdown, escalation
Job Queue Analysis	rippled-job-queue	Prometheus	Per-job rates, queue wait times, execution times, queue depth

---

5c. Future: Synthetic Workload Generation & Telemetry Validation (Phase 10)

Plan details: 06-implementation-phases.md §6.8.3 — motivation, architecture Task breakdown: Phase10_taskList.md — per-task implementation details Tools: docker/telemetry/workload/ — RPC load generator, transaction submitter, validation suite, benchmarks

Phase 10 builds a 5-node validator docker-compose harness with RPC load generators, transaction submitters, and automated validation scripts that verify all spans, metrics, dashboards, and log-trace correlation work end-to-end. Includes a benchmark suite comparing telemetry-ON vs telemetry-OFF overhead.

Running the Validation Suite

# Full end-to-end validation (start cluster, generate load, validate):
docker/telemetry/workload/run-full-validation.sh --xrpld .build/xrpld

# Validation only (assumes stack and cluster are already running):
python3 docker/telemetry/workload/validate_telemetry.py --report /tmp/report.json

# Performance benchmark (baseline vs telemetry):
docker/telemetry/workload/benchmark.sh --xrpld .build/xrpld --duration 300

Validated Telemetry Inventory

Category	Expected Count	Validation Method	Config File
Trace spans	17	Jaeger/Tempo API query	expected_spans.json
Span attributes	22	Per-span attribute assertion	expected_spans.json
StatsD metrics	255+	Prometheus query	expected_metrics.json
Phase 9 metrics	50+	Prometheus query	expected_metrics.json
SpanMetrics RED	4 per span	Prometheus query	expected_metrics.json
Grafana dashboards	10	Dashboard API "no data" check	expected_metrics.json
Log-trace links	Present	Loki query + Tempo reverse check	—

Performance Overhead Targets

Metric	Target	Measurement Method
CPU overhead	< 3%	ps avg CPU% baseline vs telemetry
Memory overhead	< 5MB	ps peak RSS baseline vs telemetry
RPC p99 latency	< 2ms impact	server_info round-trip timing
Throughput impact	< 5%	Ledger close rate comparison
Consensus impact	< 1%	Consensus round time p95 comparison

---

5d. Future: Third-Party Data Collection Pipelines (Phase 11)

Status: Planned, not yet implemented. Plan details: 06-implementation-phases.md §6.8.4 — motivation, architecture, consumer gap analysis Task breakdown: Phase11_taskList.md — per-task implementation details

Phase 11 builds a custom OTel Collector receiver (Go) that polls rippled's admin RPCs and exports xrpl_* metrics for external consumers. No rippled code changes.

Exported Metrics (via Custom OTel Collector Receiver)

Node Health (from server_info)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Description
xrpl_server_state	Gauge	Operating mode (0=disconnected ... 5=proposing)
xrpl_server_state_duration_seconds	Gauge	Seconds in current state
xrpl_uptime_seconds	Gauge	Consecutive seconds running
xrpl_io_latency_ms	Gauge	I/O subsystem latency
xrpl_amendment_blocked	Gauge	1 if amendment-blocked, 0 otherwise
xrpl_peers_count	Gauge	Connected peers
xrpl_validated_ledger_seq	Gauge	Latest validated ledger sequence
xrpl_validated_ledger_age_seconds	Gauge	Seconds since last validated close
xrpl_last_close_proposers	Gauge	Proposers in last consensus round
xrpl_last_close_converge_time_seconds	Gauge	Last consensus round duration
xrpl_load_factor	Gauge	Transaction cost multiplier
xrpl_state_duration_seconds	Gauge	Per-state duration (state label)
xrpl_state_transitions_total	Gauge	Per-state transition count (state label)

Peer Topology (from peers)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Description
xrpl_peers_inbound_count	Gauge	Inbound peer connections
xrpl_peers_outbound_count	Gauge	Outbound peer connections
xrpl_peer_latency_p50_ms	Gauge	Median peer latency
xrpl_peer_latency_p95_ms	Gauge	p95 peer latency
xrpl_peer_version_count	Gauge	Peers per version (version label)
xrpl_peer_diverged_count	Gauge	Peers with diverged tracking status

