Documentation Plugins Infinity data source Advanced features Tracing

Tracing

The Traces format transforms your API data into a format compatible with the Traces panel in Grafana. Use this feature to visualize distributed tracing data from any API that returns span information.

For general information about the Traces panel, refer to Traces.

Before you begin

• Ensure you have the Infinity data source installed and configured
• Familiarize yourself with distributed tracing concepts (spans, traces, parent-child relationships)

Supported data formats

You can create trace visualizations from the following data formats:

• JSON
• CSV
• XML
• GraphQL

Required fields

Your data must include the following fields for trace visualization:

Optional fields

Create a trace query

1. In the query editor, select your data Type (JSON, CSV, etc.).
2. Configure the Source and URL or inline data.
3. Set Format to Traces.
4. Configure columns to map your data fields to the required trace fields.

Examples

CSV example

Data:

csv Copy

spanID,parentSpanID,traceID,startTime,duration,serviceName,operationName
s1,,t1,1704067200000,10000,router,HTTP GET /api
s2,s1,t1,1704067200100,6000,frontend,renderPage
s3,s1,t1,1704067200200,4000,backend,fetchData
s4,s2,t1,1704067200150,1000,frontend,parseTemplate
s5,s2,t1,1704067200200,1500,frontend,formatOutput
s6,s3,t1,1704067200300,2200,database,SELECT query

UQL query to convert timestamps:

If your startTime is in Unix seconds rather than milliseconds, use UQL to convert:

SQL Copy

parse-csv
| extend "startTime"=unixtime_seconds_todatetime("startTime")

JSON example

JSON Copy

{
  "spans": [
    {
      "spanID": "s1",
      "parentSpanID": "",
      "traceID": "t1",
      "startTime": 1704067200000,
      "duration": 10000,
      "serviceName": "router",
      "operationName": "HTTP GET /api"
    },
    {
      "spanID": "s2",
      "parentSpanID": "s1",
      "traceID": "t1",
      "startTime": 1704067200100,
      "duration": 6000,
      "serviceName": "frontend",
      "operationName": "renderPage"
    }
  ]
}

Set the root selector to spans and the format to Traces.

Column mapping

When your source data uses different field names, use column aliases to map them to the required trace fields:

Timestamp formats

The startTime field should be a Unix timestamp in milliseconds. If your data uses a different format:

• Unix seconds: Use UQL extend "startTime"=unixtime_seconds_todatetime("startTime")
• ISO 8601 string: The parser automatically converts ISO 8601 timestamps