Semantic Conventions for Azure Messaging Systems

Status: Experimental

The Semantic Conventions for Azure Service Bus and Azure Event Hubs extend and override the Messaging Semantic Conventions.

Azure Service Bus

messaging.system MUST be set to "servicebus" and SHOULD be provided at span creation time.

Span attributes

The following additional attributes are defined:

AttributeTypeDescriptionExamplesRequirement LevelStability
messaging.operation.namestringAzure Service Bus operation name. [1]send; receive; complete; process; peekRequiredExperimental
error.typestringDescribes a class of error the operation ended with. [2]amqp:decode-error; KAFKA_STORAGE_ERROR; channel-errorConditionally Required If and only if the messaging operation has failed.Stable
messaging.batch.message_countintThe number of messages sent, received, or processed in the scope of the batching operation. [3]0; 1; 2Conditionally Required [4]Experimental
messaging.destination.namestringThe message destination name [5]MyQueue; MyTopicConditionally Required [6]Experimental
messaging.destination.subscription.namestringAzure Service Bus subscription name.subscription-aConditionally Required If messages are received from the subscription.Experimental
messaging.operation.typestringA string identifying the type of the messaging operation. [7]publish; create; receiveConditionally Required If applicable.Experimental
messaging.servicebus.disposition_statusstringDescribes the settlement type.complete; abandon; dead_letterConditionally Required if and only if messaging.operation is settle.Experimental
messaging.servicebus.message.delivery_countintNumber of deliveries that have been attempted for this message.2Conditionally Required [8]Experimental
server.addressstringServer domain name if available without reverse DNS lookup; otherwise, IP address or Unix domain socket name. [9]example.com; 10.1.2.80; /tmp/my.sockConditionally Required If available.Stable
messaging.message.conversation_idstringMessage correlation Id property.MyConversationIdRecommendedExperimental
messaging.message.idstringA value used by the messaging system as an identifier for the message, represented as a string.452a7c7c7c7048c2f887f61572b18fc2Recommended If span describes operation on a single message.Experimental
messaging.servicebus.message.enqueued_timeintThe UTC epoch seconds at which the message has been accepted and stored in the entity.1701393730RecommendedExperimental
server.portintServer port number. [10]80; 8080; 443RecommendedStable

[1]: The operation name SHOULD match one of the following values:

  • sender operations: send, schedule, cancel_scheduled
  • transaction operations: create_transaction, commit_transaction, rollback_transaction
  • receiver operation: receive, peek, receive_deferred, renew_message_lock
  • settlement operations: abandon, complete, defer, dead_letter, delete
  • session operations: accept_session, get_session_state, set_session_state, renew_session_lock

If none of the above operation names apply, the attribute SHOULD be set to the name of the client method in snake_case.

[2]: The error.type SHOULD be predictable, and SHOULD have low cardinality.

When error.type is set to a type (e.g., an exception type), its canonical class name identifying the type within the artifact SHOULD be used.

Instrumentations SHOULD document the list of errors they report.

The cardinality of error.type within one instrumentation library SHOULD be low. Telemetry consumers that aggregate data from multiple instrumentation libraries and applications should be prepared for error.type to have high cardinality at query time when no additional filters are applied.

If the operation has completed successfully, instrumentations SHOULD NOT set error.type.

If a specific domain defines its own set of error identifiers (such as HTTP or gRPC status codes), it’s RECOMMENDED to:

  • Use a domain-specific attribute
  • Set error.type to capture all errors, regardless of whether they are defined within the domain-specific set or not.

[3]: Instrumentations SHOULD NOT set messaging.batch.message_count on spans that operate with a single message. When a messaging client library supports both batch and single-message API for the same operation, instrumentations SHOULD use messaging.batch.message_count for batching APIs and SHOULD NOT use it for single-message APIs.

[4]: If the span describes an operation on a batch of messages.

[5]: Destination name SHOULD uniquely identify a specific queue, topic or other entity within the broker. If the broker doesn’t have such notion, the destination name SHOULD uniquely identify the broker.

[6]: If span describes operation on a single message or if the value applies to all messages in the batch.

[7]: If a custom value is used, it MUST be of low cardinality.

[8]: If delivery count is available and is bigger than 0.

[9]: Server domain name of the broker if available without reverse DNS lookup; otherwise, IP address or Unix domain socket name.

[10]: When observed from the client side, and when communicating through an intermediary, server.port SHOULD represent the server port behind any intermediaries, for example proxies, if it’s available.

The following attributes can be important for making sampling decisions and SHOULD be provided at span creation time (if provided at all):

error.type has the following list of well-known values. If one of them applies, then the respective value MUST be used; otherwise, a custom value MAY be used.

ValueDescriptionStability
_OTHERA fallback error value to be used when the instrumentation doesn’t define a custom value.Stable

messaging.operation.type has the following list of well-known values. If one of them applies, then the respective value MUST be used; otherwise, a custom value MAY be used.

ValueDescriptionStability
createA message is created. “Create” spans always refer to a single message and are used to provide a unique creation context for messages in batch publishing scenarios.Experimental
processOne or more messages are processed by a consumer.Experimental
publishOne or more messages are provided for publishing to an intermediary. If a single message is published, the context of the “Publish” span can be used as the creation context and no “Create” span needs to be created.Experimental
receiveOne or more messages are requested by a consumer. This operation refers to pull-based scenarios, where consumers explicitly call methods of messaging SDKs to receive messages.Experimental
settleOne or more messages are settled.Experimental

messaging.servicebus.disposition_status has the following list of well-known values. If one of them applies, then the respective value MUST be used; otherwise, a custom value MAY be used.

