Correlating database queries with APM traces in Splunk Observability Cloud delivers significant troubleshooting benefits for DBAs and SREs. With this integration, teams can quickly map a slow or problematic database query observed on the client side to its originating service request and associated backend execution. This end-to-end visibility allows users to pinpoint exactly where latency or errors occur, whether in the application layer, during query transmission, or within the database itself.

By seamlessly navigating from a specific query in Database Monitoring to related spans in Splunk APM, teams eliminate the guesswork of matching database queries and traces manually. This streamlines root cause analysis, reduces mean time to resolution (MTTR), and enables faster identification of inefficient queries or resource bottlenecks impacting customer experience.

Additionally, trace and query correlation empowers teams to prioritize remediation efforts and proactively optimize database performance. Understanding the full path of a query (across services, networks, and database internals) supports data-driven decisions for tuning workloads and improving reliability.

After you set up this correlation, select Queries > Query details > Traces to navigate from normalized queries to APM traces.

Compatibility

This correlation is supported between:

• .NET applications and Microsoft SQL Server queries
• Java (JDBC) applications and Microsoft SQL Server queries
• Java (JDBC) applications and Oracle Database queries

License requirements

To configure this correlation, you must have a Splunk APM license and you must update the instrumentation on the supported applications.