How can you identify which downstream service is causing response delays in an application on GKE?

Using distributed tracing frameworks like OpenTelemetry is an effective method for identifying which downstream service is causing response delays in an application on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). Distributed tracing allows you to track individual requests as they flow through the various services that make up your application. It helps in capturing the timing information for each segment of the request lifecycle across multiple microservices.

By utilizing OpenTelemetry, you can visualize the entire flow of a request, see where the bottlenecks are occurring, and pinpoint which specific downstream service is introducing latency. This detailed view of the interaction between services enables you to diagnose performance issues more accurately and optimize your application accordingly.

In contrast, analyzing VPC flow logs provides network-level visibility but does not give detailed insights into how different services are interacting or where delays may be occurring in the request handling process. Creating a data analysis pipeline may assist with data collection and analysis but doesn't directly address tracing service interactions. Investigating service liveness and readiness probes is crucial for ensuring service availability, but this approach does not provide information regarding response times or delays between services.