Validator & Amendment (from validators, feature)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Description
xrpl_trusted_validators_count	Gauge	UNL validator count
xrpl_amendment_enabled_count	Gauge	Enabled amendments
xrpl_amendment_majority_count	Gauge	Amendments with majority
xrpl_amendment_unsupported_majority	Gauge	1 if unsupported amendment has majority
xrpl_validator_list_active	Gauge	1 if validator list is active

Fee Market (from fee)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Description
xrpl_fee_open_ledger_fee_drops	Gauge	Minimum fee for open ledger inclusion
xrpl_fee_median_fee_drops	Gauge	Median fee level
xrpl_fee_queue_size	Gauge	Current transaction queue depth
xrpl_fee_current_ledger_size	Gauge	Transactions in current open ledger

DEX & AMM (optional, from book_offers, amm_info)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Labels	Description
xrpl_amm_tvl_drops	Gauge	pool="<id>"	Total value locked
xrpl_amm_trading_fee	Gauge	pool="<id>"	Pool trading fee (bps)
xrpl_orderbook_bid_depth	Gauge	pair="<base/quote>"	Total bid volume
xrpl_orderbook_ask_depth	Gauge	pair="<base/quote>"	Total ask volume
xrpl_orderbook_spread	Gauge	pair="<base/quote>"	Best bid-ask spread

Phase 9: OTel SDK-Exported Metrics (MetricsRegistry)

Phase 9 introduces the MetricsRegistry class (src/xrpld/telemetry/MetricsRegistry.h/.cpp) which registers metrics directly with the OpenTelemetry Metrics SDK. These are exported via OTLP/HTTP to the OTel Collector and scraped by Prometheus.

NodeStore I/O (Observable Gauge — nodestore_state)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Labels	Description
rippled_nodestore_state{metric="node_reads_total"}	Gauge	metric	Cumulative NodeStore read operations
rippled_nodestore_state{metric="node_reads_hit"}	Gauge	metric	Reads served from cache
rippled_nodestore_state{metric="node_writes"}	Gauge	metric	Cumulative write operations
rippled_nodestore_state{metric="node_written_bytes"}	Gauge	metric	Cumulative bytes written
rippled_nodestore_state{metric="node_read_bytes"}	Gauge	metric	Cumulative bytes read
rippled_nodestore_state{metric="write_load"}	Gauge	metric	Current write load score
rippled_nodestore_state{metric="read_queue"}	Gauge	metric	Items in read prefetch queue

Cache Hit Rates & Sizes (Observable Gauge — cache_metrics)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Labels	Description
rippled_cache_metrics{metric="SLE_hit_rate"}	Gauge	metric	SLE cache hit rate (0.0-1.0)
rippled_cache_metrics{metric="ledger_hit_rate"}	Gauge	metric	Ledger cache hit rate
rippled_cache_metrics{metric="AL_hit_rate"}	Gauge	metric	AcceptedLedger cache hit rate
rippled_cache_metrics{metric="treenode_cache_size"}	Gauge	metric	SHAMap TreeNode cache entries
rippled_cache_metrics{metric="treenode_track_size"}	Gauge	metric	Tracked tree nodes
rippled_cache_metrics{metric="fullbelow_size"}	Gauge	metric	FullBelow cache entries

Transaction Queue (Observable Gauge — txq_metrics)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Labels	Description
rippled_txq_metrics{metric="txq_count"}	Gauge	metric	Transactions currently in queue
rippled_txq_metrics{metric="txq_max_size"}	Gauge	metric	Maximum queue capacity
rippled_txq_metrics{metric="txq_in_ledger"}	Gauge	metric	Transactions in open ledger
rippled_txq_metrics{metric="txq_per_ledger"}	Gauge	metric	Expected transactions per ledger
rippled_txq_metrics{metric="txq_reference_fee_level"}	Gauge	metric	Reference fee level
rippled_txq_metrics{metric="txq_min_processing_fee_level"}	Gauge	metric	Minimum fee to get processed
rippled_txq_metrics{metric="txq_med_fee_level"}	Gauge	metric	Median fee level in queue
rippled_txq_metrics{metric="txq_open_ledger_fee_level"}	Gauge	metric	Open ledger fee escalation level

