---
title: Missing or incomplete traces due to SDK sampling
description: Learn how to troubleshoot missing or incomplete traces in EDOT SDKs caused by head sampling configuration.
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4236/troubleshoot/ingest/opentelemetry/edot-sdks/misconfigured-sampling-sdk
products:
  - Elastic Distribution of OpenTelemetry SDK
  - Elastic Observability
---

# Missing or incomplete traces due to SDK sampling
If traces or spans are missing in Kibana, the issue might be related to SDK-level sampling configuration. By default, SDKs use head-based sampling, meaning the decision to record or drop a trace is made when the trace is first created. For general troubleshooting when no data appears in Kibana, refer to [No application-level telemetry visible in Kibana](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4236/troubleshoot/ingest/opentelemetry/edot-sdks/missing-app-telemetry) or [No data visible in Kibana](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4236/troubleshoot/ingest/opentelemetry/no-data-in-kibana).
Both SDK-level and Collector-based sampling can result in gaps in telemetry if misconfigured. Refer to [Missing or incomplete traces due to Collector sampling](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4236/troubleshoot/ingest/opentelemetry/edot-collector/misconfigured-sampling-collector) for more details.

## Symptoms

You might notice one or more of the following behaviors when SDK-level sampling is impacting your traces:
- Only a small subset of traces reaches Elasticsearch or Kibana, even though SDKs are exporting spans.
- Transactions look incomplete because some spans are missing.
- Trace volume is unexpectedly low compared to logs or metrics.


## Causes

These factors can result in missing spans or traces when sampling is configured at the SDK level:
- Head sampling at the SDK level drops traces before they're exported.
- Default sampling rates (for example `1/100` or `1/1000`) might be too low for your workload.
- Environment variables like `OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER` or `OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER_ARG` are not set, not recognized, or formatted in a way the SDK doesn't support.
- Inconsistent configuration across services can lead to fragmented or incomplete traces.
- Some SDKs enforce stricter formats for sampler arguments, which can cause values to be ignored if not matched precisely.


## Resolution

Follow these steps to resolve SDK sampling configuration issues:
<stepper>
  <step title="Check SDK environment variables">
    - Confirm that `OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER` and `OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER_ARG` are set correctly.
    - For testing, you can temporarily set:
      ```bash
      export OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER=always_on
      ```
    - In production, consider using `parentbased_traceidratio` with an explicit ratio.
  </step>

  <step title="Align configuration across services">
    - Use consistent sampling configuration across all instrumented services to help avoid dropped child spans or fragmented traces.
  </step>

  <step title="Adjust sampling ratios for your traffic">
    - For low-traffic applications, avoid extremely low ratios (such as `1/1000`).
      For example, the following configuration samples ~20% of traces:
      ```bash
      export OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER=parentbased_traceidratio
      export OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER_ARG=0.2
      ```
  </step>

  <step title="Use Collector tail sampling for advanced scenarios">
    - Head sampling can't evaluate the full trace context before making a decision.
    - For more control (for example "keep all errors, sample 10% of successes"), use Collector tail sampling.
      For more information, refer to [Missing or incomplete traces due to Collector sampling](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4236/troubleshoot/ingest/opentelemetry/edot-collector/misconfigured-sampling-collector).
  </step>
</stepper>


## Resources

- [OTEL_TRACES_SAMPLER environment variable specifications](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otel/configuration/sdk-environment-variables/#otel_traces_sampler)
- [OpenTelemetry sampling concepts - contrib documentation](https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/sampling/)
- [Missing or incomplete traces due to Collector sampling](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4236/troubleshoot/ingest/opentelemetry/edot-collector/misconfigured-sampling-collector)