Semantic Conventions for RabbitMQ

Status: Experimental

The Semantic Conventions for RabbitMQ extend and override the Messaging Semantic Conventions.

[!Warning]

Existing messaging instrumentations that are using v1.24.0 of this document (or prior):

• SHOULD NOT change the version of the messaging conventions that they emit by default until the messaging semantic conventions are marked stable. Conventions include, but are not limited to, attributes, metric and span names, span kind and unit of measure.
• SHOULD introduce an environment variable OTEL_SEMCONV_STABILITY_OPT_IN in the existing major version which is a comma-separated list of values. The list of values includes:
  • messaging - emit the new, stable messaging conventions, and stop emitting the old experimental messaging conventions that the instrumentation emitted previously.
  • messaging/dup - emit both the old and the stable messaging conventions, allowing for a seamless transition.
  • The default behavior (in the absence of one of these values) is to continue emitting whatever version of the old experimental messaging conventions the instrumentation was emitting previously.
  • Note: messaging/dup has higher precedence than messaging in case both values are present
• SHOULD maintain (security patching at a minimum) the existing major version for at least six months after it starts emitting both sets of conventions.
• SHOULD drop the environment variable in the next major version.
• SHOULD emit the new, stable values for span name, span kind and similar “single” valued concepts when messaging/dup is present in the list.

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

RabbitMQ attributes

Attribute	Type	Description	Examples	Requirement Level	Stability
messaging.destination.name	string	The message destination name [1]	direct_logs:warning; logs	Required
messaging.operation.name	string	The system-specific name of the messaging operation.	ack; nack; send	Required
error.type	string	Describes a class of error the operation ended with. [2]	amqp:decode-error; KAFKA_STORAGE_ERROR; channel-error	Conditionally Required If and only if the messaging operation has failed.
messaging.operation.type	string	A string identifying the type of the messaging operation. [3]	create; send; receive	Conditionally Required If applicable.
messaging.rabbitmq.destination.routing_key	string	RabbitMQ message routing key.	myKey	Conditionally Required If not empty.
messaging.rabbitmq.message.delivery_tag	int	RabbitMQ message delivery tag	123	Conditionally Required When available.
server.address	string	Server domain name if available without reverse DNS lookup; otherwise, IP address or Unix domain socket name. [4]	example.com; 10.1.2.80; /tmp/my.sock	Conditionally Required If available.
messaging.message.conversation_id	string	Message correlation Id property.	MyConversationId	Recommended
messaging.message.id	string	A value used by the messaging system as an identifier for the message, represented as a string.	452a7c7c7c7048c2f887f61572b18fc2	Recommended If span describes operation on a single message.
network.peer.address	string	Peer address of the network connection - IP address or Unix domain socket name. [5]	10.1.2.80; /tmp/my.sock	Recommended
network.peer.port	int	Peer port number of the network connection.	65123	Recommended
server.port	int	Server port number. [6]	80; 8080; 443	Recommended
messaging.message.body.size	int	The size of the message body in bytes. [7]	1439	Opt-In

[1] messaging.destination.name: In RabbitMQ, the destination is defined by an exchange, a routing key and for consumers, a queue.

messaging.destination.name SHOULD be set to:

• On the producer side: {exchange}:{routing key} when both values are present and non-empty. When only one is available, only that value SHOULD be used. E.g., {exchange} or {routing key}. Otherwise: amq.default when the default exchange is used and no routing key is provided

• On the consumer side: {exchange}:{routing key}:{queue} when all values are present and non-empty. If any has an empty value (e.g., the default exchange is used) it SHOULD be omitted. For cases when {routing key} and {queue} are equal, only one of them SHOULD be used, e.g., {exchange}:{routing key}.

[2] error.type: 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] messaging.operation.type: If a custom value is used, it MUST be of low cardinality.

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

[5] network.peer.address: If an operation involved multiple network calls (for example retries), the address of the last contacted node SHOULD be used.

[6] server.port: 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.

[7] messaging.message.body.size: This can refer to both the compressed or uncompressed body size. If both sizes are known, the uncompressed body size should be used.

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

• messaging.destination.name
• messaging.operation.name
• messaging.operation.type
• server.address
• server.port

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.

Value	Description	Stability
_OTHER	A fallback error value to be used when the instrumentation doesn’t define a custom value.

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.

Value	Description	Stability
create	A message is created. “Create” spans always refer to a single message and are used to provide a unique creation context for messages in batch sending scenarios.
process	One or more messages are processed by a consumer.
receive	One 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.
send	One or more messages are provided for sending to an intermediary. If a single message is sent, the context of the “Send” span can be used as the creation context and no “Create” span needs to be created.
settle	One or more messages are settled.