> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.ionos.com/cloud/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.ionos.com/cloud/observability/tracing-service/tracing-service-faqs.md).

# FAQ

Tracing Service FAQ: common questions on trace collection, storage, analysis, and integration on IONOS CLOUD.

## General overview

### What is Tracing Service?

Tracing Service provides a centralized and scalable solution for collecting, storing, and analyzing distributed traces from your applications, services, and infrastructure.

### How does Tracing Service differ from a traditional APM platform?

Tracing Service focuses on a managed, standards-compliant ingestion backend for distributed tracing built on OpenTelemetry and Grafana Tempo. It does not rely on proprietary agents. Instead of a closed vendor stack, it emphasizes cross-signal correlation between traces, Loki logs, and Mimir metrics within a sovereign European infrastructure.

## Integration and Compatibility

### Which protocols are supported?

Tracing Service supports OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP) trace ingestion over `HTTP` and `gRPC`. It implements the open OTLP standard without proprietary agents, so it stays compatible with common OpenTelemetry SDKs such as Go, Java, Node.js, and Python.

### What is required to connect existing software systems?

The only prerequisite is support for the OpenTelemetry Protocol (OTLP). Integration uses open APIs and standard OpenTelemetry SDKs, with no proprietary libraries to adopt. For components that emit other formats, such as Jaeger or Zipkin, you can place the OpenTelemetry Collector in front of Tracing Service as a standards-compliant translation layer.

### Does Tracing Service support AI and LLM workloads?

Yes. Tracing Service supports the OpenTelemetry semantic conventions for generative AI (GenAI). Grafana captures and analyzes execution paths, tool calls, LLM latencies, and token consumption as span attributes alongside your infrastructure signals.

## Setup and access

### How is the Grafana data source set up?

The Grafana Tempo data source is provisioned automatically in your <code class="expression">space.vars.ionos\_cloud</code> Grafana setup. After you point your OpenTelemetry exporter at the dedicated pipeline endpoint, traces are captured without additional manual configuration.

### How do I authenticate trace ingestion?

Each tracing pipeline has a unique key. Use the key as the `apikey` header for `OTLP/HTTP` and as `apikey` metadata for `OTLP/gRPC`.

### How do I access traces in Grafana?

After creating at least one tracing pipeline, retrieve the `grafanaEndpoint` from the API response and open it in your browser. For more information, see [<mark style="color:blue;">Access Traces from the Platform</mark>](/cloud/observability/tracing-service/quick-start/access-traces-from-platform.md).

### Can I rotate a pipeline key?

Yes. You can generate a new key for a tracing pipeline using the [API](https://api.ionos.com/docs/tracing/v1/).

## Observability and correlation

### Can I correlate traces with logs and metrics?

Yes. Tracing Service completes the observability triad alongside [<mark style="color:blue;">Monitoring</mark>](/cloud/observability/monitoring-service.md) and [<mark style="color:blue;">Logging</mark>](/cloud/observability/logging-service.md). In the same Grafana workspace, you can navigate from a span to the corresponding Loki logs ([<mark style="color:blue;">trace-to-logs</mark>](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest/datasources/tempo/configure-tempo-data-source/configure-trace-to-logs/)) and related Mimir metrics ([<mark style="color:blue;">trace-to-metrics</mark>](https://grafana.com/docs/grafana/latest/datasources/tempo/configure-tempo-data-source/configure-trace-to-metrics/)) in the same time context, and use native TraceQL queries and service-graph visualizations for dependency analysis.

## Operations and data management

### Must my team operate the tracing infrastructure?

No. Provisioning, scaling, securing, and patching the Tempo backend are handled entirely by <code class="expression">space.vars.ionos\_cloud</code> as a managed service. This removes the operational overhead of running your own trace storage and visualization stack.

### What retention period is supported?

Trace data is retained for 30 days. Retention is currently fixed and cannot be customized.

## Billing

### How is Tracing Service billed?

Billing is usage-based (pay-as-you-go), measured from the volume of trace payload data ingested by the platform. There are no seat-based or per-host license models. For the full billing model and counting rules, see [<mark style="color:blue;">Billing</mark>](/cloud/observability/tracing-service/billing.md).


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