Per-RPC Method Metrics (Synchronous Counters/Histogram)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Labels	Description
rippled_rpc_method_started_total	Counter	method="<name>"	RPC calls started
rippled_rpc_method_finished_total	Counter	method="<name>"	RPC calls completed successfully
rippled_rpc_method_errored_total	Counter	method="<name>"	RPC calls that errored
rippled_rpc_method_duration_us	Histogram	method="<name>"	Execution time distribution (us)

Per-Job-Type Metrics (Synchronous Counters/Histogram)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Labels	Description
rippled_job_queued_total	Counter	job_type="<name>"	Jobs enqueued
rippled_job_started_total	Counter	job_type="<name>"	Jobs started
rippled_job_finished_total	Counter	job_type="<name>"	Jobs completed
rippled_job_queued_duration_us	Histogram	job_type="<name>"	Queue wait time distribution (us)
rippled_job_running_duration_us	Histogram	job_type="<name>"	Execution time distribution (us)

Counted Object Instances (Observable Gauge — object_count)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Labels	Description
rippled_object_count{type="Transaction"}	Gauge	type="<name>"	Live Transaction objects
rippled_object_count{type="Ledger"}	Gauge	type="<name>"	Live Ledger objects
rippled_object_count{type="NodeObject"}	Gauge	type="<name>"	Live NodeObject instances
rippled_object_count{type="STTx"}	Gauge	type="<name>"	Serialized transaction objects
rippled_object_count{type="STLedgerEntry"}	Gauge	type="<name>"	Serialized ledger entries
rippled_object_count{type="InboundLedger"}	Gauge	type="<name>"	Ledgers being fetched
rippled_object_count{type="Pathfinder"}	Gauge	type="<name>"	Active pathfinding operations
rippled_object_count{type="PathRequest"}	Gauge	type="<name>"	Active path requests
rippled_object_count{type="HashRouterEntry"}	Gauge	type="<name>"	Hash router entries

Load Factor Breakdown (Observable Gauge — load_factor_metrics)

Prometheus Metric	Type	Labels	Description
rippled_load_factor_metrics{metric="load_factor"}	Gauge	metric	Combined transaction cost multiplier
rippled_load_factor_metrics{metric="load_factor_server"}	Gauge	metric	Server + cluster + network contribution
rippled_load_factor_metrics{metric="load_factor_local"}	Gauge	metric	Local server load only
rippled_load_factor_metrics{metric="load_factor_net"}	Gauge	metric	Network-wide load estimate
rippled_load_factor_metrics{metric="load_factor_cluster"}	Gauge	metric	Cluster peer load
rippled_load_factor_metrics{metric="load_factor_fee_escalation"}	Gauge	metric	Open ledger fee escalation
rippled_load_factor_metrics{metric="load_factor_fee_queue"}	Gauge	metric	Queue entry fee level

Prometheus Query Examples (Phase 9)

# NodeStore cache hit ratio
rippled_nodestore_state{metric="node_reads_hit"} / rippled_nodestore_state{metric="node_reads_total"}

# RPC error rate for server_info
rate(rippled_rpc_method_errored_total{method="server_info"}[5m])

# Job queue wait time p95
histogram_quantile(0.95, sum by (le) (rate(rippled_job_queued_duration_us_bucket[5m])))

# TxQ utilization percentage
rippled_txq_metrics{metric="txq_count"} / rippled_txq_metrics{metric="txq_max_size"}

# High load factor alert candidate
rippled_load_factor_metrics{metric="load_factor"} > 5

New Grafana Dashboards (Phase 9)

Dashboard	UID	Data Source	Key Panels
Fee Market & TxQ	rippled-fee-market	Prometheus	TxQ depth/capacity, fee levels, load factor breakdown
Job Queue Analysis	rippled-job-queue	Prometheus	Per-job rates, queue wait times, execution times
RPC Performance (OTel)	rippled-rpc-perf	Prometheus	Per-method call rates, error rates, latency distributions

