---
title: "Distributed traces with OBI"
source: OpenTelemetry Documentation
source_url: https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry.io
licence: CC-BY-4.0
domain: engineering
subdomain: opentelemetry-docs
date_added: 2026-04-25
---

## Introduction

OBI supports distributed traces for applications with some limitations and
kernel version restrictions.

The distributed tracing is implemented through the propagation of the
[W3C `traceparent`](https://www.w3.org/TR/trace-context/) header value.
`traceparent` context propagation is automatic and it doesn't require any action
or configuration.

OBI reads any incoming trace context header values, tracks the program execution
flow and propagates the trace context by automatically adding the `traceparent`
field in outgoing HTTP/gRPC requests. If an application has already added the
`traceparent` field in outgoing requests, OBI uses that value for tracing
instead its own generated trace context. If OBI cannot find an incoming
`traceparent` context value, it generates one according to the W3C
specification.

## Compatibility

OBI supports distributed tracing and context propagation in the following
configurations:

| Area                                 | Supported versions or environments                                                                    | Notes                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| :----------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Network-level context propagation    | Linux environments that meet the [OBI compatibility requirements](/docs/zero-code/obi/#compatibility) | Works across programming languages for HTTP traffic. For HTTPS, propagation is limited to other OBI-instrumented services and can be disrupted by proxies or L7 load balancers. gRPC and HTTP/2 are not supported at network level. |
| Go library-level context propagation | Go `1.18+`                                                                                            | Supports goroutine context propagation up to 3 nested goroutine levels. This distributed tracing feature has a higher minimum version than general Go library-level instrumentation.                                                |
| Node.js async hooks                  | Node.js `8.0+`                                                                                        | Custom handling of `SIGUSR1` can interfere with context propagation.                                                                                                                                                                |
| Ruby Puma                            | Ruby applications served by Puma `5.0+`                                                               | Context propagation support requires the Puma server.                                                                                                                                                                               |
| Java thread pools                    | JDK `8+`                                                                                              | No additional documented runtime constraints.                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| Python asyncio                       | Python `3.9+` with `uvloop`                                                                           | Context propagation support requires the `uvloop` event loop.                                                                                                                                                                       |

The versions listed here are the versions OBI explicitly supports for
distributed tracing features. Other versions might also work, but they are not
part of the documented support scope unless stated otherwise. In particular, the
Go `1.18+` requirement here applies to distributed tracing and context
propagation; other OBI Go library-level instrumentation has a lower minimum
version.

## Implementation

The trace context propagation is implemented in two different ways:

1. By writing the outgoing header information at network level
2. By writing the header information at library level for Go

Depending on the programming language your service is written in, OBI uses one
or both approaches of context propagation. We use these multiple approaches to
implement context propagation, because writing memory with eBPF depends on the
kernel configuration and the Linux system capabilities granted to OBI. For more
details on this topic, see our KubeCon NA 2024 talk
[So You Want to Write Memory with eBPF?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUiVX-44S9s).

The context propagation at **network level** is **disabled** by default and can
be enabled by setting the environment variable
`OTEL_EBPF_BPF_CONTEXT_PROPAGATION=all` or by modifying the OBI configuration
file:

```yaml
ebpf:
  context_propagation: 'all'
```

### Context propagation at network level

The context propagation at network level is implemented by writing the trace
context information in the outgoing HTTP headers as well at the TCP/IP packet
level. HTTP context propagation is fully compatible with any other OpenTelemetry
based tracing library. This means that OBI instrumented services correctly
propagate the trace information, when sending to and receiving from services
instrumented with the OpenTelemetry SDKs. We use
[Linux Traffic Control (TC)](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tc_(Linux)>) to
perform the adjustment of the network packets, which requires that other eBPF
programs that use Linux Traffic Control chain properly with OBI. For special
considerations regarding Cilium CNI, consult our
[Cilium Compatibility](../cilium-compatibility/) guide.

For TLS encrypted traffic (HTTPS), OBI is unable to inject the trace information
in the outgoing HTTP headers and instead it injects the information at TCP/IP
packet level. Because of this limitation, OBI is only able to send the trace
information to other OBI instrumented services. L7 proxies and load balancers
disrupt the TCP/IP context propagation, because the original packets are
discarded and replayed downstream. Parsing incoming trace context information
from OpenTelemetry SDK instrumented services still works.

gRPC and HTTP/2 are not supported at network level.

If you need finer control, `context_propagation` also accepts `headers`, `tcp`,
and `headers,tcp`. `http` is accepted as an alias for `headers`.

This type of context propagation works for any programming language and doesn't
require that OBI runs in `privileged` mode or has `CAP_SYS_ADMIN` granted. For
more details, see the
[Distributed traces and context propagation](../configure/metrics-traces-attributes/)
configuration section.

#### Kubernetes Configuration

The recommended way to deploy OBI on Kubernetes with distributed tracing support
at network level is as `DaemonSet`.

The following `Kubernetes` configuration must be used:

- OBI must be deployed as a `DaemonSet` with host network access
  (`hostNetwork: true`).
- The `/sys/fs/cgroup` path from the host must be volume mounted as local
  `/sys/fs/cgroup` path.
- The `CAP_NET_ADMIN` capability must be granted to the OBI container.