ValueDescriptionStability
abandonMessage is abandonedExperimental
completeMessage is completedExperimental
dead_letterMessage is sent to dead letter queueExperimental
deferMessage is deferredExperimental

Azure Event Hubs

messaging.system MUST be set to "eventhubs" and SHOULD be provided at span creation time.

Span attributes

The following additional attributes are defined:

AttributeTypeDescriptionExamplesRequirement LevelStability
messaging.operation.namestringAzure Event Hubs operation name. [1]send; receive; checkpointRequiredExperimental
error.typestringDescribes a class of error the operation ended with. [2]amqp:decode-error; KAFKA_STORAGE_ERROR; channel-errorConditionally Required If and only if the messaging operation has failed.Stable
messaging.batch.message_countintThe number of messages sent, received, or processed in the scope of the batching operation. [3]0; 1; 2Conditionally Required [4]Experimental
messaging.consumer.group.namestringAzure Event Hubs consumer group name.my-group; indexerConditionally Required On consumer spans.Experimental
messaging.destination.namestringThe message destination name [5]MyQueue; MyTopicConditionally Required [6]Experimental
messaging.destination.partition.idstringString representation of the partition id messages are sent to or received from, unique within the Event Hub.1Conditionally Required If available.Experimental
messaging.operation.typestringA string identifying the type of the messaging operation. [7]publish; create; receiveConditionally Required If applicable.Experimental
server.addressstringServer domain name if available without reverse DNS lookup; otherwise, IP address or Unix domain socket name. [8]example.com; 10.1.2.80; /tmp/my.sockConditionally Required If available.Stable
messaging.eventhubs.message.enqueued_timeintThe UTC epoch seconds at which the message has been accepted and stored in the entity.1701393730RecommendedExperimental
messaging.message.idstringA value used by the messaging system as an identifier for the message, represented as a string.452a7c7c7c7048c2f887f61572b18fc2Recommended If span describes operation on a single message.Experimental
server.portintServer port number. [9]80; 8080; 443RecommendedStable

[1]: The operation name SHOULD match one of the following values:

  • send
  • receive
  • process
  • checkpoint
  • get_partition_properties
  • get_event_hub_properties

If none of the above operation names apply, the attribute SHOULD be set to the name of the client method in snake_case.

[2]: The error.type SHOULD be predictable, and SHOULD have low cardinality.

When error.type is set to a type (e.g., an exception type), its canonical class name identifying the type within the artifact SHOULD be used.

Instrumentations SHOULD document the list of errors they report.

The cardinality of error.type within one instrumentation library SHOULD be low. Telemetry consumers that aggregate data from multiple instrumentation libraries and applications should be prepared for error.type to have high cardinality at query time when no additional filters are applied.

If the operation has completed successfully, instrumentations SHOULD NOT set error.type.

If a specific domain defines its own set of error identifiers (such as HTTP or gRPC status codes), it’s RECOMMENDED to:

  • Use a domain-specific attribute
  • Set error.type to capture all errors, regardless of whether they are defined within the domain-specific set or not.

[3]: Instrumentations SHOULD NOT set messaging.batch.message_count on spans that operate with a single message. When a messaging client library supports both batch and single-message API for the same operation, instrumentations SHOULD use messaging.batch.message_count for batching APIs and SHOULD NOT use it for single-message APIs.

[4]: If the span describes an operation on a batch of messages.

[5]: Destination name SHOULD uniquely identify a specific queue, topic or other entity within the broker. If the broker doesn’t have such notion, the destination name SHOULD uniquely identify the broker.

[6]: If span describes operation on a single message or if the value applies to all messages in the batch.

[7]: If a custom value is used, it MUST be of low cardinality.

[8]: Server domain name of the broker if available without reverse DNS lookup; otherwise, IP address or Unix domain socket name.

[9]: When observed from the client side, and when communicating through an intermediary, server.port SHOULD represent the server port behind any intermediaries, for example proxies, if it’s available.

The following attributes can be important for making sampling decisions and SHOULD be provided at span creation time (if provided at all):

error.type has the following list of well-known values. If one of them applies, then the respective value MUST be used; otherwise, a custom value MAY be used.

ValueDescriptionStability
_OTHERA fallback error value to be used when the instrumentation doesn’t define a custom value.Stable

messaging.operation.type has the following list of well-known values. If one of them applies, then the respective value MUST be used; otherwise, a custom value MAY be used.

ValueDescriptionStability
createA message is created. “Create” spans always refer to a single message and are used to provide a unique creation context for messages in batch publishing scenarios.Experimental
processOne or more messages are processed by a consumer.Experimental
publishOne or more messages are provided for publishing to an intermediary. If a single message is published, the context of the “Publish” span can be used as the creation context and no “Create” span needs to be created.Experimental
receiveOne or more messages are requested by a consumer. This operation refers to pull-based scenarios, where consumers explicitly call methods of messaging SDKs to receive messages.Experimental
settleOne or more messages are settled.Experimental