KCNA Cloud Native Observability Practice Question
An application is instrumented with OpenTelemetry to export traces to Jaeger. The team notices that some traces are incomplete. What is the most likely cause?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Context propagation is not correctly implemented
Incomplete traces often occur when context propagation is not implemented correctly, causing spans to be disconnected.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Context propagation is not correctly implemented
Why this is correct
Incomplete traces typically arise when trace context is not propagated across service boundaries, so downstream spans are created without the parent trace ID and appear as separate traces rather than linked spans within one trace.
- ✗
Span attributes are missing
Why it's wrong here
Missing span attributes leave traces present but sparsely annotated; they do not cause traces to be incomplete in structure. It tempts because attribute gaps look like missing data, and would be correct if the requirement were richer metadata for filtering or analysis rather than trace completeness.
- ✗
Sampling rate is too high
Why it's wrong here
A high sampling rate captures more traces, not fewer; incomplete traces arise when sampling drops spans or context propagation breaks. It tempts because sampling is the usual suspect for missing trace data, and would be correct if the rate were too low, causing entire traces to be discarded before export.
- ✗
Jaeger database is full
Why it's wrong here
A full Jaeger database causes dropped or rejected spans, but incomplete traces typically stem from sampling decisions or missing context propagation, not storage exhaustion. It tempts because capacity limits do cause data loss, and would be correct if Jaeger returned write errors or rejected spans after reaching its retention or storage ceiling.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This KCNA practice question is part of Courseiva's free CNCF certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the KCNA exam.