Semantic conventions for database client calls
Status: Experimental
Span kind: MUST always be CLIENT.
The span name SHOULD be set to a low cardinality value representing the statement executed on the database.
It MAY be a stored procedure name (without arguments), DB statement without variable arguments, operation name, etc.
Since SQL statements may have very high cardinality even without arguments, SQL spans SHOULD be named the
following way, unless the statement is known to be of low cardinality:
<db.operation> <db.name>.<db.sql.table>, provided that db.operation and db.sql.table are available.
If db.sql.table is not available due to its semantics, the span SHOULD be named <db.operation> <db.name>.
It is not recommended to attempt any client-side parsing of db.statement just to get these properties,
they should only be used if the library being instrumented already provides them.
When it’s otherwise impossible to get any meaningful span name, db.name or the tech-specific database name MAY be used.
Connection-level attributes
These attributes will usually be the same for all operations performed over the same database connection.
Some database systems may allow a connection to switch to a different db.user, for example, and other database systems may not even have the concept of a connection at all.
| Attribute | Type | Description | Examples | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
db.system |
string | An identifier for the database management system (DBMS) product being used. See below for a list of well-known identifiers. | other_sql |
Yes |
db.connection_string |
string | The connection string used to connect to the database. It is recommended to remove embedded credentials. | Server=(localdb)\v11.0;Integrated Security=true; |
No |
db.user |
string | Username for accessing the database. | readonly_user; reporting_user |
No |
net.peer.ip |
string | Remote address of the peer (dotted decimal for IPv4 or RFC5952 for IPv6) | 127.0.0.1 |
See below. |
net.peer.name |
string | Remote hostname or similar, see note below. | example.com |
See below. |
net.peer.port |
int | Remote port number. | 80; 8080; 443 |
Conditional [1] |
net.transport |
string | Transport protocol used. See note below. | ip_tcp |
Conditional [2] |
[1]: Required if using a port other than the default port for this DBMS.
[2]: Recommended in general, required for in-process databases ("inproc").
Additional attribute requirements: At least one of the following sets of attributes is required:
db.system MUST be one of the following or, if none of the listed values apply, a custom value:
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
other_sql |
Some other SQL database. Fallback only. See notes. |
mssql |
Microsoft SQL Server |
mysql |
MySQL |
oracle |
Oracle Database |
db2 |
IBM Db2 |
postgresql |
PostgreSQL |
redshift |
Amazon Redshift |
hive |
Apache Hive |
cloudscape |
Cloudscape |
hsqldb |
HyperSQL DataBase |
progress |
Progress Database |
maxdb |
SAP MaxDB |
hanadb |
SAP HANA |
ingres |
Ingres |
firstsql |
FirstSQL |
edb |
EnterpriseDB |
cache |
InterSystems Caché |
adabas |
Adabas (Adaptable Database System) |
firebird |
Firebird |
derby |
Apache Derby |
filemaker |
FileMaker |
informix |
Informix |
instantdb |
InstantDB |
interbase |
InterBase |
mariadb |
MariaDB |
netezza |
Netezza |
pervasive |
Pervasive PSQL |
pointbase |
PointBase |
sqlite |
SQLite |
sybase |
Sybase |
teradata |
Teradata |
vertica |
Vertica |
h2 |
H2 |
coldfusion |
ColdFusion IMQ |
cassandra |
Apache Cassandra |
hbase |
Apache HBase |
mongodb |
MongoDB |
redis |
Redis |
couchbase |
Couchbase |
couchdb |
CouchDB |
cosmosdb |
Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB |
dynamodb |
Amazon DynamoDB |
neo4j |
Neo4j |
geode |
Apache Geode |
elasticsearch |
Elasticsearch |
memcached |
Memcached |
cockroachdb |
CockroachDB |
Notes and well-known identifiers for db.system
The list above is a non-exhaustive list of well-known identifiers to be specified for db.system.
If a value defined in this list applies to the DBMS to which the request is sent, this value MUST be used. If no value defined in this list is suitable, a custom value MUST be provided. This custom value MUST be the name of the DBMS in lowercase and without a version number to stay consistent with existing identifiers.
It is encouraged to open a PR towards this specification to add missing values to the list, especially when instrumentations for those missing databases are written. This allows multiple instrumentations for the same database to be aligned and eases analyzing for backends.
The value other_sql is intended as a fallback and MUST only be used if the DBMS is known to be SQL-compliant but the concrete product is not known to the instrumentation.
If the concrete DBMS is known to the instrumentation, its specific identifier MUST be used.
Back ends could, for example, use the provided identifier to determine the appropriate SQL dialect for parsing the db.statement.
When additional attributes are added that only apply to a specific DBMS, its identifier SHOULD be used as a namespace in the attribute key as for the attributes in the sections below.
Connection-level attributes for specific technologies
| Attribute | Type | Description | Examples | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
db.jdbc.driver_classname |
string | The fully-qualified class name of the Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) driver used to connect. | org.postgresql.Driver; com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver |
No |
db.mssql.instance_name |
string | The Microsoft SQL Server instance name connecting to. This name is used to determine the port of a named instance. [1] | MSSQLSERVER |
No |
[1]: If setting a db.mssql.instance_name, net.peer.port is no longer required (but still recommended if non-standard).
Call-level attributes
These attributes may be different for each operation performed, even if the same connection is used for multiple operations.