The following YAML snippet shows an example OBI deployment configuration:

```yaml
spec:
  serviceAccount: obi
  hostPID: true # <-- Important. Required in DaemonSet mode so OBI can discover all monitored processes
  hostNetwork: true # <-- Important. Required in DaemonSet mode so OBI can see all network packets
  dnsPolicy: ClusterFirstWithHostNet
  containers:
    - name: obi
      resources:
        limits:
          memory: 120Mi
      terminationMessagePolicy: FallbackToLogsOnError
      image: 'docker.io/otel/ebpf-instrument:main'
      imagePullPolicy: 'Always'
      env:
        - name: OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT
          value: 'http://otelcol:4318'
        - name: OTEL_EBPF_KUBE_METADATA_ENABLE
          value: 'autodetect'
        - name: OTEL_EBPF_CONFIG_PATH
          value: '/config/obi-config.yml'
      securityContext:
        runAsUser: 0
        readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
        capabilities:
          add:
            - BPF # <-- Important. Required for most eBPF probes to function correctly.
            - SYS_PTRACE # <-- Important. Allows OBI to access the container namespaces and inspect executables.
            - NET_RAW # <-- Important. Allows OBI to use socket filters for http requests.
            - CHECKPOINT_RESTORE # <-- Important. Allows OBI to open ELF files.
            - DAC_READ_SEARCH # <-- Important. Allows OBI to open ELF files.
            - PERFMON # <-- Important. Allows OBI to load BPF programs.
            - NET_ADMIN # <-- Important. Allows OBI to inject HTTP and TCP context propagation information.
      volumeMounts:
        - name: cgroup
          mountPath: /sys/fs/cgroup # <-- Important. Allows OBI to monitor all newly sockets to track outgoing requests.
        - mountPath: /config
          name: obi-config
  tolerations:
    - effect: NoSchedule
      operator: Exists
    - effect: NoExecute
      operator: Exists
  volumes:
    - name: obi-config
      configMap:
        name: obi-config
    - name: cgroup
      hostPath:
        path: /sys/fs/cgroup
```

If `/sys/fs/cgroup` is not mounted as a local volume path for the OBI
`DaemonSet` some requests may not have their context propagated. We use this
volume path to listen to newly created sockets.

#### Kernel version limitations

The network level context propagation incoming headers parsing generally
requires kernel 5.17 or newer for the addition and use of BPF loops.

Some patched kernels, such as RHEL 9.2, may have this functionality ported back.
Setting OTEL_EBPF_OVERRIDE_BPF_LOOP_ENABLED skips kernel checks in the case your
kernel includes the functionality but is lower than 5.17.

### Go context propagation by instrumenting at library level

This type of context propagation is only supported for Go applications and uses
eBPF user memory write support (`bpf_probe_write_user`). The advantage of this
approach is that it works for HTTP/HTTP2/HTTPS and gRPC with some limitations,
however the use of `bpf_probe_write_user` requires the OBI is granted
`CAP_SYS_ADMIN` or it's configured to run as `privileged` container.

#### Integration with Go manual instrumentation

OBI integrates automatically with manual spans using the
[Auto SDK](/docs/zero-code/go/autosdk). See the docs on the Auto SDK to learn
more.

#### Kernel integrity mode limitations

In order to write the `traceparent` value in outgoing HTTP/gRPC request headers,
OBI needs to write to the process memory using the
[**bpf_probe_write_user**](https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/bpf-helpers.7.html)
eBPF helper. Since kernel 5.14 (with fixes backported to the 5.10 series) this
helper is protected (and unavailable to BPF programs) if the Linux Kernel is
running in `integrity` **lockdown** mode. Kernel integrity mode is typically
enabled by default if the Kernel has
[**Secure Boot**](https://wiki.debian.org/SecureBoot) enabled, but it can also
be enabled manually.

OBI automatically checks if it can use the `bpf_probe_write_user` helper, and
enables context propagation only if it's allowed by the kernel configuration.
Verify the Linux Kernel **lockdown** mode by running the following command:

```shell
cat /sys/kernel/security/lockdown
```

If that file exists and the mode is anything other than `[none]`, OBI cannot
perform context propagation and distributed tracing is disabled.

#### Distributed tracing for Go in containerized environments (including Kubernetes)

Because of the Kernel **lockdown** mode restrictions, Docker and Kubernetes
configuration files should mount the `/sys/kernel/security/` volume for the
**OBI docker container** from the host system. This way OBI can correctly
determine the Linux Kernel **lockdown** mode. Here's an example Docker compose
configuration, which ensures OBI has sufficient information to determine the
**lockdown** mode:

```yaml
services:
  ...
  obi:
    image: 'docker.io/otel/ebpf-instrument:main'
    environment:
      OTEL_EBPF_CONFIG_PATH: "/configs/obi-config.yml"
    volumes:
      - /sys/kernel/security:/sys/kernel/security
      - /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup
```

If the `/sys/kernel/security/` volume is not mounted, OBI assumes that the Linux
Kernel is not running in integrity mode.

### Python asyncio with uvloop

Starting with v0.7.0, OBI supports context propagation for Python asyncio
workloads running on [`uvloop`](https://github.com/MagicStack/uvloop). This
enables distributed tracing of asynchronous Python services that use the
`uvloop` event loop, in addition to the standard `asyncio` support.

The context propagation at network level applies to Python applications running
on `uvloop`, allowing OBI to automatically instrument and propagate trace
context for asynchronous operations. No additional configuration is required
beyond enabling context propagation as described in the
[introduction](#introduction).

To use OBI with Python asyncio and `uvloop`, ensure your Python application is
configured to use `uvloop` as the event loop implementation.
