Setting up Observability with Dapr

📊 Observability with Dapr

This guide provides a quick overview of how to set up observability in applications using Dapr.

1. Introduction

• Observability is key in understanding distributed systems.
• Dapr provides built-in support for:
  • Metrics via Prometheus
  • Tracing via Zipkin/OpenTelemetry
  • Logs from Dapr sidecars and applications

2. Prerequisites

• Dapr CLI installed and initialized
• Docker & Docker Compose
• (Optional) Kubernetes cluster for advanced deployment

3. Observability Stack

• Prometheus – collects metrics
• Grafana – visualizes metrics
• Zipkin – displays traces
• Dapr Sidecars – expose telemetry endpoints

4. Setup in Self-Hosted Mode

A. Run Sample Apps

dapr init
cd quickstarts/tutorials/observability
docker-compose up --build

5. Enable Tracing

apiVersion: dapr.io/v1alpha1
kind: Configuration
metadata:
  name: tracing
spec:
  tracing:
    samplingRate: "1"
    zipkin:
      endpointAddress: "http://localhost:9411/api/v2/spans"

Use config:

dapr run --app-id nodeapp --config ./dapr-config.yaml ...

6. Explore Dashboards

Grafana: http://localhost:3000 (admin/admin)
Import Dapr dashboards
Prometheus: http://localhost:9090
Sample query: dapr_runtime_service_invocations_total
Zipkin: http://localhost:9411
Search service traces

7. Extend to Your Apps

Use Dapr sidecars with config
Add tracing context propagation in code (if needed)

Export custom app metrics via Prometheus exporters