Visualize service topology with panels

A topology map is very similar to the Trace Explorer Topology view. Use this panel to visualize how traces from services and operations in the current panel query results cascade from each other.

To create a service topology chart or learn more about the configuration options common to all panels, see Panels.

You can filter a service topology chart by Metric:

• Errors
• Requests
• Max Duration P50
• Max Duration P99

Toggle the selected option to perform the following additional actions:

• View operations: See span details.
• Only critical path: Only analyze spans that most impact the total duration of a trace, and display them grouped by the selected property.

Configure a service topology panel

You can configure a service topology by modifying its Settings.

Any changes you make in the panel’s Settings tab are immediately reflected in the Preview pane, but take effect only when you click Apply in the Edit panel interface and then Save the dashboard.

Observability Platform doesn’t fully support directly editing a panel’s JSON representation and recommends configuring panels in the user interface. Use the JSON representation only for managing your configuration as code with tools such as Chronoctl and Terraform.

To modify a service topology panel’s settings using its Settings tab:

1. Edit the service topology panel.
2. In the Edit panel interface, click the Settings tab.

You can add links to a service topology panel.

Modify service topology filters

In the Settings tab, you can create Span Filters.

1. Select an option for the first box: Variable or Static.
2. If you select Variable, click the Service box to select a service. If you choose Static, enter a variable of your choosing in the Service box.
3. Select an option for the second box: Variable or Static.
4. If you select Variable, click the Operation box to select an operation. If you choose Static, enter an operation of your choosing in the Service box.
5. Click Add Span Filter to add additional filters.
6. Click Add when finished.

Focus on a specific service

You can modify a topology panel in a Dashboard to narrow the focus to a specific service. This view shows a single service with one service upstream and downstream, rather than showing all connected services.

1. Edit the service topology panel.

2. In the Edit panel interface, click the Settings tab.

3. In the Target service field, enter the name of the service you want to focus on.

   The topology map preview updates to show the service you entered.

4. Click Apply to apply your changes, and then click Save to save the changes to your dashboard.