Updated Grafana Dashboards (Phase 9)

Dashboard	UID	New Panels Added
Node Health (StatsD)	rippled-statsd-node-health	NodeStore I/O, cache hit rates, object instance counts

New Grafana Dashboards (Phase 11)

Dashboard	UID	Data Source	Key Panels
Validator Health	rippled-validator-health	Prometheus	Server state timeline, proposer count, converge time, amendment voting
Network Topology	rippled-network-topology	Prometheus	Peer count, version distribution, latency distribution, diverged peers
Fee Market (Ext)	rippled-fee-market-external	Prometheus	Fee levels, queue depth, load factor breakdown, escalation timeline
DEX & AMM Overview	rippled-dex-amm	Prometheus	AMM TVL, order book depth, spread trends, trading fee revenue

Prometheus Alerting Rules (Phase 11)

Alert Name	Severity	Condition	For
XRPLServerNotFull	Critical	xrpl_server_state < 4 for 15m	15m
XRPLAmendmentBlocked	Critical	xrpl_amendment_blocked == 1	1m
XRPLNoPeers	Critical	xrpl_peers_count == 0	5m
XRPLLedgerStale	Critical	xrpl_validated_ledger_age_seconds > 120	2m
XRPLHighIOLatency	Critical	xrpl_io_latency_ms > 100	5m
XRPLUnsupportedAmendmentMajority	Critical	xrpl_amendment_unsupported_majority == 1	1m
XRPLLowPeerCount	Warning	xrpl_peers_count < 10	15m
XRPLHighLoadFactor	Warning	xrpl_load_factor > 10	10m
XRPLSlowConsensus	Warning	xrpl_last_close_converge_time_seconds > 6	5m
XRPLValidatorListExpiring	Warning	(xrpl_validator_list_expiration_seconds - time()) < 86400	1h
XRPLStateFlapping	Warning	rate(xrpl_state_transitions_total{state="full"}[1h]) > 2	30m

---

6. Known Issues

Issue	Impact	Status
warn and drop metrics use non-standard StatsD |m meter type	Metrics silently dropped by OTel StatsD receiver	Phase 6 Task 6.1 — needs |m → |c change in StatsDCollector.cpp
rippled_job_count may not emit in standalone mode	Missing from Prometheus in some test configs	Requires active job queue activity
rippled_rpc_requests depends on [insight] config	Zero series if StatsD not configured	Requires [insight] server=statsd in xrpld.cfg
Peer tracing disabled by default	No peer.* spans unless trace_peer=1	Intentional — high volume on mainnet

---

7. Privacy and Data Collection

The telemetry system is designed with privacy in mind:

• No private keys are ever included in spans or metrics
• No account balances or financial data is traced
• Transaction hashes are included (public on-ledger data) but not transaction contents
• Peer IDs are internal identifiers, not IP addresses
• All telemetry is opt-in — disabled by default at build time (-Dtelemetry=OFF)
• Sampling reduces data volume — sampling_ratio=0.01 recommended for production
• Data stays local — the default stack sends data to localhost only

---

8. Configuration Quick Reference

Full reference: 05-configuration-reference.md §5.1 for all [telemetry] options with defaults, the config parser implementation, and collector YAML configurations (dev and production).

Minimal Setup (development)

[telemetry]
enabled=1

[insight]
server=statsd
address=127.0.0.1:8125
prefix=rippled

Production Setup

[telemetry]
enabled=1
endpoint=http://otel-collector:4318/v1/traces
sampling_ratio=0.01
trace_peer=0
batch_size=1024
max_queue_size=4096

[insight]
server=statsd
address=otel-collector:8125
prefix=rippled

Trace Category Toggle

Config Key	Default	Controls
trace_rpc	1	rpc.* spans
trace_transactions	1	tx.* spans
trace_consensus	1	consensus.* spans
trace_ledger	1	ledger.* spans
trace_peer	0	peer.* spans (high volume)