Exception analysis

Latest Dynatrace
Tutorial
4-min read
Published Jan 12, 2026

Exception analysis in Dynatrace provides a comprehensive view of exceptions occurring along your traces. It enables you to identify, analyze, and resolve issues by offering:

Visual trends of exception occurrences over time
Advanced filtering by service, endpoint, exception type, and timeframe
Aggregated stack traces to pinpoint root causes

With detailed contextual logs and insights into requests containing exceptions, including sub-traces, Dynatrace helps you understand the root causes of exceptions and their impact across your distributed traces, ensuring faster resolution and improved reliability.

What is exception analysis?

In Dynatrace, an exception refers to an error or unexpected condition that occurs during code execution. Exceptions may result from programming errors, invalid inputs, resource issues, or external service failures.

Exceptions are captured during a span either by OneAgent or via OpenTelemetry. The new Exception analysis will leverage the semantics defined Semantic Dictionary: Traces, which are based on OpenTelemetry semantic conventions.

Exception analysis helps you detect, investigate, and resolve exceptions more effectively. It introduces a user-focused interface with advanced capabilities for both reactive and proactive troubleshooting.

To explore Exceptions

Go to Distributed Tracing.
Select the Exceptions tab.

This feature is designed for SREs, developers, and DevOps teams who need fast, actionable insights into exception patterns and their impact on services.

Exception analysis provides:

A clear view of which exceptions occur
Trends showing how exceptions evolve over time
Advanced filtering by service, endpoint, exception type, and timeframe
In-depth analysis and visual trends of exception occurrences
Aggregated stack traces to identify root causes
Contextual logs linked to exceptions
Insights into requests containing exceptions

Key capabilities

Core capabilities

Capability

Description

Advanced filtering

Use Dynatrace filters to narrow down exceptions by attributes such as service, endpoint, failures, and more.

Timeframe
Segments
Facets

Exception trend chart

Visualize the trend of exceptions over time.

Select an exception in the table to highlight it in the trend chart for deeper analysis.

Exceptions table

View a detailed list of exceptions, including their type, frequency, and impact.

Select an exception in the table to highlight it in the trend chart for deeper analysis.

Aggregated stack traces

Explore aggregated stack traces for each exception, allowing you to identify common code paths and pinpoint the root cause of issues.

Related logs

View logs related to each exception for additional context. This helps you correlate log events with the occurrence of exceptions.

Requests containing exceptions

Analyze requests that contained the selected exception, either directly or within a sub-trace. This feature helps you understand how exceptions are affecting specific transactions.

Integration with Dynatrace

Embedded in Distributed Tracing as a new Exceptions tab
Integrated into the Dynatrace services-specific drill-down options
Replaces the legacy Exceptions Analysis page for DPS customers

Exception analysis is designed to support both contextual and exploratory workflows.

Prerequisites

DPS license
SaaS environment with the latest Dynatrace platform enabled

Direct access

To explore Exceptions directly

Go to Distributed Tracing.
Select the Exceptions tab.

Contextual access

To analyze exceptions in context

Go to Services.
Turn on Analyze details.
Select the Exceptions tab.

Get started

To get started troubleshooting service exceptions

Go to Distributed Tracing and select the Exceptions tab.
Apply filters for service, endpoint, and timeframe.
Select an exception from the table to highlight its trend in the chart and additional details for further analysis.
For the selected exception, the screen provides aggregated stack traces. These stack traces are grouped to show common execution paths with their contribution, making it easier to understand what they have in common and where they deviate from each other.
To examine logs happening on these spans containing the exception, select the Logs tab.
To see endpoints impacted by exceptions, select the Requests tab.

Join the conversation

We’d love to hear your feedback and questions about the new Exceptions Analysis experience.

Visit the Feedback Channel in the Dynatrace Community.