---
title: "Configure Grafana Mimir tracing | Grafana Mimir documentation"
description: "Learn how to configure Grafana Mimir to send traces using OpenTelemetry or Jaeger."
---

# Configure Grafana Mimir tracing

Distributed tracing is a valuable tool for troubleshooting the behavior of Grafana Mimir in production.

Grafana Mimir supports distributed tracing using [OpenTelemetry](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/languages/go/getting-started/) and provides backward compatibility with [Jaeger](https://www.jaegertracing.io/) configuration.

Mimir automatically detects which tracing configuration method to use based on the environment variables you set:

- **OpenTelemetry format**: Uses standard OTel environment variables for modern tracing backends.
- **Jaeger format**: Uses Jaeger-specific environment variables for backward compatibility.

## Dependencies

Set up a tracing backend to collect and store traces from Grafana Mimir:

- **For OpenTelemetry**: Use any OTLP-compatible tracing backend such as Jaeger, Tempo, or cloud-based solutions.
- **For Jaeger**: Set up a Jaeger deployment including either the Jaeger all-in-one binary or a distributed system of agents, collectors, and queriers.

If you run Grafana Mimir on Kubernetes, refer to [Jaeger Kubernetes](https://github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger-kubernetes).

## Configuration

Grafana Mimir automatically detects the tracing configuration method based on the environment variables you set. You can use either OpenTelemetry standard environment variables or Jaeger-specific environment variables.

### OpenTelemetry Configuration (Recommended)

To configure Grafana Mimir with OpenTelemetry format tracing, set any of the following environment variables.

OpenTelemetry configuration follows the standard documentation from [OpenTelemetry SDK Configuration](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/languages/sdk-configuration/general/).

- `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT`: The OTLP endpoint URL. For example, `http://otlp-endpoint:4318`.
- `OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_ENDPOINT`: The OTLP traces-specific endpoint URL. This value overrides the previous variable. For example, `http://tempo:4318/v1/traces`.
- `OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER`: The traces exporter to use. Default: `otlp`.
- `OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER`: The sampling strategy to use.

#### Traces exporter configuration

The `OTEL_TRACES_EXPORTER` environment variable specifies which trace exporter to use:

- `otlp` (default): OpenTelemetry Protocol exporter.
- `none`: No trace exporter. You can set this value if you want to configure the tracing library to propagate trace context without exporting traces.

> Note
> 
> The `jaeger` exporter option is not available, as it was deprecated by the OpenTelemetry project in 2023. Instead, use the `otlp` exporter, since Jaeger supports OTLP ingestion natively.

#### Sampling configuration

Configure sampling behavior using the `OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER` environment variable:

- `always_on`: Sample all traces
- `always_off`: Sample no traces
- `traceidratio`: Sample traces based on trace ID ratio
- `parentbased_always_on` (default): Sample based on parent span decision. Always sample root spans.
- `parentbased_always_off`: Sample based on parent span decision. Never sample root spans.
- `parentbased_traceidratio`: Sample based on parent span decision, use ratio for root spans
- `jaeger_remote`: Use Jaeger remote sampling
- `parentbased_jaeger_remote`: Use parent-based Jaeger remote sampling

For `jaeger_remote` and `parentbased_jaeger_remote` samplers, you must also set `OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER_ARG` with the configuration in the format:

![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```none
endpoint=http://localhost:14250,pollingIntervalMs=5000,initialSamplingRate=0.25
```

#### Propagation configuration

Configure trace context propagation using `OTEL_PROPAGATORS`:

- `tracecontext`: W3C Trace Context (default)
- `baggage`: W3C Baggage (default)
- `jaeger`: Jaeger propagation (default)
- `none`: No propagation

Default propagators include `tracecontext`, `baggage`, and `jaeger`.

#### Example OpenTelemetry configuration

Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```bash
# Basic OTLP configuration
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT="http://jaeger:4318"
export OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER="always_on"

# Advanced configuration with Jaeger remote sampling
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_ENDPOINT="http://jaeger:4318/v1/traces"
export OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER="jaeger_remote"
export OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER_ARG="endpoint=http://jaeger:14250,pollingIntervalMs=5000,initialSamplingRate=0.25"
export OTEL_PROPAGATORS="tracecontext,baggage,jaeger"
```

### Jaeger configuration (deprecated)

> Caution
> 
> Jaeger tracing configuration using `JAEGER_*` environment variables is deprecated since Mimir 2.17. Use OpenTelemetry configuration instead, as Jaeger supports OTLP ingestion natively.

To configure Grafana Mimir with Jaeger format tracing, set any of the following environment variables:

- `JAEGER_AGENT_HOST`: Jaeger agent hostname
- `JAEGER_ENDPOINT`: Jaeger collector endpoint URL
- `JAEGER_SAMPLER_MANAGER_HOST_PORT`: Jaeger sampler manager endpoint

#### Required environment variables

You must specify at least one of the following environment variables to enable Jaeger configuration:

- `JAEGER_AGENT_HOST`
- `JAEGER_ENDPOINT`
- `JAEGER_SAMPLER_MANAGER_HOST_PORT`

#### Sampling configuration

Configure sampling using Jaeger-specific environment variables:

- `JAEGER_SAMPLER_TYPE`: Sampling strategy (`const`, `probabilistic`, `remote`)
- `JAEGER_SAMPLER_PARAM`: Sampling parameter value
- `JAEGER_SAMPLER_MANAGER_HOST_PORT`: Remote sampling endpoint
- `JAEGER_SAMPLING_ENDPOINT`: Alternative remote sampling endpoint

#### Additional Jaeger environment variables

- `JAEGER_AGENT_PORT`: Jaeger agent port (default: `6831`)
- `JAEGER_TAGS`: Additional tags to add to spans (format: `key1=value1,key2=value2`)

#### Example Jaeger configuration

Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy

```bash
# Basic agent configuration
export JAEGER_AGENT_HOST="jaeger-agent"
export JAEGER_SAMPLER_TYPE="const"
export JAEGER_SAMPLER_PARAM="1"

# Collector endpoint configuration
export JAEGER_ENDPOINT="http://jaeger-collector:14268/api/traces"
export JAEGER_SAMPLER_TYPE="probabilistic"
export JAEGER_SAMPLER_PARAM="0.1"

# Remote sampling configuration
export JAEGER_AGENT_HOST="jaeger-agent"
export JAEGER_SAMPLER_MANAGER_HOST_PORT="jaeger-agent:5778"
```

For a complete list of Jaeger environment variables, refer to the [Jaeger Client Go documentation](https://github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger-client-go#environment-variables).

### Enabling sampling

Enable sampling in the appropriate components:

- The ingester and ruler self-initiate traces. You should explicitly enable sampling for these components.
- You can enable sampling for the distributor and query-frontend in Grafana Mimir or in an upstream service, like a proxy or gateway running in front of Grafana Mimir

> Note
> 
> Mimir automatically detects the configuration method based on the environment variables present. OpenTelemetry configuration takes precedence if both OTel and Jaeger environment variables are set.