Usually only one db.name will be used per connection though.
| Attribute | Type | Description | Examples | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
db.name |
string | This attribute is used to report the name of the database being accessed. For commands that switch the database, this should be set to the target database (even if the command fails). [1] | customers; main |
Required, if applicable. |
db.statement |
string | The database statement being executed. [2] | SELECT * FROM wuser_table; SET mykey "WuValue" |
Conditional [3] |
db.operation |
string | The name of the operation being executed, e.g. the MongoDB command name such as findAndModify, or the SQL keyword. [4] |
findAndModify; HMSET; SELECT |
Required, if db.statement is not applicable. |
[1]: In some SQL databases, the database name to be used is called “schema name”. In case there are multiple layers that could be considered for database name (e.g. Oracle instance name and schema name), the database name to be used is the more specific layer (e.g. Oracle schema name).
[2]: The value may be sanitized to exclude sensitive information.
[3]: Required if applicable and not explicitly disabled via instrumentation configuration.
[4]: When setting this to an SQL keyword, it is not recommended to attempt any client-side parsing of db.statement just to get this property, but it should be set if the operation name is provided by the library being instrumented. If the SQL statement has an ambiguous operation, or performs more than one operation, this value may be omitted.
For Redis, the value provided for db.statement SHOULD correspond to the syntax of the Redis CLI.
If, for example, the HMSET command is invoked, "HMSET myhash field1 'Hello' field2 'World'" would be a suitable value for db.statement.
In CouchDB, db.operation should be set to the HTTP method + the target REST route according to the API reference documentation.
For example, when retrieving a document, db.operation would be set to (literally, i.e., without replacing the placeholders with concrete values): GET /{db}/{docid}.
In Cassandra, db.name SHOULD be set to the keyspace name.
In HBase, db.name SHOULD be set to the HBase namespace.
Call-level attributes for specific technologies
| Attribute | Type | Description | Examples | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
db.redis.database_index |
int | The index of the database being accessed as used in the SELECT command, provided as an integer. To be used instead of the generic db.name attribute. |
0; 1; 15 |
Conditional [1] |
db.mongodb.collection |
string | The collection being accessed within the database stated in db.name. |
customers; products |
Yes |
db.sql.table |
string | The name of the primary table that the operation is acting upon, including the database name (if applicable). [2] | public.users; customers |
Recommended if available. |
[1]: Required, if other than the default database (0).
[2]: It is not recommended to attempt any client-side parsing of db.statement just to get this property, but it should be set if it is provided by the library being instrumented. If the operation is acting upon an anonymous table, or more than one table, this value MUST NOT be set.
Cassandra
Separated for clarity.
| Attribute | Type | Description | Examples | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
db.cassandra.page_size |
int | The fetch size used for paging, i.e. how many rows will be returned at once. | 5000 |
No |
db.cassandra.consistency_level |
string | The consistency level of the query. Based on consistency values from CQL. | all |
No |
db.cassandra.table |
string | The name of the primary table that the operation is acting upon, including the keyspace name (if applicable). [1] | mytable |
Recommended if available. |
db.cassandra.idempotence |
boolean | Whether or not the query is idempotent. | No | |
db.cassandra.speculative_execution_count |
int | The number of times a query was speculatively executed. Not set or 0 if the query was not executed speculatively. |
0; 2 |
No |
db.cassandra.coordinator.id |
string | The ID of the coordinating node for a query. | be13faa2-8574-4d71-926d-27f16cf8a7af |
No |
db.cassandra.coordinator.dc |
string | The data center of the coordinating node for a query. | us-west-2 |
No |
[1]: This mirrors the db.sql.table attribute but references cassandra rather than sql. It is not recommended to attempt any client-side parsing of db.statement just to get this property, but it should be set if it is provided by the library being instrumented. If the operation is acting upon an anonymous table, or more than one table, this value MUST NOT be set.
Examples
MySQL
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Span name | "SELECT ShopDb.orders" |
db.system |
"mysql" |
db.connection_string |
"Server=shopdb.example.com;Database=ShopDb;Uid=billing_user;TableCache=true;UseCompression=True;MinimumPoolSize=10;MaximumPoolSize=50;" |
db.user |
"billing_user" |
net.peer.name |
"shopdb.example.com" |
net.peer.ip |
"192.0.2.12" |
net.peer.port |
3306 |
net.transport |
"IP.TCP" |
db.name |
"ShopDb" |
db.statement |
"SELECT * FROM orders WHERE order_id = 'o4711'" |
db.operation |
"SELECT" |
db.sql.table |
"orders" |
Redis
In this example, Redis is connected using a unix domain socket and therefore the connection string and net.peer.ip are left out.
Furthermore, db.name is not specified as there is no database name in Redis and db.redis.database_index is set instead.
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Span name | "HMSET myhash" |
db.system |
"redis" |
db.connection_string |
not set |
db.user |
not set |
net.peer.name |
"/tmp/redis.sock" |
net.transport |
"Unix" |
db.name |
not set |
db.statement |
"HMSET myhash field1 'Hello' field2 'World" |
db.operation |
not set |
db.redis.database_index |
15 |
MongoDB
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Span name | "products.findAndModify" |
db.system |
"mongodb" |
db.connection_string |
not set |
db.user |
"the_user" |
net.peer.name |
"mongodb0.example.com" |
net.peer.ip |
"192.0.2.14" |
net.peer.port |
27017 |
net.transport |
"IP.TCP" |
db.name |
"shopDb" |
db.statement |
not set |
db.operation |
"findAndModify" |
db.mongodb.collection |
"products" |