In this blog, Owen Murphy explores how to investigate application slowdowns by connecting distributed traces to database queries. When an application slows down, the first alert is only the beginning of the investigation. The real challenge is determining whether the delay comes from the application, infrastructure, network, or database—and finding the evidence to prove it.
Distributed tracing can show where a request spends its time, while database observability reveals what is happening inside the query itself. Together, they help teams connect application latency to database behavior and move from a vague performance symptom to a focused root-cause investigation.