  Modern microservice systems have gained widespread adoption due to their high
scalability, flexibility, and extensibility. However, the characteristics of
independent deployment, decentralization, and frequent dynamic interactions
also introduce the risk of cascading failures, making it challenging to achieve
accurate failure diagnosis and rapid system recovery. These issues severely
impact operation efficiency and user experience. Recognizing the crucial role
of failure diagnosis in enhancing the stability and reliability of microservice
systems, researchers have conducted extensive studies and achieved a series of
significant outcomes. This survey provides a comprehensive review and primary
analysis of 94 papers from 2003 to the present, including an overview of the
fundamental concepts, a research framework, and problem statements. These
insights aim to help researchers understand the latest research progress in
failure diagnosis. Publicly available datasets, toolkits, and evaluation
metrics are also compiled to assist practitioners in selecting and validating
various techniques, providing a foundation to advance the domain beyond current
practices.
