The theory and practice of trace sampling

Sampling is the answer, but choosing the right strategy involves real trade-offs that are poorly documented outside vendor ecosystems.

This session explores sampling through the lens of OpenTelemetry's community resources, including head and tail sampling, the statefulness challenges of tail sampling at scale, and the often-overlooked impact of sampling on connected concepts like RED metrics. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for choosing and configuring a sampling strategy that balances cost, completeness, and metric accuracy.