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Attributes Naming Convention

Getting Started

One may ask, Why do we need a naming convention for log attributes?

  • Various technologies tend to use different attribute names for the same meaning.
  • This usually generates too many attributes, which can lead to user confusion and the inability to correlate logs across sources.
  • Datadog Integrations rely on the following attribute naming convention.
  • Use the following reference when parsing custom formats and sources in order to fully leverage all of Datadog’s functionalities.

Overview

Centralizing logs from various technologies and applications tends to generate tens or hundreds of different attributes in a Log Management environment- especially when many users, each one with their own personal usage patterns, are working within the same environment. This generates confusion. For instance, a client IP might have the following attributes within your logs: clientIP, client_ip_address, remote_address, client.ip, etc. In this context, it can be cumbersome to know which attributes correspond to the logs you are trying to filter on, or correlate proxy logs to web application logs.

Even if technologies define their respective logs attributes differently, a URL, client IP, or duration have universally consistent meanings. This is why Datadog decided while implementing log integrations to rely on a subset of names for attributes that are commonly observed over log sources.

But as Datadog integrations are not covering your custom formats and sources, we decided to make this Attribute Naming Convention (or Taxonomy) public to help you decide how to name your attributes in your own parsers.

This attribute naming convention has been split into 7 functional domains:

Network

Related to the data used in network communication. All fields and metrics are prefixed by network.

Fullname Type Description
network.client.ip string The IP address of the client that initiated the TCP connection.
network.destination.ip string The IP address the client connected to.
network.client.port string The port of the client that initiated the connection.
network.destination.port string The TCP port the client connected to.
network.bytes_read number Total number of bytes transmitted from the client to the server when the log is emitted.
network.bytes_written number Total number of bytes transmitted from the server to the client when the log is emitted.

Typical integrations relying on these attributes include Apache, Varnish, AWS ELB, Nginx, HAProxy, etc.

HTTP Requests

Related to the data commonly used in HTTP requests and accesses. All attributes are prefixed by http.

Typical integrations relying on these attributes include Apache, Rails, AWS CloudFront, web applications servers, etc.

Common attributes

Fullname Type Description
http.url string The URL of the HTTP request.
http.status_code number The HTTP response status code.
http.method string The HTTP verb of the request.
http.referer string The HTTP referer.
http.request_id string The HTTP request ID.
http.useragent string The User-Agent as it is sent (raw format). See below for all details about it.

URL details attributes

Details about the parsed parts of the HTTP URL. Generally generated thanks to the URL parser. All attributes are prefixed by http.url_details.

Fullname Type Description
http.url_details.host string The HTTP host part of the URL.
http.url_details.port number The HTTP port part of the URL.
http.url_details.path string The HTTP path part of the URL.
http.url_details.queryString object The HTTP query string parts of the URL decomposed as query params key/value attributes.
http.url_details.scheme string The protocol name of the URL (HTTP or HTTPS)

User-Agent attributes

Details about the meanings of user agents attributes. Generally generated thanks to the User-Agent parser. All attributes are prefixed by http.useragent_details.

Fullname Type Description
http.useragent_details.os.family string The OS family reported by the User-Agent.
http.useragent_details.browser.family string The Browser Family reported by the User-Agent.
http.useragent_details.device.family string The Device family reported by the User-Agent.

Source code

Related to the data used when a log or an error is generated via a logger in a custom application. All attributes are prefixed either by logger or error.

Fullname Type Description
logger.name string The name of the logger.
logger.thread_name string The name of the current thread when the log is fired.
logger.method_name string The class method name.
error.kind string The error type or kind (or code is some cases).
error.message string A concise, human-readable, one-line message explaining the event
error.stack string The stack trace or the complementary information about the error

Typical integrations relying on these attributes are: Java, NodeJs, .NET, Golang, Python, etc.

Database

Database related attributes are prefixed by db.

Fullname Type Description
db.instance string Database instance name. E.g., in Java, if jdbc.url="jdbc:mysql://127.0.0.1:3306/customers", the instance name is customers.
db.statement string A database statement for the given database type. E.g., for mySQL: "SELECT * FROM wuser_table"; for Redis: "SET mykey 'WuValue'".
db.operation string The operation that was performed (“query”, “update”, “delete”,…).
db.user string User that performs the operation.

Typical integrations relying on these attributes are: Cassandra, MySQL, RDS, Elasticsearch, etc.

Performance

Performance metrics.

Fullname Type Description
duration number A duration of any kind in nanoseconds: HTTP response time, database query time, latency, etc.

We advise you to rely or at least remap on this attribute as Datadog displays and uses it as a default Measure for trace Search.

All attributes and measures are prefixed by usr.

Fullname Type Description
usr.id string The user identifier.
usr.name string The user friendly name.
usr.email string The user email.

Syslog and log shippers

Related to the data added by a syslog or a log-shipper agent. All fields and metrics are prefixed by syslog.

Fullname Type Description
syslog.hostname string The hostname
syslog.appname string The application name. Generally remapped to the service reserved attribute.
syslog.severity string The log severity. Generally remapped to the status reserved attribute.
syslog.timestamp string The log timestamp. Generally remapped to the date reserved attribute.
syslog.env string The environment name where the source of logs come from.

Some integrations that rely on these are: Rsyslog, NxLog, Syslog-ng, Fluentd, Logstash, etc.

Further Reading

Additional helpful documentation, links, and articles:

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