prestodb/presto · error · PrestoException

DISTRIBUTED_TRACING_ERROR

DISTRIBUTED_TRACING_ERROR

Error message

SAMPLE_BASED Tracing Mode is currently not supported.

What it means

TracingConfig.setDistributedTracingMode is the @Config binding for tracing.distributed-tracing-mode. The SAMPLE_BASED mode is not implemented, so selecting it is rejected immediately at configuration load with DISTRIBUTED_TRACING_ERROR rather than failing later at runtime.

Source

Thrown at presto-main-base/src/main/java/com/facebook/presto/tracing/TracingConfig.java:74

    }

    @Config("tracing.enable-distributed-tracing")
    public TracingConfig setEnableDistributedTracing(boolean enableDistributedTracing)
    {
        this.enableDistributedTracing = enableDistributedTracing;
        return this;
    }

    public DistributedTracingMode getDistributedTracingMode()
    {
        return tracingMode;
    }

    @Config("tracing.distributed-tracing-mode")
    public TracingConfig setDistributedTracingMode(String tracingMode)
    {
        if (tracingMode.equalsIgnoreCase(DistributedTracingMode.SAMPLE_BASED.name())) {
            throw new PrestoException(
                    DISTRIBUTED_TRACING_ERROR,
                    "SAMPLE_BASED Tracing Mode is currently not supported.");
        }
        this.tracingMode = DistributedTracingMode.valueOf(tracingMode.toUpperCase());
        return this;
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 55bb57d202)

Solutions

Change tracing.distributed-tracing-mode to ALWAYS_TRACE (the supported mode)
Remove the tracing.distributed-tracing-mode property to use the default mode
Upgrade Presto to a version that implements SAMPLE_BASED if sample-based tracing is required
Leave distributed tracing disabled if sampling semantics are essential and unsupported

Example fix

// before
tracing.distributed-tracing-mode=SAMPLE_BASED
// after
tracing.distributed-tracing-mode=ALWAYS_TRACE

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

String mode = props.getProperty("tracing.distributed-tracing-mode");
if (mode != null && mode.equalsIgnoreCase("SAMPLE_BASED")) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("tracing.distributed-tracing-mode=SAMPLE_BASED is unsupported; use ALWAYS_TRACE");
}

Type guard

boolean isSupportedTracingMode(String mode) {
    return mode != null && !mode.equalsIgnoreCase("SAMPLE_BASED");
}

Try / catch

try {
    config.setDistributedTracingMode(tracingMode);
} catch (PrestoException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("SAMPLE_BASED")) {
        LOG.warn("SAMPLE_BASED unsupported; falling back to ALWAYS_TRACE");
        config.setDistributedTracingMode("ALWAYS_TRACE");
    } else {
        throw e;
    }
}

Prevention

Validate tracing.properties against supported values for your Presto version before deploy
Use ALWAYS_TRACE (or omit the property) until SAMPLE_BASED ships in your build
Smoke-test server startup with new tracing config in a staging cluster
Derive mode values from the DistributedTracingMode enum minus unsupported entries

When it happens

Trigger: Setting tracing.distributed-tracing-mode=SAMPLE_BASED (any casing) in tracing.properties or via equivalent config during server startup.

Common situations: Following documentation or examples written for a newer Presto version that supports SAMPLE_BASED; guessing a mode name from the DistributedTracingMode enum; copy-pasting config from another cluster with a different Presto build.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of prestodb/presto@55bb57d202 (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/988fbfc40bbf3d3e. Report an issue: GitHub.