Propagating W3C traceparent from Apache CXF 2.7.15 JAX-RS client with OneAgent Java

jonander50 — Wed, 20 May 2026 10:53:25 GMT

Hi,

I have two legacy Java services (Service A and Service B) calling a modern Spring Boot service (Service C) over REST. All three run with OneAgent installed (Java sensor enabled).

Distributed traces break at the boundary: incoming spans on A/B and incoming spans on C have different trace.id. The W3C traceparent header is not present in the outgoing HTTP request from A/B.

Stack on the caller side (A and B)
- Apache CXF JAX-RS 2.7.15 (wrapped by an internal framework, upgrade not feasible)
- Client defined as <jaxrs:client bus="..." .../> in Spring XML
- A couple of existing outbound interceptors already in place for unrelated business headers
- oneagent-sdk-java and opentelemetry-api are NOT on the classpath
- OneAgent version: recent (>= 1.317)

What I have looked at so far
1. OpenTracingFeature (org.apache.cxf.tracing.opentracing.OpenTracingFeature) does not exist in CXF 2.7.15. It was introduced in CXF 3.1.x.
2. The OneAgent Java tech matrix lists CXF in supported frameworks, but I cannot tell whether outbound JAX-RS clients on CXF 2.7.x get automatic traceparent injection. Inbound seems fine (server-side spans are captured); outbound looks like it is not.
3. There is a tenant-level setting "Send W3C Trace Context HTTP headers" under server-side service monitoring. I am not sure what scope of clients it actually affects.
4. A custom CXF OutInterceptor is technically possible, but I am unsure how to obtain the active trace context inside it without pulling in extra SDK dependencies.

Questions
1. Does OneAgent Java automatically inject traceparent on outbound JAX-RS calls when the client is Apache CXF 2.7.15? If not, which CXF versions are supported for outbound auto-injection?
2. Does the "Send W3C Trace Context HTTP headers" tenant setting cover CXF 2.7.x clients, or does it only affect frameworks already auto-instrumented (Apache HttpClient 4/5, OkHttp, JDK HttpClient)?
3. If manual injection is the only path, how would you recommend approaching it on this stack? Anything supported for reading the trace context that OneAgent has already created on the inbound side and exposing it for an outbound interceptor, ideally without adding new dependencies?
4. If a custom interceptor has to mint its own trace-id and write the W3C header, will OneAgent on the callee side stitch that to the inbound trace it sees, or will it treat it as a separate trace?

Thanks.

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Propagating W3C traceparent from Apache CXF 2.7.15 JAX-RS client with OneAgent Java