Server Logs vs Distributed Tracing

Developers should learn to work with server logs to diagnose issues, optimize performance, and ensure security compliance in production systems meets developers should learn and use distributed tracing when building or maintaining microservices-based applications, cloud-native systems, or any distributed architecture where requests span multiple services. Here's our take.

Server Logs

Nice Pick

Developers should learn to work with server logs to diagnose issues, optimize performance, and ensure security compliance in production systems

Pros

• For example, analyzing web server logs (like Apache or Nginx) helps identify traffic patterns and errors, while application logs (e
• Related to: log-analysis, monitoring

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Distributed Tracing

Developers should learn and use distributed tracing when building or maintaining microservices-based applications, cloud-native systems, or any distributed architecture where requests span multiple services

Pros

• It is crucial for performance monitoring, troubleshooting latency issues, and ensuring reliability in production environments, as it provides end-to-end visibility into request flows and dependencies
• Related to: microservices, observability

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Server Logs is a tool while Distributed Tracing is a concept. We picked Server Logs based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Server Logs wins

Based on overall popularity. Server Logs is more widely used, but Distributed Tracing excels in its own space.